Chapter Text
“Scales of old can shine anew,
glimmering like soul jade under a river’s gleam.
A river whose mouth is wide in the East and narrow in the West,
with sand as soft as snow, not a pebble to hurt underfoot.
Only once one is at its core will the Truth be shone,
harmonizing the sun’s spring rays to the beat of the sloshing glass tide.
At its heart, a pearl, perfectly circular, a jewel of divine sculpture,
capturing every color of the rainbow across all paths of its surface.
Smooth in the palm, and warm to the touch.
Then, and only then, can one say they are one with the Soul
of a slumbering dragon.
Remember this: dragons never lie.”
- Unknown
FIVE YEARS AGO — THE DRAGON COURT.
“You can’t be serious.” Guo Chengyu’s voice resonated in the courtroom, hands slamming on the podium before him. Though sturdy palms pressed flatly into the teakwood, his arms visibly shook under the awning of leaf-patterned silk. His eyes were wide, gawking at the shrinking man at the sun basked altar of the room.
“There isn’t much we could do.” The elder man’s voice apologetically curled inwards along his tongue, the bow his waist was bent in only infuriating Guo Chengyu further.
“He is the King! What do you mean there was’t much you could do?” Venom curled along an expertly manipulative tongue. Guo Chengyu’s head swiveled, looking to the other podium stationed a few feet leftwards from his, his hands banging on the polished trim of the wood. “And you! Why are you so silent?”
Tundra temperatures chilled along the flooring beneath the other man’s feet, his thickened obsidian boots shielding him from the violence in the room. An even expression met Guo Chengyu’s fury-laced one, nothing more than brows lifted, a singular dark hair falling over his forehead.
“What is there to say? The King of Dragons is dead, Chengyu. What else would you like for me to do? Bring him back from the dead?” A cold laugh snaked its way through pursed lips; his torso barely moved as cold eyes slunk to glance at Guo Chengyu.
“This is no laughing matter Cheng-ge!” If they weren’t in the court, Guo Chengyu would have pounced across the podiums and strangle him to death with his own scales. Guo Chengyu shook with rage, hands holding the podium so hard, it pushed it a half a pace forward.
“Who said I was laughing?” Chi Cheng turned his head back frontal, a cold displeased expression lowering the temperature of the courtroom further. Ice formed along his own podium, its glassy sheen sparkling shards of color under the yawning dawn.
“Boys, please.” The elder man bowed deeper, hands clasping together desperately. “You were not gathered here as a means to argue. Late King Wang wanted me to tell you both first when he passed.”
“First?” For the first time, Chi Cheng and Guo Chengyu’s voices echoed in a harmony.
The man nodded, finally lifting himself from his bow. Cheeks flushed red, his nod become feverish. “Yes. It was strictly in his will that you two be told first after the medical examiners. No one outside His Majesty’s aides know, except now you two.”
“Did he know he was dying, then?” Guo Chengyu asked.
At this, the man paled again, lips thinning. Carefully choosing his words, much less enthusiastic than before, he nodded. “Yes.” Offering nothing to supplement that, the courtroom fell silent.
“Why did he not tell anyone?” Chi Cheng asked now, an absent finger flicking an icicle from his podium, bored.
“He did not want people to fret. His Majesty was concerned that if whispers hit the court, they would spread to our allies and worse over, our enemies. Yet his biggest concerns was people vying for the throne, to garner his trust and favor in his last weeks, waiting for the moment death struck to take his place.”
Chi Cheng shifted on his feet, arms lounging over the podium in front of him. “So why do we get to know first?”
Calmer again, a smile graced the man’s features. “His Majesty’s will was strictly made for your eyes only. I have gathered you here to tell you the news, and to relay the proposal His Majesty conjured prior to his last breath.”
“What sort of proposal only involves us?” Guo Chengyu muttered to himself, brows pulling together.
“One that will leave one of you victorious, and the other far less fortunate.”
Chi Cheng and Guo Chengyu glanced to one another then, a cold equality to the look. Childhood friends, Chi Cheng and Guo Chengyu had spent the last decades growing up in the other’s space. Never were they ever separated, always found running around chasing one another in backyards, playgrounds, and the woods amongst trees and creeks. As they grew older this turned into them training together, always trying to get the other’s back on the mat first, wanting to prove their growing strength. Even their weapons, formed of the finest jade, were made by the same maker.
They say that once a jade bracelet has done its job to protect its wearer, it breaks. Months had stretched long since the jade that had surrounded their friendship had shattered completely. Along with Chi Cheng’s heart.
Clearing his throat, the man bowed again before the two of them. “If you are ready, I will read His Majesty’s wish.”
“Ready.” Chi Cheng was the first to turn back, dismissing the pitiful look Guo Chengyu was giving him, an underlining attempt at panning for forgiveness.
Guo Chengyu’s shoulders sagged. The celebration of what he’d done felt euphoric in those first few months; the chance to have finally outwitted, outdone Chi Cheng, had felt like no other power trip Guo Chengyu would ever see again. Since those months, since standing in the airport as that celebration left, Guo Chengyu had focused on beating Chi Cheng at his own game, at trying to dissect and dismount that growing animosity. Hoping one day they’d be friends again.
It never worked.
“Ready.” Guo Chengyu weakly seconded, giving a short inclination of his head as his gaze cut from Chi Cheng.
Preparing, the man turned, walking up to the judge’s panel at the altar of the room. The wood was carved precisely, the large four person panel showcasing the full body of a twisting dragon. Its head was wrapped around the loops of its torso, placed purposefully in the center, where the Dragon King sat during court, its claws positioned in all cardinal directions to show that there was always protection no matter the turn.
Delicately gloved hands gathered the precious scroll from its box in the center, right above the carving dragon’s mighty horns. Bound by a dark hair-formed ribbon with a precious dragon scale surrounding by the wax seal that kept it intact, there was no doubt the document was anything other than an official Death Will. The proprietor carefully slid off the ribbon, setting it back into the velvet lined jade box.
Facing Chi Cheng and Guo Chengyu once more, the proprietor presented the scroll in both palms. “Here lies the will and testament of the Late Dragon King, Wang Shirong. Held in this scroll is his last remaining wish, to be held out by the two dragon princes before me, presently Chi Cheng of the Chi Clan, and Guo Chengyu of the Guo Clan. Allow me to read the words of His Majesty.”
The next thirty seconds resulted in the man obnoxiously clearing his throat as if trying to rid his esophagus of anything that had ever made it less than perfect. His hands slowly unravelled the scroll before Chi Cheng and Guo Chengyu’s eyes. Its beautiful paper crinkled as it unfurled like a flower blooming in its full height. Sturdy, yet delicate, the paper’s trim glowed a soft gold, power threaded in the fibers, the last dying breath of the Dragon King. At its full, the bottom of the page barely grazed the floor, hovering in the air like a dragon’s tail.
The proprietor took a breath, then read, “Hereby the will of the Late Dragon King Wang Shirong, heed these words: When I come to pass on from this life, the throne will become empty. I haven’t any living children left in this plane, and I look forward to joining them and my late wife. Because of this, eyes and claws alike will vie for the throne, so I am looking to cast no shadows of doubt that the throne is already claimed. To the two dragons who I always saw as some of my own, Chi Cheng and Guo Chengyu, I present to you a proposal. It is one I know neither of you will refuse, and I know your recent scuffle will only aide this. One of you in due time will be on the throne, but hear me well that this will be a race. Whoever of the two of you to finds your mate, has them fall in love with you, and whoever gives them your Dragon Soul first, will be the next crowned King. I wish you both the best of luck.”