Jie wished she could massage her ears. They still stung. As real as all this felt, she was sure it had to be a hallucination, but it could cause her real pain. Maybe if she went along with it, the dragon wouldn't get so mad.

"I would love that," she said, "but there's always a catch isn't there?"

The dragon smiled again.

"Clever girl," Ming said, "the catch is that you will have to walk through fire and death. You will have to fight for your life every step of the way. You will have to battle against people and creatures more powerful and terrifying than your worst nightmares. I need you to save my world and many others by stopping the followers of Fang Zhuyu. It will not be easy. You may not survive."

This was a weird hallucination. Maybe it was from all the stories she read? She was about to agree to whatever it said, but then she paused.

What if this was real?

Did it matter? If it was real, she would gladly suffer through anything to be free of the hell she was trapped in. What did she have to lose?

There was one more thing she wanted though.

"In case you're actually real and not just in my mind... I would agree to this, but I want something else first," she said.

Lightning flickered over the dragon's onyx scales. "Name your price, girl," the dragon said.

"The ones who put me here... who did this to me and killed my parents. I want revenge," she said.

Ming leaned in closer. His breath washed over her once more, and for once Jie was glad to be paralyzed, or she'd have trembled.

"I shall free you from this prison, and help you get your vengeance. In exchange, you will come with me to my world, and push through overwhelming odds to become powerful enough to save everything I hold dear," the dragon said, "do we have an agreement?"

That sounded good to her. If this wasn't all in her head then it would be an amazing bargain as far as she was concerned. "I agree," she said.

The dragon smiled.

"We shall have to do something more binding when we reach my world, but for now your word will do," he said.

Ming looked at the tubes that went down her throat, breathing for her. "Must you be connected to these... things?" he asked.

"I have to... I can't move anything below my shoulders," Jie said.

Ming shook his head. "That won't do," he said. He raised his hand and a green, glowing ball the size of a pea sprouted from one of his talons.

He brought it to her chest.

A warm tingle ran through her whole body. Numbness gave way to countless feelings and sensations that flooded her mind. It felt incredibly foreign and strange after so long without them. Jie gagged and coughed as the tubes that helped her breathe now suffocated her instead.

Ming frowned at Jie as she spasmed and trembled, her heart monitor beeping frantically as she struggled helplessly. She tried to pull out the tubes, but her hands were weak, and she wasn't even sure that she could anyway... wasn't it partly in her lungs?

Jie panicked and clawed at the tubes.

Ming raised his hand again, and an azure mist flowed out from him and down her throat. Using this strange energy, he pulled out all the tubes, the iv drip... everything. It didn't even hurt.

As he removed the last of the tubes, Jie took in a shuddering breath, relief washing over her like a wave.

"Thank you," she rasped.

It hurt to speak, yet brought tears to her eyes just to be able to do so after so very long...

How long had it been since she'd last spoken? She couldn't even remember.

Ming smiled. "Don't thank me yet. This is just so you don't die. Believe me, you aren't going to like what's coming," he said.

Jie looked the dragon straight in the eye. "I don't care. I'll do whatever it takes. Thank you," she said.

Ming's smile grew.

He raised one clawed hand and lifted her out of her hospital bed as though he were plucking a delicate flower.

The dragon cradled her in his claws. "Let us be off," he said, "It's time for me to enact vengeance in your stead."

He shivered as he said the last words and a toothy, predatory grin split his lips.

Ming laughed as he surrounded Jie with a crackling shield of blue energy and flew through the sterile halls of the hospital at an insane speed. White and grey walls were a blurry smudge as he somehow managed to slither past doctors and nurses and squeeze through impossible gaps between them.

They raced beyond the reception area and Ming tore through the front door in his eagerness, sending it flying over the car park where it smashed against a large statue on a roundabout and spun away, coming to rest on top of several trees.

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Ming chuckled. "Whoops," he said though he seemed more amused than guilty.

He soared upward and the hospital dropped away, shrinking as though that era of her life were vanishing in an instant. Jie couldn't help but feel relief and excitement wash over her even as she wondered just what she'd got herself into.

Ming soared high into the night sky yet his barrier kept the wind from whipping Jie's hair. He dove into and out of dark, lazy clouds like a dolphin leaping out of the ocean as Jie took in deep, grateful breaths of the cool night air.

At the apex of their flight, Ming roared. Lightning flashed over the clouds as they drew together and thickened impossibly fast. Whether by his will or his mere presence, it began to rain. Rivulets of water ran down the energy barrier surrounding Jie as though it were a window. Ming's dark scales glistened in the rapidly disappearing shafts of moonlight as the sky darkened.

Ming's flight was winding and playful and Jie's eyes were wide as they flew over the world, the lights of millions of homes twinkling beneath her like stars. Moments ago he'd given her the ability to move once more. Not much, but some at least... and now he gave her the sky...

For the first time in what felt like forever, Jie felt free. A feeling she'd fully expected to never experience again. Her heart soared and she found her eyes were wet once more. Yet, for the second time since meeting the dragon, it was not from sadness but from a joy that choked her almost as strongly.

Jie looked up at Ming and the joy plain upon his face and his movements. To soar in the skies... how great it must be to be a dragon. Jie thought.

No noise from below reached her here. Only the gentle rush of the wind around the protective bubble Ming kept her in.

She basked in the freedom she felt. It was the most alive she'd felt in years...

That thought snapped her back to reality.

This couldn't be a hallucination. She was certain of that now. She was in control of her own mind, and the drugs they'd given her shouldn't be strong enough to do this.

She'd known that before, but how could she have accepted a dragon appearing out of thin air in her hospital room just like that? Now though... she knew this was real. That meant the deal she'd made was real too.

Jie smiled widely.

Ming had said she would gain the power to walk on clouds... then maybe she could feel as free as she felt now each and every day.

She looked up at Ming. "How are we going to find them?" she asked.

The dragon snorted, his breath steaming in the cool night air. "We? I will find them and deliver your revenge. You will just sit back, relax, and enjoy," he said.

***

Ming was ecstatic. She had agreed! Just as he'd known she would. Even now as she rested in his hands like a hatchling, he felt the waves of determination pulsing from her.

There was no better choice for a savior. Of that he was certain. But, would it be enough? Could she get strong enough to stop Fang Zhuyu's followers in time?

He could only hope...

Besides, this was all a gamble.

It had been from the start. Even if he'd gone to the world he was supposed to, there was no guarantee he'd have found anyone suitable anyway.

Now, all he had to do was exact some quick revenge. The sooner they got back to his world, the sooner she could start training!

Finding their quarry shouldn't even be that hard. Nobody in this world cultivated. He doubted they had any way of masking themselves.

He snorted.

Everyone in this world was beneath him. Literally, he thought with a smirk as he stared down at their city.

He chuckled and flexed his scales.

He swooped down to the place where Jie had been attacked. Her home from three years ago. Thanks to her memories, it'd been easy to find.

To do this to a five-year-old child... he couldn't wait to rip them apart.

Such degenerates had no place in this or any other world! Except for Hell of course.

Ming smiled a vicious, bloodthirsty smile. They would be there soon enough.

He flew down to the front door and waved his hand. The door unlocked and creaked open. He made sure to be extra careful after accidentally destroying the one to the hospital.

Ming shook his head. Even the doors in this world were sorely lacking.

He carried the child inside, and Jie gasped as she looked around her old home. An elderly couple sat in the living room staring intently at a rectangle that showed pictures in quick succession.

What were those things called again? Ming wondered. Televisions?

The old woman turned around and looked straight at them.

The girl's eyes went wide, and Ming chuckled. "They can't see us. Don't worry. We won't frighten them, and we won't be long," he said.

The girl seemed to relax at that. Ming smiled. She had a good heart. He knew this of course, but it still gave him a warm feeling.

"You forgot to close the door again," said the old lady.

The old man frowned and rose on shaky legs. "I swear, I closed it. I know I closed it... damn doors open on their own I swear," he muttered as he shuffled across the room and slammed the front door.

"There? See? It's closed! Watch! It'll open by itself," he said.

"Yes, dear," said the old lady without so much as looking at him.

Ming set Jie down on the floor, with her back propped against the wall. He'd healed her spine, but she was still so weak...

She needed to see this though. The more she witnessed of his power... the hungrier she would be to cultivate when they reached his world.

"Watch closely little one. Much of this will not make sense to you just yet, but we'll get there. Everyone has something called elemental affinities. Most only gain access to them once they open the middle dantian.

"One of them is water, and I happen to have that affinity. It is through this affinity that I will track down the men we seek," he said.

He moved his hands, and his spiritual energy flowed through his meridians, vessels for energy within his body like arteries and veins were for blood, in the pattern he knew so well.

Blue mist spilled out from him and washed over the entire room.

"Water is one of the five elements in the universe. It flows at its own rhythm just like the universe. Everything within the universe is part of that rhythm, and we all create ripples as we move.

"Our actions move forward in time in ways we can never fully comprehend, brushing against the lives of those we may never even meet. Everything in the universe has meaning and power. Even the smallest ant sends out ripples that change the lives of giants.

"It is through my mastery of the element of water that I will look back through the ripples, until the day they came to this place, killed your parents, and broke your body.

"From there, I will trace them through the ripples they've created since... and we'll find them," Ming said.

Jie nodded and watched intently. Her eyes gleamed in the soft blue light.

The blue energy swirled and crackled and Ming closed his eyes as images poured into his mind. He watched Jie's parents murdered anew and saw her body shattered.

Ming gritted his teeth. Such vile wretches... he couldn't wait to end their pathetic lives. When they were done, the echoes of the three men walked out of the door that fateful night.

It was only then that Ming allowed Jie to see the echoes of the men. As much as he wanted her to see his power, he wished to spare her from reliving the experience as best he could.

He scooped up Jie and followed the echoes out the door.

"The door's open again," said the old lady, "see? You don't close it properly."

"I slammed it shut! It's these damn locks I tell you! They don't make them like they used to! There's no passion anymore! It's all just cheap junk!" yelled the old man.

Ming chuckled. Love, it seemed, could bloom even on this barren world.

Ming felt better than he had in all the months since he'd arrived, and he whistled a cheerful tune from his childhood as he followed the echoes of his prey.