Evan rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and he adjusted himself into a more comfortable position. He hadn’t slept well ever since he set foot on the plane nine hours ago. He looked over the seat in front of him to see a monitor showing the plane’s flight path from Seattle to Shanghai International, but for Evan, Shanghai was not his destination for he was to spend his two weeks of holiday.

Aboard the plane, the monitor in front of the centre row of seats showed the plane he was now on flying over northern Japan, with at least another three hours left in the air. Evan shifted himself back into a comfy position with his courtesy blanket and leaned his head on the side of the plane; the cramps in his leg prevented him from feeling anything below his thighs. He sighed at the pleasant thought of disembarking and stretching his legs.

After some more hours, when Evan disembarked onto the busy and crowded concourse and he was finally able to stretch his legs. The much-needed exercise needed to stimulate the blood flowed back into his legs after brushing off the feeling of pins and needles that assaulted his legs from the plane. His body told him it was relieved from the cramped confines of the aeroplane with a series of soft cracks and wet pops in his joints as he stretched.

He followed a series of signs that led him to the next gate for him to catch his plane that would soon take him further inland. The new terminal was full of passengers, taking up almost all the chairs in the entire flight lounge and forcing him to either stand or rest on his bag. Evan decided to stand, giving him the time to stretch his body, for he knew that he had another three hour flight inland. Catching him off-guard, the Chinese flight attendants spoke in Mandarin, shortly after, the same attendant spoke in English announcing that the plane was ready to be boarded. The second flight to Pán lín took more out of him than he’d realise, even for a shorter flight than his previous one had sapped the remaining energy out of him.

He wearily disembarked from the plane and exited the terminal only to be greeted by the dry, warm night air as he left the air-conditioned confines of the terminal. Greeting him outside was the line-up of taxis waiting for a customer to use their service, followed by a group of passengers leaving via friends or family picking them up. He caught the nearest taxi to him and within a matter of minutes he found himself just outside the lobby of his hotel, and then finally to his room.

Evan sighed with relief and chucked his bag into a corner of the room and face planted himself onto the bed. The clock on the wall said10 PM; he was exhausted and hungry, the food from the plane left much to be desired. Thankfully there was a menu from a nearby restaurant which happened to have an English translation side by side, with the dishes for international guests. He placed his order, wolfed it down in a frenzy of hunger and jet lag and without bothering changing out of his clothes, he laid down in bed, his exhausted body quickly pulling him to sleep.

Morning brought a new day - or perhaps it the same day from his original timezone?. The outside air was dry and the morning walk had already made him sweat. Evan, still in yesterday’s clothes ventured freely around the foreign town. He walked around town with a grin and he took photos of seemingly innocuous things that were foreign to him, until a glimpse of a huge Buddhist temple in the distance. The weathered building itself was a vibrant red with a yellow roof that had its edges pointed upwards as if the roof was folding in on itself. The temple towered over him, at least five stories high; its base was surrounded on all sides by a moat-like barrier, with a gate house in the centre of the forward facing wall. Its large wooden doors were open, with tourists and locals alike visiting and leaving the gatehouse leading inside “What luck” Evan thought to himself, for it to be open on such a wonderful day.

Upon climbing the stairs, Evan found himself inside the main chambers, with silk white jade pillars lined up to direct visitors to a stone statue of Buddha on the far wall lit; incense candles surrounded the space. Evan felt a sense of calm and clarity as he carefully chose his steps in the temple approaching the serene environment.

Halfway through the temple, remembering a sign outside of the temple that announced photography was not permitted, he scanned the room taking in every little detail inside his memory. He climbed up several flights of wooden stairs that spiralled upwards in the centre of the tower to what appeared to be a room of artifacts.

Each piece was carefully held by custom designed mounts, some were even in glass boxes from ancient swords to vases.Then at the end of the room, all by itself, was a lone jade statue that captured Evan's attention.

A dragon.

Evan gently approached the statue,mesmerized by the detail on it. The jade was a deep emerald green, with white silky lines evenly distributed throughout the statue, like veins of silk were coursing through it. The wings were spread out majestically and the creature's barrelled chest almost touched the ground below its long craning neck. The creature had a fearsome look with its horns. From the claws on the end of its toes on front and back legs to each individual scale and even the small spikes going from the back of its head to the end of its long serpentine tail that was about as long as the creature’s main body itself.

Below the statue was a small panel written entirely in Mandarin; no English alphabet for him to look up. The delicate detail throughout the statue’s body attracted him like a magnet. Perhaps it could’ve been the lighting but the statues Jade seemed to have a glow about it, But Evan was adamant it had something to do with the lighting above the case.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

As he kept contemplating the magnificent dragon, something tapped his shoulder; he jumped from the scare, until he looked behind him and saw it had been a monk. The man was completely bald and was a foot and a half smaller than Evan was, wearing orange garbs like everyone would imagine an Asian monk. A gentle, calming presence surrounded his being somehow.

‘I see you are quite drawn by the Dragon of Shanxi,’ he softly said. ‘It’s my favourite statue in this temple. Would you be interested in its story?’

Evan raised one eyebrow in interest. ‘I would love to hear it.’

The old monk chuckled softly to himself. ‘The story tells of a young man who grew up in a farming village along the Yellow river. He was a poor man who had never grown a successful crop by himself, and as such was seen as a failure by the others. So he went to the river, where a shrine was placed, and prayed for his luck to change, when he heard a voice that told him to go to the nearest mountain shrine and try again. So did the young man: he climbed the nearest mountain shrine and he once again asked for his luck to change, when a spirit was summoned from the sky and entered his body. Soon after, he blossomed into the dragon you see here on this statue,’ The monk gestured.

‘The villagers accepted him as their guardian but the man did not accept himself, which caused a great deal of conflict within himself; eventually, this cost him his mind, his soul and also his friends and family. The monks drew the dragon spirit out of him and trapped it here in this very statue, which it has laid here for centuries undisturbed.’

Evan had a small grin on his face. ‘So the statue holds a dragon spirit? As in, it turns people into dragons?’

‘That is how the myth goes. Some say the monks drew the spirit out to make him human again, others believe that after he died his spirit tried to go to another person. What I am certain of is that this statue is one of our finer artifacts from China.’

Evan barely registered the Monk’s absence as he leaned closer toward the sculpture, his breath fogging up the glass case, obscuring his view of the magnificent dragon. Then suddenly, his arm collided with the podium, holding up the statue and knocking it over; the glass case shattered completely, spilling the glass and jade in a wave of crystalline shards. The impact site on the floor left a dent in the polished wooden floor, as the green mist of shattered minerals settled into a pile of broken pieces. The glow the statue once emitted was no longer present as if the life force of the statue was gone.

‘Oh shit! Shit shit shit!’

He brought his hands to his head while his heart raced and his hands started to jitter as the monk proceeded to get back to him.

‘I-I-I am so sorry! I’ll c-clean this up right now!’

But the Monk laughed heartily to himself.

‘Do not worry, it is only a copy, we keep many spares in the storeroom. I will fetch my lay person to quickly grab the spare soon. In the meantime, enjoy the rest of the temple and remember: Be humble and always accept who you are’ The monk placed his open hands together and gave a deep bow of respect to Evan, who returned the gesture in relief.

Evan tossed his carry-on bag across his house in Seattle, landing on the couch with a fwump! He dragged his travel bag past the front door and let go of the handle, letting the bag drift for a moment before stopping in the middle of the living room, while he tossed his front door keys onto the kitchen bench. His own body was tired and sore from the jet lag once more: Evan approached a couch that was placed horizontally to the couch that he had tossed his carry-on duffel bag, and much like the bag, Evan approached the sofa and fell face first into the soft cushions. And like his travel bag he too landed with a similar sound.

It took two more days in his home to adjust to the time zone and reel back from the soreness of being on a cramped plane in Economy class. It was on that afternoon that everything began.

He was checking his email to see when he needed to show up for work; his roster had announced he was to arrive at 8 AM the next morning, a time that was just perfect for him. The solidarity of being alone in his home was so enjoyable, it was saddening that tomorrow would be the end of it all. During the evening, he wandered into the kitchen to make himself a sandwich. Recently he had felt ravenous for some reason. Did he miss the food he used to eat, or was he simply not eating enough for himself? His stomach growled loudly and no matter what he ate, he still felt hungry.

A cramping pain seizing up inside his body, as though he was suffering from gastro, started in his left kidney and shot itself to his liver, Alane he convulsed on the ground, crying in agony and praying it would end...and as quickly as it came, it simply disappeared. He got off the floor feeling relieved, figuring must’ve eaten too much, albeit he had gobbled up monstrous quantities of food that evening.

Everything was ready for his first day back at work; Evan was in the bathroom to vacate his bowels one last time before brushing his teeth. He approached the sink to begin brushing his teeth before bed but as he looked up at his reflection in the mirror, he screamed.

In the mirror, there was himself, but one detail stood out. His eyes had turned yellow where before was white, the pupils were no more a circle but flattened

Did I contract Jaundice somehow while I was away? He thought frantically. His eyes didn’t seem to hurt, but they did itch a little when they were open. He frantically brushed his teeth hoping to avoid making eye contact with his reflection and made a mental note in his head to see his doctor in the hopes of getting all his problems fixed.

Before finally, he crept to his bed, with mild worries about how his co-workers would respond at the sight of those eyes.