"This can't be. Ki can't be dead!" Yukiya shook her head in disbelief. The little red egg that was rolling around in the corner jumped over to her and nudged her.
"no...something is wrong…. I have to see for myself," she mumbled and shot out of the watering hole. For a second she couldn't breathe. She panted, lying on the ground. The little red egg nudged her hands worriedly.
'I have to breathe…I have to change,' she thought as she pulled herself up by her forearm. Her gills were not adaptable to breathe out of water and was suffocating her.
She gasped as he crawled through the floor. The red egg worriedly followed behind her.
Yukiya held the egg close safely in her embrace, "its….it's okay....I'm..fine," she gasped as her breath came out in pants. Slowly her gills fully closed up, letting a layer of flesh grow on it.
Losing her gills, she was finally able to breathe fresh air. 'Being a fish out of water was not a pleasant experience,' she thought, wiping the water droplets from her face. Her lungs were on fire just from a few second of suffocation. She caressed her tummy and sighed. "I've grown weak, but at least I can finally breathe through my nose."
The little red egg wiggled around.
"Don't worry baby, mommy is fine now. But your daddy...." Yukiya mumble dazedly. Dragging her heavy tail behind; she crawled through the passageway to her room. "We will find your daddy and bring him home." She whispered with determination.
Feeling her emotions, the little egg rolled cheerfully.
In ten minutes, Yukiya reached her room. She swiftly packed few essentials. On the side of the bed, a red shirt innocently hung. With her trembling hands, she picked it up and sniffed it. It was the shirt Long Ki had changed out of when he rushed out. It still had the scent of her dragon lingering on it…
'You better be safe, you stupid red dragon…if not..if not,,' she held back a sob and pushed the shirt inside her bag.
She picked up the incubating bowl and placed the little egg inside. The egg dejectedly floated inside.
"Just bear it for a while, dear. Travelling outside in the sun at such a young age is not good for you," she whispered softly, caressing the egg through the glass layer.
The egg's membrane was strong and sturdy but it is still possible for it to dry out in the sun. so shy carefully packed the closed up incubating bowl in a white cloth and carried it on her shoulder.
Her bright orange tail that was as bright as the sun started turning grey. Scales brushed away and soon her skin started flaking. Wiggling around, she shed her tail like a snake, revealing her jade like legs.
Yukiya wore her white clothing, put on her bamboo hat and went to the entrance.
On her command, the trap door on the ceiling opened, letting in a huge wave of water inside. She swam up through the opening, into the turbulent river.
Gripping tightly to her precious child, she swam up and out the water. She wrung her clothes dry and started her journey. The last time she left the river she ran into an accident with her flying chariot, after which she never really was a fan of flying. But time was a crunch now; she pulled out a dry piece of paper from her bag and swiftly folded it into a cane.
She drew a small flying enchantment on it. The enchantment glowed and the little paper crane grew in size, becoming as tall as her. Yukiya swiftly jumped on it and flew towards the west.
"Long Ki you better be alive," she whispered clenching the broken engagement ring in her clutch.
The wind was heavy and thunder clouds filled the sky as far as she could see. To be safe, she flew low, away from those looming clouds. But she soon realized that she was wrong. The thunder clouds became threateningly dark and thunder bolts flashed down right on her.
She swiftly banked to the left, avoiding the strike, but another silver thunder followed after her.
'I have to fly even lower,' Yukiya pulled the paper crane's neck and pulled it down. Sensing her movements, the crane flanked down towards the thick forest below. She adjusted her latitude, so that's he was flying in between huge trees. Even if the thunder strikes they will only fall on the tallest point that is the tree tops.
Rain and thunder storm was endless. She took a break under a tree. All of a sudden, her backpack vibrated. She pulled the bag up front and peered inside. "What is wrong, dear?"
The little egg vibrated and moved close to the glass surface as if trying to get close to her.
Yukiya gently took him out and caressed it
"Don't worry, my dear. Everything is fine. I will keep you safe," she whispered, nuzzling it gently.
The paper crane parked in front of her slowly soaked and changed back into a little paper crane. Its enchantments got washed away, and so it just became normal paper.
When the rain started letting out, she folded another crane and drew even more enchantments. This time she drew speed enchantments on its wings, tail and its head. The normal crane was fast, but at this speed it was not possible to reach Long Ki in time. 'Let me draw few more just in case.'
After she was done with it, the crane grew even more. It was as tall as the Long Ki. With a little struggle, she got on it and flew away.
But unexpectedly the updated crane flew so fast that she was almost blown away many times.
Yukiya griped onto it for dear life. Taking small breaks, she carefully checked up on her child. At first it looked okay, but as time went on the little egg looked dizzy and disoriented.
"Baby, don't worry. Let's rest here somewhere," Yukiya whispered caressing it thought the glass. She gestured for the crane to fly down. There was a town nearby, but it was completely destroyed. Even so, it will provide shelter from the rain.
Yukiya rushed into an abandoned house. The rain cloud that was about to dissipate became more ferocious again.
It was still early in the afternoon, but the clouds made it look so dark that she thought it was night. She rested for an hour and started at her journey again.
This time she drew on the enchantments in waterproof ink (I.e.) ink soaked in oil. The enchantment did not drip off so much. She was able to fly a long distance with this new crane before it too became a piece of paper.
After a long journey, she came across a commotion down below. It looked larger than a town near the coast and people were running out of the town gates like they have been chased by something.
Yukiya decisively flew down and got off. With the egg in hands, she walked past many people who were running frantically.
As she got closer to the gate, the crowd became more frantic and started running towards her. She tried walking ahead, but she was continuously pushed back. It was worse than swimming against a wave.
All of a sudden, a hand griped onto her forearm and pulled her to the side. "Don't enter now there is a war going on inside," a young girl dressed promiscuously whispered.
"Who is fighting whom?" Yukiya whispered with a frown. She tightly gripped onto the small egg and watched her anxiously.
"A dragon and a wolf!! They both are fighting. Don't go in."
Yukiya froze.
Seeing her reaction, the girl bit her lips and peered at her anxiously. "Did you have a family inside? Don't go in now. Come with me. I will take you to my home town. After the problems are over, we can come and check, " The girl whispered with a sad smile.
But Yukiya shook her head. "Thanks for the offer, I need to….be there," she whispered with a soft smile and jumped up high. She threw a small enchanted paper crane. It blew up into a huge crane under her and stared flying up. Yukiya skillfully jumped on it and flew into this town.
The roads were filled with people running in panic. Corpses filled the roads but the people did not bother. They stamped on them and ran for their lives. There were also weird blood stains all over the sides of the buildings. Obviously some big creature was wounded.
"I hope it was not your daddy dear," she whispered, caressing the glass soothingly.
Just a few seconds in, she saw few figures standing around. A person naked back stood out the most. It was the back she had seen intimately.
"LONG KI!" she shouted out loud.
Long Ki glanced back with a stunned look on his face. "Yukiya?" he whispered with his mouth agape.
Without any thought, Yukiya jumped off the crane mid air. Long Ki leapt up high and caught her in his hands carefully. With a small flame under his feet, he flew to the nearby rooftop and placed her safely.
"Yukiya…what are you doing here? Are you hurt anywhere?" he pulled his stunned wifey and checked her all over. She did not have any wounds but her tears kept rolling down her face. He gently wiped them away and kissed her red eyes. "What is it, dear? Why are you crying? Did anyone bully you?"
"you…you did.. You bullied me," she sobbed out loud and jumped into his embrace.