by Park Moon
Slowly I dragged my teeth along his shoulder and kissed the protrusion of his neck. He groaned again, and his hands ran up to my ribs.
“You are mine!” he whispered and I nodded, moving my lips down his chest and when I touched his navel, he held my head.
“Jade!”
“You’re mine, Dan Lao! Say you are mine!”
“I’m yours, Jade!”
✽✽✽
The earth shook and Dan raised his eyes and I widened mine. Pan stormed into the bedroom and terrified, exclaimed:
“Master! San is in the garden!”
“What does he want?” Dan hurried to get the robe to cover himself and I pulled the sheet over him, with Pan turning her face away from us.
“He said that the Oracle wants you to visit Heaven.”
“This is terrible!” Dan turned his head from side to side, completely upset.
“What happened?” I asked, thinking the worst.
“The Oracle wants my presence, Jade! This means that I have broken rules. You know the rules.”
“But... That goddess did not see me!”
“They know you’re here. Even the ants know it. Stay where you are! I will talk to San and come back.”
“Will you be punished if you go and talk to the Divine?”
“Possibly.” he tied the hanfu and touched Pan’s shoulder. “Take care of her! I do not know when I will be back!”
Dan left the bedroom and I despaired, because his speech hit my mind. I was sure that Dan would be in danger if he went to Heaven.
I ran out of bed, wrapped myself in whatever I could find on the floor and faced Pan’s arms, set to bar me.
“Don’t dare stop me!” I growled.
“I have orders from Dan Lao to keep you in this bedroom, Jade!
“If Dan is to be punished, it’s only fair that I be punished too!”
“Don’t even try!”
“Don’t dare hold me, Pan!” I pushed her weak hands away and ran to catch up with Dan, who was too far away from my sight.
There, in the garden, where the gods had the nasty habit of landing like peacocks, was Dan, facing a disgusting fellow with a frightening smile.
I did not think twice, I jumped over the flowerbeds, tripping over the flowers and smashing a hundred of them.
“For someone who just said had nothing to hide, I can see there is a lot to be explained.”
Dan looked back at me.
“Jade! I told you to stay in the bedroom!” his voice was such a sorrowful wail that I thought I would carry the guilt forever.
He took my hand, squeezing his fingers and the god stared at us:
“Ah! Has she become more than a visitor, Dan? So bad! This makes it worse for you, my old friend.”
“I am not your friend. What does the Oracle want?” Dan watched him.
“Well... Since the girl is here. Let’s take her too!”
“NO!” Dan shouted, turning his face toward me. “Go! Stay with Pan! Go!”
His request was in vain, because San threw a red light and he took me.
“No way! She is going with you! You will be punished too! The story repeats itself. Dan, you are very naive and stupid.”
There was no escape, and I knew that being with Dan was better than running away.
“It’s alright! Everything will be fine!” I smiled weakly, with tears running down my face.
“I’m sorry!” he let a tear fall from his right eye and I shook my jaw.
Chapter 10
Narrated by Jade.
An instant was enough for us to be in a big white room, and in the center, a light that changed color like a rainbow, danced before us. Within that light, a voice emerged, speaking hard and powerful.
“Dan Lao, you have broken the rules for the second time. Therefore, a severe punishment is due. The penultimate, because if you make another mistake, you will lose immortality!”
“NO!” I shouted, even though I knew that if Dan were mortal, I would have a relatively normal life with him.
However, I knew that Dan was what he was, and losing immortality would make him suffer. His origins were mystical and no one would erase that, save, the cursed Oracle.
“What will he do with Dan?” I looked at the flickering light.
“You will be punished too!”
“Please, no!” Dan knelt before the light, with his hands on the floor.
“Erase her memory, Dan!” the voice commanded, and Dan turned his face to me, letting tears run down his face and neck. “Nothing associated with the White Dragon will remain in her mind. That is an order, Dan! Erase her memories of what happened between you both!”
“Pardon me!” he whispered, and stood up.
“No! No! Please!” I said softly.
He stepped toward me and brought his left thumb up to my forehead.
“I’m so sorry!” Dan sighed. “I have to save you, and this is the only way.”
“I told you I’d rather die, Dan!” I cried.
“I’ll never forget you... I know you will not remember anything about us, but...” he gasped for air, and Dan cried some more. “I will keep you in my soul. I knew we would suffer, but it is hurting me, much more than I imagined.”
“Please, I don’t want to forget you, Dan!”
“Forgive me!”
“Don’t erase the memories I have of you. How will I live without you?”
“You will live, marry and be happy, because nothing about me will be with you... Please! Jade! Understand it! This is hurting too much. We will abbreviate this suffering, right?”
“No! Please! Leave a spark of hope inside me.”
“Dan...” San approached and he raised a sword toward Dan Lao’s head.
“Pardon me...” Dan touched my forehead, from his fingers, glowing like fireflies, spheres of light appeared, and my vision blurred.
“I love you, Jade! One day, I will meet you again.”
“Dan... Do not leave me alone! Please!”
“I’m sorry...”
✽✽✽
Uncle Mao was sitting next to the sea, in his classic pose, meditating, as if the noise of the sea was a necessary silence.
“Uncle! It is going to rain! Get up!”
“Ah! Is that you, Jade?” he opened his right eyelid.
“Yes, it’s me... Were you meditating?” I sat down beside him.
“I saw the sad soul, sitting on a rock, far from our eyes. He was crying, because the distance between him and his great love is hard.”
“You and your weird meditations. Let’s go! You know that the rain has not been giving us a break. The little bit of sun that comes out, goes away before we can smile at it.”
“It’s the dragon that cries, child... The dragon cries!”
“Here you go, talking about dragons. Do you not ever get tired?”
“The world is not always fair. It takes from some and gives to others.” he was staring at the sea and I decided to look too.
There was nothing spectacular between the bay and the dragon’s throat, and behind it, the waves that beat aggressively on the rocks seemed to complain, as if the feeling of sadness and pain was in the droplets of water.
“Jade!” the rude voice attacked my back.
I turned my body to see who it was, and bent down to face Chin.
“I am going, husband!” I did not dare lift my head.
“I told you to stay home! Your uncle is not good!” Chin had run his hands over his waist, stroking his belt, and I bowed, without looking at Uncle Mao or saying good-bye in a polite way.
Chin followed me and on the way, the shaman met us:
“How is the little girl?” she fiddled with her necklaces and continued with her right eyebrow raised.
“Still in fever, shaman.” I answered without daring to look.
“She will die in five days. It is the punishment of the gods!”
A sad tear fell on my left foot. There was a hole in my mind, and in this hole, I could
not find the meaning of marrying the worst man in the village.
My little daughter had been sick since birth, and sadly, I watched her fall apart day after day. No herbs or tea, nothing made her better.
Five nights passed and at the end of the last night, after dinner and being abused by Chin, my daughter took her last breath and without anyone helping me, I carried her body to the sea.
Uncle Mao was there, holding a tiny boat, with blue fabric to lay the little one in. He knew, without a word from my mouth.
“I’m sorry, child. Life has not been easy for you, has it?”
“I don’t know what I did wrong to suffer so much, Uncle Mao.” I laid the child down on the cloth, and Uncle Mao, holding the little boat, walked to the pier.
There, he climbed into a boat and rowed down to the dragon’s throat. I watched as he disappeared into the darkness and then returned empty-handed.
He stepped off the boat and touched my right shoulder.
“Come on, child! You must rest!”
“I want to stay, Uncle Mao!”
“Don’t do anything reckless, okay?”
“Everything I’ve done so far has been reckless. I need to stay here and put my thoughts in order, Uncle Mao. Please!”
“I’ll be in my shack if you need me.” his footsteps fell silent after a short walk, and I stared into the dark vastness.
“Why does this hurt so much? As if, I lost something beyond this darkness. Not now, but before... Long before.” I said softly.
I dropped my knees to the old wood of the pier and aimed at the boat.
“Nobody will miss me...” I closed my fists and hit the wood.
I stood up and two steps led me to the boat. I climbed into it and grabbed the oars. I took it slowly. With not much strength, I had to row to the dragon’s throat and crossed it.
I did not dare to speak, but I cried. I did not dare to scream, but I trembled. There was an affliction inside me and it crushed my heart and made it bleed.
I kept rowing, hoping that a demonic wave would break over me and the pain would end.
I looked up into the black sky and the wind shook my hair. I kept on rowing against the waves that rocked the boat.
“To die! I must die!”
There was an instinct in me not to fear death, but to live. Nothing I did would change the fate. That life no longer belonged to me, because something great, that I did not know what, was buried in some corner of my mind and I was unable to remember it.
The waves increased and the boat went up and down. I lost the oars and I held on to the edges of the boat.
“Die Jade! Because this is not life! Someday, somewhere that does not belong to you know that you would rather die than have to live. Jade, to live, as this is to wander in pain. Give up your soul! Give up the fight!” I grumbled, talking to myself, as if this would lessen the agony.
I closed my eyes and slowly took off the fingers that held my body in the boat. My body was thrown like dry leaves off the boat and my back fell into the icy salt water. I opened my arms and let my body fall into the sea. However, I felt a touch on my back and my body was pulled up. I opened my eyelids as my head went through the water and into the air, and desperately I turned my head trying to understand what was happening.
Behind me, a man, with broad, bare shoulders, gray hair, fell into his sad, panting face.
“Jade!” he spoke softly, because the sound of the waves rushed through my ears with his voice.
“Who are you?”
“You don’t need to know! I will take you to the beach.”
“No! I do not want to go back!” I shouted.
“You have to go back!”
“I don’t know who you are, but I don’t want to go back. I will be mistreated by my husband.”
“Chin?”
“How do you know?”
“I guess! Does he hurt you?”
“A lot! Just let me go, I have to die!”
“I won’t let you die, even if I break the rules again. I will take you to the beach!”
“No, I said!” I tried to let go of his hands, but he pulled me against his body and our eyes met.
“I’ll find a way to protect you! I just need someone’s help!”
“Who’s that?”
“Your uncle! Let’s go! It is still nighttime and we can use this to our advantage.”
“Who are you?”
“Someone who loves you!”
Chapter 11
Narrated by Jade.
He put me on the sand of the beach, his form, which I thought was that of a fish from the waist down, grew legs, and with a snap of his fingers, he got dressed.
“Tell me where your uncle’s house is!” the grayish-white man stretched out his hand, and I held it out to lift me up.
“It’s near the rocks. What do you want?”
“I don’t have much time. If I stay here, San will realize that I have invaded the coast. I will explain on the way!” he pulled me along and I followed him.
“What will you do?”
“Keeping you safe!”
“I told you my husband will be furious when he finds out I tried to kill myself!”
“He won’t know about it!”
We quickly reached the shack and mysteriously, Uncle Mao was standing in front of the house, as if he was really waiting for me.
“Dan Lao!” Uncle Mao exclaimed, opening his arms to welcome the stranger.
“Do you know his name, Uncle?” I frowned.
“Of course! I was not affected by the events. Right, my son?” Uncle Mao hugged the man, who accepted the affection.
I stared at them, not understanding anything. Uncle Mao let go of him and took my left hand.
“Come in! The wind has ears!”
We entered the house, with the man ducking his head to go through the low door. I followed him, in a strange instinct, because something about him attracted me.
“What do you want, son?” Uncle Mao pulled out a chair and the man sat down in front of him.
“I need you to take Jade away!” he pulled out of the sleeve of the hanfu that had mysteriously covered him at the beach, some small gold nuggets and I stared.
“Oh, son!” Uncle Mao’s cheeks flushed.
“You both need a home, food, and comfort on the way. This will help until I can reach you.”
“What are you aiming at?”
“We need to reach the east of the nation. There, Seyru will help us. He was the only one who kept silent when I was punished the first time. Because the second time, only San was present.”
“Are you saying that Seyru can help you? Are you not afraid that he will give up and hand you over to the Oracle?”
“It is the only chance. I cannot wait, because Jade suffers. San knows that she is a mother now... You know it.”
“Right, son! I will take Jade to the east, as you wish.”
“Go now! Before the sun rises over the horizon and Chin wakes up!”
“What will you do afterwards?” Uncle Mao asked fearfully, but with conviction, because the man seemed to know what he was doing.
“I will ask Seyru for refuge.”
“Will you give up the island?”
“It will be for a short time, until I can find out the gods’ motivation.”
“They hate you because you are a hybrid, son.”
“There is something, besides that. I just do not know what it is.”
“Right! Go back to the island and I will take care of Jade.”
“I’ll follow you both across the bridge so you don’t get caught by the villagers.”
“It’s risky, Dan.” Uncle Mao kept his nervous expression, while I remained silent.
“I have to take the risk, so that Jade is safe until she crosses the bridge.”
“Let’s go! Any second will be precious now.” Uncle Mao spoke determinedly and stood up, running to a cloth and putting fruit on it.
Uncle Mao walked over to my hand and took it, pull
ing me out and Dan followed.
We hurried along in brutal silence until we spotted the bridge, which divided our clan from a rival village.
“Uncle!” I stopped walking and looked at the horizon.
“No way, daughter! We will follow the way.”
“Don’t panic, Jade. The other tribe is peaceful, and your uncle will get by without any problems.”
“Who are you? Why do you look like someone I have seen before?”
He fell silent, and a woman’s voice fell on my left ear.
“Come on, is someone running away?” the shaman appeared in the darkness and stood before us.
“What do you want?” Dan Lao looked at her, but approached Uncle Mao and took my hand out of his touch, taking it for himself.
“I have come to advise you that you are disobeying the rules again, Dan Lao!” she let out a strange smile, as if satisfied.
“I know that! I do not mind, anyway.”
“You... Always such a rebel. Fruit of that freak! Your father was a fool and your mother was an idiot who thought love would change the world.”
“My father was a righteous man, even if he was a red devil. My mother was not an idiot, you are!”
“Me? You do not know anything about me.”
“I know you’re no good, that’s enough! I am just intrigued by the way you hurt Jade.”
“Jade... Ah! Jade! Do you love her? You forgot your dead wife so quickly! What was that love? You talked so much that you loved her and you could not live without her. But, look at you now! You hold the hand of a fake!”
“Shut up!” he growled and, squeezing my hand, and Dan took a step forward. “You don’t know anything about Jade!”
“I know more than you do, Dan.”
“Jade is my wife's reincarnation, I know you want to use her against me.”
“Jade? Your wife incarnate? Ah!” she laughed and put her hands on her stomach. “Did you see the mark? I did a good job.”
“What?” Dan frowned.
“The mark Jade has, I made it.”
“What?”
“When she was born. I helped in the birth and created the mark. One day, you would see it and believe, as I have just seen, that you really believed that your beloved would be back.”