Chapter 99

Chapter 99: 99 Bran pulled back to let the ball of flame to drop to the ground and continue burning there, then returned to the embrace, putting his arms around Misha’s middle. "What’s been going on?" he asked. "Fourteen thousand a month," replied Misha. "What?" "That’s how much The Unity is thinking of charging for their service. Media outlets and influencers have been storming the building for interviews and in one of them, Arthur Penn mentioned that price." Bran took a deep breath then blew it out slowly. "That’s a lot." "It is." "That’s like the cost of rent." "It is." "I need to sit down." And without waiting for a reply, Bran sat on the floor and pulled Misha into his lap. "And here I was thinking maybe they had a point with all the ’democratising magic’ stuff. Wait. Has there been any affect to the jianghu or-" "Nothing," replied Misha. "No one’s disappeared or lost their powers." Bran leaned back against the wall. "Arthur was right then. All that ’proof’ was just lies to keep magic secret to consolidate power. Not that he’s doing anything different..." He sat up again. "Where’s your tail?" "Ah, I was wondering why you were groping my butt." "I wasn’t groping your butt..." Bran muttered as he rested his chin on Misha’s shoulder. Misha smiled but said nothing and instead ran his fingers through Bran’s hair. "Tired?" he asked. "Mm." "If I transform you can ride on my back and get some sleep." Bran shook his head and Misha chuckled despite himself. He ran a hand up Bran’s back and rubbed the nape of his neck. They had to keep moving, Misha was certain of that, and he had an idea of how to do it. "Bran?" he whispered softly. When he got no reply, he shifted and pressed a kiss, then another, then another to Bran’s neck. He felt Bran’s body stiffen and heard his heart speed up. "Just a quick break, then we keep moving, alright?" -- You woke a while later as I carried you through yet another set of tunnels. The light had changed here and I sensed we were nearing our goal though what exactly it would end up looking like, I had no idea. I just knew that I’d be rather happy to get out of this near labyrinth. You sat up and stared groggily ahead. You’d thankfully had the instinct to keep your hands firmly latched onto my fur even as you slept so I wasn’t too worried about you falling even at this slow pace. Feel better? I asked, craning my neck to look back at you. You blinked then nodded, then blushed and looked away. Not only was the light different here, there was also a lot more of it making it easier for me to find our way and catch your every flush. You gave me neck a pat then swung a leg over to my other side, making to get off. "I can walk," you said. Sure? "Yeah." I stopped and let you land without tripping. You were still a little jelly-like in the legs department, but you really did look more refreshed. Wonderful. "Where are we?" you asked as we set off again. I took a moment to transform since I found it still easier to talk with an actual mouth. "Not entirely sure," I replied. "But I’m pretty sure we’re getting close to the proper entrance of the building." You nodded. "I think you’re right." "Have you heard of the Hundun?" I asked. I’d been thinking while you’d been sleeping. "Hundun? Like, from mythology?" you asked. "No, well kind of. It’s..." I suddenly felt rather overwhelmed again by all the information your aunt and Gou Ngaam had hoisted on me earlier. "So, the Pretan Empire had this special... I’m not sure if it’s actually a weapon, like literally a weapon, or just something that can be a power source to a weapon, anyway, they had this special thing that they made from powerful beings they captured from all the countries they invaded, then mushed them together and-" "The Nameless Beast!" "What’s that?" "It’s a mish-mash of a creature that The Unity wants to siphon power from." "Ah, so The Unity calls it the Nameless Beast." "Must be. Why do you call it a hundun?" "That’s what Whale Toes calls it. Apparently, your aunt and all of them sealed it on the day of the handover since the Pretan were planning on leaving it here in Pearl City and that’s also when..." My voice disappeared as I realised where this conversation was going. I didn’t feel like it was my place to be telling you about your history - it really should be your aunt or your mum or someone not me - but what choice did I have? "Your aunt said-" I began but stopped when you put a hand to my mouth. You looked down the way we’d come and so did I, straining to hear what it was you were hearing. It was weird. Normally I’m the one picking up things other people can’t. "What is it?" I whispered into your hand. You dropped your hand and grabbed my wrist. "Speak of the Devil... Quick," you said as you dragged me along. I waited until you’d slowed down and ducked behind some rubble in a dusty part of tunnel that looked to have been abandoned after a cave-in before asking further. "Who’s coming?" I asked quietly. You shook your head but it was the slight tremour I could feel through your hand that truly worried me, so I fell silent and closed my eyes. Even now I find doing this lets my hearing go further out than normal and quickly I latched onto the echo of feet walking along the tunnels. After listening a moment, I nudged you then held up two fingers. You nodded. Finally, the pair of people came close enough that I could pick up their voices. They sounded worried. "After the business at the Walled City we haven’t had a proper supply of energy and now with the dragons being released-" said a woman’s voice. "You don’t need to worry about energy. Once things get up and running, we’ll have a steady supply of it, I can guarantee that," said a man’s voice. He went on. "Do we know how the dragons escaped?" You and I were huddled together behind a bit of fallen roof so I could feel you jump as you heard the voices. You knew them. I held out an open palm to you and traced a question mark on it. You hesitated a moment then wrote the letters ’AP’. Arthur Penn, I mentally thought to you, finally remembering I could do that. You nodded, then wrote another name. ’L... I... N... G.’ I looked at you with wide eyes and you gave another nod. I saw the concern in your eyes and I had to fight the instinct to poke my head up above the rocks to get a look at my mother. Ling. She really was alive. "I’ve set up a team to look into it," said Ling. "The jiaolong was supposed to be unable to rectify the situation. What changed?" The foot steps stopped and I estimated from the sound that they were about five metres away at the mouth of where we were hiding. "We’re... still unsure," Ling admitted. "What do you suspect?" asked Arthur. Ling paused before replying. "I suspect external aid." "Oh?" How did I feel to have real confirmation that my mother was alive? Excitement? Maybe, but if I’m honest, I felt more dread. When I’d seen her photograph on her tombstone and not recognised it, I’d been able to chalk that up to not having seen her in years, but now that I could hear her voice, I couldn’t deny the fact that I did not recognise it. Was she really my mother? I didn’t have many memories of my mother, but what little I had did not line up with this woman being her. You looked at me with concern and put a hand to my cheek. I forced a smile and covered your hand with my own to tell you that I was okay. To tell myself that I was okay. "What are you doing here?" said a voice. We both jumped then you grabbed me and shoved me behind you. "I don’t have time to play," you said in a low voice to the small child that had appeared out of nowhere. He looked about five with eyes and hair and wearing a set of overalls. Unremarkable really, yet the fact you seemed to know him was it extraordinary, not to mention where we were right then. The little boy pouted. "Why not?" he asked. "Shh." You put a finger to your mouth. "Why not?" the boy repeated, this time at a whisper. "Right now, I’m hide-and-seek with those people over there," you said quietly, nodding toward the passageway where Arthur and Ling were standing. Or at least, where they had been standing. Based on the sound of footsteps it would be more accurate to say that they were walking. Walking towards us. I grabbed your hand. Perhaps if I transformed right at the last moment and grabbed you, I could fly past the pair of them without them reacting. They probably had protection spells or something but maybe if we got lucky... The little boy gave a dramatic sigh and planted his little hands on his hips. "Okay. I’ll take little brother Misha to play hide-and-seek instead," he said. And then everything went black.