Zodiac Story

The Bay Road and the Teal River Converge Upon Pink and Azure Plains Part 4

Her umbrella was beginning to burst under the pressure, but Yǔfēi held it together. The storm she had captured was an atmospheric Calamity. The heavy rainfall pattern would have been enough to devastate the arid ecosystem here and any burgeoning plant life, so she opened her umbrella and imprisoned it. It was struggling against her grip and her head still hurt from being bombarded with missiles from Khangal Urantsog. She questioned why the other woman was deeply antagonistic to her, especially since she held an amulet as well. Either way, her vision was swimming and she found herself losing consciousness every few seconds as she flew above the steppes.

Yǔfēi wondered about the mysterious Snake...she didn't feel like condemning would make sense. Her mind worked differently than hers... If she did mean harm, she would have targeted Khangal Urantsog...why the need for secrecy?

Her eyes blinked, and within seconds, she plummeted out of the sky. The contusions and the bruises made it too hard for her to maintain flying. She tried to wrest her eyes open, but they refused to obey her commands. The black crystal tried to pry her eyes open, but it failed. Her umbrella and antlers felt like a dead weight slowly sending her to the earth. Some part of her grip was loosening on the umbrella, but she clutched as tightly as she could. She had to keep it contained, no matter what. Despite fighting the instinct with every fibre of her being, she eventually loosened her grip on the umbrella. Her azure claws were turning back into her human hands, and she felt her antlers disappearing. I'm sorry, she thought faintly, on the verge of losing consciousness. At least Ménmén was safe with Tenhou Mihira...

Someone was calling for her and she heard thundering hooves across the plains. She struggled to open her eyes. All she could see was a white blur and the sound of wind blowing hard across the plains. It wasn't her, so—Mihira?!

She didn't have the energy to make a sound, let alone scream. Note to self: Make sure Tenhou Mihira stayed where she was at all times. She was still falling, her umbrella couldn't be opened, and the wind was faltering. She tried to open her eyes fully to no avail.

"I got you!"

Mihira conjured up a current of wind, enough to hold Hua-san's body until she figured out a better solution. Would the others be able to help? She didn't think that Urantsog-san could help with her rockets. Hua-san might be even more injured than she was right now, and she needed that energy to help close the umbrella. Mihira floated above her. What would Hua-san do...

She would assess the situation first. They were falling, and Hua-san was shifting rapidly between her human and dragon forms. Mihira briefly caught a glimpse of the Calamity struggling to break free, so she sent a whirlwind to close it shut. That worked for now. She summoned more updrafts to slow down her body, but they were still descending. What should she do, what should she—

There was no time to move. Before Mihira noticed it, a stray lightning bolt escaped from the umbrella and launched itself into the air, striking the middle of her back.

So she went tumbling, tumbling....

Both Yǔfēi and Mihira were descending rapidly now, passing through several clouds and the pale ground coming ever closer. She made out two dark dots, the Snake and Khangal Urantsog. She wanted to call out to them, but the strength to yell never came. Tenhou Mihira was falling slower than her, the wings adding additional drag to her descent. If Yǔfēi could control the descent—she had to risk it. She loathed this decision, but she would rather have a Calamity run amok than for Mihira to fall to her death.

Yǔfēi opened her umbrella, unleashing the Calamity. She waited for an infinity—

Nothing. There was no crackling of lightning, no downpour of rain, no dark skies. Yǔfēi felt that her body was larger now, and the ground closer. She flexed her hands—her claws? She was a dragon, but she couldn't ascend and Mihira was still falling. She tried to grab hold of Mihira, but the ground was closer than she expected.