From the Ashes of Love

Chapter 66

The Heavenly Emperor Runyu sat at his desk in Zifangyun Palace, reviewing a scroll. Lia usually worked with her plants at this hour, so this was a quiet time.

Suddenly Lia came running into the room.

"Can I borrow this?" she asked, picking up a brush from the pile of writing tools.

Runyu nodded, shrugging. She ran off with it. Runyu turned back to his scroll, but his curiosity got the better of him. He followed Lia out to the garden.

She was precariously balancing on a chair that she had placed next to one of her planter boxes. Her outstretched arm held the brush up to the flowers at the top of a large bush. It looked like she was painting inside the flowers, one right after another, trying to cover the whole bush.

"What are you doing?" Runyu asked her incredulously.

She turned quickly at the sound of his voice. Too quickly! She overbalanced on the chair and fell. Runyu reacted swiftly, barely catching her before she hit the ground. He sighed in relief, holding her in his arms. He helped her to stand up.

"Are you okay, Lia?" he asked her.

She nodded emphatically. "Yes, Thank you! I'm fi..." she couldn't finish her sentence. She grabbed at her abdomen, wincing.

"What's wrong?" Runyu asked worriedly.

"My belly feels strange" she replied in confusion. "Like something moved inside of me."

Runyu placed his hand on her abdomen, noticing that it was mildly swollen. There was something there! He got down on his knees and put his ear against her stomach. There was a light thrumming sound, almost like a hummingbird's wings. Puzzled, he used his magic, shooting a beam of blue light into her abdomen.

He gasped as the realization hit him.

"Lia!" he exclaimed, looking up at her face. "You have a baby in there!"

Lia's jaw dropped. She placed a hand on her stomach tentatively. Then she smiled.

"Really? Are you sure?" she asked him in a whisper.

Runyu nodded. Then he stood up and lifted Lia in his arms.

"We have a baby in there!" he exclaimed, spinning her around in a circle. They laughed together.

"A little baby Dragon!" Lia said ecstatically.

"Hello?" called a voice from outside the gate.

Runyu walked over to the gate, still euphoric. "Who's there?" he asked in a cheerful voice.

"Your Majesty, it's Lao. I have an urgent matter to discuss with you!" said the Supreme Lord Lao.

"Ah, ok" said Runyu. He looked at Lia, "duty calls" he told her with a sigh. He opened the force field and let him in the gate.

Lord Lao carried a scroll case with him. He greeted Lia, and then pointed to the brush in her hand. "Are you painting?" he asked her.

"Oh, no" Lia replied laughing. "I was pollinating."

Lord Lao looked at her brush with interest. "Please tell me more" he requested.

Lia pointed to the flowers on her plants. "The pollen from these flowers needs to go to other flowers, but there are no insects here to do that. So I am doing it myself" she explained.

Lord Lao nodded interestedly.

Runyu interjected, "you said you had an urgent matter to discuss?"

"Oh yes, I do!" He tapped his scroll case. Then he looked nervously at Lia.

"Let's go to the library" Runyu recommended. Lord Lao looked relieved.

Once they were seated, Lord Lao opened up his scroll case and pulled out a few documents.

"It's about the Elixir of Etherealization" Lord Lao began. "I hadn't reviewed my notes on this topic for quite awhile, so I had forgotten a key point. Also, at the time that I gave you the Elixir, I had no idea that you intended to give it to a woman." He opened a scroll, searching for a specific part.

"Ah, yes, here is the part about He Xiangu. She was the only other woman who this Elixir has been used upon. In my notes here, I wrote down that it is imperative that she stay pure." He pointed to the requisite passage.

Runyu lifted his eyebrows in surprise. "Why?" he asked.

Lord Lao cleared his throat nervously. "The way the Elixir works is that it hardens and perfects the skin of the subject, creating an impenetrable barrier to outside factors that would cause bodily deterioration. Thus a mortal body can live as long as an immortal spirit."

He paused for a breath. "However, the anatomy of a mortal human female has a weakness. They have an extra opening that leads directly inside their body, and the use of that opening is to create new life."

He then continued his lecture, "Now, a pure woman has a flap of skin that covers that opening, but once that flap of skin is broken it will never grow back. The Elixir will harden that piece of skin enough that most mortal men would never be able to break through it, but you are a Dragon." Lord Lao's gaze traveled down to Runyu's waist, and then hurriedly looked away.

"Uh, it would be immensely painful for the woman, I imagine. Probably an excessive amount of blood" he commented.

Runyu looked at Lord Lao in confusion, "there was a lot of blood" he admitted, "but she survived the experience just fine."

Lord Lao looked embarrassed. "The real danger is if she bears a child. A human female carries a baby inside of her for almost a year. It's a dangerous undertaking, I'm afraid. Almost half of the women in the Mortal Realm die while trying to deliver a baby. Those are the offspring of just normal mortal men. The offspring of a Dragon..." his voice trailed off and he shook his head regretfully.

Runyu felt like his heart had stopped. He clutched at his chest, panic-stricken. What had he done?

"What if we get the baby out now, before it can kill her?" Runyu asked desperately.

"No! I'm too late!" cried Lord Lao, crestfallen.

"I don't think that will work, Your Majesty. Dragons are immensely powerful beings. Even a baby Dragon will defend itself. What happened to all the people who tried to kill you?" he asked. "I believe that trying to kill the child will only hasten your wife's demise" Lord Lao stated sadly.

Outside the door there was a crash. Runyu opened the door to see Lia standing there, a tray of tea things smashed on the floor at her feet. Her face was gray.

Runyu grabbed her and hugged her tightly, "it's going to be okay, Lia" he said emotionally. "We will find a way to fix this. We have time. I WILL save you" he promised.

Lia nodded unsurely. She placed a hand on her belly and looked down at it, then she looked back up at Runyu. There was fear in her eyes.