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“Well,” Annie said, trying to stay positive though the odds stacked against them.
“Let’s hope the stars align and we have one more loop hole to get our friends back, with Lancelot in tow.”
For that was all they could do now—
Hope.
Chapter Fifteen
“All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream.”
—Edgar Allan Poe
It seemed like a lifetime that Lancelot had been detained within the Celestial Realm. And yet, it also seemed like the blink of an eye.
He knew from the last time he was here with Arthur that time was meaningless in this plane of pure magic, and it had no correlation to how time passed on earth. A day here could mean a year on earth. Yet, a week here could be an hour on earth. There was no rhyme or reason.
Last time, he and Arthur had been trapped in an underground cavern, a particularly hidden nook whose entrance was blocked by a waterfall curtain. He could come and go as he pleased, though he was still trapped in the boundless realm. But Arthur, turned to stone, could not.
Back then, it was Arthur’s stone heart that had been the Jade Emperor’s target to acquire, for reasons no one really knew. Lancelot never could have imagined that he himself was a creature of this realm, perhaps even created by the mysterious god.
Now, looking back to his time with the Lady of the Lake, everything made more sense—
How he didn’t recall a childhood, as if he’d been put on this earth fully formed. Perhaps he’d been small once upon a time, but he was never really a child.
How he’d always been more at home in water than on solid ground. How he yearned to break free of his own skin, as if being human was a trapping he wanted to shed.
How he never questioned the existence of the magical creatures that dwelled in the “lake” with him. How he never doubted his own strength and miraculous healing.
How he was never quite at ease with humans and preferred to observe them from afar.
Except for Arthur.
Arthur had always fascinated and mesmerized him. Like a priceless treasure he wanted to claim for his own.
Since materializing in this place, he’d not been imprisoned or isolated like the way he heard Kai, and at one point, Cloud Drako had been. Having knowledge of other dragons who existed here from the acquaintanceships he made during his time in the Yukon, he had the sense that if he didn’t fight, wasn’t aggressive, and in general simply followed the “rules,” he wouldn’t be “punished.”
Like a child, he realized.
No matter that the punishment for misbehaving dragons was severe, proportional to their power and size, they were ultimately treated like children. When they behaved as the Jade Emperor and the Master bid, they were released to move around in the realm freely.
Upon Lancelot’s appearance in the Celestial Realm, he was turned immediately into his human form, dressed in tailored white robes, perfectly groomed. He didn’t fight it, simply went along.
Now that he was no longer Bonded to Arthur, now that he was fully himself again, his natural cool stoicism came in handy.
From the other dragons’ stories, he gleaned that the more hot-headed dragons fared the worst. Lancelot had always been cool and logical, and he used that now to his advantage. To keep his mind clear and his emotions subdued.
He was greeted by beautiful fairies—xian nü, they were called. They welcomed him with giant pears and peaches in baskets bigger than their torsos.
Lancelot didn’t feel hungry in this realm, though it felt like it had been forever since he’d eaten. Still, he accepted the offering and politely ate an entire peach. It was juicy, fragrant and sweet, and it made him feel… peaceful somehow.
Calm and content.
For a moment he felt as if staying here indefinitely wouldn’t be such a bad thing. In fact, why would anyone want to leave?
Ever?
He was surrounded by beauty everywhere. Gorgeous, sunny blue skies, dotted with wispy clouds. Fantastical purple and green mountains decorated with flowering trees and intricate pagodas. Glistening rivers with delicate bridges arching across them. Placid lakes that reflected the sky and earth. Waterfalls that poured soundlessly from picturesque cliffs and misted like a hazy dream over the pools below.
