Split Soul

He wasn’t in his body anymore. He was one with Qinglong’s soul. Blue light slithered and merged into black. Qinglong’s dragon struggled against a darkness thick and stubborn, swallowing and dissolving everything around it.

“Bailong. Stay with us.” Compulsion passed through his soul. Scent of family filled his senses. He struggled to open his eyes. Light was sharp, darkness was easy. A veil blocked the light, then it tipped forward and emptied.

Bailong slipped back to Qinglong. The vision cleared. The dragon roared, its soul, escaped the blackness. Wisps of them found light.

Qinglong, or a part of him, was in the darkness and yet it was also back in the throne room again. There stood Sunbird King, holding a hand over the black dragon’s chest where light, pure sunlight pierced into the darkness.

The black dragon roared.