Descendants of the Dragon, Book One: The Mandate of Heaven

Chapter 7: The Jade City

"Damn, that smarts!" Aiden cried, as he landed unceremoniously, sprawled out onto a street paved with some kind of green stone. They were in some kind of a tunnel that was also carved out of the same green mineral. The walls cast a sickly shade upon everything, which wasn't exactly helping his flip-flopping stomach.

"I was beginning to worry you weren't going to make the jump," Kun said helpfully.

Aiden looked up at his tour guide of this strange new world and gave him a rueful look. "I didn't have anyone to push me off this time." He picked himself off the ground and straightened his shirt around his portly stomach.

"I have apologized repeatedly for that, Aiden, but you do have a tendency to drag your feet," Kun replied.

"Hey, you'd better be careful talking to me like that. You're talking to a prince," Aiden said snarkily. He pulled himself up straight and puffed out his chest.

Kun closed his eyes, gathering patience that he was rapidly losing. "I am beginning to regret that I told you about that. You are not exactly a prince. You do not have noble blood. You are merely a contender for the throne. The city's nobility was not quite sure how to react to this new development in the hierarchy, so the title of 'Heir' was created."

"Sounds like a prince to me."

"That is still not—Ah, you are dragging your feet again." Kun sighed.

"I think most people will drag their feet when they're told to jump through a portal through space and time or to leap off of a cliff. You know, if these supposed gods of yours went to the trouble of making a magical entrance to their magical city, you'd think they would've done something a bit more spectacular. Like a zip line into the city. Or a panda that could carry you there."

Aiden laughed to himself. "Panda Express." Laughing helped him move on from the fact that he had just jumped off of a cliff into what could very well be an alternate universe. Laughing helped take his mind away from the fact that it was slowly being chipped away with each new impossibility that was performed before his very eyes.

The joke went straight over Kun's head, who said with a blank face, "It is not supposed to be an easy entrance. The point is to make sure that only those who—"

"Yeah, yeah," Aiden said glibly. "Only those who are closest to the gods can enter. But seriously. You'd think the creators of the universe would've had some more creativity."

Kun raised an eyebrow. "You obviously do not know how the universe was created."

"A big bang? Seven days? Once upon a time?" Aiden shrugged. "Don't know and don't care. To be honest, even if you told me, it wouldn't help anything, because I don't believe half the things you tell me." He looked around again. "So tell me where we are exactly."

Kun adjusted his belt and picked at his shirt, as if both were uncomfortable for him. Aiden was discovering that his cousin was filled to the brim with a heaping pile of nervous tics and habits. "We are still in the Kunlun Mountains, of course. Where exactly, no one knows for sure. Some speculate that the Jade City exists between the physical and spiritual worlds. That would explain a lot of the city's magical defenses."

"Cool. So we're in Chinese Narnia."

Kun opened his mouth to say something. He must have thought better of it, because he closed his mouth and shook his head. "Perhaps it would be best if we continued on towards the palace. They are expecting you there."

Aiden nodded. "Right, right. This whole royalty thing."

"Erm, yes. The royalty thing."

Aiden allowed Kun to lead him through the tunnel of green. "So what's with all the green?" he asked. Then he answered his own question. "Oh, right. Jade City. Jade's kind of the theme around here then, yeah?"