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

Chapter 27: Descendants of the Dragon

Beating things up was supposed to be therapeutic, but Aiden could tell from the way that Jia was thrashing the training dummy that it wasn't quite doing the trick.

Jia stopped her assault and grabbed a towel, mopping her brow with it. "Still no word from Sam?"

"Nothing," Aiden said, shaking his head. "Kun just got back from visiting Sam's parents. They don't know where he is either. We tried using the Jade Bi, but no one's picking up the phone in Heaven, and the dragons aren't exactly forthcoming these days."

Liang walked up to them with his hands shoved in his pockets. "And then there were three."

"A week ago, this would have elated me, but now I am mortified," Jia admitted. "How could Sam walk away? Where would he go?"

Liang shrugged. He had been uncharacteristically quiet ever since they'd gotten back. It was very different, but not entirely unpleasant.

"So what do we do in the meantime?" Aiden asked.

"The plan hasn't changed. We have to find the ancient artifacts. We focus our attention there," Jia said, throwing the towel over her shoulder. "With or without Sam, we have to follow the gods' instructions."

"It will take time," Aiden said. "I don't know the old stories, but I'm willing to bet they're filled with hundreds of stories of powerful artifacts. I'm willing to bet even more that more than half of those stories are a load of bull. We'll have to do a lot of research to sort out fact from fiction."

"Maybe even scout out China itself in the ancient places," Jia suggested, catching onto his enthusiasm. "Who knows where the answer might lie?"

"And in between, we train," Aiden said.

Liang seemed to perk up. "Yeah, and we can practice our powers more, so we do not have to concentrate so much on them during fights."

"I have been thinking about using a weapon too," Jia said. "I can barely control my own power, and I do not wish to rely only on it."

"We'll have to do most of this outside of our regular schooling and training, so we'll have virtually no free time," Aiden said. "And I was kind of hoping that you would also teach me some more martial arts, Jia."

"Me?" Jia pointed to herself in surprise.

"You're clearly the best at hand-to-hand out of the three of us." He shrugged at Liang. "Sorry, it's true. What do you think?"

"I do not know. I have never taught before. I can be...an impatient person."

Aiden and Liang nodded knowingly.

"Please, Jia," Aiden said. "I'm tired of being helpless in fights, unless I turn into a big scary animal." He averted his eyes and bit the inside of his lip so hard that it bled. "Look, when Xingtian almost killed me...That was terrifying. But what was even worse was when the shui gui and yāoguài were attacking us, and I couldn't do a damn thing. I felt so-so helpless. I've come close to dying plenty of times this past month, but that was the first time I felt like I couldn't do anything to stop it. It was awful! I don't want to feel that way ever again. I...I need to be better."

Jia's eyes softened, and Aiden saw that she understood.

Not about to be outdone, Liang said, "Count me in too. I am not about to be passed up by the fat guy."

Aiden patted his stomach, which had flattened out considerably. "You know, that insult doesn't really work anymore."

Liang shrugged. "Solidarity. No offense."

"Um, some taken."

Jia said, "I still want to win the throne—"

"I still want to beat you," Liang interjected.

Aiden rolled his eyes. "And I still don't care, but I'm here anyways. Maybe I can pawn one of those ancient artifacts."

"—but I am glad I am not alone in this," Jia said, finishing her thought. "This all goes far beyond my own ambitions."

"This is going to be great," Aiden said gleefully. "We're like an actual team of superheroes now." He snapped his fingers. "We need a name! What is it they're always calling us? Ancestors of..." He frowned. "No, it was an alliteration."

Liang rolled his eyes. "I cannot tell if you are intentionally being stupid. It was the descendants of—"

The End