Heaven's Golden Finger

Escaping Hell

Chapter 28: Escaping Hell

Shun turned away from fake Shirong and tried to restore self-control. His cheeks were overheated and he had to keep the boy from seeing his expression. So many years of being the mostly unwanted one, the one who had to prove himself and his worth. And this young fool kept insisting on looking up to him when most of their sect barely tolerated his existence.

No, not just looking up to him but valuing him. Wanting him. He wasn't at all accustomed to being wanted. Oh, their Shizun cared about him, wanted him well and safe. Valued him. But not the way fake Shirong did. "Idiot," he muttered, trying not to let it get to him.

"Yes, Shixiong."

Picking up the doll, he had to admit the work was excellent. He wrapped it up in a bit of cloth from a nearby hanging and handed it back to Shirong Shidi. "Best keep it hidden away. It might be needed again." He hoped not. It'd been terrifying, those moments when he couldn't figure out how to get himself back to himself.

Of course, part of the problem was that the snake form was as much himself as the human. And he enjoyed, truly enjoyed, the sensation of being huge and powerful and capable. So capable. He was an excellent fighter in his human form but the snake form was hundreds of times stronger.

He needed to be human right now, though. They had to get out of this trap and he'd a feeling his snake form had no hope of escaping. Shun examined the room thoughtfully. Once, long ago, this had been the throne room of the Demon King, complete with an elegant tree-like device at the center. That would have been his mother's equivalent of a throne.

Now it was empty and the gold and gems that once covered it were scraped away. He wondered who'd dared steal from this place. Wondered, too, where all his mother's subjects were. So far all they'd met had been constructs, the magically crafted guards who protected the King's Hall from trespassers.

He wondered, too, where his mother was. Hadn't the story said she'd been bound here? Wouldn't this be the most likely spot to find her, trapped in spiritual ice upon her throne? "Where is she?"

"Master Qiong always told me... I mean, my predecessor... that he'd cornered her in her lair. Could he have meant her personal chambers?"

There was some sense to that. After all, she would have been protecting her egg, the one Shun hatched from. And that wouldn't have been here in the throne room. He scanned the room, spotted an opening towards the side that looked like it might lead further into the palace. "Let's look for it."

"Shixiong, shouldn't we be looking for a way back to the human realm?" Shirong Shidi sounded mildly nervous, as if he feared to face the entrapped remains of the woman his predecessor's father had helped imprison.

"At a guess, we'll find a way wherever she is. She would have been defending my father's escape from here with my egg."

Shirong Shidi considered that. Looked nervously around. And finally agreed despite himself.

#

The interior of the palace was a maze but Shun felt as if he knew it without ever having lain eyes on it before. Oh, but wait. All those dreams had shown him the paths and hidden ways of the palace. Showed him everything about the Demon World. He'd fought them, tried to ignore them. Now he was sorry he'd not paid better attention.

Still, he remembered enough to find his way from one layer of the building's peculiar interior to the next. He'd have just pushed his way directly through, ignoring the cloth walls, but that would have been risky as well. One never knew what the palace's protections would do if he behaved like an intruder.