FSE

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I could understand Mandarin well enough to get me where I wanted to go in Shanghai, but communication was a far different beast in a province a thousand miles away from what one might say resembles modern civilization. The villages here are tribal in nature, still reliant on medicine men and chief-like figures, and each seemed to have their own unique dialect that differed from the others. Without the aid of Williams, my guide, I doubt I would have gotten this far.

Williams was a tall, burly man who often had to duck to get into the straw-roofed huts that we visited along the way. He had light green eyes, a combed mustache, and scruffy brown bangs that were only inches away from obscuring his vision. He claimed to be from New York, but his accent said otherwise.

We met at a pub in Shanghai, a day before I was set to leave for Xinjiang. Being the only pale-skinned men there, naturally we took up conversation. I learned that he was in China on the behalf of a domestic business that was looking for new trade partners, but had found little success.

I asked him why he hadn't gone back to America. He told me that he had gambled away his money, and couldn't afford the ticket. It was perfect. A year working in the slums here made people desperate. I offered him the chance to be my translator, and in exchange, I'd pay him handsomely. He didn't ask many questions.

* * *

The journey was treacherous to put it lightly. The closer we got to our destination, the less helpful the locals became -- probably because we didn't have much money or goods to trade. However, travelling lightly was a necessity, especially this far west. Had we brought along valuables, I have no doubt that we would have been robbed.

Williams proved to be much more valuable than my previous partners. Not only was he able to understand the local dialects, his size was intimidating to most we interacted with. One of his legs was about as wide as some of the Chinese.

He, along with a map that I had unearthed in one of my previous excursions, kept us on a steady schedule, which was essential due to our limited food supply. I had only packed enough for one person on the way back, and delays could cause that to run dry early.

* * *

"Will I know what we're looking for once we get there, Professor?" Williams asks from a few steps behind me.

It took him long enough to get curious. "Of course. I expect them to be quite recognizable, not something we would pass without noticing."

"Them?"

"I use the plural hesitantly, since the records seemed to suggest that there is only one statue, but being that they're always referred as the sun and moon dragons, I suspect that there are two."

I glance down at the map. Letting him see it might build trust, which is going to be essential. "Have a look for yourself. We're almost there anyway." I hand the map to him. He takes it, crinkling the edges slightly with his pudgy hands. He studies it, contorting his eyebrows and tilting it from side to side, trying to make sense of the archaic symbols and directions.

"I guess I shouldn't have been expecting an 'X' marking the spot, huh?" he asked, looking up at me. "How can you read this? Most of the text has been smeared away."

"It took a lot of work in the library," I say, not lying, but without giving him the whole truth. It had taken months to decipher the maps meaning, but the smearing having been done recently by my own hand. I had memorized it all before doing so, but carrying around live information was never the wisest of ideas.

He returns his attention to the map without speaking again. Explaining how exactly I figured out the right path would be tedious, and he wouldn't understand it anyway. "Like a jigsaw puzzle."

"My kids would love that sort of thing. They used to do puzzles all the time," he says, looking down at his feet, probably remembering some of the things he did with his family before he met me.

A few years ago, I wouldn't know how to respond to such a statement.

"You'll see them soon," I say, offering a smile.

This time, it was a lie.

* * *

I was wrong. Standing before us on a gray stone pedestal is a magnificent orange dragon statue. Its body is more like a serpent than the dragons of my culture, and is prideful, its horned head pointing valiantly eastward. I take care not to look directly into its eyes, but from a safe distance I can see that they blaze with the fury of the sun.

Among the scattered pieces of information I obtained in the past, there should be a second dragon, standing directly across from this one, facing west.

Right there.

My eyes fall on a second pedestal, equal in size to the first, but this one barren. Like the one with the dragon, this stone structure is perfectly preserved, despite being surrounded by remains of what I assume to be a mausoleum of some kind that had given way to time long ago.

My notes warned me to avoid meeting the dragon's gaze, but never specified exactly as to why. I know from experience to heed such warnings.

I raise my head to look at the sky. The sun is about to set, meaning we would have to wait another day to... of course.

"Williams, would you mind standing on that pedestal across from the dragon? I want to get a quick sketch in before dark, and it would help me if you would serve as a size reference."

He does as I ask, taking more care than necessary to climb up onto the stone slab, probably fretting over breaking it, as if he actually could. The dragon is larger than him, and their shapes could not be more foreign to one another. One was an overgrown ape and the other a majestic beast of lore.

"Like this, Professor?"

"Good. Now if you could just turn so you're facing it."

He does so, and the moment he locks eyes with his opposite, his cheery expression falters. I raise my brow.

"Something wrong, Williams?"

"Its eyes, they're not... they're hard to describe. Unnatural. It's like I'm looking at the sun, but without being blinded."

"Interesting, what else? Is it saying anything? Anything at all?"

"It's a statue, why would it be-- wait, no--"

The muscles in Williams's neck twitch, as if he had tried to turn his head while someone much stronger was holding onto it firmly. His arms shutter and he clenches his jaws.

"Can't look away from his eyes. He--"

"He?"

"He wants... he wants me. He wants me to... no, no! Get me down! I won't!" Williams's muscles tense up again, and he jerks his arm in my direction, but he doesn't get far. He collapses down onto the platform and gets on all fours, but not by his own will; more like he was forced by something that I couldn't see.

I look directly up at him, but he seems not to notice me. "What does he want, Williams? What does he want you to do?"

His words are fragmented, as if he was being choked of air and only able to force out short bursts.

"Wants me to... replace him. Says-- day has been too long. Balance nee-- restored!"

"Who is he?"

"Please-- get me-- Oh God, please--"

He chokes once and then falls silent, another bead of sweat rolling down the side of his head.

* * *

Williams's clothes were becoming prickly and brittle, and had started falling apart at the edges, as if they were aging at an unnaturally fast pace. I could see that his fingers had grown out, forming into curved claws with nail-like talons at the tips.

"Please... stop, please. No, God, no."

"That isn't going to help you, Williams. What is he telling you?"

"Can't feel. Everything stiff. Hate you."

"Oh come now, if I had known what was going to happen I wouldn't have asked of you such a thing."

I examine one of his arms more closely. It was smooth as glass, without a trace of even a single strand of hair or moles. I could see it segmenting into circles, all equal in size. The beginnings of scales.

"Just relax. If you don't think about it... well, actually, I doubt that would help much at this point."

Opposite him, the sun dragon stood firm. Curious, I place a hand on its foreleg. The scales felt oddly soft for a statue. I pull back and examine my palm. There is a thin layer of black dust covering it.

* * *

"Still feeling stiff, Williams?"

No answer. I look up from my notes. His mouth had become elongated at this point, and the scales much more prominent. They were a silvery white, almost glowing in the dying sunlight. At the back of his head, a pair of horns had protruded from somewhere underneath his hair, which had been slowly falling out over the past hour.

I move along to his mouth, or rather, his snout. It is sealed shut. I frown.

"Tch, guess I won't be getting anything else out of you. Shame." I pause, and then examine his eyes. It wasn't as if he could do anything about it just yet.

"Is it cold?" I ask, knowing full well I wouldn't get a response. "The Moon is seen as a dark, desolate place, the harbinger of the night. Nothing more than a shadow of the Sun, really. Though, I suppose you have your partner for warmth. Do his eyes bring you comfort, Williams? You're doing him a favor, you know. He has probably stood here for generations, never having seen the skyline you're seeing right now."

I look back to the sun dragon, who by this point has taken on a much more human shape and color. All except for his eyes, which still bore into Williams's with a fiery passion. His tail has mostly retreated into his lower back. He is no longer beautiful to look at, just half a beast. Stuck between worlds.

* * *

Nearly two hours in, and Williams's features have become sleek and toned. His tail has grown out to full length, and his legs have cracked in places as to allow them to appear more dragon-like. I doubt he felt anything when it happened, but it was sickening to hear regardless. He has a spiked spine that runs along the whole of his body, which is shaped like a serpent.

His face no longer looks terrified. He is collected and mysterious, gazing back at the sun dragon with a longing for answers in his blue moon eyes.

The sun dragon is almost human. He is standing on two legs, and is back to what I imagine is his original size, just slightly shorter than me. What I cannot explain is his clothing, which looks to be traditional garb of someone out of 16th century China. Williams's clothes broke away after they became brittle, and crumbled to dust soon after. Would he too get them back if a new sun dragon met his gaze?

I back away from the former sun dragon as he cracks his muscles, allowing them to breathe for the first time in centuries. I was poised, ready to run if necessary. He may have been forced into the transformation after committing some crime, after all.

But that fear is eliminated after his hair grows back in, which is ghostly white. He is old and frail, his skin eerily light for a man of the East. Very slowly, he steps down from the pedestal, and then makes his way over to Williams.

He places a hand on his neck, almost tenderly, and then speaks in an old form of Chinese.

"I am truly sorry that you must suffer this fate, but it is no longer my burden to carry. I cannot undo what has been done."

He turns away and begins to move along the path towards the mountains Williams is gazing at. "I have yearned to see those mountains for longer than you have been alive, my friend. But, as the sun sets, the moon must rise."

I consider stopping him. There is so much that I could learn from such a man, but nothing I cannot learn from Williams once I find another sun dragon. I come out from my spot behind a pillar and run my hand along Williams's side, being careful to avoid his gaze.

"I will return for you," I say, removing my hand and beginning down the path back towards civilization.

But not for a while.