The Butterfly Dream

When Lin Hai pushed the heavy golden door open wide enough to slip through, the scene beyond slowly came into view. Even with all he had seen and experienced, its ancient grandeur left him shaken.

The vast Stone Prison was almost completely dark. Only a faint golden glow at its center lit the endless black.

Lin Hai looked closer. At the center stood an enormous circular stone platform, about half a meter above the floor. Dazzling golden runes covered it, giving off the faint light. Together, they formed an Imprison array—the key to sealing and protecting this place.

The glow also illuminated the Stone Prison's centerpiece: a skeleton of Dragon Bone that nearly filled the immense chamber.

It lay across the circular platform, its jagged outline occupying almost every inch of space.

Each segment of its thick spine was as wide as an adult's waist, stretching away in a winding chain. Its enormous ribs stood like rows of ruined arches that still seemed to hold up the heavens. Lin Hai could only imagine how immense the creature had been in life.

An air of desolation and death filled the chamber, threaded with a faint sense of undying divinity.

Lin Hai walked toward the platform and the vast skeleton. As he drew closer, he noticed smaller fragments scattered on the floor beneath it. They looked like pieces that had broken away naturally.

But the fragments were unevenly distributed. Some areas had clearly been picked clean.

Together with the signs that the door had been opened many times, the gaps told him what had happened. Alexandra must have taken those fragments during her repeated visits, using the naturally shed scraps to barely sustain her dwindling life.

Lin Hai reached out and touched a rib thicker than his entire body. The instant his