Encountering a dragon (part one)

Zhou Residence · A small courtyard

With a sharp crack, Zhou Yao's body trembled slightly, as though a thin current had shot through her. The bedchamber was pitch-black, and faint sounds suddenly stirred upon the previously quiet bed.

But just before they could wake the maid sleeping in the outer room, the sounds stopped again.

"Where am I?" Zhou Yao woke and drew a deep breath. She moved her fingers and discovered that not only had she suddenly awakened, but she was no longer on the bed in her chamber. Instead, she was suspended in a void.

Distant stars and the fathomless darkness seemed to have cut her off from reality.

It was absurd, yet mysterious.

She lowered her head and realized that she was floating in midair, with nothing but emptiness beneath her. She felt so light that her entire body seemed hollow.

Stranger still, brilliant light suddenly erupted in the distance, where only scattered stars had shone. Clusters of radiance shot up from various points below and burst apart, beautiful and breathtaking.

The already mysterious, unfathomable world sprang to life beneath their glow.

Amid those clusters of light, the phantom of a dragon formed from golden radiance slowly sharpened into focus.

Then the golden dragon raised its head and let out a long cry. Zhou Yao seemed to hear a clear, ringing sound carried down from ancient times.

That clear, resonant voice bore an unmistakable majesty.

Perhaps the shock had made her very soul tremble and left her imagining things, but she even felt that the cry came not from one dragon, but from two dragons calling out together.

Yet she quickly pushed that conjecture aside.

After all, she could plainly see the phantom of only one dragon.

"Are you there?" She stood dazed for a moment before