Chet slammed his foot atop the brakes, ripping down the road. It was almost the end of the month, and the Furukameian royal family was set to arrive soon.

  Because of that, downtown was closed and he had to take the long route. His hands were shaking as he gripped the wheel—

  Similar to how he had rushed back home to his apartment as sweat lined his brow and his breaths hammered past his nose.

  His fingers nearly broke the telephone's spinning dial as he punched the numbers in and brought the ringing line up to his ear.

  With a click, Sam’s voice answered. “I just received news from Master Banzai that the Golden Phantom is being detained by Dae-Jung.”

  Chet didn’t waste any time on an explanation. He spat in disbelief, “The dumb brat jumped forty feet in the air… to let himself get kidnapped?”

  “He’s planning something,” an unfamiliar voice cut in through the other line. “He wants us to save him, Sam! C’mon, let’s—”

  “Hush!” Sam hissed, his voice turned a tad less harsh as he directed it to Chet. “Dae-Jung is asking for ten million kin in exchange for him. The Master is still trying to formulate our next steps.”

  Chet sighed wearily, running a hand down his face. “Xian, what is that kid doing…”

  In frustration, he rested his hands in his pockets, where a thin piece of paper crackled.

  Chet’s expression hardened. Intrigued, he thumbed at the piece of paper that K passed to him earlier. He pulled it out slowly, admiring it as it reflected the light above him with its golden surface.

  “Not to worry, though. I’ll fix everything,” K had said, balancing atop an unnamed creature’s back. “In fact, I’m sure you’ll be promoted to Lieutenant if my plan goes well.”

  He clenched the ticket tighter.

  “I think K already had a plan.” Chet said, realization dawning upon him.

  “What?” Sam’s voice cracked through the receiver.

  “We need to talk,” Chet spat, shoving the ticket back into his pocket.

  Now, Chet was zipping down the highway. He didn’t even care if he was running a few red lights.

  He parted past skyscrapers and shop-fronts until eventually, he found the glimmering blues of the sea. The thick scent of salt parsed through the window he cracked open.

  Behind him, he could hear shuffling in the backseat.

  “Xian, keep your claws off the leather!” Chet bellowed. “I just got those seats replaced.”

  Of course, the Beast— Hun, K had called it— didn’t reply, sitting primly atop the backseat as a cat. With Chet looking at it now, he couldn’t believe that it had been a 10-foot flying dragon, earlier.

  K seemed happy enough to communicate with the creature. But Chet didn't possess the ability to speak to it, himself. Regardless, it happened to understand him.

  The Beast tilted its head at him as its body transformed into the shape of a snake, instead.

  “That’s a little better.” Chet sighed, slowing the vehicle as the sound of lapping waves reached his ears.

  At last, he parked the car to a stop. He had reached Tianxia’s ports.

  The entire shoreline was lined with a thick concrete road. Shipping containers were stacked atop each other, rusty and smelling of seawater. They stood as imposing as any other skyscraper in the city commons.

  It created the perfect hiding spot for Chet as he maneuvered his way out of the car. Hun silently followed with a bird-like screech, taking to the skies.

  It didn’t take Chet long to find his destination; the one he and Sam agreed upon before their phone call could end. He skulked past the shipping containers’ sharp corners, leading him deeper and deeper into a small clearing.

  In the middle of this maze of shipping containers, Chet was face-to-face with his old partner—

  And a gaggle of children.

  “Did the Triads put you in charge of babysitting, or…” Chet drawled.

  Sam’s face puffed out in anger. He was ready to spit a retort before one of the children cried, “Xian, that’s an Enforcer!”

  “Steady now, Wen,” another kid said. This one had bright white hair.

  Judging from how closely he stood beside Sam, this boy had to be his new little accomplice.

  Chet tried not to look shocked as Hun descended from the skies. The Beast landed on the boy's shoulder like he simply belonged there.

  The white-haired boy grinned. “It might come as a shock to you, but our lovely Golden Phantom was working alongside this Militia pig.”

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  “Call me a pig and see what happens next, brat,” Chet growled.

  “I can see why he and Kizuna get along,” one blonde kid sighed. “They both despise you.”

  In response, the other boy tilted his head back and let out a long laugh.

  “Stop it, all of you.” Sam, the killjoy as always, spat. He then turned to Chet, “So… what plan did Kizuna share with you?”

  Chet rifled through his pockets. “Not really a plan, per-se… but he left me this.”

  He pulled out the golden ticket, which all the faces before him seemed to recognize.

  “Kizuna offered you that ticket before he let himself get kidnapped?” Sam leveled.

  “Why… what does it mean?” Chet asked unsteadily.

  The white-haird boy’s eyes gleamed. “He wanted you to join forces with us. That’s why he left you with our only way into Dae-Jung’s barge.”

  “That’s…” Chet deflated. “That’s what I was worried about.”

  “What, you don’t want to work with us?” Sam smirked. He looked incredibly ugly.

  “No,” he sighed gruffly. “I just don’t understand why Kizuna had to do this.”

  This time, it was the white-haired boy that spoke. He sounded so self-assured, Chet was sure that Kizuna hated this boy. “Oh, don’t worry. I’m sure he’s already fulfilling his part of the plan as we speak.”

  K was dazed as they shoved him into the jail cell adjacent to the stage. They were hidden behind a massive, make-shift curtain from the audience’s eyes.

  That way, they could easily walk out of the cage, ready to be presented to the highest bidders.

  His hands were bound by an anti-Cultivational rope construct. It was created by a specific Path, one that could only be used by Wood Cores.

  The ability was taught and passed down to the most high-level of government officers—

  And the deepest of Triad dens.

  The rope made his mind sluggish. Though it did not inherently affect his Core, it did make it harder for him to think and focus…

  Which rendered him useless and unable to channel his Blessing.

  Around him, K was sure that the other prisoners were feeling the same way. He was surrounded by all manner of men, women, and children. They were dishevelled, thirsty and starving.

  It reminded K of the shelters he and his brother frequented, in the middle of Long Shore’s war. These were people who had lost the strength to live. They merely floated, relishing in the dizzy respite their ropes granted them.

  It was better than being lucid and feeling their anguish in the forefront of their minds.

  K shook his head, trying to clear his slipping thoughts. He needed to focus. There was one child here among the sea of many that he needed to find.

  He thought back to the small photograph of Isagani he had seen, days before. K thanked his photographic memory for dredging up the boy’s face from the abyss of his mind.

  Slowly, he moved to stand on his legs. The cage wasn’t very large— he could probably cross the entire width in only ten strides.

  But that didn’t mean that it wasn’t positively packed. There were at least two people sharing a single foot of space. K tiptoed around them unsteadily to find Isagani.

  His eyes settled on the groups of children, huddled together for comfort. Most of them were asleep, the effects of the anti-Cultivational ropes tiring them out. K quickly raked his gaze across them.

  And there— he found Isagani.

  Isagani looked just like he did in the photo that Tanay had laid out for him. He was a little skinnier, yet strangely tall. There were features that the monochromatic photo didn't present to K.

  His skin was tanned golden. Clearly, he hailed from somewhere across Long Shore; maybe even Ninh Son. His stark mauve hair fell in messy curtains over his shoulders. One eye was barely open, as he sat partly awake and asleep at the same time.

  He had a bruise on that eye, and a makeshift cast around his arm, cradling his elbow at a ninety degree angle. There was a haphazardly sewn eyepatch covering his right eye, as well.

  It was as if he’d been beaten.

  “Hey, sit down!” one of the sailors barked out of nowhere, a thud hitting the back of K’s head.

  He fell to the ground. Hardly a sound passed through his lips, realizing that one of the sailors had used the butt of a rifle to strike him. It didn’t matter, he’d get out of here soon enough.

  Slowly, K crawled over to the sleeping boy.

  Isagani’s flimsy cloth eyepatch was slipping from his face, because of the way the boy slumped his head.

  So, K steadied the child’s head, trying to keep it level. Then, he grabbed the eyepatch, slipping it lower so he could straighten it out.

  It was just then— that K saw it.

  Beneath the eyepatch was a perfect, glimmering shade of sapphire. It was a hue so bright and dazzling; no other Water Core could be born with such eyes.

  K swallowed around the lump that grew around his throat. All sound became deafened to his ears as he raised a trembling hand and shook the boy’s shoulder.

  “Wake up.”

  When the boy didn’t rouse, K tried harder. “Hey! Wake up.”

  “Isagani,” he called, trying to conceal his panic as he called out, “Wake up!”

  And just like that, the boy jolted awake under the palms of his hands. He gasped for air as if he had been drowning.

  His eyes jolted from left to right in a panic, his arms coming up to swat and shove K away.

  “Hush,” K said slowly as if calming a spooked horse. “It’s okay. I’m not here to hurt you—”

  “Tuan?” Isagani looked around, distraught. He eyed the children around him, turning them over. He glanced over their faces with a harried, unnerved look in his eyes.

  “He must be in one of the other shipping crates.” K replied gently, remaining as calm as he could. “They haven’t finished unloading them all.”

  When he couldn’t seem to find what he was looking for, he shot a murderous look towards K. But it withered as sorrow passed through his gaze. “No... he's not here. Not anymore.”

  K understood when loss was fresh, so he didn't speak.

  Isagani seemed to settle, staring at K warily. “Who are you? What…”

  He paused as he looked at the bodies sprawled around the cage, “...happened here?”

  “Don’t worry, I’m here to save you. I have an Enforcer and a team of people that will come and—”

  “Are you…” Isagani cut in, looking at K in sudden awe.

  K just then noticed that the boy’s hands were shaking. In fact, his entire body was; his shoulders thin and knobbly as they jutted up and down.

  The child had noticed— K’s left eye, a fantastic gold.

  It matched Isagani’s right iris in their perfection. More marvelous than any aura or Cultivational power.

  “You’ve got it too,” K breathed, almost unable to speak. “The Beast’s Blessing.”

  So this was why Banzai wanted K to rescue the child.