"Where am I?" a woman who looked like she was in her early thirties opened her eyes with a hazy look in them. Within those beautiful black orbs was confusion concerning her current state. She lay upon a comfortable bed, with there was a table full of snacks right next to her. Her eyes traveled across the room, taking in every detail around her. The room she was resting in wasn't large, but it wasn't small either. Its white walls were complemented neatly by the emerald colored ceiling. The room was relatively empty, with the exception of her bed, a few chairs, and the bedside table. She tried sitting up, but fell back down immediately upon her first attempt. Her entire body felt sore, and the terrible pain forced a few pitiful groans out her throat.
"Argh," she tried sitting up again, and succeeded this time. The pain hadn't grown milder, but that mattered little to her. She failed the first time because she wasn't expecting the pain, but this time she was. And she prepared herself to power through it. She was used to being independent, and had been through worse situations.
Her lovely eyes trailed down her body, looking for what exactly was wrong. With her strength, she shouldn't be finding it so difficult to sit up, yet that small step drained her of much of her energy. So she was curious to find the source of her pain, and she found it quickly. Her midsection – abdomen to be perfectly accurate – was wrapped entirely in thick red bandages. No wait, the bandages weren't red, but were stained with blood! Her hands traveled to her abdomen, and she caressed the bandaged area delicately. She grimaced in pain from her own caress, and took her hand off her belly. Slowly she lay back down onto the bed, wondering what exactly had happened. However, she hardly had a minute to think when the door to her room was opened delicately, and a woman whose looks rivaled hers entered.
"Shadow! You're up!" the beautiful woman exclaimed in surprise seeing her friend's eyes glued on her figure. She rushed to the woman called Shadow and gently hugged her.
"Argh," Shadow couldn't help but groan in pain from the gentle hug. She smiled bitterly knowing that this was unlike her usual strong headed personality.
"I'm sorry! I was too excited." The woman hurriedly apologized. "How are you feeling?" she asked as she grabbed one of the chairs and pulled it next to Shadow's bed. Then she sat down next to Shadow.
"My entire body feels sore Swift. What happened?" Shadow rubbed her aching head with a confused expression on her face and asked. Since she couldn't remember what happened, she might as well ask her friend. She could use her help after all.
"You don't remember?" Swift asked with a slightly uncomfortable expression. She fidgeted within her seat, and Shadow didn't miss this.
"You're already in your forties. What are you shy about? Tell me what happened." Shadow frowned and said. Indeed, Swift wasn't as young as she looked. She looked like someone in her mid-twenties, but she was actually in her forties. And she wasn't the only one. Shadow looked just as young, but she was actually a few years older than Swift!
"It's not that I don't want to tell you," Swift shook her head with a bitter smile. "But…" her words were cut off by the sound of the door being opened.
"I told her not to," a woman with an otherworldly countenance entered the room, followed by another beautiful woman. The door was closed gently behind them, and they both picked up some chairs and brought them next to Shadow's bed.
Shadow waited for them to sit down, and then asked the question she wanted to ask, "Why Captain?" It was a simple but candid statement, and it contained what she wanted to know.
"Because this isn't something you should hear from Swift," the other beautiful woman said, and Shadow turned to look at her.
"Then are you going to be the one to tell me about what happened, Queen?" Shadow asked.
"No," Queen shook her head with a tranquil expression. "But Captain will," she added before Shadow could say anything else. Shadow nodded her head and turned to look at her captain.
"Those bandages need to be changed," her Captain wasn't in a rush, and she pointed at Shadow's bandages with a concerned expression on her face. The white color of the bandages had been drowned out by the red color of her blood. It was now filthy, and it wasn't safe to have Shadow keep that on for fear of infections.
"Tell me what I want to know, and then I would change it," Shadow kept her eyes fixed on her Captain and said.
"Shadow! Show Captain some respect" Queen berated with a displeased expression. Shadow only turned to look at her briefly with her expression as serene as ever. Then she returned her gaze to her Captain.
"It's okay. You should know better than anyone that when Shadow makes up her mind, nothing would force her to change it. Which is a strange attitude for a Snake to have by the way." Their Captain shook her head with a tranquil expression on her face.
"Besides, our banter is making Swift uncomfortable," The Captain of the team turned to look at the uncomfortable Swift and said. "How are you Swift? Any residual effects of the poison left?" the Captain enquired.
"It only gave a paralyzing effect, Captain Celestial. There was no other negative effect." Swift replied a bit nervously.
The Captain nodded her head and then said, "It's been years yet you still refer to me by 'Captain Celestial'. I have told you to either call me Celestial or Captain – not both. I know that you are the youngest, but that doesn't mean that you should act so reserved around us." Celestial stated.
"Yes Captain Celestial," Swift shifted nervously and said. Celestial shook her head with a frustrated expression on her face and turned to face the now impatient Shadow.
"So, what happened?" Shadow asked impatiently.
"Well, do you remember that you were in a fight against Black Hand?" Celestial asked. The team of four here were the members of the Indigo Team – Celestial Fairy, Indigo Queen, Indigo Shadow, and Swift Indigo.
Indigo Shadow furrowed her brows as she tried to recollect her memory based on the clues she had been given. She found the fragments soon enough, and her eyes regained some semblance of clarity when she put the pieces together.
"I do now," she replied with her hand on her head.
"Can you tell us the last thing you remember?" Celestial Fairy asked, and Indigo Shadow tried thinking about the last part of the fragments she had put together before nodding her head and saying,
"I remember that the match was quite close. And I remember that I managed to get the upper hand at some stage. And then I tried finishing the match off. But that is where everything goes blank."
"Good. Then you are right on track." Celestial Fairy nodded her head and said.
"So are you going to tell me how I went from that to looking like this?"
"Yes. For starter's we lost the match." Celestial Fairy stated, and Indigo Shadow nodded her head nonchalantly. Her expression was very serene, and so were the expressions of the others. It was almost like they didn't care too much about the outcome of the match anyway.
"Secondly, do you remember the story of the Black Dragon Of The East?" Celestial Fairy asked.
"Of course. Everyone in our world knows that story." Indigo Shadow replied almost immediately. Which Predator didn't know the story of the Black Dragon Of The East? And she was no exception.
"What does a made up story have to do with this?" Indigo Shadow asked with a slightly irritated expression. In her eyes, all what Celestial Fairy was doing was to distract her with things that had nothing to do with what she really wanted to know.
Celestial Fairy didn't care about Indigo Shadow's indignant expression. She went on to say what she wanted to say.
"There was a Mystic Path User whose power was legendary. Like other Mystic Path Users, his abilities were several notches above that of us New Types, and even among his Mystic Path peers, only a handful could match up to him. But he had an advantage over the few who were comparable to him in strength, and that advantage was his youthfulness. He was very young, the youngest genius our world has ever known. And there was no doubt that by the time he peaked, he would be the strongest warrior in the world, for he was already a Nightmare at the age of 35. It was an amazing feat, but there was no time for him to revel in his genius. He had barely been crowned a Nightmare when the Winged Serpent appeared. The Winged Serpent was strong. It was so strong that the Nightmares who went against it perished. The Mystic Path Warriors had no choice, but to band together and face this fearsome beast. Yet only a few of them survived, and this young genius was one of them. But just like the others, he was riddled with injuries, and it was said that his strength declined. He left to fight the Winged Serpent as the Black Warrior. And returned as the Black Dragon Of The East. But he was never heard of again."
"I know the story Celestial. What does that have to do with my condition?" Indigo Shadow narrowed her eyes and asked, not bothering to hide her dissatisfaction.
"There was a rumor that the descendants of the Black Dragon Of The East were alive. And that they were in league with The Citadel. But we had found no evidence to support this claim, so we rubbished them as just rumors – until now."
"Are you saying…"
"Yes. That's exactly what I am saying. I am saying that you are lucky to be alive after facing a Dragon's Descendant!"