Blue Dragon

scraping sound at the dining room door. John rose; we both knew who it was.
    He opened the door and Leo entered unsteadily, his hind end wandering out of control every few steps. ‘I hope you’re including me in this.’
    ‘Yeah, Leo’s a beast, I saw that,’ the Tiger said loudly. ‘How the hell did this happen, Ah Wu? I’ve never seen anything like this before. The Lion was human .’
    Neither John nor I said anything.
    Leo made his way to the chair next to John’s. ‘I don’t think I can do it on my own yet,’ he said. ‘Anybody care to help me?’
    ‘You’re too big to sit on one of Ah Wu’s dining chairs, you’d break it,’ the Phoenix said, and the chair next to Leo transformed into a large rosewood chest.
    The Phoenix used PK to raise him like a kitten being lifted by the scruff of the neck, his legs curled in front of his vertical body. She lowered his back end gently onto the chest and his front end onto the table.
    ‘Thanks,’ he said.
    ‘My pleasure,’ the Phoenix said.
    ‘How did this happen?’ the Dragon said. ‘Humans don’t change like that.’
    ‘I do,’ I whispered.
    ‘Yeah, that’s right,’ the Tiger said. ‘Must be something to do with continuous prolonged exposure to the extremely peculiar Xuan Wu creature.’
    ‘Or black chi,’ I said miserably.
    All of them stiffened at that. They studied me intensely. I even felt more than one of them turn their Inner Eye on me.
    ‘That is my Lady and your Regent that you are prying into,’ John said forcefully, and the examination stopped.
    ‘Black chi?’ the Tiger said, slightly too loudly. ‘You, Emma? Black chi? Really? Whoa.’
    ‘Demon,’ the Dragon said.
    ‘Oh, will you give it a fucking break , Ah Qing,’ the Tiger said, leaning back and slapping his hand on the table. ‘I looked inside her, and she told me herself, truthfully, that she is not a demon.’
    ‘Show us, dear,’ the Phoenix said gently. ‘Just a very small amount, don’t over-stress yourself.’
    I held my hands out and generated a ball of black chi about the size of a tennis ball.
    ‘Move it in front of me, I want to see it,’ the Tiger said.
    I moved the chi so that it was about ten centimetres from his nose. He gingerly held out a hand and touched it. ‘Yep, that’s the same stuff, all right. Maybe you’re right, Ah Qing.’
    ‘My Lady is no demon,’ John said. ‘And I suspect that I could generate a similar thing if circumstances warranted. Also, I have investigated, and the effect that this chi produces is entirely different to that produced by the King.’
    ‘There’s a King that does stuff like that?’ Leo said as I reabsorbed the chi. ‘Which King?’
    ‘King of the Demons, Leo,’ I whispered.
    ‘Leo, I want you to come with me,’ the Lady said. She had been silent throughout the entire exchange. ‘I would like to look at you. I may be able to remedy the situation.’
    She gracefully rose, raised her hand, and Leo disappeared. ‘I will examine him in your practice room, Ah Wu,’ she said. ‘I may be able to reverse the process. I will return when I am sure one way or the other. I do not think you require me in these arrangements.’
    ‘Mercy,’ John said softly, and she disappeared as well.
    ‘This black chi turns people into beasts?’ the Tiger said.
    ‘He was the first human I’ve hit it with,’ I said, ‘and it was an accident. It bounced off one of those fake metal elementals.’ The Tiger nodded, understanding. ‘Sometimes it doesn’t do anything at all; sometimes it changes the demon to another type of demon; and once it…’ I stopped, unable to finish.
    ‘It what?’ the Phoenix said. ‘What?’
    ‘It changed a demon into a human being,’ John said.
    There was complete silence.
    ‘Why didn’t you tell us about this, Ah Wu?’ the Dragon said softly. ‘This is most important.’
    ‘No, it isn’t,’ I said, ‘because I’ll never use it again. The results are too destructive and unpredictable. Heaven knows what it’ll do next time. Never again.’
    ‘What if it’s life or death?’ the Tiger said.
    ‘Then death,’ I said. ‘That stuff is too dangerous.’
    ‘What if it’s life or death for Simone ?’ the Dragon said.
    I was silent. He was right. I wondered what would happen if I used it on myself.
    ‘Let’s return to the topic at hand,’ John said. ‘After the Lady and I have done the feed for seven days, the Tiger and I will go in. Dragon, Phoenix, will you remain with the