Night fell like a heavy mantle over the imperial chamber. The jade lamps cast long shadows across the polished floor. Jin Long stood before the window, hands clasped behind his back, observing the firmament.
He had stopped dreaming.
No one knew this except his spiritual master, who no longer lived. Since that day, his nights were a profound emptiness, a rest without images, without memories, without echoes. He slept like an emperor: motionless, alert even in slumber.
But that night was different.
First, he felt the heat.
A faint breeze caressed his skin as if the sun were inside his chest. He slowly sat down on the black dragon divan, trying to ignore it. He closed his eyes. And the dream... came.
A field covered with white lotus flowers.
A tranquil lake.
A sky red as if dawn were trapped in the night.
And there, amidst it all, Suwei.
Barefoot. With his back turned. Singing something he couldn't remember, but which his soul recognized.
