The dragon was 20 feet long, covered in iridescent feathers that shone as it dove on them. Its mouth gaped open, displaying dagger-sharp teeth. Its eyes were furiously fixed on Chang-li.

He and Joshi dove off the platform as the last traces of the woman vanished. Chang-li drew his new sword, tossing aside the sheath, and set flame blooming along its edge while Joshi cycled lux.

The dragon roared. The sound hit Chang-li like a physical blow. Its will crushed him to the ground. He found himself on hands and knees in the treasure, ankle-deep in coins. Chang-li forced himself upward, clutching his new sword with both hands, infusing it with lux.

The dragon flew toward him, its limbs tucked up under its body. As it came, Chang-li stepped to the side. He thrust his sword out and felt the blade slide along the dragon's body without piercing. Gritting his teeth, he infused more lux into the blade and pushed as the dragon flew past. He could feel his sword thrusting against it, but not so much as a feather was torn away from its body.

The dragon rippled its tail, lashing out, knocking Chang-li off his feet. He flew yards to the side and crashed down into the treasure pile. The loosely-stacked riches began to slide, taking Chang-li with them. He fought to get to his feet, but the avalanche of coins his fall had started grew in intensity, sweeping him forward.

He summoned his lux and leapt clear of the coins. Meanwhile, Magen was darting around the dragon's head as Joshi, his lux gauntlets blazing, threw punches at the side of its head. The dragon roared again and shot skyward.

Chang-li struggled back toward the rock platform where the crystal disc still lay. The mist woman had said this was what they were here for. He didn't see how, but at the very least, they needed to take this and go.

Joshi was scanning the sky as Chang-li leapt up to the platform and seized the chain from which the crystal hung. He tried to put it in his soul space, but it resisted. That had never happened before. He tried again, with the same effect. At last, he looped the chain around his neck. He'd worry about this mystery later.

"We've got to get out of here!" he shouted to Joshi, who had turned his attention from the sky to the treasures in front of them. Joshi was scooping up nearby objects and stowing them. Chang-li joined him. "That thing could be coming back."

"Magen's watching it," Joshi said. "Grab what you can and let's get out of here."

"How?" Chang-li asked as he picked up a goblet, stowed it in his soul space, then grabbed for a crystal case enclosing a single black-petaled rose. He had no idea what it was, and that probably meant it was valuable.

"I was hoping the friendly guardian would let us out," Joshi said.

There was no sign of her anywhere. Joshi dropped what he was holding and resummoned his gauntlets.

"It's coming back," he warned.

Chang-li dropped Veil of Will in order to cycle more effectively as the dragon crashed down toward them. He immediately realized he'd made a mistake. The dragon's will pressed against him far harder than before. He gasped, staggering, and picked up Veil of Will once more.

"Don't drop your Veil," he told Joshi. "It's feeding on our own willpower, like Noren said."

That gave Chang-li an idea. He focused even harder on Veil of Will, redoubling the efforts he'd made during training with Noren. If he could make himself even smaller, maybe the dragon would overlook him.

It roared past overhead. As it came near, it opened its great mouth. A gout of flame spurted out. Chang-li and Joshi threw themselves to the side, causing another avalanche of the treasures.

There had to be a way out. Noren wouldn't just have sent them to their deaths, but clearly, Noren didn't understand everything that was going on here. Chang-li had to find a way out of this.

Think. Think.

The Emperor had corrupted Morning Mist's original guardian. But surely there had been a way for honest seekers of Morning Mist to escape in the past, hadn't there? This creature had been altered, confused, told to look for any visitor instead of just unauthorized intruders.

Chang-li felt the Veil of Mist growing stronger as he made himself small. Even if that wasn't what Noren had told him to do, it seemed to be working.

The dragon looped back, and this time it was heading straight for Joshi. Joshi crouched, his body tense, until the creature was quite close. Then he leapt, Meteor Punch carrying him high into the air. He twisted as he fell, getting his hands out in front of him, his gauntlets aimed like a spear at the creature's neck.

Chang-li had been waiting his chance. He dropped Veil of Will just for an instant. The dragon whipped around, forgetting about Joshi. Chang-li stood his ground as Joshi landed on top of the creature, his gauntlets sinking deep into the beast's neck.

Chang-li put Veil of Will back up and cycled Double Branching River, refreshing his lux as he wove a pattern. There was a disruption in his lux cycling, a disharmony. He couldn't focus on that right now; he was trying to help Joshi.

The bald barbarian smashed his gauntlets into the dragon's neck over and over again. The beast twitched and shook, trying to throw him off, but Joshi clung on. He wove Binding Chains, wrapping them around the creature's neck and then back to himself. Now he had reins on the beast, like it was an enormous horse with him standing atop holding a Binding Chain in each hand.

Joshi struggled with the chains as the dragon twisted and fought him. The struggle exposed the dragon's underside. "Do something!" he shouted to Chang-li.

Chang-li was overflowing with lux. He felt an urge to use his will to shape this, but that wasn't the right answer here. It was infuriating to have his latest advancement be useless. No, more than useless, a hindrance to him.

Chang-li screamed aloud in frustration. He forged a weave like a Firepot, but open at the far end, holding it out in front of him. He blasted yellow lux flame from the orange lux shell, holding it straight at the dragon's underbelly.

As he did, he felt the discordance once more, like something disrupting his core. The discordance sat six inches higher than his core.

And with a flash, Chang-li knew what it was.

The crystal on his chest was reacting to his cycling.

Chang-li vented yellow lux as the dragon bucked and weaved. It rose into the air before looping backward over itself. That dislodged Joshi from his perch. He dropped toward the ground. As he fell, he dismissed Binding Chains and twisted his body in the air for a better landing posture.

Chang-li didn't have time to worry about his friend. The dragon was coming right for him. He stood his ground for an instant before his sense got the better of him, and he ran. The footing was terrible. He nearly tripped over a half-hidden scepter, the coins and jewels scattering under his feet as he went. The dragon raced toward him. Chang-li sensed its breath hot on his heels, even as Joshi shouted, "Duck!"

He threw himself to the ground and rolled over and over. Spiky bits of metal bit into his unprotected face and hands, tearing at his robes as he went. He cycled Veil of Will as hard as he could, making himself small.

As he came to rest, he tucked his head and limbs under his torso, curling up as small as he could. The dragon rushed over him with the noise of a gale. He felt its wind ripping past him. As it diminished, he looked up, seeing the feathered body disappearing up into the sky once more.

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Chang-li got to his feet. Blood trickled down his face from a cut he'd received from the treasure pile.

Joshi was looking grim as he struggled to his own feet. "We can damage it, but I don't know if we can kill it," Joshi said. "Every time I bring my will to bear, it gets stronger. This thing was designed to hunt and kill cultivators who shouldn't be here."

Chang-li panted as he thought frantically. "It draws from our own strength, and whatever the Emperor did only made that worse." The Emperor himself hadn't entered the vault. Was that because he could not have defeated this monster?

Chang-li didn't think for a second that he'd have been able to oppose the Emperor himself for this long. What Noren said was right. The creature drew strength from its enemy's will. The Emperor must have a will like diamond. To go up against his own will would have been impossible.

Then the way to defeat this thing, to make it vulnerable, was to take its will away.

"We need to do more," he told Joshi. "Make ourselves even smaller. Veil ourselves down. Starve it of power."

"Every time I use a technique, Veil of Will drops a little," Joshi admitted. "I'm not good enough yet."

"Then we don't use techniques," Chang-li said. "We use weapons. Like ordinary men. If we cut off all of its power, maybe we can hurt it."

Joshi nodded. He drew the first of the javelins he'd taken from his soul space and began cycling.

Chang-li felt his own awareness of Joshi diminish, but not enough. "More," Chang-li urged.

Joshi's eyes narrowed. Then he whistled. A moment later, Magen was there. "I need your help, friend," Joshi said softly to the lux creature. "Can you help me?" Magen chirped, then blurred, its substance thinning out.

Now Chang-li's awareness of Joshi vanished entirely. He smiled grimly to himself and set about making his will even smaller. They stood like that for long, empty moments, as Chang-li's heart continued to pound.

At last, Joshi said, "I think we did too well. It can't find us."

"Maybe we should look for a way out," Chang-li said.

Then, without warning, the dragon dropped down from the sky. It slammed into the horde, sending a wave of coins and gems in all directions.

As Chang-li recovered his balance Joshi caught himself and hurled his first javelin, drawing the second while the first was still in the air. The javelin sliced through the air and lodged in the dragon's breast. The dragon thrashed and whirled. That had hurt it.

Joshi shouted triumphantly. He held on to his next javelin, not throwing it, as the dragon settled lower.

Chang-li raced forward, reminding himself not to infuse his body or his sword with lux. Instead, he swung as hard as he could with his left hand, and his sword tore into the dragon, ripping feathers from its hide, laying open a wound that began to leak dark purple ichor onto the treasure. Everywhere a drop landed, it sizzled, smoke rising from it, blackening the treasure beneath.

Chang-li danced back. His sword was dark with the stuff, but it hadn't taken any damage. This new weapon the guardian had given him was powerful indeed.

Joshi stepped in from the other side and thrust his javelin deep into the dragon. Its head was a good ten feet above theirs. Joshi set his javelin next to the first, then darted backward, pulling out the third javelin.

"If we could just get the head down!" he shouted.

Chang-li was about to swing again as the dragon thrashed when it, almost in answer to Joshi, dropped its head toward them. Its mouth was open, the dagger teeth shining brilliantly.

He heard a sound like a cough, and then a warning rush of flame, just as the gout of fire exploded from the dragon's mouth.

Chang-li threw himself to the side, almost in time.

The flame caught his robes, engulfing him. He screamed and blindly threw himself to the side, thrashing as the flame caught. Everything burned. He instinctively cycled Purification of Mind and Soul, and that was a mistake. He could feel the dragon responding. Joshi shouted something. He couldn't make it out over the sound of the flames.

Chang-li had to do something. He poured red lux all through his body as he ripped the burning robes from himself. His hands felt the charring flames, and he just hoped the lux would repair the damage. The dragon roared somewhere very close.

Chang-li came back to himself. His robes were smoldering in a heap at his feet, leaving him standing in his linen underclothes, which had somehow escaped the flame.

The dragon raced toward him. There was no time to do anything. Instinctively, Chang-li grabbed the disc around his neck, and it all snapped into place. The discordance earlier, the guardian telling him this was the way to defeat the dragon.

He wove another open-ended Firepot, this time placing the disc at the end of the orange construct. Holding the orange lux on the disc and in his hands, he poured yellow lux out of his channels.

He was badly out of balance, and the physical lux pouring out of his left side was met by an uncontrolled stream of spiritual luxes from his right. He forced them to mix together, not knowing what effect it would have on his technique, if you could even call this a technique.

Flame burst from the end of the technique, out through the disc, as yellow lux mixed with blue and indigo. The flame that spurted out was white and purple, like nothing he'd seen before. It lanced outward from him in a straight beam ten feet long, and it hit the dragon right in its open mouth.

Chang-li kept pulling lux. The dragon roared. It thrashed about. But Chang-li's technique had made a connection, and it couldn't pull away. Even as it darted side to side, the beam of fire followed it, thrusting into it.

Chang-li cycled harder than he ever had before. He wasn't worried about his will anymore, just cycling Double Branching River as hard as he could to bring lux in from the seemingly immeasurable well all around him, pour through him, through the disc, and out to the dragon.

The dragon gave a high-pitched cry and fell forward into the treasure, its head smashing against the ground, sending a cascade of gold and gems everywhere.

Chang-li's technique snapped off. He couldn't move his hands from the disc. It was like they were sealed there as he pitched forward onto his face.

He didn't hit the ground. Joshi caught him, pulled him over, and laid him down. "You all right?" His friend was staring down at him, worry in his eyes.

Chang-li tried to croak a response, couldn't manage more than blinking. Joshi stood up. "I'll be right back." He disappeared. A moment later, he was back. "It's dead," he reported.

Chang-li managed to groan. Joshi pulled out a water flask and helped him drink. Chang-li guzzled appreciatively. At last, he managed, "I think I can get up."

"You can sit up," Joshi said firmly, "and no more until we've had a moment to rest." He helped Chang-li to sit.

Chang-li looked down at his hands. They were frozen into claw shapes. He could feel himself still holding the disc, but it was gone. "Where is it?" He looked around, expecting to see it in front of him.

"Where is what?"

"The crystal."

Joshi shook his head. "I don't know. There's no sign of it. You had it around your neck the last time I saw."

Chang-li tried to mutter something.

His hands were shiny with burns. It didn't hurt very much, which he hoped wasn't a bad sign. His robes were gone, burned away, and he had somehow burned an enormous hole in his linen undershirt. The sleeves and back still clung to him, but there was a huge chunk out of the front. His pants, at least, were all right.

He got to his feet. With Joshi's help, he hobbled over to look down at the dragon lying sprawled across the mounds of treasure. "I hope killing that won't be a problem," he muttered.

"I don't much care if it is," Joshi said. "How do we get out of here?"

Chang-li had no idea. He was staring at the enormous amethyst above the creature's head, like a crown, but held on with nothing at all. "What's that?"

"Beats me," Joshi said. He reached forward and pulled it loose. It was the size of a goose egg.

"It's resonating," Chang-li noted.

"Resonating with what?"

Chang-li was listening to the resonance between the crystal and his own core. It didn't sound right to him. His core was humming a different tune than he was used to, and he had a sick realization.

"I think I swallowed that crystal," he said, staring at the amethyst in Joshi's hand.

"You swallowed it?"

"I think I took it inside myself with that technique. I can feel it. It's altered my core somehow."

Chang-li took a deep breath. He cycled Purification of Mind and Soul, the gentle healing technique that was one of the most familiar to him, and he knew he was right.

His core roiled. He focused on it. It was dense, yes, but now it felt somehow unstable. As the lux passed through him, through his core and out again, it was subtly altered, the patterns shifting.

"What do you mean?" Joshi asked.

"I don't know." Chang-li shook his head. "But we've got to get out of here."

"And now you can."

The enormous woman clothed in mist appeared in front of them. "I'm surprised that you managed to survive that. Well done. That," she said, pointing at the egg, "will allow you to connect your soul space to this eventually, should you master the technique. For now, it will allow you to exit. You'll understand how. I would speak with your master at once, though. That artifact you have absorbed is not meant to be used by someone at your level of progression, let alone brought inside their soul. I couldn't begin to guess what might happen to you next, but it's probably not a good thing." She didn't sound at all concerned.

Chang-li was going to ask her what she meant, but Joshi dropped the amethyst into his hand. Chang-li winced. His hands throbbed at the pain.

"Sorry," Joshi said.

"It's all right. Oh!" As the amethyst touched his burned hands, the memory of what Noren had done to open a door sprang to mind, and this time it made perfect sense.

"Stand back," he told Joshi. He wove a pattern, wincing at the pain in his hands and the strangeness of his core. A moment later, a door appeared. "Well," he said, looking at it, as he stored the amethyst in his soul space. "Let's get out, and hope that Noren has a good explanation for us. I need to get these hands looked at. And about forty hours of sleep."

He was already imagining the meal they'd have prepared for him as he stepped through. It wasn't until he was stepping through that he remembered, Noren had gone to deal with another threat. Hopefully, that had been taken care of.

Because Chang-li wasn't sure he was up for anything else today.

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