8 Is that what I think it is?

Golden lines spiraled like a vortex around eternal darkness, engraving themselves into what seemed to be the starry sky. A roaring flame burned eternally as the engraved lines transformed into ancient text.

"Ruler of fire, Emperor of the Heavens. Those that stand before you shall bow with the utmost respect. Those that don't will show you great kindness." A booming voice shook the darkness as the words etched themselves into Li Jun's heart.

Was he dreaming? He couldn't form a single thought as the words shined brightly in front of him.

"Ruler of Ice, Emperor of the underworld. Those that stand before you shall beg for your mercy. Those that don't will become fuel for your hatred." The voice roared once more as another line of text appeared.

"The frost flame phoenix burns with coldness and freezes with scorching heat. Its life is immortal, its power eternal." Another line of text formed; half of it shone with golden light, and the other half looked shrouded in shadow.

"The child of both light and dark shall receive a gift befitting his grandeur. That gift is this flame."

The words streamed through the darkness and burst into a ball of fire, roaring loudly as it flew forward. As if sliced in two, half of it glowed a deep red like the depths of a volcano, and the other half glowed blue like the ice of a glacial mountaintop.

Darkness surrounded everything as the flame burned brightly with two different colors until it shrank down to a tiny ember, almost too small to see.

Li Jun awoke, his head throbbing, his legs aching, and his arms feeling as though they had been ripped off and reattached hundreds of times over.

"My arms…" Said Li Jun as he felt a faint sensation in his right arm. He shot up to his feet and looked at the bandaged arm across his chest.

He tried to wiggle his fingers, and at first, it seemed useless. He had already been told that without a tendon-repairing pill, he would never be able to use his arm again. But suddenly, his index finger twitched.

Li Jun felt a sense of joy wash over him as the remnants of the vision he just had faded from his mind completely. He didn't even consider that anything was out of the ordinary.

Just as he was about to leave his room and tell his mother that he could move his finger, he looked up, and his face drained of all color.

A very faint mist lingered in his room. He looked at the glowing white stones, which seemed to be the source of the mist, and frowned.

He had forgotten about the martial arts manuals and the strange white crystals.

"What was that dream?" He thought to himself, remembering how his body felt as if it was burning.

His skin felt cold as an icy wind gently blew through his room.

"Did I leave the window open?" He muttered, but as he turned, he saw an outline of frost on the floor where he had just been lying.

It looked as though a child had made a snow angel on the floor of his room, yet there was only frost and no snow.

"What's going on?" He let out a deep breath and felt an intense cold brush past his lips.

He stood there, lost in thought, trying to figure out what was going on, but no obvious thoughts came to mind.

Footsteps echoed through the hallway outside, and he could tell that Hu Mei was coming to wake him. He tapped the red gem on his ring, and the items spread across his floor vanished just in time.

The door opened, and the young-looking maid entered.

"Young master, it's time to…" She spoke and then stopped as she saw him standing up. "Oh, you're already awake. Your mother wishes to speak with you."

Li Jun held his breath, afraid that more frost would escape from his lips if he breathed normally. Without a word, he left his room and made his way downstairs.

"Mom? What is it?" He called from the top of the staircase before quickly joining her at the table.

"We need to leave the city." She slid him a parchment.

"Leave? Why?" he asked, his hands in front of his mouth, subtly covering his lips.

"I received news that your uncle is coming to pay us a visit this evening. We should go before he gets here." She wrote.

Li Jun stood up, outraged by what she was suggesting. He scraped his nails against the table as he tried to contain his anger. The wood beneath his fingers splintered as he let out a restrained growl.

"No! That's out of the question. We aren't going anywhere. He isn't the lord of this city or the emperor. He has no right to step foot upon our property, and I will make that clear if he so much as tries to." Li Jun exclaimed.

His mother hesitated for a moment. She looked down at the scratches on the table, surprised. Her heart seemed to flutter for a moment as she thought deeply.

"You sound more like your father every day." She wrote as she smiled bitterly.

"I'm serious, Mom. We aren't going anywhere. This is our home, and I would sooner die than abandon it." He said with a resolute stare. This was the stubbornness he had inherited from his father.

"Please, at least pack a bag. If he comes here, there is very little you could do to stop him." She wrote.

Li Jun looked at his mother's pleading eyes and couldn't argue back.

"Fine. I will pack a bag. But I'm not going to let some old bastard walk all over us just because he has more money." He sighed, to which his mother smiled at his words and let out a silent laugh.

"What is it? I haven't seen you laugh like that since…" He said.

"I have something for you." She wrote and then reached into a leather pouch on her hip and presented a jade bottle.

Li Jun gulped as he looked at it.

"Is that what I think it is?" He asked with his eyes as wide as the two bowls on the table.

Li Jun's mother nodded her head as he reached out and picked it up nervously.

"What do I do with it?" He asked as he lifted the lid off the bottle, and a slightly sweet medicinal smell drifted throughout the room.

His mother reached out and slapped his hand to put the lid back on. Li Jun looked at her with a confused look as she frantically began to write.

"Don't take off the lid! It will lose its effectiveness!" She wrote. Li Jun quickly apologized for his mistake.

"Give me some time to prepare and wait in the sitting room. I will help you with the pill." She wrote and rushed out of the room.

Li Jun was confused. He didn't think his mother knew so much about medicinal pills. They were very rare, expensive, and hard to come by for someone of their current social status. But he guessed that she most likely learned from his father.