The Dragon’s Refuge

Liuya was a dragon.

She was on the run.

Liuya had been flying through the sky for a long, long time…

Until exhaustion finally claimed her…

Eventually, she had no choice but to descend slowly.

In the heart of an unfamiliar wilderness, Liuya reverted to her human form.

She had no idea where she had landed…

Liuya stood barefoot and utterly naked.

Her transformation from dragon to human had left her with nothing.

In her vulnerable human form, she felt nothing but an aching cold.

She scrounged by the roadside, retrieving a few discarded rags to pull over herself for warmth.

Fortunately, the climate here was warmer than the north, sparing her from freezing to death.

Liuya ventured into a strange, small village.

It was daytime, the sun was not strong, and the wind carried a hint of salt.

An old man at the village entrance, squinting in the sun, paid Liuya no mind.

Liuya was utterly famished, her stomach cramping as if torn by hooks.

Gathering her courage, she knocked upon a villager’s door.

A middle-aged woman opened it, and at the sight of Liuya, dusty and haggard, a flicker of pity initially crossed her face.

But when her gaze fell upon the pair of antlers sprouting from Liuya’s head, her expression instantly hardened.

“Monster… filthy creature, get out…”

The woman brandished a broom, wildly striking Liuya and chasing her out of the alley.

Later, the woman sought out the guards.

“Did you get a clear look at her?” the guard asked. “Did she have unusual teeth or different colored eyes?”

“Sir, how could I dare to look! She had strange horns on her head… I was terrified at first sight!” the woman stammered, trembling.

“Then she’s just like those ‘strange children’ from the forest,” the guard shrugged. “Just chase her away.”

News of the incident quickly spread, reaching every corner of the village.

Liuya could no longer pretend to be a common beggar in the village.

She hid beneath the arch bridge over the small stream at the edge of the village.

By day, she huddled in the bridge’s shadow, pulling her hood low to conceal her antlers.

At night, she would stealthily creep into the village, scavenging for scraps by the refuse heaps.

However, the village was not affluent, and Liuya mostly found rotten vegetable leaves and foul-smelling dough cast aside by the villagers.

Initially, she found it repulsive, only picking out the cleaner morsels.

Yet, within a few days, she could no longer afford such discernment.

Hunger, it seemed, could reduce any shred of dignity to dust.

After some time, Liuya was inevitably discovered.

Villagers found her hiding place and, armed with sticks, surrounded her.

“It’s her! Bad luck! Drive her away!”

They swarmed forward, their sticks raised.

Liuya heard their footsteps, but it was already too late.

She instinctively shrank into the shadows, her body pressed almost painfully against the damp, cold stone wall, clutching tightly to the pillow she had mended countless times with her own hands.

That pillow, sewn from discarded rags, was stuffed with dried grass and fragmented feathers.

Small and worn, it was the only possession in this world she could truly call her own.

“This is where she sleeps? Hmph, just looking at it brings bad luck.”

The villagers kicked over Liuya’s pile of old clothes, and the blanket she had fashioned from sacks was sent splashing into the muddy water.

Someone snatched her pillow, pushing her towards the outside.

“Don’t… don’t touch that…” Liuya lunged forward, desperate to retrieve her pillow, but a stick blocked her, striking her shoulder.

Liuya stumbled, nearly falling to the ground.

Then, she watched as the pillow was set ablaze by a torch.

“Why… they’re so mean…” Liuya sobbed softly.

She fled into the forest, weeping all the way, stopping only when her legs gave out.

In the darkness, no one pursued her.

The wind was silent, and the tree shadows loomed like a prison.

After an indeterminate amount of time, Liuya opened her eyes again to find two girls before her.

They were two equally peculiar children.

One girl had goat horns on her head, while the other’s face was covered in white fur.

They were dressed in tattered clothes, their bodies grimy, yet their faces held gentle smiles.

The two children led Liuya to their small, ramshackle hut.

The hut was modest in size, its interior exceedingly simple.

“Annie, look, another one just like us,” said the girl with the white furred face.

“Lilith, stop constantly touching her horns,” Annie, the girl with goat horns, said with a laugh, then nodded to Liuya.

“Who… who are you?” Liuya fearfully shrank further into the corner.

“It’s alright now,” Lilith, the girl with the white furred face, gently reassured her. “We won’t hurt you.”

“You were chased out of the village too, weren’t you?” Annie asked.

Liuya nodded slightly.

“You can stay with us from now on,” Annie said, patting her hair. “We were all driven out of the village just the same.”

“There was another child, too, who was abandoned when he was very small. He had cat eyes and a tiny mustache, utterly adorable…” Lilith sighed. “It’s a shame, we couldn’t keep him alive; he died after a few days…”

“Why… why did those people chase me away?” Liuya asked cautiously.

“Because, like us, you’re a ‘freak’ in their eyes,” Annie replied.

“I… I’m not a freak,” Liuya protested. “I… I am a true dragon.”

“A dragon, what’s that?” Lilith blinked. “I thought you were a deer spirit.”

“Not only do you look strange, but your accent is peculiar too,” Annie added.

“You don’t know what a dragon is?” Liuya questioned. “The kind embroidered on the Emperor’s robes…”

Annie and Lilith exchanged a glance, then shook their heads.

“Alright, how do you two survive here?” Liuya asked. “I couldn’t even beg for food in the village.”

“We strange folk can enter the deepest part of the forest, where there’s a towering ancient tree that sheds branches every day,” Annie explained. “Those branches make excellent firewood; they burn brightly, and we collect them to sell to the villagers.”

“Sometimes, we also trade with the hunters living in the forest for some meat, or pick some forest fruits to eat,” Lilith added.

“The villagers let you do that?” Liuya asked, perplexed.

“They just don’t allow us to stay in the village,” Annie said. “Though the villagers curse us, they can’t resist buying our firewood, especially in winter.”

From then on, Liuya became a member of Annie and Lilith’s team.

Every morning, they traversed the forest paths to the base of the ancient tree to gather firewood.

The first time Liuya ventured into the forest’s depths, she felt a strange sense of being watched.

It was as if the entire forest had opened its eyes, scrutinizing her very soul.

But that sensation quickly dissipated, as if she had been tacitly granted permission.

Every few days, the trio would enter the village in the early morning to sell firewood, avoiding drawing too much attention.

Liuya always wore her hood, concealing her ‘otherworldly’ antlers.

She attempted to go into the village center, hoping to sell firewood to wealthier households like the village chief’s.

But each time, she would be surrounded by ruffians or caught by idle men who fantasized about becoming adventurers.

They called her ‘monster’ and ‘antlered demon,’ beating her with sticks, stealing her firewood, and driving her away.

Fortunately, Liuya’s body shared a unique resonance with the forest; whenever she was within its bounds, her injuries seemed to heal remarkably quickly.

Moreover, no one dared to kill her.

For the villagers believed a legend: ‘The blood of a monster brings a curse.’

Thus, Liuya could only sell her firewood at a low price to the grocers at the village’s edge, who would then resell it at a profit.

Over time, Liuya acquired a few regular customers, all practical and kind people living on the outskirts of the village.

Among them was a widow named Elena, who lived with her young son.

Despite her own modest means, she always gave Liuya an extra dry biscuit or a scarf.

Liuya continued to live this way.

Sometimes, she would dream of her former self, a dragon soaring freely through oceans of clouds.

But each awakening brought her back to the grim reality of their dilapidated shack.

Liuya now struggled even to fill her stomach, let alone transform back into a dragon.

A profound sense of loss settled within her.

However, seeing Annie and Lilith’s peaceful sleeping faces always brought her a sense of comfort.

Annie always frowned in her sleep, while Lilith unconsciously curled into a ball.

They huddled together on their tattered straw mat, covered only by a thin quilt patched from countless old cloths, its edges long frayed, yet they slept soundly.

This was no longer the Liuya who huddled alone beneath the bridge, clutching a tattered pillow, too afraid to sleep.

Now, she had others willing to huddle with her in the dark for warmth, and others who listened as she spoke of cloud-filled dreams and the roar of dragons.

Liuya was grateful; at least she had friends.