What had finally caused 'herself' to give in and give birth to the creature had been the repeating of history.
When 'herself' had almost reached the Jade Palace after the awful reunion with the demon who had murdered her and her beloved children, and watched the closest thing Oogway had ever had to a son be mortally wounded before her eyes, it had been the tragedy of one thousand years ago all over again. The demon had once again invaded her home, hurt her children, and tried to kill her closest friend.
And once again, he'd been aided by Hei Nuwang, her own flesh and blood. Her, and one other betrayer.
She stepped through the doorway into the darkened room of crates, and there he was, standing guard by the bound form of Emperor Xian.
She stalked toward him, and he slowly backed away from his hostage. She looked around the large room, but the two felines appeared to be alone. She continued on towards the warrior, waiting for him to turn and run. The tiger stared at her in terror, helpless in his chains, but he had no reason to be afraid. It was not his life she wanted. She wouldn't take his life even to save herself. It was she who had lent her power to save him from death when 'herself' touched his bloody arm, and she had sensed how weak his chi was. Now, as she slowly approached them, she sensed no wounds or ailments on him. His chi was strong. Once her business with the warrior who betrayed her friend and hurt her children was finished, she would leave him untouched. The Dragon Warrior would be there soon.
She got closer to the warrior, who had backed into the wall behind him. She was about to pass Xian when a small grunt escaped him.
She stopped and bent down to look into his tea-coloured eyes. She saw fear but no pain. Still she sensed no abnormality in the flow of his chi, but she did sense something familiar. Bright burning red, fiercer than a forest fire, and full of indomitable life. She had experienced it a little while earlier in the well by the prison, in the form of a powerful blast of energy that had driven her to temporarily abandon the hunt. It was her child's chi. There were small traces of it in his physically powerful body, and there were several possible reasons for this. Perhaps her child healed him in the past, like she herself had done in the Himalayas. Perhaps her child had learned the art of kung fu and used one of her mental techniques on him. Perhaps, and this possibility intrigued her most of all, her child had unknowingly passed on the chi during a night of passion.
Xian's eyes glanced to the side. She turned her head. Though she saw nothing, her entire body stiffened like ice. Something was wrong. The warrior had not moved away from the back wall.
She stared at the empty space Xian had looked at. Something was there. She could sense the chi of several people, but she couldn't determine their exact location.
But she knew a way around that.
Water was one of the most malleable elements in existence, and made up her entire body. As she was being born from 'herself', the water had merged with the dark of the night and the shadows of the trees to give her the power to travel through the darkness itself. As a result the darkness could not blind her, but for whatever reason her sight was not the only sense that was strengthened. Perhaps the universe had strengthened her ears as well in anticipation of this very moment. She wouldn't be surprised. The universe's very stability was at stake if the Children of Nuwa weren't stopped.
So she clicked with her maw, much like the fliers of the night did so in order to make up for their poor sight, and felt the sound come back to her.
And there they were. A line of invisible assassins lined the wall Xian had looked at, bearing weapons and crowns that she remembered were Shadow Crowns. Shadow Crowns could make one invisible to the naked eye, but it did not make them intangible.
So once again, the warrior had tried to use her desire to kill him against her. Once again, he had failed. He and the scarred bobtail. They would soon pay for their arrogance. They all would, and Hei Nuwang would be last, for she was the creature's ultimate reason for separating herself from 'herself'.
She would not return to 'herself' until she had destroyed Hei Nuwang and everything she had betrayed her family for. She would rip apart the red-eyed demon Hei Nuwang had sold her out to before sinking her tendrils into her flesh and freeze her blackened heart.
But first she had a masked warrior to kill.
