Chapter 2

Were it not for the talisman of the Healer coursing through his veins, the dragon emperor believed he might have gotten a migraine from the inane bickering that continued long after the Queen of the Shadowkhan excused herself for a bathroom break before dinner. An exhale of exasperation left his gullet, smoke streaming in billows up to the ceilings as his half-lidded eyes continued to watch his sister point out exactly where her eldest brother could stick lotus blossoms in.

Whatever had started the argument had long since been forgotten in their minds, their only drive being to squabble for the sake of hearing the sound of their own voice and the cut of their insults. Shendu had stopped participating after a while, content to watch the verbal slaughtering with partial bemusement, mostly annoyance. Cheek settled in the palm of his hand, he closed his hand forward to rub at his muzzle in irritation.

It was an interesting turn of events that the Book of Ages had altered her reality the way it had. He and his siblings were the only ones that retained the knowledge of his meddling, and he thought his specifications of the Chan's servitude to him and his intent would have made it clear enough. He wanted all of the Chan's, the deceitfully cunning brat included, indebted to him and nothing but servants for him to torture at his own amusement. He'd already planned the most humiliating tasks for the child to undertake and for Jackie to watch in hopelessness.

But she was always the black sheep of the family, not fuelled with the entirely good chi her uncles had in an infuriating amount. It was the same for any child, really. None were ever born with dark chi, but Jade Chan proved herself an exception to every theory he had on humans.

At first, he paid no attention to her. She was practically an atom in his view of his plans; whereas her bumbling archaeologist uncle and the buffoon of Chi Wizard were more visible, aggravating thorns.

Yet she existed, and she persisted, and unlike her family, she evolved.

Shendu wasn't blind, though his pride tended to try and make him ignorant. She was the common thread to all of the failures that had to do with his sibling's banishment, and the collection of the Talismans before that. No, she finally managed to meet his gaze when she had foolishly thought that the Mark of Tarakudo would make a .. what was it? "A cool tattoo"?

Fate and destiny had a strange way of rearing its head.

The mark didn't reject her. Oh no, it did far, far worse. It accepted her as though she were of it's own kin. His time with the Queen of the Shadowkhan in that reality was brief; though it gave him insight and a newfound re-evaluation to the girl known as Jade Chan. She had so much potential wasted on slow lessons of martial prowess and absolutely no training of the magical kind. He resisted the urge to sneer, lest his siblings thought it was directed to them. Typical of her ilk.

It was a shame that her reality was snuffed out before it really could begin. He might have even enjoyed the acerbic banter. She was no longer Jade Chan. She was the Queen of the Shadowkhan, and having her not remember who he was would help him in his current plans.

His army of dragons were formidable, but not an endless legion that only needed the shadow of night to create more. Should his siblings decide to team up for no other reason than to purely spite him, he was certain that he would eventually lose to attrition. With the generals and the support of the Dynasty at his side, he would be virtually unstoppable not only on the mortal plane, but any other plane of reality he decided to wage war against.

Unfortunately, as he shifted his gaze from one sibling to another, he was beginning to think that maybe his idea was not a unique one, and they all had the same purpose in mind involving the Queen's empire. They would never accept an invitation like the one he posed were it not for her appearance. After all, the Queen had declined personal audience or private gatherings between just himself and her before.

No doubt due to the meddling of that loathsomely powerful yojimbo of hers.

It was interesting how the way the Shadowkhan structured its society. He had only known them as powerful warriors in ages past, with powers he had stolen from the oni mask. But to see them alive and thriving as though they were a civilization again was still a wonder to behold. They were less of a monarchy and more of a matriarchy – after all, the Queen was barely in her teenage years and yet was held respected and accountable in a position of leadership.

He'd known of some of the Queens, though not their extensive, secretive history. He noticed there was a trend in the age of fatality in them; though Jade's supposed late mother – in this reality, anyway, what she would've known as her actual mother was a servant in one of his villages – had lived long into her eighties. A long, eighty-year prosperous rule. It was no wonder they managed to form a dynasty long enough to worth naming something unifying instead of after the Queen.

Her bodyguard retained the title of King of the Shadowkhan, as he had two Queens prior, but that did not equate him to anything more than the leader of the Generals, and thus a servant to the Queen. But he (and likely his opportunistic demonic brethren) noticed how much Tarakudo overstepped the line of his position. It was a curious anomaly that could signal the precipice of change – the dawn of a new era, a complete change in law and society ..

He had to keep a close eye on how the Dynasty operated, if he wanted to get what he wanted. It would be a shame to curry favour and manipulate the child only for it to be all for naught. Though if the Queen was unyielding, Tarakudo was an immovable object. It would have been frustrating, if he had not enjoyed the actual challenge of politics versus simply brawling like he was forced to do so often.

Shendu glanced over to the open windows, judging the time by the position of the setting sun and concluding that the start of their feast could truly begin. He cleared his throat, bellowing above the rancour of his siblings to be heard among them.

"Cease your fighting at once! Our esteemed guest will return very shortly." He hissed, lifting his face from his claw and shooting them all a ruby squinted glare. "I trust that you will no longer continue to embarrass me in front of our mutual ally."

"Ha! Embarrass you? As if your face does not do that plenty enough for you!"

So the fighting continued.

The corridor felt like she was walking death row. Except she wasn't a prisoner heading towards her last meal, she was one of the vile wardens, ready to knock and dissenting human down to their rightful place. She'd already passed one or two of Shendu's human servants – her stomach twisted at the way they postulated themselves on the floor before her, never once making eye contact. The one time she did catch a gaze, there was.. nothing. Dead despondency.

It was like she was living a real life horror movie, except it wasn't the fun, over-the-top gore massacre that was clearly so fake she could see the ketchup label on the extra's shirt. No, it was the dark, gritty psychological kinds she steered clear away from because admittedly there was some things that were scary to her.

Jade could only hear the soft pads of her feet against the stone and the click of Tarakudo's claws in accompanying step. Everything was so.. so eerily quiet. Like the dead, she thought morbidly. Oh what she wouldn't do for her Supermoose blanket right now. Hide under and wish away all the bad things in life.

She clung to the light of hope of knowing it wasn't real. Well – it was, but it wasn't. What she was experiencing was just the Book of Ages. Nothing that was.. intended. Jade sure as hell didn't listen to anyone when it came to her, and she wasn't going to start letting some random ancient book decide what was now the reality.

Firstly she just had to survive demon sorcerers that knew the past, an entire dynasty that she was supposed to be the leader of, and God knows what else.

No biggie.

"Tarakudo," she mumbled for no other reason than to fill the silence, hand extending on a whim and grasping the sleeve of his haori jacket. He spared her a sympathetic glance, though they did not slow their gait. The material of the cut cloth unfortunately reminded her that altered or not, everything was real, and there was no Jackie to save her out of this one.

She wondered for half a moment why he did not seem to do anything about her touch, then mentally kicked herself. Duh. She was the Queen. She probably could use him as a target dummy for her martial arts and he wouldn't care. Not that she was looking to lose any favourable points by beating up her only friendly ally in a palace quite literally full of demons.

"I'm guessing we can't just leave?"

"Well, we could," he pondered, as though he was giving her genuine thought to her question. He gently laid a hand on her back and guided her onwards as they walked. "But you will upset the host, likely break out a demonic riot amongst the sibling sorcerers and succeed in wasting time. However, if my lady wishes it –"

"No," she sighed, letting go of his sleeve. Jade needed to get a hold of herself. She needed to pretend Shendu wasn't her enemy, hadn't caused this whole mess to begin with and she wanted nothing more in the world than to drop-kick his scaly butt out of China. Ugh. How was she going to be nice to him?

Maybe she didn't have to be nice.. ?

She was no prisoner and clearly no servant. Whatever she ruled over had nothing to do with him. His siblings were all vultures to carrion against each other, so surely if Shendu was dumb enough to be hostile to her, then it would backfire. Jade didn't exactly have tactical warfare genius on her resumé, but what she did know from her spy flicks and action movie marathons is that the enemy didn't invite the enemy to dinner unless it was to gain something they couldn't simply take from killing her.

Baby steps, she'd said. Right. Baby steps.

The closer they got to the banquet hall, the louder the demons became. They eventually reached the centre of the noise, facing the ornate doors even too large for Tarakudo's muscular, tall frame. He folded his arms in front, exhaling quietly a slight huff. There was clearly no love between the yokai and the demons.

Out of habit, Jade rubbed her clammy hands against the sides of her royal dress, an action that went unnoticed. Thankfully, her bodyguard opened the doors for her, as likely was some protocol she hadn't even begun to think that she'd have to learn before heading back to wherever-land.

The noise quietened to something of a low din, and what she found inside surprised her.

Their appearances had vastly changed from what she remembered them to be, though in some cases, it was entirely the same. Of course it made sense that for all demons to be in the room, some alterations to their physical forms had to be made. Shendu was large, and his palace reflected that, but he was but a flea in size when it came to Po Kong.

Most of them were some malevolent caricatures of a human, with hellish features that resembled their true form more closely, such was the case of the tentacles of Bai Tza being braided intricately down her back and over her shoulders. She was absolutely stunningly beautiful, a cold and cruel expression like the perfect cut of diamonds. There were true efforts in her illusion; and Jade almost wished to hide inward when her icy stare regarded her. It felt as though her soul was being judged there and then.

Unfortunately, some of her brothers did not share the same care in what form they took, such as the affable Xiao Fung, looking entirely human. Exactly how he did when Shendu had broke him out of the eternal prison the first time, only to be sent back in record time. He seemed to have abandoned the prospect of getting his siblings to act civil and instead enjoyed the sportsmanship of a good argument up until the Queen's re-arrival ruined it.

And some she just did not plainly recognise at first glance. Jade had to truly stare to realise that the wingless beast of a humanoid was in fact Hsi Wu. No longer child-like in appearance, and donned in regal and royal clothing beyond her imagination and scope of culture. It stabbed at her heart to know that he truly had taken the form he did just to deceive her.

Jade had been staring too long, and Hsi Wu caught it, flashing her an inviting grin with far too many teeth that would be uncomfortable for a human mouth. She couldn't help scrunch her face in disgust and lowered to the seat Tarakudo proffered to her.

"Thank you for joining us once more, Queen Jade." Of course. Of-freaking-course the girl she body-snatched in this reality HAS HER NAME! She plastered on the most pleasantly fake smile that she could muster as turning her head felt like pushing stone towards Shendu.

He'd been serious about how much he'd hated humans, as he retained his draconic visage entirely. The only difference was in his frame, no longer big and bulky but now resembling more like Jackie's – adult, athletic but not huge or muscular. He was tall enough, even though seated, she still had to crane her head upwards to be polite. She reckoned that he changed himself just to be slightly taller than Tarakudo, because he was incredibly petty and a sore loser.

Jade knew her voice had already died, left the building and vowed not to come back, so she simply nodded.

"Let us finally begin with our feast, shall we?" With a snap of his fingers, servants poured out from shadowed corners of the doors, bearing trays of food and large pitchers of red liquid she hoped wasn't blood. Given the fact Tarakudo inspected everything first and denied any form of drink for her, specifying water only, made her queasy in her seat.

She was thankful that she'd lost the ability to speak right now, because she saw her Uncle Jackie serve Shendu his meal, bent at the waist in a low bow and backpedalling away. It happened so fast she almost didn't register the fact she'd just seen her Uncle Jackie.

Jade wanted to do something. Say something. Call out to him. Rush to him and give the biggest hug ever whilst insisting that it was Jackie that was crying, absolutely not her. But she couldn't. She was sat at the table with the wolves and her fruit bowl was looking pathetic compared to the .. mystery meat of her dinner companions.

"Perhaps our esteemed guest," hissed a soft voice, insidious and lethal like slow-acting poison. Jade glanced up, shirking a little into her seat at the piercing stare of Bai Tza. The way her fork was stabbed into her meat made her feel like she was envisioning her to be her next drowned meal. "—Would like to regale us of her recent conquests in north-central Japan? Word has spread to the sea that your Bakeneko ogre will be returning a victor."

All eyes turned to her expectantly. Jade felt petrified.

So much for baby steps..

note: i am taking extreme liberties with the oni generals and will be basing them off various yokai. the bakeneko mentioned is in reference to the sixth general; who lead the squid shadowkhan. despite being snake/squid like, the oni has a cat-like face, much like tarakudo, so his namesake lay more in his face than that of his body.

actually i'm just taking extreme liberties all around, haha. also, thanks ZMLS, glad to know the fandom actually is still active. that's a huge surprise to me, for sure. I have read Queen of Shadows about half way and I wanted to stop there and start my own story before anything. I can blame that story more or less for my plot bunny, but I have a different take on "Jade ends up as Queen of the Shadowkhan during Book of Ages Era" that I wanted to explore and .. well, here we are. HIGHLY recommend Queen of Shadows, though. excellent story, excellent writing.

thanks!

side note: shendu is ABSOLUTELY petty enough to make himself about an inch taller than tarakudo.