The island Huy found himself in was clearly meant for beings that could fly. All of the beautiful structures on the island were raised high above the ground with no stairs or ways up. The island itself was covered in trees and high mountains.  The mountains were irregularly shaped, near-perfect holes cut through them, specifically made for flying through. The holes were burned into the mountains but the precise flames left no charring on the greenery of the mountains themselves, only on the inner core of the holes.

 

“I’m glad you seem calm. Azure Dragon seems to be panicking.” Huy was a bit surprised by the voice appearing behind him. He glanced over and saw an older man with long red hair and talons instead of feet. He was clearly a former Vermillion Bird but Huy didn’t say anything about it, he simply followed the man’s gaze, looking up at the island that was just barely visible from the trees.

 

The other island went from an endless lake to a growing palace surrounded by water in seconds.

 

“They seem to have calmed down.” The incarnation said and jumped off the branch he sat on.

 

“Well…Lets be off then.”  He said, flying off at a high speed.

 

—

 

“...So you already know Wu? What about Liu? Do you know Liu?” An Azure dragon incarnation with horns asked as he followed Yue and the incarnation who was leading him into the palace.

 

“Who..?” Yue asked.

 

“Oh…Right! Wu is this guy right here!” The incarnation with the horns pointed at the incarnation leading Yue.

 

“Huh? But isn’t his name Fei–” Yue started before he was cut off by The incarnation once again.

 

“Oh, it's Wu as in the Chinese word for 5. Cause he’s the 5th Incarnation. It got confusing after a while and we kind of started forgetting our human names after a few hundred years so we just decided to start calling each other by our numbers because it's much easier to remember.” The horned incarnation spoke very quickly but Yue understood.

 

“You are…?”

 

“Oh, I’m San!” The horned incarnation said and held up 3 fingers.

 

“The guy with the fangs is Si(4). The man with claws is Er(2).” San explained.

 

“What number am I?” Yue asked, cautiously looking around the palace as they entered.

“Qi(7)...Wait maybe it’s technically Ling (0) since you’re the real one…” San murmured, looking deep in thought. Somehow Yue found it hard to believe that this man was centuries old.

 

“No…He’s just Yue.” Wu murmured.

 

San seemed like he wanted to know why Wu said that but they suddenly entered a room where two people stood waiting for them and he lost the timing. He wasn’t keen on interrupting now that he was in his presence.

 

“..That’s Liu (6),” San whispered to Yue and motioned discreetly to a man with inhuman ears, shaped like those of a dragon. 

 

“And that’s Yi(1).” 

 

Yue and Er, the incarnation with claws, looked similar but they were clearly very different. This was not the case for Yue and Yi. Not at all.

 

Yue and Yi were identical. Despite them wearing different clothes Yue believed he was looking at himself through a mirror for a second. He raised his hand to his own cheek for a second, But Yi did not follow, proving it wasn’t a mirror. There were only two differences between them. 

 

Yi was very clearly older. He was a few inches taller and his expression was significantly more wise and mature than Yue. It was to be expected, Yi was possibly thousands of years old and Yue had just barely passed into his twenties. The other difference was the Blue-green scales that covered Yi’s shoulders and up onto his neck and a little into his cheeks. Like armor, the scales covered him.

 

The paintings of the former Azure Dragon incarnations that Yue had seen in the temple only really gained detail at around the 5th one, likely because of Fei Xiang’s testimony on their appearances. Because of this Yue was not at all prepared to face someone who looked so much like him.

 

“Hello, Yue,” Yi spoke and Yue could clearly tell a difference between him and the other incarnations.

 

He was significantly more powerful than the rest and Yue had already assessed that the others were also much stronger than him so he felt a little intimidated. Was he really ‘the real one’ if he was so weak?

 

“You simply lack experience. And this is where you will gain it. You did well coming here.” Yi answered Yue’s thoughts and smiled, placing his hand on Yue’s back and walking with him. The other incarnations didn’t follow.

 

–

In Vermillion Bird’s Island there we also 6 other incarnations. They all had different special features and they also called themselves based on their order. But they did not use Chinese numbers, they instead used Vietnamese numbers. 

 

The man Huy first met was Sau(6), he was the oldest of the four until he decided to rest and passed the title on to Elena. He led Huy through to meet Mot(1), the first vermillion bird incarnation.

 

Just like Yi and Yue were identical, Mot and Huy were also identical.  Mot’s special feature was the feathers that grew among his hair. He had normal human hair but he also had long red feathers within his hair.

 

“Why do all of the former incarnations live here?” Huy asked after getting over his shock.

 

“...You will know when the time comes,” Mot said and smiled.

 

“Now come, it is nearly time.”

 

—

 

Mai’s path led to nothing but only for a few seconds. Shortly afterward, an island came floating down to where she could easily enter it. Once she set her feet down, the edge of the island completely disappeared, it was like she was transported to the center of the island. The island looked like an empty field before she stepped on it but now it seemed like a land out of a fairy tale, four separate castles in each direction, each unique in architecture. Full of greenery and flowers.

 

“It's been a long time since we’ve had anyone join us.”

 

Mai turned around. Behind her stood a man and a woman. The woman was dressed like her, she wore a red Ao dai and had her hair in a low bun as well, they didn’t look very similar when it came to features though. The man wore a black and red hanfu that was covered with exquisite embroidery and his hair was tied up in half up half down style with golden hair accessories. Mai recognized the hanfu to be wedding attire, it was one of the many options she had looked at with Yue when they were secretly trying to think of what he should wear for his wedding to Viktor. This confused Mai a little, the man’s masculine features were clear but he wore women’s wedding attire.

 

“Who are you..?” Mai asked, confused.

 

“I am Le Giang.” The woman said and smiled, “I am the wife of Loc, the first Vermillion Bird Incarnation.”

 

“And I am Wang Hao Yu, I am the husband of Yu Ze, the first Azure Dragon Incarnation.” The man said and smiled.

 

Mai immediately felt that Hao Yu seemed incredibly familiar when he smiled but she couldn’t quite pinpoint it. 

“I’m guessing you’re another Vermillion Bird incarnation’s wife?” Giang said and locked arms with Mai.

 

“Ah…Yes, I am Mai, I’m the wife of the current Vermillion Bird…But what is this island?” Mai murmured, becoming more and more confused as she looked around.

 

“Well, I guess you could call it paradise.” Giang chuckled.

 

“The four don’t usually marry humans, our lives are too fleeting for their tastes. But when they do, they cherish us deeply. So much so that they created a paradise for us when we pass on.” Hao Yu explained with a smile.

 

“Of course, paradise is very different for everyone, so the island looks like this.” He added, motioning around at the varied environment.

 

“Huh…Why wasn’t Viktor led here too then?” Mai wondered aloud, “Is being married a requirement to come here?” 

 

“No, there are quite a few of us who never got the chance to actually marry our loved ones,” Giang explained.

 

“Who is Viktor?” Hao Yu asked with a curious expression.

 

“He is the current Azure Dragon’s– oh wait, is there an island for the children of the four?” Mai asked.

 

Giang nodded.

 

“Is Azure Dragon’s lover also a child of the 4?” Hao Yu asked with a surprised expression.

 

“Ah, yes. He’s Black Tortoise’s son.”  Mai explained.

 

“Well, I guess that would certainly take precedent since it's a blood relation and all,” Giang murmured.

 

–

 

The island where the lovers of the 4 lived was actually one of Viktor’s options but he couldn’t exactly see it by the time he reached the fork in the road. He had been led far into the endless ocean of islands and after a lot of walking the branch split into three paths. One path that led upward to an island above him, one that made a U-turn and seemed to lead him back where he came, and one that led downward to a dark and dreary island down below.

 

He wasn’t sure what to choose so he just decided to go to all of them. He would start with the one that was up high and then jump down to the one below and somehow he’d find a way to go to the one that turned back. 

 

He started walking toward the upward path when suddenly he felt pulling on his leg, he looked down and was startled to see a pitch-black hand holding his ankle. He tried to stay steady as he reached for his sword, ready to slice at the hand. He couldn’t do it though. The hand-pulled him harshly and suddenly he was being pulled down to the dark island below him.

 

He shut his eyes for a second and then suddenly he was knee-deep in black sludge. He was on the island now and it was almost as dark as it seemed from the outside. There was one big difference between how it looked on the outside and how it looked now that he was actually on the island. A huge statue, glowing white, pure, and untouched by the sludge stood in the center of the island. For a second it was a statue of a woman sitting in a field of flowers, then it switched to a woman looking up at the sky, facing away from Viktor's position in the sludge. And after a few seconds, it switched to a statue of a man kneeling as he was stabbed through the chest by a sword.

 

All were scenes Viktor could recognize. All were statues he’d seen before. As any good Ivanov child had.