They were off to Danyang the very next day, travelling north along the coast. Nikola littered the waters with pearl oysters. But that had been easy. There had been already some in the waters before Nikola forced more duplicates to appear. What the Emperor asked of him next was not so easy.

“He wants me to make gold appear beneath the sand,” said Nikola, defeated. Penemue was looking at him amused.

“Surely, you can make something else appear that will make the Emperor lay off? A brand-new coral reef? Rich in fish.”

“I can’t make a gold mine appear in the sand,” said Nikola. “Or create a coral reef. These waters are mermaid territory.”

“There are mountains nearby,” said Wei Caihong, pointing at a peak nearby. “Jade then?”

Nikola stood up and went to where the Emperor was lounging on a blanket on the beach. Loud yelling soon followed, and Nikola returned to his family.

“Jade. But the next deposit has to be gold,” he spoke. He gathered magic in his hands and was just about to touch the ground when Wei Caihong stopped him.

“How do you do this?” He asked, and Nikola let his magic disappear.

“I simply visualize the deposit and pump the magic out. Do you want to try?” Wei Caihong nodded and concentrated. Then he fell on the ground and smiled in victory.

“I did it!” He said happily. Penemue nodded. That freed Nikola’s magic for the creation of a couple of grottoes in the caves.

The Emperor apparently wanting this to be his summer residence. Unfortunately, a Pixui was found in one of said caves, and Nikola had barely made some stones fall over the cave’s exit before it managed to reach them.

It only managed to drag a single guard in the cave. The screams of the man had frightened the children. Wei Xiang had hidden behind Nathaniel and had begun to cry. The Nephilim had glared at the collapsed cave with burning hatred. He loved all his siblings and hated anything that brought them discomfort.

As the adults were thinking on what they could do about the Pixui Nathaniel left Wei Xiang with Wei Liling and patted Ryota on the shoulder.

“Come on, kitsune. I know how you can turn into a fox again,” Ryota grinned, kissed Han Fengfan’s cheek and bounced off after his adoptive brother.

“Do you really? Or do you want me to get eaten? Because my immortality is better than yours and I will get you back if you trick me,” said Ryota and Nathaniel snorted.

“I know how to turn into my true form now. If you spend any time on your magic, you would have known how to turn into your form too. But you are a lazy fool in love, Ryota,” said Nathaniel. They were creeping along the edges of the camp. Away from the eyes of the adults.

“Well, you had more years to turn this knowledgeable,” said Ryota, annoyed at being called a fool.

“We are the same age, give or take a couple of months,” said Nathaniel. There really wasn’t any excuse for Ryota’s lack of proficiency in magic. Apart from simple tricks like creating jewelry and making plants grow, his brother wasn’t excellent for anything else.

“Pa could take care of this,” said Ryota. His Pa has taken care of many things before. Had Nathaniel not told him that he could become a fox again, he wouldn’t have followed him.

“I am itching for a fight. The Pixui is said to be equal to a medium-sized army in strength. Don’t you want to feel blood in your mouth again?” Asked Nathaniel, and he looked back to see a dreamy look on Ryota. You can take the boy out of the fox, but you couldn’t take the fox out of the boy.

“We can’t tell anyone, though. Shouldn’t we have taken Wei Longwei with us? He is good with the sword,” said Ryota. Their brother had earned the name First Sword of Gangcho. Every cultivation sect in the land wanted him as a disciple.

“He is four. Father would have been furious,” said Nathaniel. Even if Nathaniel himself looked like he was nine and Ryota seven, their true forms were formidable. And Wei Longwei, for all that he was the angel Rudra in truth, was just a toddler who could swing a sword specially made for him.

“What are you, scared?” Asked Nathaniel smirking. Ryota growled at him, an old habit from the time spent as a fox. They made it to the cave and Nathaniel turned towards Ryota.

“We need to climb and make a hole in the ceiling of the cave and to jump down. Then we change,” he placed a foot over the fallen stone and began to climb, only to see that Ryota wasn’t following.

“It knows we are here. It will pounce while we are jumping,” said the kitsune. Nathaniel frowned and motioned for his brother to start climbing.

“I will jump down first, if you are afraid. But I will have victory today,” he said, and finally Ryota began to climb after him. They made it to the top of the cave as the sun was setting. Both brothers turned to look at the brilliant oranges and reds in the clear sky. They stared at each other and grinned viciously.

“How do I change?” Asked Ryota as Nathaniel was making the hole in the cave.

“Imagine how you used to look, and then bite your hand and let your magic do the rest. We will turn back when the battle is over. I have done this before, don’t worry,” he said as he saw that Ryota was about to protest.

“And when was that?” Asked the younger boy, suspicion raising in his voice.

“Some of father’s paper dragons got a will of their own last year. I got rid of them while everyone was asleep.”

Ryota remembered that. The dragons, who used to give him rides on their backs, became menaces and no matter how much Pa tried to turn them back into paper they remained flesh and bone. Then, one day, only blood had remained of them.

“You have to tell me all about that fight,” said Ryota excitedly. His brother was quite cool, to have gotten rid of the dragons and all that without anyone finding out how.

“So, you can tattle to father and I end up grounded? Dream on. Well, in I go.”

Nathaniel jumped inside the hole and a flash of light followed him. Ryota grinned, already imagining his towering high and his nine tails swaying in the cave. He jumped down and mid-jump he bit his hand, letting magic wash over him.

Ryota heard the sound of fighting. Two massive shapes were crushing around the cave. But he wasn't much concerned about that. He was still a little boy. A little boy with a broken spine, whimpering on the ground. The magic hadn’t changed him. Whatever Pa had done when he mated him to Han Fengfan hadn’t let it.

He moved his head slowly and saw a giant and a lion with horns battling each other. One of the lion’s legs was at an odd angle. But the giant had bite marks all over. Nathaniel looked like he needed help and desperately. The lion was half as big as him.

The Pixui lunged at Nathaniel’s throat and the Nephilim blocked it with his right hand and then regretted it. The beast easily broke the bone within and pushed the giant further into the cave.

 Where was Ryota? Was he still up on the roof of the cave? Nathaniel picked up a bolder and brought it down on the lion’s back. The bolder snapped, and the feline began to attack him with greater rage.

They neared a deep pool in the middle of the cave and Nathaniel saw his chance. He gripped the lion by the horns and brought its head underneath the water. What a horrible death that was. Nathaniel remembered a time when he was still Pallas. Back during the day of his rebellion when the waters rouse and threatened to end him.

He felt tremors all over his body, the magic trying to make him small and teleport him again like it did back then. Nathaniel attempted to think of his family. Tried to ground himself with the thought of it. And just as he felt the pool of a teleportation ritual, he heard it. A whimper.

Turning towards it, he saw Ryota laying brokenly on the ground. Guilt filled Nathaniel. He had been so sure that if this trick worked for him, then it would for Ryota, and his brother had paid the price.

With a roar, the giant plunged into the water, overcoming his greatest fear for the first time in a hundred years. He dived with the lion as deep as the pool went. He had stored breath for a minute, but the lion didn’t.

Their eyes met. The Pixui’s crazed ones and Nathaniel’s determined ones. Even when Nathaniel ran out of air, he kept the lion in the water, using his weight to force it down. And just as his lungs began to burn, he swam up, the lion floating to the surface. Limp and not responsive.  

But Nathaniel wasn't concerned about the darn cat. He rushed to where Ryota still laid. He knew that he shouldn’t move him. That he should go get father so that the kitsune could be healed. However, he couldn’t watch him like this.

“Bite down on my hand, brother,” it was an old healing technique. A very painful one for both sides. But if it meant that they could go to their family whole and healthy, then Nathaniel would not regret staying as a human permanently.

“Is it really going to work?” Asked Ryota, and Nathaniel looked down at the small child sadly.

“It will heal us. Yet, we will become fully human,” said Nathaniel.

“I want to become me again,” said Ryota stubbornly. He missed rushing on all fours. He missed being able to hunt. Furthermore, he missed the joy of victory.

“We can ask father to teach us how to become skilled mages like him,” said Nathaniel. Nikola didn’t need any bestial power or form. It had been pride on Nathaniel’s part that had prevented him from going to his adoptive father for lessons. Pride and guilt.

“He doesn’t even teach Wei Longwei, and he pesters him all the time,” snapped back Ryota, but his teeth did close around Nathaniel’s giant hand. He bit down and then they both screamed as Nathaniel’s magic worked to put them both back together.

Nathaniel, now a boy of nine years again, fell down next to his brother, who was sobbing. Nathaniel hugged him and kissed Ryota’s hair.

“We are well again,” he spoke as he made comforting circles into Ryota’s back.

“But we will never be ourselves again,” said Ryota between sobs. “We will always be weak. I won’t be able to protect Han Fengfan.”

“We can learn, and we will raise above this little setback,” murmured Nathaniel. They heard a loud boom and the stones at the entrance of the cave moved aside. In stepped Penemue, who looked at them with disappointment.

“Mother, don’t tell father,” demanded Nathaniel as Penemue picked both him and Ryota up with ease.

“I will not lie to him. But if he doesn’t ask where you two were, then I won’t tell him. And as far as I am concerned, the stupid Pixui drowned on its own.”

Penemue carried them out and into the camp and put them with the rest of the children. Secretly glad that her two children were now fully human at last.