Marek sat in front of the Wei family. His tail twitching ever so slightly. He knew he was going to be blamed for this, even if it wasn’t his fault.

“Do you know anything about this?” Asked Nikola, handing him the dirty silk band. Marek could smell the curse on it and a faint human scent. But it belonged to the driver, and so he couldn’t help clear up this confusion.

“This is the first time I see this. You said that you burned the first silk band, and you heard a scream?” He asked, and his creator nodded.

“Something is stalking your forests. It doesn’t seem to want to go into the town itself,” said Wei Caihong, and Marek nodded. Was this the proper time to tell them? He had no other choice.

“The one you call Victor ran away from me some years ago. I can track him down. See if he is responsible.”

“What is the Wuzhiqi doing?” Asked Nikola, and Marek rolled his shoulders.

“Not killing or gathering other Wuzhiqi and their livestock to him, that is for sure. I would have gotten rid of him if he did. But he would have left a trace behind.”

“True,” said Penemue, and she sipped from her tea. A fragrant fruity brew that was more juice in truth but was all the rage this year after stalls appeared in Gangcho selling it. “But we can’t rule out the possibility. Hunt it down.”

“As you command,” said Marek, bowing his head. He stood up and then removed a picture from his robe. “A little something Liu Bao made for you all when she heard you were visiting. Do you all think you can stop by my home and stay with my wife and daughter while I hunt?”

He still lived in the same cave in the canyon as before, although he had long since made more of it fit for living.

“We’ll bring the children, and we will make you a couple of grottoes. You can trade the produce with the locals,” said Nikola, smiling. They have seen little Liu Bao only once in these four years, and she had been a little bundle of joy at the age of three. How was she going to be now?

“That sounds great. Well, I’ll be off,” said Marek. Victor liked to skulk in the caves. Occasionally, he liked to go to Pangong, the place of his death and defeat. If Marek could find him anywhere, then that was the place.

The tiger demon rushed out into the streets, ignoring the adoring crowds around him. They gave him power, those mortals, and so he protected them. There was something good about humanity in general.

 His Liu Ju had taught him that, and little Liu Bao had set this belief in stone for him. If Victor was threatening his family, for if he was threatening the creator he would surely threaten Marek soon, then Marek was going to crush him. It was as simple as that.

Making his way to where he left his wife and his daughter, he thought about sending them back into the canyon. Then he thought better of it. It was too dangerous. He sent them instead to the inn, where his creator would surely protect them, and headed in the direction of the ruins of Pangong.

The Wei family greeted the two members of the Liu family warmly. Liu Bao was pulled by Han Fengfan and the two Wei girls to play, but the boys crowded around them too. Liu Ju looked nervously at the man who created her husband. Should she consider him her husband’s father? But Marek had held affection for him. Had it been returned?

The tall, dark haired, woman placed a calming hand on Liu Ju’s shoulder and handed her a cup of tea.

“Thank you, lady Pen,” said Liu Ju, remembering the name of the Trojan beauty at the last second.

“You are welcome, dear. It would take some time for Marek to return. We rented you rooms,” said Penemue, and Liu Ju smiled gratefully. She was used to sleeping in caves now. A room was so strange for her.

“How has Marek been treating you?” Asked her husband’s creator.

“Very well, even though I can’t give him children,” responded Liu Ju. Looking at the children crowding around her adopted daughter made her a little jealous. She loved her little gem, but she wanted to have children of her own as well.

“Don’t blame yourself. I created him sterile,” said Nikola. Liu Ju felt a sudden sense of anger then.

“He deserves to have children of his own!” She whispered so that Liu Bao couldn’t hear her.

“I know that now, but when I created him, I expected that he would end up…well…”

“Evil?” Spat the words Liu Ju. The man next to Nikola, Wei Caihong, stood up and went to the children. Clearly feeling uncomfortable. Liu Ju stared Nikola down.

“Can you give him back what you took from him?” She asked and Nikola nodded.

“The children will be half-demons. The pregnancy will be very dangerous for you,” said Nikola, and Liu Ju smiled at the thought of giving Marek children of his blood. Something that lived on after she died.

“Do it then. His happiness means the world to me,” Nikola’s eyes softened at that. He had a potion to brew.

Marek was a demon and as such faster than any horse. He crossed the distance in a day and stared at the entrance gate, or the half of it that still stood. Pangong was never a prosperous village and that showed in its ruins.

“Victor! Where are you, you flea bag?” Nothing answered. Marek sniffed the air. Victor was not here. He was about to leave when his nose caught another scent. A scent of decay and…maggots?

He moved towards the scent. It was at its strongest at the center of the village. There was a Zheng, or maybe it was a Ning, resting next to a half collapsed building. It looked half-rotten, and yet it’s chest still moved up and down.

In a fight against this five-tailed leopard, the one thing Marek had to look for was the horns on its head. Even though they were close to the head, they looked sharp.

The beast turned to him. There was something behind him. A human child. Worried that the beast was going to savage the child, Marek leapt in the air and landed behind the massive leopard.

The child grinned as Marek scooped it up. Then, just as Marek was leaping backwards and wondering why the leopard wasn’t doing anything to stop them, the child plunged a dagger into Marek’s side.

Throwing the child away, Marek looked down to see maggots trying to crawl out of his wound. What was happening here?

“You will last far longer than this useless thing,” said the child. With a sick realization, Marek figured that the Zheng Ning was still alive, even though it was decomposing. Was this his fate as well?

“Who are you?” Marek’s voice sounded weak to his ears. He leaned on the leopard, and it looked at him with eyes full of pain. Finally, Marek saw black, rusted, chains around its paws. The boy had the very same chains in his hands.

“Tiger, you were created by a phoenix, right? By the Emerald Emperor,” said the child, advancing on Marek. The Zheng Ning growled. Perhaps Marek could find an ally in him? He bends down and tried the chains around the paws. Taking out the sword at his belt, he placed it around the chain links and used it as a lever to try to break them.

The chains, as rusted as they were, gave a little. But the child was already next to Marek. He had to abandon his sword and run away from the little menace. However, the Zheng Ning was already up and pressing his right paw over the sword with all his might. The child looked between tiger and leopard and backed away.

“You are both dead anyway,” he said as he dropped the chains and made a run for it. Marek limped after the boy, but his wound burned with every movement. Finally, he went back to the Zheng Ning and continued to try to get it free. It deserved to die without chains on it.

Marek could smell the boy nearby. It was hiding, but it wasn’t going away as it should. The tiger demon got the Zheng Ning out of its chains with one last push, and the leopard began to limp in the direction of the boy. Together, they could take it, of that Marek was sure.

They walked, and the boy kept hiding from them. It was like one big game of hide and seek. The boy wanted for them to die, so he could do something with the corpses. But what, Marek didn’t know.

The boy had mentioned Nikola. A past enemy, maybe? The Zheng Ning collapsed next to Marek and breathed it’s last. Marek bent down and closed its eyes. He had healed most of his wound and had burned away the rot. If an infection set in, then that would be fine. At least maggots weren’t going out of his wound anymore.

He was just about to shout to the boy to show himself when the Zheng Ning got up. It opened its eyes. They were now orange and shining. A paw swipe sent Marek flying into a building, the stone wall finally not being able to hold anymore. As he was buried alive, he heard a giggle from the outside.

Marek was floating. Where did things that weren’t born but were created like him went after they died? Was he dead? He opened his eyes and saw that he was not, in fact, floating, but rather he was suspended by chains over a boiling cauldron.

“One wrong move and I will drop you in, tiger.” Said the boy from his position next to a lever. Marek traced it and saw that it was connected to a mechanism that was connected to chains. Marek gulped.

“What do you want from me?” He asked, and then a growl made him look towards the reanimated Zheng Ning. A chunk of its flesh fell down on the ground and Marek turned his eyes away in pity.

“People call me the Maggot, Marek.” Said the boy as it dropped something into the boiling cauldron. “A distasteful name. But I was born from the earth. I evolved during the years. And I was something else, before. A resident of the island of Atlantis. It's an only phoenix.”

Marek stared at the boy. Sure he was. He was just a worm who wanted to steal the creator’s immortality for himself.

“You don’t believe me? Watch,” the boy placed his hand into the boiling cauldron and then took it out. It was unharmed. “I always know where the other part of me is. I know where that wretch, the Emerald Emperor, is. But I need bait. He holds you dear to him. You will do nicely.”

“And if I refuse to play bait?” Asked Marek. The chains lowered themselves and he got his answer.

“Call the thief here,” said the Maggot. “Call him here so that I can defeat him. I won’t fail this time. I will be the first dark phoenix in history. The embodiment of life and death.”

“Over my dead body,” said Marek, and he swung in the chains. The Maggot screamed as they snapped, and Marek twisted himself to fall next to the child. He grabbed him and threw him in the cauldron as the Zheng Ning charged.

Marek ran away as the Zheng Ning jumped in the cauldron after its new master. But just as Marek had suspected, fire burned away these impure lifeforms. Just as the cauldron was filling in with maggots which came from nowhere, Marek made a barrier on the surface.

That was done just as the boy had shown his head. It was cleanly cut off and the cauldron overflowed with maggots. They crawled everywhere, and Marek ran out of Pangong and towards Danyang as fast as he could. The Maggot was still alive, and something told Marek that he would continue to survive as long as Nikola lived.