Qing Long, makes the world smile when he does and makes it cry when he does. Now the world was crying and the sky was pouring hard to compensate his pain and drown his sorrows away.
He is special because the dragon king was the sky's first love and yet he's crying. The thunder gods roared as their lightning whips the vast ground harshly. How can the beautiful dragon cry when the gods had given him everything? They favored his existence and blessed him the beauty no one can have but little did they know that was a problem: No one can have him. He was alone…or was he?
"Hey are you out of your mind? It's cold, you know?"
A voice scolded a little too childishly as it ends with a lively giggle. He looks at the person slowly starting at her muddy feet, to her white linen clothing in gray streaks as it soaks in the rain. "You aren't crying are you?" she tilts her head to the side and it almost scared him away.
Her face wasn't there.
"Are you a lost soul perhaps?" he asked, wiping the mix of rain and tears away from his eyes, squinting enough to see if she really didn't have a face. The piece of land is inhabited by lost souls because it gives solace to them and they'll eventually move on and he, the dragon king, had the habit of sending them to the heavens where they belong. Due to his loneliness he hasn't done that job for sometime.
"Are you?" she countered, lifting her bangs away and securely tying the rest of her hair up as if it bothered her. Qing Long's eyes were wide and its shade of dark silver glistened in the process, blinding it seems as she falls back dramatically.
"Too bright!"
"I'm sorry?" The dragon king apologized unsurely, pulling her up with him, wanting to know what was wrong and at the same time wishes she won't say. His gloom crawling back up to his throat.
When she didn't say anything he takes the time to observe her again as soon as she turned her back on him. The faceless maiden's head was tilted downwards and her damp hair messily tied up in the verge of unraveling and when it did her long pitch black hair spreads away from her nape, almost looking like a normal maiden of the forest from behind. She was small and her hands were small too and for no reason he seemed to enjoy their difference. There was a ghost of a smile on his feature because of it but when she looks up and presents her blank face again, all thoughts were pushed back and he feels cold from how disturbing her feature is once more. Even unnamed soul have their features. He wonders absentmindedly if she's even seeing him at all.
"It's okay." She smiled and even under her empty face, Qing Long knew she was smiling at him. He wasn't though and he fails to notice that. "You are scared, I get that." She pointed out but disappointment was evident in her voice.
The dragon king quickly shakes his head and denies it and she was laughing again. Her body expressed the same happiness and she twirled away and almost falls again with clumsy feet but this time Qing Long guided her back and they dance unconsciously in the puddle of clear water at their very feet. He doesn't know it yet but he feels a little lighter than before.
When Qing Long's eyes caught their reflection on the pool of water everything stopped. She wasn't smiling and laughing. She was sobbing and her eyes were like his, her lips were in a tight line and her nose was small but pointed at the tip. His eyes darted away from the puddle and back to her, only to find her faceless again. When he looks back at the water she was reflected as is, no face.
"What's wrong?" She asked tilting her head to the side.
"Who… exactly are you?" the dragon king asked warily.
There was a pause and he's regretting he even asked it. It felt wrong and like her faceless smile, he can feel she's frowning at him. Something inside him stirs and it hurts again.
"The scariest thing in the world is being forgotten." She hums those words in sadness. She pulls away and Qing Long quickly tried to reach out to her but still she fades away in the depths of the forest. When the dragon king turns around in response from her echoing voice she disappears just leaving something that made his heart race -Her faceless mask was on the floor.
Days passed and the dragon king's heart grew sadder than the last time so the rain never stops too and the clouds were thicker with the fog heavy on the plains. He held on the mask, tucked safely under his invisible wings and for days he started flying again with the rough weather. He was desperate to find her. He has questions and she's the only one who can answer them, he knows it.
The light shades of gray streaks her body and her pale garment was still wet when Qing Long finally finds her. Perched on a branch, she sings wordless music and makes the glum forest revive its color, wipes the fog away and let the animals flood the once empty pathway of the unknown forest. The birds hum and the frogs croak and hop on the lily pads. The wolves howl and the wood pecker digs holes on a large chunk of bark on the mud. The nature was singing with her until the dragon descends close and scares the whole crowd.
"Now will you listen to me?" she asked as if they have been talking the whole time. Qing Long gave her an incredulous look but nodded in the end, sits beside her and hums a voice that frightens the ground. She pats him at the back but found her voice lacing with his, a beautiful sound that made everyone slowly return. Nature sings again and the sun watches with glee, the blue skies dusting the gray clouds away. The birds flew and danced above them in joy.
"I sing to my beloved dragon. That he remembers his friend, the phoenix. Feng has been reborn."
The dragon king, makes the world smile when he does and makes it cry when he does. Now the sky is smiling rays of light to the vast lands, making everything beautiful and giving new meaning to life.
Today, Qing Long rejoices with his friend Feng.