A bell rang through the air. Calm spread with it. The storm calmed and cleared, allowing me to see again.

  Wukong. He was just up ahead. He floated in the air, confronting the thunder immortals.

  But they were backing down. The glanced nervously between Wukong and the latest immortal who arrived.

  It was a human with shaved hair, he held a calm expression on his face as he descended from on high.

  I activated my chi sight and frowned. The man completely vanished from my vision. Didn’t he have chi? Every living thing had chi. Yet he blended in perfectly well with the environmental chi.

  I switched back and looked back at Wukong. He seemed ready to attack him at any moment.

  “Wukong!” I called out and Wukong snapped to me. He flew over.

  “Yue, what are you doing? I told you to stay on Nimbus and stay invisible.”

  “Wukong, we should leave. Now.” I was getting a very bad feeling from that man.

  The man floated towards us, and stared at me in particular with inquisitive eyes. Wukong bared his fangs at him and whispered. “Buddha.”

  Buddha continued to stare me and finally said something. “You’re not from here are you?”

  He could tell? How? My grip tightened on Wukong and he growled again. “Stay away from her.”

  Buddha’s eyes went from me to Wukong. “Tell me, what is it you desire?”

  “Right now? The destruction of Heaven and the Jade Emperor.”

  Buddha sighed. “I see not much has changed. I cannot just allow you to do as you please, as both the Jade Emperor and Heaven is important for the continued existence of this world. That is, unless you can best my challenge.”

  “A challenge?” Wukong’s eyes lit up.

  No. I opened my mouth to stop Wukong, but flinched and stayed quiet as Buddha stretched out his hand towards us, palm up.

  “If you can jump from the palm of my hand, I shall let you do as you please.”

  Wukong looked like he was ready to take the challenge, but gave me a worried glance. I subtly shook my head, but the Buddha spoke up again, causing Wukong to look away.

  “No harm shall come to her while you are away. Of that I guarantee.”

  “Then you’re on.”

  “Wukong no!” It was too late. Wukong had already jumped into his palm and launched himself skyward. I watched as he left my vision.

  I activated my chi sight and looked at Buddha again. He was somehow using chi, but not in a way I recognized. I had to figure out the trick.

  Fuck. I still couldn’t see him manipulating any chi, but I felt that something was happening. Something was different. I just couldn’t figure out what.

  I kneeled in front of Buddha. I didn’t have time or power. Begging was the only option I had left. “Please, don’t kill him. He’s not bad, just impulsive. Please spare him.”

  He smiled at me, his palm still outstretched. “I never planned on killing him. While he needs to be punished, he can still be redeemed. But you are far more interesting to me child. The strings of fate are changing around you. I believe you shall breath new life into an age old tale.”

  He reached into his pocket and pulled out a marble with his other hand. He held it out to me. “Here. I believe this should be with you. I have faith you’ll use it carefully.”

  I gently took the marble from him and activated my chi sight. And gasped.

  It was a snarl. An anchor point. Somehow packed into a tiny glass ball. I could form a portal with it.

  I looked back up at Buddha. “Thank you, but… I don’t need this. Not anymore.”

  He offered another mysterious smile. “You will. Now, stand back. Wukong will be returning shortly.”

  I flashed the anchor point into my necklace and scrambled back just in time for Wukong to come rocketing back onto Buddha’s hand.

  He gave him a triumphant grin. “I made it all the way to the pillars of the universe. Now stand aside so I can destroy the Jade Palace.”

  Buddha nodded. “You did. And yet you did not leave my palm.”

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  Wukong scoffed. “Impossible! Are you unwilling to admit your loss?”

  “No, I am enlightened, and am one with the universe. Look here, on my finger. Doesn’t it look familiar?”

  “On your finger?” Wukong looked down and stiffened. “What? But…” He crouched down and sniffed.

  He turned pale. And jumped off his palm, summoned Nimbus, and grabbed me in a panic. He started flying away as quickly as possible.

  “Wukong! What are you doing!?”We flew away from heaven at top speed, and in a flash we were back over human lands.

  “You were right. We should have just ran.” His gaze remained focused ahead of him, but a dark shadow cast itself over us.

  A mountain. An entire mountain was over us.

  “Shit!” Wukong picked me up and chucked me away, and I barely left the mountain shadow before it descended.

  “Wukong!” I summoned my sword, and caught myself, then flew towards the mountain.

  He was crushed. No. Buddha said he would spare him. Was it because he ran?

  Tears began spilling. And a voice came from behind me.

  “Worry not. Wukong is still alive.”

  I whirled around. Buddha. “He is?”

  “Go to a small clearing on the southern side of the mountain and wait. You shall see him shortly.” Buddha floated on his cloud towards the top of the mountain.

  A small clearing on the southern side. I flew down and searched the bottom of the mountain until I found it.

  I landed, and looked up at the mountain. It was tall. Very tall.

  Rumbling. And grunting. I looked back at the bottom, where the mountain cut into the ground at an unnatural angle. The ground was moving.

  A head popped out. Wukong. I ran towards him.

  I dropped to my knees just as he managed to free one of his hands.

  “Wukong! You’re alive!” I was so relieved.

  He looked up at me. “Don’t worry Yue! I’ll be free in just a second! Let me just get…” He struggled with his other hand and it popped out too. “Ahah! Now-ooooof!”

  Wukong’s eyes went wide and he floundered with his hands. “What the-it’s so much heavier now! Why would it-“ Wukong was silenced at he looked behind me and I spun around. Buddha. I supposed it was to be expected at this point.

  “I placed a seal at the top of the mountain. Until I send someone to take it off, you are to remain trapped here.” Buddha’s eyes fell to me. “Understand?”

  I swallowed thickly. And bowed to him. “I understand. Thank you for your mercy.” He was telling me I couldn’t free Wukong myself. If we didn’t want to risk his wrath, we would wait.

  He nodded. “I will pray your punishment passes quickly. Until we meet again.”

  He vanished. He didn’t fly off, didn’t turn invisible. He just fucking vanished.

  I fell to my knees. I think I understood what mortals meant when they referred to a god now. A being so powerful you couldn’t hope to resist. One you could only beg for mercy.

  “Yue…” Wukong sniffed and I turned around. He looked up at me, looking more pitiful than I could ever remember before. “I’m sorry Yue.”

  I shuffled over and placed his head in my lap. I closed my eyes and just ran my fingers through his fur. “You’re alive Wukong. That’s what matters to me. We’re both alive, and we’re together.”

  “Yue,” Wukong sniffed again. “I don’t deserve you Yue. I never have. You should leave me and go back to Flower-Fruit Mountain.”

  “I’ll visit them later. For now, we can just stay together. I won’t leave you Wukong. Even if we fight, or you make really really bad decisions, or even if you scare me by losing control. You’re my family. My husband. And I love you.”

  “I was so mad Yue. They tried to kill you, even when you did nothing wrong. I just wanted to make them pay. I felt horrible. I was horrible. I should have listened to you from the very beginning. Then none of this would have happened.”

  “Shhh. I know Wukong. Also, I’m pretty sure what I did to heaven was worse than what you did. You just insulted them. I destroyed one of the major things that made them heaven.”

  “Wait, you did? What did you do?”

  “Well, in order to rescue you, I popped the time bubble around heaven. Now the people who stay there won’t be immortal anymore, time won’t pass quickly, and they still didn’t have it back up by the time we got out of the pot, so it’s lasting.”

  “Oh.” He sniffed, his tears winding down. “So we got them good?”

  “Between your rampage and my sabotage, I’d say it’ll take a long time for them to recover. So yeah.” I gave him a wicked grin. “We gave as good as we got.”

  He chuckled. “That’ll teach them. Don’t mess with the Suns!”

  “Or you’ll get burnt.” I finished our spontaneous family motto and we both chuckled.

  We stayed quiet for a few minutes. I was still trying to digest everything that happened. I think Wukong was too.

  He was trapped. He couldn’t move from this spot under the mountain.

  “What are we going to do now Yue? I know you said you wouldn’t leave, but they need you back on Aolai. I know how important you are there. They can get along without me just fine, but you’re different.”

  I patted him. “I’ll visit them to let them know what’s going on. Tomorrow. And they can survive without me too. I only visited once a year in heaven after all. I prepared them for the possibility that neither of us might come back when I left. They’ll be fine. I’ll live here with you, and visit them every couple of weeks.”

  Wukong sighed. “Yue, you don’t have to punish yourself for me. You’ll be better off on Flower-Fruit Mountain. You can live there and come visit me.”

  “We both know you’ll be too lonely. I will too. We’ll miss each other too much. No, I’ll fly some craftmonkeys here and they’ll build me a house. Right into the side of the mountain, so you can be sheltered too. Then, I’ll live here with you. We can wait for the person Buddha will send together.”

  “I truly don’t deserve you. You deserve someone better than me. Someone who doesn’t drag you into trouble all the time. All I do is start wars and reach for things I don’t need.”

  I ducked down and gave him a brief kiss. “Then you’ll just have to be someone better. Someone I can rely on, and who listens when his wife tells him something is a bad idea.”

  “I will Yue. I promise, the moment I get out, things will be different. I’m done with trying to impress heaven or chasing fame. All I need is you and our island to be happy.”

  I sighed. “Change doesn’t happen overnight Wukong. It’s hard to change. But I’ll help you. And you shouldn’t change too much. I think it’s cute when you try to impress me.” I giggled as Wukong groaned.

  “Cute isn’t exactly what I was going for.” He snuggled his head deeper into my lap. “I’ll do it Yue. I will change. I’ll become someone better, someone who deserves you. I swear it.”

  I continued to pet his head, and leaned up against the mountain, exhausted from everything we’ve been through. “I know you will Wukong. You’re too stubborn to ever let me go, and I love you too much to ever leave you. Since you promised to make me happy, you have to become better. And you always fulfill your promises.” I yawned.

  “Go to sleep Yue. I’ll wake you if anything happens. You’ve been through too much today.”

  “Just for a bit.” I laid down, setting my head next to his. “I love you Wukong.”

  “I love you too Yue.”