HIs heartbeat thundered in his ears as he tore through the courtyard. Everything faded into a constant blur in his periphery, his footsteps the only thing registering in his head. Within minutes, the Butterfly Palace loomed on the horizon. He couldn't have quickened his pace any more.

The palace halls were alive. Court ladies bustled around in frantic and aimless steps. Without Chi-Sae to guide them, they seemed to not know what to do. Even the sentries assigned to guard the palace stood and loitered around. Had they sent the soldier who ran all the way to the Jade Palace?

Gasps filled the foyer as Nao-Zai burst into it. Court ladies dressed in purple and green ro flitted towards him, mouths moving but never producing any sound.

"What is it?" Nao-Zai hissed. A veil of haze descended upon him, obscuring most of his senses. Kai-Se. He had to get to the prince. "Spit it out."

A court lady with green sleeves and a flat face ducked her head urgently. "His Highness," she said. "Is not breathing."

Something snapped inside Nao-Zai. He strode towards the familiar halls leading to Kai-Se's room. "Where is he?" he demanded. His chest felt like it was going to explode. His fists clenched by his sides until his wrists hurt. "Why wasn't anyone with him?"

The court lady padded after Nao-Zai, keeping her head and gaze to the ground. "The Head Physician suspects it happened sometime around midnight, sir," she said. "None of us has seen His Highness go out of his room and go into the library."

Hearing the name of the place, Nao-Zai switched directions so suddenly the court lady gave a little squeak before scrambling after him. The pillars painted red and green whizzed by them, too numerous to count and too identical for Nai-Zai to care about. Library. What was Kai-Se doing in the library?

"Is the Court Physician still here?" Nao-Zai asked.

The court lady nodded. "He stayed with His Highness while the soldiers informed His Majesty," she reported. If not for the gentle slope of her eyes, this court lady could have been a formidable head of a palace court as well. "Are you here on behalf of the Emperor?"

Nao-Zai didn't answer. What was he even supposed to say? He was here on his own accord. Nobody sent him. He had probably offended the Emperor for leaving as he did but that's the last thing on his mind now. Kai-Se needed his help.

But what kind of help, exactly? This time around, they weren't dealing with psychopathic gods or rebelling beings. What Kai-Se faced and was facing now was something they couldn't see. And with the magical and spiritual involved, he would be of no help. The problem with Kai-Se was that, most of the time, he tended to be caught up in those kinds of things.

The library sped into view. Nao-Zai hurled himself through it, throwing the doors with such force the wind generated by the motion pushed the man's beard a few inches back. "What's going on?" Nao-Zai asked, dropping next to the man already crouched beside a sprawled figure on the library's wooden floorboards. This could only be the physician the court lady was talking about.

"See for yourself," the physician said, scooting back to reveal Kai-Se. "Feel his pulse."

Without wasting a beat, Nao-Zai pressed two fingers against Kai-Se's neck. The prince had fallen sideways, taking along some sort of book with him. It had flopped open on a page Nao-Zai couldn't bring himself to read now. He concentrated on the throbbing rhythm he was supposed to feel on the prince's skin.

There was nothing.

Knitting his eyebrows, Nao-Zai picked up one of Kai-Se's limp hands and felt the wrist. Nothing. Nao-Zai exhaled a heavy breath. Kai-Se couldn't be dead. He couldn't—

"He's not dead," the physician said, scattering what's left of Nao-Zai's jumbled thoughts. "See that book? He's reading shamanic text before he ends up in this state."

Nao-Zai frowned. "What's that got to do with this?" he asked. "What happened to him?"

The physician didn't look too thrilled to be relaying news to a disgruntled soldier. Then again, it's not like he has a choice. "It won't take a genius to conclude whatever happened to him has something to do with Shaoryeong and its magic," he said. He sighed as he reached for Kai-Se's other wrist. "I can't sense his korza anywhere in this room. The only reason for that is because it was somewhere else."

"Korza?" How in the Spirits' underpants was Nao-Zai hearing this nonsense at a time like this? "That stuff from the myths?"

The physician shook his head. "The one and only," he said. "I won't go into the mechanics of things for the sake of brevity. What matters is that Kai-Se's korza could only be in Shaoryeong, judging from the material he had been consuming and from our previous discussions. He messed with magic he didn't understand fully, so now, he's paying the price for it."

Nao-Zai risked another glance at the prince. Kai-Se's disheveled hair had covered most of his face, the straight, dark strands almost a direct contrast against his skin that's paler than porcelain, paler than the last time Nao-Zai had seen him. When Nao-Zai placed a finger below the prince's nose, no gusts of wind tickled it. No breath, no heartbeat, no movement. He might as well be dead.

"You said he's alive," Nao-Zai faced the physician. "How?"

The physician stroked his chin, fingers playing with the graying strands of his long, loose beard. "His korza still hasn't joined with the natural energy," he said. To Nao-Zai, it made sense as a pile of bricks used as a kitchen knife. "When creatures die, they become one with the world, their energies melding with the natural flow of the universe until such time it could be used to create another life in another time."

"Kai-Se is not like that. Well...not yet, anyway," the physician continued. "What I could gather is that his korza was thrown into Shaoryeong, thus preventing it from joining the flow of natural energy. That's how he was still alive, and how his body could remain in our world."

If Nao-Zai was following the discussion at all, he could only conclude that Shaoryeong, the spirit realm, had beings in there that weren't still part of the "natural energy". That could only mean one thing. Wherever Kai-Se was, he was bound to meet creatures and people in that place, and if they proved to be dangerous, Nao-Zai wouldn't be able to protect him. None of them would be able to.

In short, Kai-Se was in danger. Or at least, his korza was.

"What can we do? Can we bring it back?" Nao-Zai asked, disliking the fact they're talking about Kai-Se like a thing to chuck into gates and retrieve more and more. But they didn't have time to waste on being technical. "What must I do?"

The physician's eyes wandered to the mess of shelves and stacks of leather-bound books populating the landscape around them. "Manipulating the korza is a practice frowned upon by the Empire, but there is someone who can help you."

"That'll be the great shaman, won't it?" a voice bled from the library's doors.

In a flash, Nao-Zai's thumb flicked the guard of his sword, freeing the blade from its sheath. With his other hand, he grabbed the hilt, drew it to full length, and swung it at the blur of blue and red charging at him. Metal clanged against metal as a smaller blade clashed against his own. And held it in place.

"Do you just randomly swing that djeng-gi around now that you've got one?" Chi-Sae's grin was a mixture of amusement and mild annoyance. It wasn't every day someone was able to block Nao-Zai's sudden slashes, with a dagger, no less.

Nao-Zai decided to test it. He pressed down harder. Chi-Sae snorted but held her own weight, neither skidding back or applying pressure against his blade. It became clear now. This woman wasn't just a court lady. She was a warrior.

Finally, Nao-Zai relented and withdrew his weapon. He stuck the blade back to its sheath just as Chi-Sae slipped hers back into her sleeves. Of course, he had always known there was something hidden inside those wide sleeves, hence why she always tucked her hands in whenever a situation got tense.

"Remind me to take your word for it, next time," Chi-Sae said, dusting her sleeves and straightening her skirts. "You're not adorable when you're pissed."

Nao-Zai rolled his eyes. He didn't feel adorable at any point of his life, much less now, when there's a prince of the Empire he served lying motionless at his feet. "What brings you here, Chi-Sae?" he asked.

The court lady tilted her head to one side. "You made quite a statement in the assembly earlier," she said. Whatever she meant by that skipped Nao-Zai's understanding. "The Emperor sends his words to you and I'm only a messenger."

Oh, right. The Emperor did ask him to stay after the assembly and Nao-Zai had just gone and ignored that. Oops. "What is it?" he said aloud.

Chi-Sae stared down at Kai-Se's limp body. A dark cloud passed across her face before she shook her head and blew a breath. "Your task is to take the Crown Prince to the mountains in Chaebeon," she said. "Find the shaman, Shin-Ki. He can help."

"What makes you think he will?" Nao-Zai said. "It's forbidden to affiliate with shamans and I'm bringing the son of the Emperor and the heir to the throne. What's to stop him from thinking we're only setting a trap for him?"

From the folds of Chi-Sae's fenhai, she drew a long, sealed envelope and passed it to Nao-Zai. He flipped it around to see the crest of the Imperial City embossed on the parchment. "I doubt that'll mean anything by the time you reach Chaebeon," she said, alluding to the fact that the Imperial City would be facing an attack soon. "I suggest you hurry, djang-di. I'll get the ladies to fix Kai-Se up for the journey. You should prepare too. We will leave in the evening.

Nao-Zai inclined his head at Chi-Sae. " 'We?' "

Chi-Sae smiled at him. "I'll accompany you to one of the hidden passages leading out of the Imperial City. After that, the others will help you get to the forest and the mountains, away from the cities controlled by Dangrao where Pyeongjeon might have already planted his spies. Once you're deep into the mountains, you'll be on your own."

"Will you be staying here?" Nao-Zai asked as Chi-Sae turned to leave. The physician straightened as well, albeit with a queasy look on his face.

Chi-Sae ducked her head at the physician. "You should prepare as well, Yu-Shang," she said, referring to the man by his name. "Instruct the Physicians Quarter to leave not a speck of winkle rose tea for those heathens to enjoy."

The physician bowed back, fixing the strap of a bulging beige satchel slung across his torso. "As you say, kwonxia," he said, striding out of the library. "As you say."

Then, as Yu-Shang's footsteps faded with time, Chi-Sae turned to Nao-Zai. "To answer your question," she said. "I'll have to defend my Emperor, so of course, I'm staying."

"I could help here," Nao-Zai said. "Can't we just send for the shaman to come to Dangrao?"

Chi-Sae shook her head. "I have my task and you have yours. Don't question the Emperor's decision of setting us on different paths," she said. "We can handle it here. You, on the other hand, must deal with the battle beyond our walls."

Nao-Zai pursed his lips. Chi-Sae exhaled through her nose. "Besides," she said. "You'll be saving the Empire in your own way. You'll be ensuring this dynasty can continue by saving its heir."

Then, Chi-Sae strode towards the library's door, no doubt to call the rest of the Butterfly Court. Before she made it through the door, however, she looked over her shoulder with a conspiratorial grin. "And who knows? You might save more than that too."

She winked, then left Nao-Zai pondering about what she meant about a lot of things she had said to him over the course of a few months he had known her. When his mind reached nothing but dead ends, he shook his head and waved his hand in front of his face. He stooped down, picked Kai-Se's limp body up in his arms, and like the rest of them, strode out of the library.