The Sorceress: Blossoming Power

Finally,  escape was far from the truth. The chameleon grabbed her and threw her to the cave wall. She closed her eyes as she braced herself for the impact. 

But to her shock she felt small hands captured her. It was the Hutyuns. Relief suffused their being and loudly sighed to know they made it in time.

She opened her eyes and tried to smile to see the Hutyuns receiving her, keeping her from hitting the wall. However, deep inside, she wanted to cry looking at them. Although they were badly beaten and their strength decreasing, they still came to her rescue. 

"My Queen, you are safe." 

This sight angered the chameleon. He let out a loud squeal as he was about to charge against them at a dangerously high pace. 

"Quick, form into a huge rock!" Xinyi yelled. 

Their formation didn't block the chameleon but slowed him down to give Xinyi some time to evade a huge distance from the being. 

"Listen to me! I do not want to fight you!" Xinyi tried to negotiate with the chameleon. She wanted to tell him this was all a misunderstanding. That he had been carelessly chasing the wrong person the entire time. 

"Why should I listen to a thief and a murderer?" He scratched his feet on the ground, ready to attack again.

"Because I'm not the person you say I am." She raised her hands, showing him she did not mean any harm. But the chameleon was too hasty and felt too much hatred to even listen. He tried to nab her. This time the Hutyuns formed themselves into a huge shield and protected her.

"Do you think these things can protect you for long?" He hit the barrier Hutyuns with his tail while not damaging their formation in purpose. He wished to hear them cry and suffer. To make them see that Xinyi was useless and not as strong as him.

He struck the shield and gave a loud growl. The barrier weakened with each hit. Xinyi clasped her chest as their pain resonated to her.

"I didn't kill your Grandfather, and I do not know of who you are! Please you have to believe me." She cried, hoping to convince the merciless chameleon.

At last, the shield burst as the Hutyuns couldn't hold on any longer. They all dropped on the ground and couldn't move their tiny bodies, even an inch. The floor was full of their blood. They were scattered all over the cave like dust.

The chameleon swiftly knocked Xinyi out with his tail. Xinyi coughed blood as she hit the ground with a loud thud, back first. She was catching her breath because the tail struck her chest. This gave her a hard time to recover. Her eyes drooped as she slowly lost consciousness. Her vision started to get fuzzy. 

She felt herself being lifted but powerless to move every part of her body. Unfortunately, it wasn't the Hutyuns. It was the chameleon. He threw her across the cave. Her body limped as blood spurted out from her mouth and nose. Xinyi fell on the dusty ground, unmoving.

Although battered, her mind was partly awake. 

No, I can't die here, I have to go back. I have to go back to Ming; I don't want to die like this.

Memories flashed back to her in one instant. Mostly, her short exchanges with her husband, Ming. She recalled him sweetly calling her name. 

I still have a lot of things to tell him. I need to go back to him and the others. I still want to do more. I still want to prove myself to them. I can't die a meaningless death like this.

As she lost consciousness, the chameleon thought he had won. He grinned as he was about to give his finishing blow. Suddenly, the chameleon shuddered. He felt a strong blood-l.u.s.t aura engulfing the whole area. 

"Where is that coming from?" He looked around for any threat but could see no one else but Xinyi and the injured Hutyuns. Suddenly out of nowhere he felt a presence beside him. With no warning, he was blown away.

The cave trembled as his body smashed on the cave wall. Dust and pebbles fell from the ceiling.

"Arrgh!" he yelped. He staggered to stand up as his feet wobbled with the throbbing pain. "Who's there!" He couldn't detect the thing's presence. He managed to get up and moved his tail to defend from an unseen hand slapping his face. 

He heard a quick whoosh.  On the right. He attempted to block the powerful punch, but he failed as it already connected with his body. The chameleon had never been so threatened before. He then noticed that the Xinyi's body was missing from where he had left it. 

'It couldn't b-!' he wasn't given a chance to evade another hit. But he finally got a glance on who or what powerful being made him feel so weak in just a short time. 

It was the girl that he couldn't even feel any threat from earlier. The person he had beaten badly. The person who had to depend on those little Hutyuns for protection. It was Xinyi.

"I saw you almost die! How are you still standing? No ordinary girl could live from those attack."

Xinyi gave no expression nor any explanation. She hit him with a backhand smack. What expected to be a normal slap created big damage on the chameleon and the cave. The cave walls and ceiling shook as dust filled the air, blurring the chameleon's vision.

The chameleon tried to get up and attack her. But she kicked him in the face in a speed his multiple eyes couldn't see. Before he could even hit the cave wall, she caught him and choked him. Such a small fragile body lifted the chameleon a few inches from the air. 

The chameleon coughed as he panicked. He couldn't move his hands. He found himself being chained towards the wall by the Hutyuns and this struck him speechless. He didn't even hear her command them. 

Suddenly an eerie feeling crept unto him as Xinyi's eyes changed into deadly red. She suddenly had a black aura swirling around her. The chameleon struggled with all his strength to flee as she approached him but... the Hutyuns rendered him immobile at this moment. 

Finally she spoke. But this time it was nothing like earlier. The voice he heard before was a desperate one, a weak human that couldn't even hurt a fly. This one was the voice of someone with authority. Her voice resounded in the cave, making his heart almost stop beating in horror.

"How dare you step over my authority? Who do you think you are?"

Just hearing her say that made him shiver and wished to die, if he could. 

He did not recognize this person anymore. This was not the hopeless girl that had begged him to listen to her. This time, this person seemed more dangerous and more of a queen. Not an average human at all. This was not the same Xinyi...