In the sweltering heat of San Celestino, where jade butterflies carried messages between immortal realms, lived Maestra Zhou, a cultivator who specialized in divining futures through the most mundane of objects. Her latest acquisition was a tattered dog bed that tasted like centuries of memories and broken promises.
“This taste,” she muttered, taking another contemplative bite of the fabric, “speaks of betrayal marinated in regret.”
Her apprentice, Miguel García, watched in bewilderment as she continued to consume the worn cushion. Having crossed oceans to study the arts of cultivation, he still struggled to understand his master’s eccentric methods.
“Maestra, surely there are more… conventional ways to read fortunes?” he ventured.
She fixed him with eyes that sparkled like agates in moonlight. “Conventional? Was it conventional when your great-grandfather planted a garden of clockwork flowers that chimed the hour of death for every soul in the village?”
Miguel shifted uncomfortably. The story of his ancestor’s magical experiments was still whispered about in his hometown.
“The dog who slept here,” Maestra Zhou continued, swallowing another mouthful, “belonged to a man who achieved immortality through treachery. He sacrificed his most loyal companion to extend his own life.”
The air in the room grew thick with the scent of jasmine and copper. Outside, the jade butterflies began to swarm.
“And now?” Miguel asked, mesmerized by the growing darkness in his teacher’s expression.
“And now, dear student, we wait. The Dao demands balance. The immortal will return, seeking his old friend’s bed - the last connection to his mortal life.”
As if summoned by her words, a man materialized in the doorway. His skin had the translucent quality of aged pearl, and his robes seemed woven from starlight and shadows.
“Your dog remembers,” Maestra Zhou said simply, taking her final bite of the bed.
The immortal’s face contorted. “You dare-”
“I dare to be the vessel of karma,” she interrupted, her body beginning to glow with an inner light. “Your companion’s essence, preserved in this bed for five centuries, has chosen its path to justice.”
Miguel watched in awe as his teacher’s form shifted, her human features melting away to reveal the shape of a magnificent hound, its fur the color of midnight and eyes burning with the accumulated wisdom of ages.
“A life for a life,” the transformed Maestra growled, her voice resonating with both human and canine timbre. “Your immortality ends where your betrayal began.”
The immortal’s scream echoed through multiple realms as his stolen years fled his body, drawn to the essence of his betrayed companion now residing within Maestra Zhou. His form crumbled like autumn leaves, scattering into nothingness.
In the silence that followed, Miguel approached his transformed teacher. “Will you… stay this way?”
The hound’s eyes twinkled with familiar wisdom. “Until another wrong needs righting. Remember, Miguel - in our pursuit of the extraordinary, we must never forget the ordinary bonds that make us human.”
The jade butterflies settled on her fur like living jewelry, and somewhere in the distance, clockwork flowers began to chime.