In a small village nestled in a valley at the base of a huge mountain, people have grown up knowing a story about a terrible beast that lives in the mountain and every time there is a crimson moon a Dreamer arrives to make sure the beast remains asleep. For if it awakens it would destroy their beautiful home. This has been going on for centuries every time there is a full blood moon a stunning Dreamer arrives. He stands on the stone altar, throws his hands up to the sky and begins to speak, what can only be described as a lullaby. This is because the language he sort of sings is indecipherable.
The people listen and watch the tiny god in action, a strange pattern begins to glow around his feet, that are hidden under his long robe. His long black hair, as black as the night, flows down his slender back in waves. Every time he moves his slender heavily ringed hands the people can hear the sound of metal bracelets around his slender wrists clinking together. When he finishes the lullaby, there is flash of light and poof he is gone. The people always wished he would stay for a cup of tea, but he never did. It would be nice to thank him for keeping the beast they all feared asleep once more.
One day the Chief of the village decided the next time there was going to be a crimson moon she would make sure there was an offering for the god already in place. The Chief’s top astronomers predict the next blood moon would happen on the dawn of summer. This gave her enough time to make sure a stone table was placed near the altar which the villagers filled with offerings of the finest fruit. Then all they could do was wait until the moon rose high in the night sky and slowly began to turn red.
Once the moon was half covered the gathered people hear the soft rumble of thunder which told them the Dreamer had arrived. All eyes were on the edge of the forest waiting for the god to appear. Except this time it was someone else who emerged from the shadows of the trees, dressed in a light green topcoat. It was obvious this was a different god, for he was considerably taller than a Dreamer nor did he have a full round chest. The right side of the topcoat was tucked behind a book. The green cover with a pulsating stone in the centre told the people he was clearly a spell caster. Also peeking from the gasps in the front of his robe appeared to be a large stone resting against the centre of his firm chest. This unknown god uses a hairpin to fasten back his long jet-black fringe, as he makes his way over to the table to pour himself a cup of tea.
This is when the Chief walks over to him, his stunning blue eyes watch her take a bow.
"My lord, I am Kāihuā (Blossom), Chief of Méiguī (Rose) Village. Are you here in place of the Dreamer?"
The god does not respond, he just sets the cup down on the table and makes his way over to the altar.
The Chief decides to leave him to it. She performs another slight bow before she walks away.
The people wait for this new god to begin saying the lullaby going on to throw his hands into the air. Except this god does nothing he just stands there as though he is waiting for something to happen. The people grow worried when strange noises begin to come from the mountain.
A man within the crowd points a hand at the god and questions, “Why is he not doing anything?”
“Give him a moment. He may do things differently,” replies an older man.
The people around him nod in agreement, and they all continue to watch.
Then a woman screams, and points a shaking hand at the mountain. “IT’S COMING!”
Some men rush over to the god begging him to speak the lullaby to put the beast asleep, but all he does is narrows his eyes at them and turns his head away.
The people start to move back in fear when they see a huge hand with long claws comes looming out of the mist to grip the side of the mountain and just when they think it is too late the god throws something into the air.
They all watch him throw out his left hand towards the beast and places the first two fingers of his other hand near his thin pale pink lips. Again he does not say a ward, but the strange markings upon the ground begin to glow.
The object he threw into the air can be seen now orbiting around the god’s body. A strange upwards wind begins to make his robes. Then something comes flying out from under the left flap of his topcoat to stop inches from the beast’s chest.
“No, it cannot be,” announces the creature. “You are going to finally set me free?”
The god seems to shrug his shoulders, and the beast responds, “I see even you do not know. All I can say is give it your best shot, lad.”
The god performs a slight bow and carries on.
The people watch in amazement the object near the beast appears to be stuck in to something and it seems to take the god a moment to withdraw it, so he can send it again.
This carries on until all the moon has turned a stunning crimson red and the creature says with a voice full of excitement, “It is now or never, Soul Drinker!”
All the people are shocked to have heard the creature speak of a god that is steeped in myths and legends. Their kind were responsible for brining one of the worst chapters in history to an end. These days they are hardly ever seen, however their capabilities are known to beyond any other gods. This man was no exception, it was clear he was a powerful god who did not have to utter a word in order to perform magic.
“Come on you can do it,” encourages the beast.
However, he could clearly see the god was beginning to struggle, beads of sweat are beginning to form upon his brow and it is looking like it is becoming hard for him to breath.
The god starts to cough making the beast demand, “Please someone help him!”
The Chief rushes over, she can hear the god is wheezing, and appears to be gasping for air.
“Please, my lord, tell me what can I do to help you?”
“In his bag you will find a herb bundle,” informs the beast.
The young woman is a little unsure about going into someone else’s bag as she considers it private. But this was no ordinary situation, she quickly flips up the flap of cloth to find it is filled with books, scrolls and crystals. Then she spots a small bundle and the moment she picks it up a strong blend of herbs fills her nostrils.
“This must be it,” she whispers and goes on to place it near the god’s handsome face.
“Give it a crush,” suggests the beast, pretending to crush something between his large hands.
The chief nods and does what he has said and gives the cloth bundle a few crushes before placing it back in front of the god’s mouth and nose. It is not long before he seems to be breathing a little better and he carries on sending the object into something they cannot see.
The creature begins to see cracks are forming across the barrier. The small shard is beginning to break through, just one more hit should do it. He looks up at the moon to see a tiny strip of white is beginning to form along the right-hand edge. Soon the crimson moon will be over, and he will fall back to sleep until the next one arrives.
All of a sudden the shard is rushing towards him. This makes him gently catches it between the first two fingers of his left hand and watches it begin to wobble. The moment he releases it, it shoots back out through the hole to come shooting back to hit another section of the barrier which makes larger cracks begin to snake there way across the surface of the barrier.
“You’re doing it lad. Just one more hit and it should fall.”
The Soul Drinker’s eyebrows rise, his head tilts slightly to his left and he appears to realise a soft, Mhm.
“You should not doubt yourself son. You can do it.”
Kāihuā notices the god’s lips form into a soft smile, and eyes look to her as he shakes his head. This makes her wonder what he was trying to tell her and wishes he would speak.
“My dear, I think he is a Light Soul Drinker, I am afraid it is very rare to hear them speak. They mainly use their minds to talk. They often do not do it to mortals because it has been known to frighten your kind. In a way it is an understandable reaction to hearing a voice suddenly appear inside your mind.”
“Oh my goodness, he is doing all of this with his mind?”
“Yes. They are the most powerful gods. He is even more powerful than a Dreamer.”
They are shocked to hear the Soul Drinker emit a throaty laugh.
“Oh no, I would say are evenly matched," comes a voice neither of them were expecting. Even though it is starved of emotions the smoky roughness make it somewhat handsome.
"I am here to set you free with the help of Qīng jiàn (Light sword)."
The very name makes the creature’s eyes open wide. "Wait, you fought in the Dark Chapter?”
“I did indeed. My trusted Qīng jiàn is the only shard that can shatter this kind of barrier. Or though yours seem to be taking a longer than I would like. Did I miss something?”
They see the book by his right thigh rise up, the cover opens and the pages take on a life of their own, they flick over and come to a stop on a drawing of a shard covered in gems and silver.
“Oops that is what I have forgot,” he mutters with a shake of his head. "I have not done this in a long time."
The shard flies over to the Soul Drinker and he removes the top gem to replace it with one that is as blue as his eyes. Then it shoots back over to the beast as the Soul Drinker quickly strikes the same pose.
“Kundaaa!”
A blinding white light shines out of the shard as it seems to move back a bit before lunging hard into the barrier causing it to shatter into nothing but a glittering dust that gets carried away on the breeze.
“Well done. You have finally set me free. I cannot thank you enough Soul Drinker,” says the beast, performing a shallow bow.
“You’re welcome, because you should never have been trapped in the first place. I am trying to undo everything the Dark Ones have done.”
The beast has a think and tells him, “Yes, it was a Dark One who did this to me. He just appeared right where you are standing. He did not say word and before I knew it I was behind that barrier falling to sleep and he had vanished.”
“Just the same as most victims,” informs the Soul Drinker, with a slight shake of his head.
The Chief clears her throat and asks, “Dark One? I guess from the name they are bad people?”
The god takes hold of the herb bundle as he turns to face her. “Yes. However, not all of them are bad. Some Dark Ones became masters in the Dark Arts in order to undo what some members of their own families had done. Even though, Battles of the Paranoid Pixies also called, Dark Chapter happened centuries ago we are still undoing what they did. Take our friend here, as a perfect example, the Dark Dreamer for some reason trapped him to stop him watching over this village. All we can think of someone must have angered him. Speaking of him, Dark Dreamer has been stopped by Longwei, Father of the Gods. I then he asked to free him.”
The lady places her hand to her chest. "Why would we make a god angry? That is just asking for trouble."
“This is the problem, the reason the Dark Chapter happened in the first place, is because your children, began to go against the god children. They would accuse them of lying, to making up the problem in order to get free lodgings and food. After a Soul Drinker was accused of getting a young woman with child. When in truth she had been rapped by her own brother, all because he did not want to see her married off to the village Chief's son who he did not like. That was it, the god children took it upon themselves to punish them. They had stolen spells form an elder Soul Drinker, who lived on his own in a hut, on the hillside. They turned out to be spells from what are called, Forbidden and Lost Arts. They did not realise what they had unleashed was permanent. All us gods could do, for almost two centuries, was battle and return creatures to the Shadow Realm. Even though it was brought to an end centuries ago, we are still playing the price. There is still so much that needs to be undone and put right.”
The Chief cannot believe it was children who were responsible for bringing about one of the worst times in history.
"Why did their parents of the mortal did not stopped them from picking on the god children?"
"The thing is they were being punished all the time for being disrespectful to a god, it just did not seem to stop them."
"That is awful. Well, I would say you have done a fine job, setting me free. Thank you," says the Mountain God performing a deep bow.
The Soul Drinker gives a slight nod. "You're welcome. Although I do not think it is over."
The Mountain God gets a little concerned and questions, "What makes you say that?"
The Soul Drinker folds his arms and expresses, "To me that seemed too easy... It is going to be interesting to see what happens, come the next blood moon."
"Hopefully nothing, even so I must admit it did seem a little quick. Anyway, come let's have a drink and something to eat, to replenish you before we head home."
The Soul Drinker nods and makes his way over to the offering table.
Kāihuā goes on to pour them a cup of tea and can hear the small crowd of people begin to gasp. This makes her turn around to see the Mountain God has transformed into a smaller form. He is though still taller than the Soul Drinker, who is a lot taller than herself. She cannot help but think the Mountain God is incredibly handsome with his long light blue hair, flowing down his toned body. The Chief notices he has horns protruding from his forehead that swoop back over the top of his and the points seem to cross. The bottom of his long robe is covered in mountains reaching up to a clear blue sky that has birds flying across it.
Some of the men in the crowd notice the scene upon the god’s robe matches to world around them.
“Amazing,” whispers one of them.
“Incredible,” whispers another.
A third man points his hand towards the outer side of the robe and asks, “My Lord, what is that?”
The others see it appears to be some kind of small structure, that lies at the base of the valley.
The Mountain God looks down as he sticks out his leg. “That is the shrine dedicated to me," he informs them with a smile. "It was built by a Soul Drinker, centuries ago and as you can see it is in poor state.”
The men look up at him with large smiles upon their faces and offer, “We can fix it.”
“Bless you, my sons. Now there is no need to go overboard, for I am not that kind of god.”
The men all perform shallow bows before they turn around and head off down the hill.
The Chief makes sure the gods has everything they need, she then gets the rest of her people to leave and give the gods some space and she too returns to her home.
The Soul Drinker goes on to take a few more of the sweet berries. "Well, I'm off, see you again on the next crimson moon."
The Mountain God performs a slight bow and watches him vanish. He goes on to take some pears, then returns to his mountain. He still could not believe he was finally free. The god gives the little hut a good clean, he asks a mortal at the shine for some bedding and firewood. By the time the sun hangs high in the clear sky they have left him enough stuff to last him for months and make his hit feel like home once more.
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