Prologue: The Journey of the Setting Sun
The young boy sat quietly on the stairs leading up to his home. Other children in his age were running around in the street a few meters away, playing with a ball, but he still sat there with a blank look on his face. In his hand, there was a neatly folded scroll, engraved with beautiful lotus emblem. Recalling what was written in the letter, the blue-eyed boy grew even more saddened. His snow-white hair glistened in the sun and contrasted with his face that turned even paler than before.
Change is never something bad in itself. But when change is equivalent to a loss then that becomes something entirely else.
"Little brother Ming, come play with us! We lack one player." some of the kids playing football shouted to him. Unfortunately, the young boy, little Ming, was not in the mood for playing football. It was even better to say that he hadn't even heard what the kids were saying. All of his attention was focused on trying to forget the matters in that letter. The terrible news seemed to have cleaved his heart in two pieces, strangled the life out of him and caused him to lose the will to live.
"Year 1131. Emperor Wenxiung was killed on the battlefield by General Udon from the Tian Empire.
His blood flowed across the plains of howling wolves, and he was joined by his soldiers soon after."
When people meet with things they never in their whole life could imagine being true, they often try to unconsciously deny it. Little ming was no exception. At first, he believed that no one would be able to slay the man he regarded to be above the heavens themselves. Even if the Jade emperor were to come to the mortal place, Little Ming was sure that man would be able to defeat the Jade Emperor and even take the seat of heaven if he so wanted. But now the news in his hand proved otherwise.
"Ok, ok, don't come then! We can play without you!" the kids shouted and stomped in the ground as their calls were unanswered for. They returned to the street and continued the game, one of the two teams with only six players.
"So you really have died, father.." Little Ming mumbled to himself. He put his hand under linen shirt and grabbed a small item which he had tucked in. It was an exquisite ring inside a piece of cloth. He pulled it out. Gold and jade joined together to create a fantastic workmanship. Only the best blacksmith in the whole of china ould be able to produce such a piece of jewellery.
"Little Ming, my son. When you lose everything you hold dear, when you don't have anything left to fight for, when you don't feel the will to live in this world any longer, put on the ring and close your eyes, and everything will be anew."
Little mind glanced around the run-down village. No, there was nothing left for him. Everyone was dead, everyone had already moved on. It was time that he did the same. He equipped the ring and closed his eyes, entering the world of dreams...
***
The beckoning came from the deepest pits of my heart. As if I was a long-lost friend coming home. As if I was a forgotten ally now found. My eyes were still closed, but I knew I was somewhere else. Not in the village of broken-down houses and mottled walls, but somewhere else. Somewhere entirely else, a place I could never imagine to exist. The mulch scent burrowed into my nostrils, and the drumming of woodpeckers scalped my ears in form of tiny vibrations.
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I could sense it. I could sense its heart. And how was I to resist this pulsating call?
My eyelids were flung open, my blue eyes like caterpillars, breaking through their cocoons, thrusting out to see what life could offer. Astounded, yes, I was truly shaken to the bottom of my core. To imagine is one thing, and to see is yet another. They are two different concepts, producing two different results. Two different worlds.
The moss-veiled path curved like a snake through brownish pillars wearing jade coloured hair, into the deep foliage of an inner sanctum. Wild garlic and chickweed and chubby mushrooms dotted the ground as if they were children of the trees, seeking to be as close to them as possible. I took my first step, my bare foot landing on top of the soft moss.
Then it returned. The beckoning. Now stronger than ever. It wanted me to follow the trail of moss, to come home; where I belonged. And I could not resist. I didn't want to resist.
Step after step I trudged onward, more determined than I have ever been. Around me, the forest grew thicker. The more I walked, the more steps I took, the stronger the beckoning became. I don't know how much time that had passed until I stopped. The clear, distinctive wishing startled me from my trance. The mystical murmurs inside my head intensified.
Fizzily, the plunging water cascaded down over protruding rocks, booming like thunder. Trembling, my feet moved on their own. I watched in horror and fear as I walked into the water, into the churning waterfall. But that was not the end. I looked around only to find myself in a cave. A gentle thrumming made me move once more, over the slippery rocks and golden sand which together created the cave's tropical beach. I was no longer in control of my body. It moved on its own, following the beckoning that stirred my heart asunder.
Then I witnessed the creature. More golden than the gold of my ring and more luminous than a winter's strangled moon. Sparkling, its scales glittered in the rainbow that shone over its mighty body. The beckoning didn't stop here. It made me walk toward the creature, toward the golden dragon I had read about in the ancient scrolls of the palace library. A mystical being that could swallow the world and fight evenly with the jade emperor, a being who disdained heaven's impending laws and limitations.
It was smaller than I had expected, the size of three or four oxen stacked in a row, yet the heavenly, divine air it had was in no way to be mistaken.
This was the golden dragon, the most powerful being in the whole realm.
The creature overlooked me with what I thought to be a smile. The golden flame in its eyes boiled, and with a simple movement, its claw was placed in between my brows, just close enough to prick my skin. My head felt light, my feet wobbly. The dragon's eyes were drenched in love, for which I don't know why. A quivering escaped my mouth as hot fire coursed through my forehead. The dragon smiled and then closed his eyes, whereafter everything became dark and quiet. Again.