Chapter 1 - Ritual
When Aiden opens his eyes, his mother is standing in front of him, beaming proudly at him. Her smile reminds him of the day he graduated from high school. She had the look of joy on her face only a parent can have seeing their child taking their first steps or gurgling something that might be mistaken for a word.
However, right now, it seems more similar to kindergarten graduation. He is only seven years old after all and what seven-year-old would have graduated from high school? He had, apparently, but some other memories he has do not make sense either which add to his confusion.
His memories contain life in a modern house in the suburbs and another in a hidden courtyard, in an ancient and vastly different world.
Aiden is sitting in a lotus position on a dais in a lavishly decorated temple hall. Small open windows on the upper part of the hall's two stories tall walls let in light from the dawn sun. Around the dais, an intricate pattern is carved out on the polished stone floor and filled with a golden luminous liquid. People in ceremonial robes stand spread out around the pattern, finishing the sacred ritual which just took place as they had done previously for every child of the Tian dynasty.
Aiden knows that the purpose of this ritual was to recover the memories of his soul’s previous life and is one of the ways the Tian dynasty uses to rule over this world. He knows this because the person known as Aiden is not the one who got up before sunrise this morning to go to the temple. He also knows that the mother who hugged him at his graduation and told him how proud she was of him, is not the same mother who proudly smiles at him now. This is not the modern world Aiden remembers growing up in but that other ancient one.
Apart from his smiling mother and the caretakers of the Temple, a few court advisors are standing in the back, waiting for his father to finish attending to his son's Soul Memory Awakening ritual. Standing next to his mother, the man is imposing and has an aura of authority that speaks of him being in command, not just here but everywhere. Aiden has a deep fear and respect for this man completely unrelated to his life as Aiden. He has the memories of seeing this man two times before, today being the third. His father, Tian Zhao, the Heavenly Emperor.
”Little Yan, how are you feeling?” His mother asks him. Her smile slips a little as she glances over at the Emperor.
Tian Zhao stands there, quiet, with a nearly expressionless face, except for the hint of disapproval. Aiden instantly reacts to that look, it drags up memories of the one time he angered his father, which also happened to be the second time he met him. Dread spreads through his body as if cold water is poured over him as he senses that he just screwed up, royally.
Aiden throws himself to the floor in a bow with his head touching the floor in front of his father ”This Tian Yan thanks Emperor Father for the great gift he has received.”
Aiden stays on the floor after he finishes speaking and tries to not move a muscle as his father scrutinizes him. Why did he call himself Tian Yan? Because that is his name. The seven-year-old boy that walked to the temple this morning before sunrise and the one who grew up with the memories of this world is just as much him as the 21-year-old who died too early. Since he is this seven-year-old kid, he also knows fully how bad he fucked up.
The Tian Dynasty’s Soul Memory Awakening Ritual is one of the main pillars of power of the family since it allows the young sons to receive knowledge, experience, and even wisdom without having to go out in the world, study hard or learn from their own mistakes. The ritual awakens a mix of memories from the soul of the individuals’ previous lives. Most souls have existed for longer than most worlds and no weak seven-year-old can contain all those memories. This usually results in stronger and more distinguished previous lives emerging first. The side effect is that most sons of the Tian Dynasty have a level of arrogance above what a child probably ever should have and especially at court.
This is why Tian Yan’s father is currently scrutinizing his behavior. His mother made it very clear to him that he would have to promptly and with no arrogance thank his father for allowing him access to the family’s great legacy. Mother had on multiple occasions in the weeks leading up to the ritual told him about his third brother’s tragic fate after he had slightly sneered before thanking father, there was no grave for Third brother.
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As his father appraises him Aiden works hard to not shit his pants but either his father is busy and does not have time to discipline his unfilial child or waiting a few moments too long to thank him is not a sin grave enough for his father to bother with.
”That treasure you stole better not have been a waste on you.” Tian Zhao says with finality.
Done with this matter Tian Zhao turns around and walks out of the Temple, his advisors, not inconsequential people in their own right, scurry after him. With only a few words of reproach, the Heavenly Emperor concludes the Soul Memory Awakening Ritual for his 42nd son.
After everyone left Aiden waits a little longer before he sits up, takes a deep breath, and then as he is attacked by his mother’s hug, falls over on the dais again.
”I was so worried for you! What were you thinking sitting there with your mouth open like a fish? Did I not tell you about your Third Brother? Maybe I should have told you about your Twelfth Brother, it was just such an ugly incident, not good to speak of.” Tian Yan’s mother prattle on, nearly smothering him in her hug.
Tian Yan’s mother Cheng Xin is a beautiful woman from a family that owns and operates a great merchant house based in the greatest city of the Northern continent. So the consensus at court is that she is a country bumpkin at best or a serving maid that accidentally fell into her mistress dress at worst. The Emperor took a fleeting fancy to her on one of the extremely rare occasions he left the Southern continent because of some rebellion that had to be stamped out so thoroughly that everyone, their nine generations of family and their dogs all had to die. It was called The Northern Slaughter or something like that. After, the Emperor had returned to court to be followed by Cheng Xin a few months later when it was clear she was pregnant. The Emperor leaving a woman he ruined behind was one thing but for a child of the Emperor to grow up anywhere other than The Heavenly Court was grounds for another Northern Slaughter.
Cheng Xin was made into a concubine and left in a small quaint courtyard by the court's standard and a grand palace by the woman herself, to raise her child with a staff of servants but otherwise alone. All of this Tian Yan knew at the age of seven and considered normal but since Aiden comes from a different culture and has four times as much life experience as Tian Yan, he has some ’slight’ reservations about the story of his parents “fated meeting".
Tian Yan or Aiden or whomever he now is had zoned out his mother’s questions just a little. She suddenly drags him up from the floor.
”Now answer, I will start worrying about you if you suddenly go mute on me.” Cheng Xin said with that smile from when he first opened his eyes back on her face.
”I am sorry Mother, I was just overwhelmed by the memories, it took me a moment to adjust.” He says with a pouty face that Tian Yan often uses when he broke something in their courtyard or engaged in other less than stellar behavior. His mother does not seem to be mad at him but it never hurts to be on the safe side.
”Well you resolved it well and your Father did not seem to take offense so it is all good this time. Let us go back to the courtyard, breakfast will probably be ready when we arrive and I want to hear all about who you were before you became my beautiful little boy.”
“Did not seem to take offense” seems a little too optimistic to Aiden considering the words Tian Zhao said before leaving. Those words were however refering to the second time Tian Yan met his father so Aiden does not want to think about it.
”Yes, mother.” Aiden agreed. They both promptly leave the Temple and walk in the direction of their courtyard, putting an end to Tian Yan’s Soul Memory Awakening ritual.
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The Temple is important both symbolically and practically for the Tian Dynasty and is therefore located in a secluded area of the royal palace garden. Tian Yan and his mother’s courtyard is located in the back of the Palace so the walk there from the temple takes around an hour.
Still just a little after sunrise only a few servants bustle about to bring breakfast to the various people of the court. The Royal Place is the size of a city by itself and other than the Tian Family there are several officials and people in the emperor's favor living here.
Huge three-story buildings with ancient Chinese architecture can be seen everywhere. According to Tian Yan’s mother, most of them have hidden courtyards inside where people of high rank live while the outer part of the building houses and employs various court officials.
As they walk Aiden and his mother only speak a few words to each other. Aiden contemplates the memories of his soul and his mother, expecting this to be the case, giving him time to organize his thoughts.
The ritual was not supposed to work this way. Tian Yan should have awakened memories, knowledge, and impressions from multiple lives, it should have all still been Tian Yan even if there were strong memories from previous lives. Aiden felt more like he just remembered he is not 7 years old, all the memories and sentiments are still there from Tian Yan’s life. It feels weird for him to know that he loves this mother as much as his old one, maybe even more since he kinda grew apart from his previous mother when he went away to college in his other life.
Who he is now, nags in the back of his head some but that is not what scares him the most. What scares him is what he does not have. The Soul Awakening Ritual's primary purpose is to acquire ways for the young Tian sons to cultivate.
Yes, Aiden has heard about cultivation as the way of Chinese martial artists to strengthen their body and soul, but mostly from fictional books and movies, but none of that was real, was it? From Tian Yan’s memories, Aiden understands that in this world cultivation is a fact. His mother is not anything special according to her own words but she has still performed amazing feats like walking on air and controlling the wind during Tian Yan’s childhood.
What can Aiden do with just an unfinished college degree in this world that has magic? Making a gun might help him some but he does not know how and would it even help? Should he do 100 pushups, 100 sit-ups, 100 squats, and a 10 km run every day? That did not make sense in the story it was from and also sounds kind of hard if Aiden is honest with himself.
Ultimately, the ritual's result for Tian Yan was just Aidens memories. Was the ritual not supposed to make him a god among men like his father? He could only describe his grievance with the words. ”Where the fuck is my cheat!”
With these gloomy thoughts, he arrives at his courtyard, believing he now has absolutely no chance of ever becoming the next Heavenly Emperor or even surviving the coming battle for it.