The Two Dragons Four Tiger Alliance declared war on the Kingdom of Dzue and the Demon Realm the very next day.

In the conference room of the palace in Ming Yuet, two real dragon sat, along with four humans who might be accurately described as tigers, considering the message that was brought to them by an advance scout. The official declaration was yet to arrive, not that they would wait.

"Should we respond as the real Two Dragons Four Tigers?" Gou Dzing joked.

"None of us is actually a Tiger though," Chan Bik said seriously. "I'm a Snake. Your Majesty, are you a Tiger?"

"Rabbit," Dzue Dziu Ming responded cheerfully. "Interesting to see who has taken up arms, and who's decided to stay out of it."

Smoking pensively, Wong Tang stared into middle-distance, brows furrowed.

"Cheon and Sek'syun," Gong Ming Dzue said, poring over a large map, small statues placed over important landmarks, or indicating the position of troops. "Mou Dong, Kwan Leon, Hung Tung and Ming Sects. Ngo Mei has declined to take part. Tsun Dzan have not stated their position clearly yet."

"I'll go and see them," said Dzue Dziu Ming. "I should make it clear that even if their headquarters are based in Dzue, they should not feel pressured to support the country. Although it would be nice if they did."

"If this Alliance wants to attack a target," Gong Ming Dzue continued, "it would be here." She tapped the western border of Dzue where it bordered with Cheon. "The north of the country is protected by Tsaam Lam. It is unlikely that Sek'syun would attempt to attack this way, and therefore unlikely that they would actually access the Demon Realm... Dzue would have to fall before Tsaam Lam could be breached."

"That might still be impossible," Wong Tang finally spoke up. "Even I don't know half of the things in Tsaam Lam. Mount Fa will be alright – Old White and Ah Gwong are still there, but I should go and give them the news."

"I'll go to western Dzue," Gong Ming Dzue said.

"Why?" Dzue Dziu Ming asked.

"To check the situation, of course."

"That's a dumb idea."

"You're a dumb idea."

"Dzue is safer when you are closer to your waterway, Ming Dzue." Wong Tang jabbed her pipe in the direction of Gaam Yuk Ying and Gou Dzing. "The two of you will go west. Little Chan, we'll return to the Demon Realm together, and I'll keep going on to Mount Fa. Ask Lau Yan to return to Ming Yuet to support her sister."

"Grandmaster, you could easily squash this war before it even starts," Chan Bik said. "Why not just go do that? Just yell at them. Show them how scary you are."

"And what would that achieve, Little Bik? If I went out there and killed everyone, or even if I suppressed them all with my power, what will be the result? Certainly, I would stop the war. But then what? The other countries, the other sects, would view us with fear and distrust. Relations based on such shaky foundations... how long do you think they would last?"

"But if we go to war, people will die, Grandmaster," Chan Bik protested. "I don't want that to happen!"

"Little Bik, people will die no matter what," Gong Ming Dzue said gently. "Our choices are limited. We can only do our best."

"But you're dragons - Grandmaster, you're literally the great goddess of creation. You-"

Yes, I am." Wong Tang's voice was shaded with melancholy. "I have done my work- I created. And now my creations have chosen this path. Am I to now also force them to bend to my every whim and belief? Should I have a palace built on Mount Fa, and everyone is to come and worship at my feet?"

"You wouldn't-"

"Who would stop me, Little Bik? Could you?"

Chan Bik opened her mouth, tears in her eyes and protestations in her throat, and closed it again. She stood and ran from the room.

"Is there really nothing you can do, Master?" Gou Dzing asked quietly.

"There are absolutely things that can be done. But they will take time. It will be slow and tiring. Do you also think I should descend on this alliance with all my power?"

"No, Master. At the same time, I can't say I like the situation."

"I would hazard that none of us do, Young Master Gou." Dzue Dziu Ming stood and stretched. "Let us all try our best to defuse the situation. I'll be heading off now. Ming Dzue?"

"Dziu Ming?"

"Can you let Mun Gong know...?"

"Why don't you do it?"

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

"Because I have to leave. See you later!"

"I don't know what goes though that kid's head sometimes," Gong Ming Dzue sighed, as the Regent of Dzue quickly disappeared from the room.

"We should all be going," Wong Tang said. "We can't afford to delay. We will meet back at the Demon Realm camp in three days. Dismissed!"

*

"It's been a while since we've had time alone like this," Gou Dzing observed, as they skimmed their way up the steep sides of Dzak Hau. His voice was light, but when he glanced at Gaam Yuk Ying, his expression turned grim. "Are you alright?"

"I'm worried. No..." Gaam Yuk Ying had slowed. "... I'm... scared."

"You? Scared?" Gou Dzing laughed briefly, very briefly. Something fluttered in his stomach and the smile dropped away. "Do you really think this war will turn into something serious?"

"Do you not?"

"At first I thought there would be some noise, but Cheon and Sek'syun would back down. It just doesn't seem to make much sense. Dzue is incredibly powerful, and has been for a very long time. Mount Fa is an old and well-respected sect."

"It's not about that."

They gained the crest of Dzak Hau and turned momentarily back to look over Ming Yuet. A sea of light mist had collected in the geographical basin, pouring down to the ocean. The lights of the city glittered and swam. In very far distance, they saw a flash of gold and a flash of red disappearing into the fastness of Tsaam Lam.

Gou Dzing was jerked from his thoughts by a thump on his back. Gaam Yuk Ying had leaned suddenly against him.

"Yuk Ying?"

"This... People will die. Humans. Demons."

Turning, Gou Dzing curled his arms comfortingly around Gaam Yuk Ying, but there wasn't much he could say.

"There's no avoiding it. The world isn't... for us, anymore."

"'Us'?"

"Cultivators, maybe. The higher I go, the harder it is." He smoothed the cloth on Gou Dzing's back. "Already, I struggled. Relating to the world was hard." He took a deep breath.

"And now I can move faster than any human in the Five Kingdoms and can cut things with my eyes and now I'm the Jade Demon-"

"What? Who said that?"

"At the conference."

"Is that what they said? Those-"

"Dzing."

Gou Dzing was surprised into silence by this intimate use of his name. His arms wrapped tighter.

"I'm not... upset. But... It's just... Are we still human?"

"I suppose we're getting further and further from that, aren't we?" Gou Dzing reflected. "But we're in this together, so it's fine."

"Is it?"

"What do you mean?"

Gaam Yuk Ying shrugged. "Maybe I just... don't understand."

"We'll work though it together."

"Yes. I'll make sure of it."

Gou Dzing thought this was a strange choice of words, but he let it go.

They sprinted down the other side of Dzak Hau, leaving the misty basin of Ming Yuet behind. Dzue was a land of foggy bamboo forests, pale jagged mountains, grey sky. Simply racing a couple of kilometers though the forest had them damp with dew. By the time they were nearing the western border, their clothes were drenched.

Gou Dzing squinted ahead, his eyes stinging a little as his vision passed through the peaks ahead. "There's someone approaching already. Perhaps... twenty people?"

The mountains were softening into hills, the pale granite increasingly disappearing under green grasses. They crested one of these hills, and below was the Dzue - Cheon border, and a small mixed group of people in the military uniforms of Cheon and Sek'syun.

A shock passed through Gou Dzing, like his spine was trying to clamber out through his chest by way of his heart.

"Gung Gung?"

He barely registered that Gaam Yuk Ying had stepped close, a reassuring hand on his shoulder. There was no space in his mind for it. His only thought was, and could be – why didn't you realise before?

“I'll go,” said Gaam Yuk Ying.

“... We'll both go.”

Together, they walked down the hillside, no longer leaping lightly. The group of people watched them approach. Gou Dzing felt his heart tighten as he watched recognition pass over his grandfather's face.

They stopped within earshot, each group on their own side of the border.

“... Ah Dzing.”

“Gung-gung.”The others on the Cheon side of the border murmured and shuffled at these words.

The Gou Patriarch's eyes roamed over his grandson, then Gaam Yuk Ying. “I see.”

“See what, Gung-gung?”

“The attendees of yesterday's war conference spoke of a Hawk-eyed Devil and a Jade Demon... Why does he have your gim, Yuk Ying?”

“It's not mine anymore, Gung-gung. And I don't need it. It was reforged with metal he gathered himself. It's called Yiu Tsing now.”

If the meaning of the name landed, it did not show on the Patriarch's face. His fingers tapped the pommel of his own gim.

The awkward silence stretched like a noose.

“Will you not come over here?” Patriarch Gou finally asked.

“Gung-gung, this isn't right. Dzue is not responsible for this situation.”

The Gou Patriarch shook his head. “That's not the point here, Ah Dzing. The Gou Family have been one of the bastions of Sek'syun for generations. Your duty is here, with your family. Young Master Gaam, you are welcome to come too.”

For some moments, Gou Dzing was at a loss for words. Gaam Yuk Ying was a warm presence by his shoulder, and this time, he could feel the other cultivator there. “Gung-gung, the demons and the kingdom of Dzue have nothing to do with each other, except proximity. I've seen the demons myself and-”

“Enough,” the Gou Patriarch said firmly. “Ah Dzing, I don't want explanations or excuses. You just need to come here, you understand?” He did not look at the soldiers waiting expectantly behind him. Gou Dzing did. They looked ready to pounce.

“Gung-gung-”

“Gou Dzing!”

If he chose to follow his grandfather, would Yuk Ying follow?

And not just Yuk Ying. What about Chan Bik? And Cheng Baak-hap?

What if they all turned their backs on the demons, and simply wiped them out?

No demons, no problem.

No way.

“I can't,” Gou Dzing said softly.

His grandfather's eyes widened. “What?”

“Gung-gung, the matter isn't so simple.” Gou Dzing heard Gaam Yuk Ying shift behind him, the faint clicks of Lou Fu Ngaa and Yiu Tsing leaving their sheaths. “I can't in good faith turn my back on my friends here, nor the demons.”

His grandfather looked shaken. He looked as though he were staring at a stranger. "I don't... know you any more."

Gou Dzing couldn't breathe. The old man in front of him had once lifted him, laughing, as a little child, had bought him sticky rice cakes whenever he visited from Mount Fa, had casually sparred with him until his strength became too much.

Steady, he said to himself. The earth is eternal beneath your feet. Feel into the ground...

His grandfather looked away, dazed. A woman behind him, in the garb of a Cheon commander, raised her spear. At her movement, the remaining soldiers drew their own weapons.

“What will I tell your father?” the Patriarch said. “Your mother?”

Gritting his teeth, Gou Dzing managed to force a response. “Tell them I was doing the right thing.”

The Gou Patriarch closed his eyes.

The soldiers advanced over the border, and the war began.