From above, the beautiful nation of Huoshan looked like a sea of fireflies, illuminated by lanterns flowing along the gentle breeze in celebration of the fourteenth birthday of Tao Shu, the young master of Huoshan’s royal sect. At Huoshan’s center, stood the Tao estate, its shadow constantly looming, blotting the moon's rays that shone from the star-filled night sky. Within its walls sat the birthday boy himself, his long, silver locks spilling over his lap, his eyes locked onto the character on his father’s back: Yong, meaning eternity. His father’s hair color matched the young master's, but was even longer, nearly dragging along the floor.

“Fourteen rotations…” Tao Zhong, the boy’s father and Huxian of Huoshan, proclaimed, a smile adorning his face as he stood proudly on their balcony, watching lanterns disappearing past the horizon. “It feels as if just yesterday, I could fit you in the palm of my hand, and now…” Tao Zhong continued, turning to face his son, his fox-like eyes beaming proudly at the boy, his miniature twin.

“Now, you have taken the first steps toward becoming a man. Tell me, my son, how does it feel?”

Tao Shu bit his lip, his spindly hands clasping his loose-fitting pants. “I’m not sure,” he answered. “Part of me feels afraid.”

Tao Zhong showed a compassionate half-smile, stepping gently toward his son before kneeling in front of him. Tao Shu’s eyes were glued to the hardwood floor; his father leaned over, forcing the boy's gaze to meet his.

“What ails you, my son? Upon my fourteenth rotation around the sun, I was elated. I fail to understand why one would be depressed during such a monumental moment.”

“You and I are very different, Father,” the child admitted, unable to look his father in the eye despite Tao Zhong intercepting his sightline.

“Ah,” Tao Zhong clicked his tongue and hummed, plopping back with his arms folded across his chest. “That’s what this is about. You’re afraid of your own father’s shadow, yes?”

Tao Shu's head bounced once, feeling the unendurable poundage of a young lord's burden on his shoulders.

A gust of air blew from the lord's nostrils; not due to impatience, but introspectively as his fingers rhythmically tapped his firm bicep. “Have I told you the tale of General Tao Mei? She’s your great, great, great, great…” Tao Zhong paused momentarily, counting on his fingers before abandoning that thought entirely. “She’s our ancestor.”

“I don’t think so. But I have heard of her before,” his son said, shaking his head. Tao Zhong finally had the history lover's full attention, smiling as the child's eyes beamed in anticipation.

“The world as you know it is split into five continents: Huoshan, Tamizu, Ohgawiy, Hephacuse, and Bireki. However, if you were to travel two hundred and fifty years into the past, you would find that our world was but a single mass of land. In the modern era, we refer to the planet as Aeruta; back then, Aeruta referred to the continent that all five nations shared.

“Eventually, every last stone of Aeruta had been claimed by each of the five nations, which went by the same names as the modern-day five continents, but they couldn’t agree on whose borders ended where. Naturally, this led to a world war, and guess who was caught in the middle of it all?”

“Huoshan?” the child asked. If you were to look at a map of Aeruta, you’d see that Huoshan was at its center, surrounded by the remaining four continents. Tao Shu figured that if anyone was caught in the middle, it had to have been Huoshan.

“Correct,” Tao Zhong bounced his head before continuing. “Our ancestor, Tao Mei was the widowed wife of the great Tao Wei. She hadn’t remarried and her son was still a child; therefore, it was up to her to protect Huoshan from those who wanted to steal our land. She had many cynics, even amongst her own family. They said a woman could never lead an army, let alone defend her nation from the entire world. Oh, how wrong they were about the Fox of Huoshan. You see, our Bloodline Art, the Mofang Eye, did not come from the earliest Tao bloodline. It came from hers, the Jiang bloodline.

“She knew that Huoshan would be the first target of the other nations. Not only was Huoshan at the center of the continent, but the other four nations viewed her femininity as a weakness. First, came Tamizu, attacking Huoshan like uncontrollable rapids! Their numbers were vast, as enormous as Aeruta’s three seas! Still, with General Tao Mei at its helm, Huoshan’s flames washed the wave away.

“Then, Ohgawiy attacked! They were swift, like the wind, but their speed was no match for General Tao Mei. They thought their prowess in wind arts would be enough to fan away the flames, but it was quite the contrary. Their winds only fueled Huoshan’s flames; these flames raged on until nothing was left of the Ohgawiy army.

“Hephacuse was next, their soldiers clad in unbreakable armor that was said to be strong enough to defend against gods! Still, even the strongest metals on Aeruta wouldn’t be able to protect them from Tao Mei’s blade; she sliced through them all like sheets of paper, they say the entire army was wiped out with a single sword swipe!

“Last was Bireki. Their soldiers fell from the clouds like lightning bolts, but that wouldn’t stop General Tao Mei; no, she flew toward the heavens and fought above the clouds in their domain! Those below watched as a storm of corpses of the Bireki army rained down on Aeruta, hundreds of thousands of soldiers smitten in seconds! The storm ceased, and Tao Mei descended from the heavens, her gentle feet making contact with Aeruta once more. It was then that she dug her blade into the soil and began to carve what she had proclaimed to be the rightful borders between nations. Aeruta as a continent was no more. And the five nations were broken into five continents, the same ones recognized today.

“I mentioned General Tao Mei’s Mofang Eye. After this battle, she’d learned the secrets of the other four nations’ martial and mystic arts,” as Tao Zhong spoke, he stepped across the room before revealing a hidden compartment in the wall beneath his mounted blade. Reaching inside, he retrieved a scroll and grabbed the mounted sword from above the compartment.

“Do you believe you can live up to the great General Tao Mei?” Tao Zhong asked as he approached his son.

“No…” Tao Shu mumbled, his voice filled with uncertainty.

“I felt the same when I first heard the tale. I believe there will never be another Fox of Huoshan like her. She was practically a god. Now, I ask you, what do you think my reasoning was for telling you such a tale?”

“To tell me about our nation’s history?” the child asked, his pitch conveying uncertainty.

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Tao Zhong chuckled. “Not necessarily. My son, you and I have lived in a time of peace. Of course, you and I cannot be our ancestors, nor do we need to. All you have to be is a fair, noble leader. And I believe that you can do it. Let me show you something.”

Tao Zhong held a dao sword tucked inside a standard-sized scabbard. His fingers wrapped around the aged handle of the blade as he unsheated it. One would think the blade would be as long as the sheath, but it was somehow triple, perhaps even quadruple its length.

“This is General Tao Mei’s sword. This enchanted scabbard hides the blade’s true size,” Tao Zhong lectured, outlining his fingers along the blade's edge.

“The blade’s length… it’s incredible," Tao Shu's eyes traced the blade as he spoke, its end nearly hitting the opposite wall.

“Two hundred and fifty centimeters. You’d need a large weapon to slice continents. Traditionally, when a lord passes, the blade is handed to his eldest son. However, since we are no longer in warring times, I will pass this blade on to you on your eighteenth rotation, when you are Lord. Not only will I pass on this blade…” Tao Zhong took the scroll from behind his back and presented it to his son. “But I will pass on the Aeruta Manuals, each having the secrets of all five Aerutian nations’ martial and mystical arts. You will master them all one day.”

“Have you mastered them, Father?” Tao Shu excitedly asked. His father awkwardly scratched his scalp, his eyes drifting toward the back corners of the room.

“Well… I haven’t had much time to study, but I have mastered enough to hold my own say I need to step onto a battlefield."

Tao Zhong put on a serious face, placing the manuals in his son's hands, and forcing his fingers closed. “My son, do not fear what the future has in store for you. I understand that becoming the lord of the most powerful continent on the planet may sound horrifying, but I promise you will do just fine.”

“Master Tao Shu, your carriage is ready,” said a young, feminine voice. It came from one of the servants, Ling Xia. She was the youngest of the housekeepers, just eight years older than Shu. After his mother’s passing, Shu grew close to the young woman as if she were an older sister.

Ling Xia was a petite woman; Shu had already matched her height by age twelve. Her brown hair was long, and somewhat chaotic, but not due to incompetence. Had she not spent her early mornings taming it, her head would resemble a bird’s nest. She often wore black, only wearing brighter colors during special occasions, and her fingernails were painted dark to match. Those kind, amber-colored eyes of hers were what Shu was the most fond of, look for too long and the boy's brain would forget how to form a proper sentence.

“Ah, perfect. Thank you, Ms. Ling Xia. Come, son. It is time to show your devotion to Huo Jing. Within the hour, you will officially be the Husheng of Huoshan.” The Lord of Huoshan and his son stepped through the maze-like tower they resided in, finding themselves at its base in front of a carriage connected to two huomas, horses whose manes were of flames. The huoma was the national animal of Huoshan; they were a rare species, only serving those of the Tao bloodline. If one were to stumble upon one in the wild, their charred corpse would be the only thing left to tell the tale.

Tao Zhong and his son stepped aboard the carriage, waving goodbye to the lovely Ling Xia before the huomas took flight, taking the father and son duo toward their destination, Huo Jing Mountain. As they approached, the child’s eyes were filled with wonder as the world’s largest mountain loomed in the distance, its rim above the clouds.

“Can you believe that this was once all surrounded by molten lava? Huo Jing Mountain was once a volcano; however, when Tao Mei split Aeruta, our ecosystem changed and it no longer produced magma. Still, our ritual remains the same.”

“Is it true that monsters live here?” the child asked excitedly. Aside from Huoma, the child had never seen a beast up close, only reimagining through illustrations.

“Oh, yeah. All sorts of beasts and ungodly creatures reside here. That is why you can only come here via Huoma unless you have a death wish. Speaking of Huoma, it is said that they originate from the base of Huo Jing mountain.”

The huomas circled the retired volcano's rim before gently landing at its peak. Tao Zhong stepped out of the carriage, and his son followed closely behind him. As they approached the lip, Tao Zhong stroked the face of one of the Huoma before looking down into the volcano. His son, standing next to him, yelled as loud as he could, “Hello!” His voice echoed through the volcano’s infinite blackness. “It’s so deep, I can’t even see the bottom.”

Tao Zhong chuckled, “I said the same thing on my fourteenth rotation. Did you know, you and I are standing where Huo Jing himself once stood?"

"Really!?" the child said excitedly, his fists raised to chest height.

"It's true. This was the last place he stood as a mortal. Do you know why we visit this place specifically on our fourteenth rotation?"

"I don't think so," said the child, awaiting his father's explanation.

"At the beginning of time, Huo Jing was once somewhat of a normal fox. However, he was born with shimmering golden fur and eyes that resembled raging flames. For fourteen years, he was shunned by his fellow foxes due to his abnormal appearance. Lonely and wanting attention, Huo Jing pulled pranks on the other foxes, his laugh echoing through the everlasting night. Soon enough, the other foxes were exhausted of his endless antics and thrashed him. They ripped his fur from his flesh with their teeth and gouged his eyes with their claws. Without eyes to guide him to shelter or fur to keep his body warm enough to endure Aeruta's perpetual night, Huo Jing wept. His weeping only further irritated the other foxes, and so, they dumped his body into this very volcano. Still, the fox did not die. Instead, he was granted immortality and godhood, overseeing Aeruta from beyond, his eyes blazing, illuminating the sky until he shuts them to slumber."

"What happened to the other foxes?" the child asked.

"The other foxes were afraid of the sun at first; but over time, once the sun brought vegetation and warmth, the foxes began to worship him as we do now. After the Fox King's son reached fourteen, the child shed his fur and blood over the volcano as a sign of devotion. The Fox King's son became the first man and the first Huxian or Immortal Fox. Taking the form of a human, he needed a human name, choosing the name Tao. Tao granted humanity to the other foxes and eventually had a son, Tao Zi. Fourteen years after his birth, Tao Zi performed the same ritual as his father, becoming the first Husheng, or Fox Saint."

"And today, I become a Husheng..." the child said breathlessly.

"Correct. And when I die, you will take my place as Huxian of Huoshang. Are you ready to become Husheng, my son?"

Tao Shu nodded; still fearful of the future, but determined to face those fears head-on. His father handed the child the family sword, “Unsheathe it,” he ordered. The child did as he was told, removing the Miao Dao from its scabbard.

“Well done,” his father said, clearing his throat and closing both eyes.

“Huo Jing, Huo Jing, mischievous and laughing..." Tao Zhong sang; his voice loud and echoing through the vastness surrounding them.

“Fourteen times, my son has orbited your eyes.

“Always watching, unconditional faith of his and mine.

“Oh lord, God of Flame and Sun we ask for your eternal presence.

“Etch his heart with your essence.

“Strands of hair and drops of blood he shall shed.

“May your flames protect my eldest son, I beg.”

Despite the sun having set many hours ago, its bright rays suddenly engulfed the night sky, replacing its darkness with a sea of blue. Huo Jing was watching, his eye overlooking Aeruta, awaiting the child's proof of devotion.

Tao Zhong looked at his son without a word, his gaze telling the child what to do next. The boy raised the blade to his head and cut chunks of his silver hair, dropping it into the mouth of the volcano. The child then raised his hand and placed the blade's edge against his palm, prepared to draw blood, only to be interrupted by the earsplitting, pained wailing of their huomas behind them.