The Age of the Divinities

After the untimely demise of the two God-Emissaries Asche and JadeNight (who still exists, but only as a phantom), the Land was thrown into chaos, with invasions more frequent and the shift of powers even reaching up into the remote echelons of Heaven and Hell.

In response to this, the Divinities have come to the Land, taking up the responsibilities of the two previous God-Emissaries. Headed by the Jade Emperor of the Heavens and with FelMaiden representing Hell, they have pledged to protect the Land by maintaining the delicate balance of Yin and Yang and by guiding the Path-Seekers on their Cultivation.

Jade Emperor, Ruler of the Heavens

Descending to the Land after hearing of the chaos, the Jade Emperor brings with him the Mandate of Heaven, the law upon which all other laws are based on. It is on the strength of his Mandates that the wheels of war turn yet ritual combat maintained, and from the guidance that his Mandates provide the Path-seekers may find the Path. He has come to take a direct hand to protect that which he has worked so hard to cultivate.

FelMaiden, Divinity of Hell

The last God-Emissary, FelMaiden still remains watching over the Land. Locked with an uneasy truce with the forces of Heaven in the war against the Soulless, she stands as the highest-ranked officer of Hell in the Land. All demons answer her beck and call, and despite her appearance as a Wingkin, humans and even the Beastkin hold her in high regard.

Moonshine, Divinity of Luck and Chatagai, Divinity of Certainty

They were called the twin spirits of the strings of Destiny: Moonshine of Luck and Chatagai of Certainty.

Of Chatagai's word many are assured, for what he says is truth and is destined to happen. He is often sought by those who make plans and chart maps, and is hearkened to by those who are lost. Precision and growth are his purview.

However, his twin Moonshine of Luck is his complete opposite. She is often hearkened by those who craft, and it is said that it she spurned the famed rumormonger Wei Xiaobao after telling him some of his rumors—which only become real when they choose to. The forges of the Ironsmiths and Craftsmen, the looms of the Tailors, and the Castellans’ hammers—all are sacred to her, and they swing true and fail depending on her moods.

Mei Shen, Divinity of Prosperity and Good Fortune

Beloved by the Path-seekers for her generosity and kindness, Mei Shen blesses hard-working Path-seekers with bounties beyond their imaginations. Said to be the fairest of the Divinities, she can be often found in the caves and dungeons of the Land, helping those who are in need. She loves wine and precious stones and is perceived to be flighty; but she truly loves the land and works hard to protect it.

WarSpine, Divinity of Combat

Son of Asche and JadeNight, heir to their powers; his existence was only discovered only recently by FelMaiden as she searched the Land for the last remnants of the Invasion. Truly his parents’ son—he delights in war like his mother, yet still maintains the righteousness of his father—he is a formidable force to reckon with once he is roused to anger.

SteelWing, Divinity of the Storms

It is said that only in storms would you hear his wings beat, accompanied by lightning flashing from the skies. Called SteelWing, sentinel of the skies; his name is invoked by those who have been wronged. His sword strikes the unjust in silence, and his wings are the swiftest of all in the Land.

BlackHalo, Divinity of Chaos

Beneath her delicate features and appearance as a peace-loving Wingkin lies the embodiment of fear. Little is known about BlackHalo, though many say that she was born of the Void – Chaos taken to form; even said by some to be a defector from the side of the Soulless. Only a few had survived to see her, for as they say, she only appears in times of war and strife.

Partings

Antares looked out into the emptiness that lay before him, the night sky seamlessly blending into the Void. At the edge he stood; the edge where the Land ends and no Path-seeker had stood before.

'Unfortunate,' he thought, 'that this time had to come.'

Slowly he took off his cloak, the once regal azure now a dirty blue. He wouldn't need it in the emptiness--there, it is neither cold nor hot; there, every ounce of feeling that had come and gone will be shred apart. All will have returned to nothing, the nothing that had fallen apart with the first battle.

His last thoughts were interrupted by footsteps light and quick.

"Master!"

KaiShen, his most loyal apprentice, ran to where he stood and bowed.

"Please, Master, rethink your decision. Things may still yet change--they have promised us that. There is hope yet for the Land."

"I have taught you well, KaiShen." Antares replied. "Yes, there may be hope still, but what I seek cannot be found in this Land anymore. She has long left the Land, the Lady that I have sought the Path for.

Selfish, maybe, but are not our motives selfish as well? The Path-seekers claim to unite to rebuild the Empire of old, yet they cling to the banners of their own clans and try to raise them above others'. The gods and demons keep the Land (and the Path-seekers, to some extent) from being ravaged by the Soulless--simply because without a Land, they would not be rulers. The Soulless want to destroy the Land, because that is what they have not. Even the most austere ascetic does it for his own enlightenment.

Pray tell me, kind one, that we truly live for others. Maybe then I will change my mind and return."

Antares folded up the cloak, and together with his sigil, handed it over to KaiShen.

"And we all have to move on sometime. What is the use of an apprentice if he would not succeed his master?"

With that, he took a step forward, and let the Void consume him.

Visions

"If we were to implement this--"

The groan of the heavy chair interrupted the venerable Immortal Master mid-sentence. "What is it, Qi Xun Jue?" Zhuan Xu turned to the Seer, who stood up under a trance.

"The Dragonslayer awakens."

Asche stole a glance at the Immortal, then at FelMaiden. They had feared that this day would come.

At that moment a Yao Jing burst inside the room, panting heavily. "Dragonbreath--in the wind--nearing the city..." Sui Mei gasped, steadying herself against the frame of the door.

"Check JadeNight's chambers. Raise an alarm across the whole Land, alert all the clans. Tell them to brace themselves."

Warnings

Arcadia's peach blossoms still danced earthward, their fragrant footsteps etched upon the wind. Between the trees, a fox lay lazily upon the green grass, catching up on her sleep.

Sui Mei sighed. It has been such a long time since she last went here, her refuge from the wars now ravaging the Land. This place always had a certain magic; the battles fought on these hills not tainting its beauty. The fragrant blossoms were proof of this.

Yet something in the wind was amiss. It was first a hint of smoke, then ash that slowly made it hard for her to breathe. The blossoms' fragrance slowly disappeared, replaced by fumes no mortal hand could have created. Surely not one of the gods, nor any of the demons; they have long forsook any direct meddling in the affairs of the Land.

Then it dawned on her: Dragonbreath.

But the last of the honorable Dragons have passed from this Land, killed by JadeNight when his Soulless side gained control of his body and power. Only Asche and FelMaiden managed to contain that side, the side that wished to revert everything back to the Void.

All traces of sleep shaken off, Sui Mei threw her raiment of flowers around her and raced back to town. Her paws barely touched the ground as she ran, wanting to outrace the wind that had brought the warning.

Something was coming, and it did not seem to be good.

The God-Emissaries

One much-awaited section of the Perfect World's Storyline but we haven't completely constructed was of course, that of the God-Emissaries. Well this time we reveal their intricate origins to the Path-Seekers of the Land.

The God-Emissaries

The burning brightness that passed throughout the Perfect Lands annihilated all the Gods and Demons that have been left to stand watch over the continuously clashing Yin and Yang Energies in the realms between the Heavens and the Underworlds and ensure that both energies are kept dormant and distant from one another. Thus the Celestial Monarch and the Ten-Veiled King were faced with a crisis: A threatening imbalance of the elements and an eventual cataclysmic clash of the Yin and the Yang, now reacting freely with the Gods and Demons gone.

Using the heightened powers of their Cultivation, the Celestial Monarch and Ten-Veiled King communed with one another, passing through barriers they themselves erected to separate their realms from the earth. There they discussed on how to resolve the critical matter at hand. They arrived at a solution after several moments after they had assessed the upper and lower worlds.

The Labyrinth of the Underworld was a bigger and much more complicated structure constructed by the Ten-Veiled King of the Underworld and his Demons to aid in stalling, capturing, and eliminating stray Banes that threatened the lower worlds, and as such it required more Demons on its halls, prepared to ambush Banes that dared trespass. Its vastness and complexity overtook its counterpart in the upper realms, the Vault of the Heavens, and thus both deities agreed that the Celestial Monarch would send down one of his best Gods, while the Ten-Veiled King would send one of his fine Demons.

Thus the agreement was settled and by the next sunrise one God, one Demon, and one Dragonblood appeared into the Perfect Land, watching over the Path-seekers and the thrice-split Kingdom. They were called the God-Emissaries.

Ascending Heaven, God-Emissary of Light

The Celestial Courtyard was a vast expanse of land, spanning multiple worlds. From two, tall poles on the northern and the southern end of the Courtyard was the string of Destiny, and from it, numerous other strands were tied to it. Their ends floated upwards, reaching into the sky - attached to the countless creatures in the Perfect World that Pangu had created.

It was the task of a nameless god to tend to the strings each day, making sure that the cords were not cut or were in knots. He handled his work with dedication; throughout the hundreds and thousands of years, his fingers upon the String of Destiny created stirring music. Those who would hear it might feel transported to one's happy childhood experiences, nostalgic, or be gripped by reflection of one's life. Although he was alone in the Celestial Courtyard, the music would sometimes course its way into the lives of the people whose strands were attached to the String - some say that these were the times of great inspiration to people, when heroes would decide to fight for justice despite adversity, when great minds would come upon a discovery that would change whole worlds, or when a wandering, stray animal would save an innocent life.

The coming of the Soulless was signified by dark clouds over the Courtyard, and soon, it began to rain. The soaked strings of fate became tainted with blackness, and everywhere, people in all the worlds began to experience misfortune. Despite this, the god continued his tasks. Where he could, he would shelter a small part of the String from the rain if only for a moment.

The Celestial Monarch, seeing the graveness of the situation, summoned the god to a tall mountain, overlooking the whole celestial domain. It was there that the bleakness of the scene became clearer - it became certain that drastic measures would have to be undertaken. It was then decided that the god could no longer do his tasks properly, and should instead concentrate on one specific section of the String of Destiny to restore the perfect world, that might serve as the birthing place of the heroes that they need to combat the Soulless.

As the nameless god returned to the String of Destiny, the Celestial Monarch waved his hand at him, causing his body to become translucent and ghostly. The god approached the part of the String where the most threads were attached, and touched it with a hollow hand. Immediately, his body turned to stone, and his spirit found its way into Destiny itself, and into the current existence.

Scholars called him "Ascending Heaven", the god who sought to return to his home. He was said to have come from the part of Pangu's existence that represented inspiration and the taking of one's destiny into one's own hand.

Fel Maiden, God-Emissary of Darkness

A Demon sent from the depths of the Labyrinth of the Underworld by the Ten-Veiled King of the Underworld, the notable Fel Maiden by her fellow Demons was one of the most influential and sinister beings of the lower realms, using her mind and cunning to thwart plots of the Devil spawns of the Void and destroying them most mercilessly with her whip that bore three stinging tentacles. She serves the Ten-Veiled King as his Master Strategist, keeping track of the entire Labyrinth of the Underworld with an enchanted map that she only possessed, revealing traces of Banes by means of the chi channels running deep in the lower realms.

She followed Ascending Heaven shortly after the God descended from the Heavens for it took her some time to navigate the Labyrinth and ascend from the Underworld, the complex structure being extremely unstable and ever-changing, as part of its inherent defenses. To avoid being taken by the commoners as a banshee of sorts, Fel Maiden utilized her knowledge to transmute her appearance into that of a Yao Jing that she laid eyes on, imitating its human-like features and fox-like ears and tail.

Jade Night, God-Emissary of Twilight

During the joined efforts of the Celestial Monarch and the Ten-Veiled King of the Underworld managed to seal the maddened and corrupted Immaculate Lady of the Earth and her minions, the Immaculate Lady spawned one last being in an effort to take on the gods and the demons: a jade egg, overflowing with corrupted energies of the Yin and the Yang. While the main forces of heaven and hell sealed the errant deities, another team of Gods and Demons locked up the various artifacts and weapons of the Immaculate Lady and her minions in the domains of the Divine Dragons.

One of these was the Jade Egg and it was taken in by the Dragon Fu Zhi, sensing divine life inside it. One night of the full moon, it hatched to a being with wild rune marks on its entire body, bearing half-beastly features that seemed to have been ravaged by the yin and the yang. Thus the dragons called him Jade Night. Altogether the dragons raised him as their offspring and used their enchantments to becalm the rage burning deep within the deity’s soul. When he was of age, the Dragons christened him as a Dragonblood; a being of godlike power but bearing a Dragon’s might.

However, try as the dragons might, Jade Night’s corrupted origins still gave way and when his power reached its fullest, he slaughtered all the dragons that took care of him. With their dying breaths, however, they unleashed one last powerful enchantment that sealed Jade Night inside their mountain citadel. Now, with the combined powers of the God-Emissaries Ascending Heaven and Fel Maiden, they undid the enchantments binding Jade Night and took him along as a God-Emissary, Ascending Heaven educating the corrupted Dragonblood and Fel Maiden keeping him sane and his rages at bay.

The Immortal Diaries: Part Ten

Following the Land-walker Kaishen, we bring you the most energetic Immortal of the lot...

MingFu, the Immortal of the Crimson Blaze

The night of the Crimson Moon was filled by despair when the small, desolate Barbarian Village was attacked by the Soulless. Screams of fear were heard everywhere. Houses were burnt to the ground and countless dead bodies were left lying around on the streets.

A little while later, soldiers from Feather City arrived. The soldiers fought valiantly and courageously, repelling the invasion of the Soulless. As they were gathering the bodies of the dead villagers, they found a pregnant woman and her husband among the dead. In the hands of the woman was a child with fiery red eyes who seems to be solemn amidst the chaos that has just happened, still breathing and very much alive. A soldier, Zhing Tsei, adopted the child and named him Ming Fu.

Soon after, rumors spread that the child was born out of Chaos and people started discriminating against the child. Coincidentally, everytime the boy would cry, the Soulless will invade a town somewhere near the vicinity. They all thought that the child was cursed, that the child would bring a great misfortune and grief to whoever befriended him. His foster father, however, protected him and defended him from the hurtful words of the people.

When he reached the age of maturity, his foster father taught him the art of archery and the philosophy of a Yu Mang. His father knew of his talent--his fiery red eyes would allow him to see farther than any of the Wingkin and so his aim was extraordinary. None of his arrows missed their mark. However, the people still saw him as the Cursed One in spite of his talent. In spite of all this, everytime there was an invasion, he protected the villages under the jurisdiction of Feather City with undying courage. None of his comrades in arms were injured whenever he is around. He did his best to protect them as well. Slowly, he gained popularity amongst his division.

Everytime someone would comment harshly against him, his comrades would defend him and explain how he saved their lives during any invasion. Little by little, the people started showing their appreciation to Ming Fu. The stares of anger became looks of admiration and thankfulness whenever he passed by.

On the night of another Crimson Moon, the Soulless invaded again, yet this time they brought the Soulless Champion, known as one that had slain countless of soldiers from Beast to Sword and even Dragon City. As the weaker Soulless were defeated, the fight still raged on with the Soulless Champion and MingFu. Several hours passed, yet they were still battling each other. Running out of options and out of desperation, the Soulless Champion threw a spear towards the Elder. With his pouch out of bullets, MingFu went in front of the Elder, protecting her from the spear. His father then shot a bullet right through the Soulless Champion’s forehead, taking him out.

Ming Fu was mortally wounded in the attempt, and no art of even the wisest Yu Lings coud save him from death. Crying, Zhing Tsei laid his son on his bed and fell asleep beside him.

The next day, his father woke up and realized Ming Fu was missing, the bloodstained sheets slightly singed. He then looked up and wept with tears of joy.

The Immortal Diaries: Part Nine

Expect a flood of storylines, for the Keepers have finally gotten time off their hands to do some dusting on the blog - my goodness we have been lagging behind with everything *sighs*

First off, the ninth installment of the Immortal Diaries! I give you -

Kaishen, the Immortal of the Unsullied Spring

It was a cold and chilly night in Feather City as a member of the Council gave birth to a baby boy. Festivities were already in full swing when suddenly they noticed something odd about the child--he only possesed one ear feather. Everyone agreed to keep it quiet for it is a great shame for a family of Wingkin to have a son or daughter with a handicap, much more a missing wing feather. The ear feather was responsible in maintaining the balance of the flight for wingkins and having just one ear feather made it harder for the boy to even summon his first wings.

The family then decided to get rid of the boy for they were unwilling to kill him in anyway. His father then called one of his old servants and ordered her to take care of the child as if it were her own. She was then dismissed from the family so that they could live in a place very far away from the City, yet she was given money to help her raise the child. The servant, XianShi, never had a child before since she was barren and her husband died early during the battle between the soulless in Feather City. So, in the memory of her dead husband, she called the child KaiShen.

As KaiShen grew, he realized his difficulties in flying. People often taunted him as a half-breed and he was regarded not as a Wingkin, but a land-walker.

He never despised his condition. In fact, he really enjoyed being a land-walker since, he thought, it’s what makes him unique and quite popular as well. But when he reached the tender age of 16, his happiness turned into sadness when he can only see his classmates enjoy flying for hours at end while he, as hard as he tried, could not fly for more than 15 seconds.

He gave up on flying and instead resorted to training hard as a Yu Ling.

One fateful day, three weeks after his birthday, XianShi died of old age. After the burial, he saw a letter by the bed. When he was about to find out who his real parents are, he immediately crumpled the letter and burned it. For him, XianShi is his only family and nothing will ever change that.

The letter gave him the inspiration to train harder as a Yu Ling. He fought many wars and became very popular; his handicap never slowed him down as he protected Bamboo Village from Soulless invasions. Besides, the invasions were mostly from the land and flying will only reduce the attacking power of his skills. However, he didn’t only excel in fighting. He was also regarded as one of the best supporters in the land. Several stories went around about his feat of being the only Yu Ling who has supported 53 warriors in one battle.

He was the first land-walker to have ever reached a Hero status.

On a rainy afternoon, as he was on his way to White Mountain to meet the hermit about a quest, the Soulless began a wide scale invasion on Feather City and its nearby towns. Barbarian, Nanke, Bamboo, and Feather City were invaded by countless of Soulless monsters. Sensing something was wrong, he instantly teleported to Bamboo Village and supported the warriors there. He wondered why there were no reinforcements from Feather City, not knowing the scale of the invasion. They were severely outnumbered and the outlying houses were immediately conquered, yet did his best in supporting the warriors stationed there. Since he can’t fly and avoid attacks, he endured all the attacks that came his way.

Several hours later, reinforcements finally came and several Yu Ling aided the warriors. KaiShen fainted from the injuries he sustained from the battle. Some of his injuries can never be cured for the tainted weapons of these Soulless bore serious enchantments that no ordinary Yu Ling nor Pharmacist could possibly remedy.

During KaiShen’s last hours, he was visited by the Immortal Antares and offered him the path for Immortality. The next day, KaiShen was nowhere to be found, and he was never seen as a mortal again.