https://archiveofourown.org/works/75721671
I want to share here my Heaven Official’s Blessing fic.
Previous link is the AO3 version in Spanish. Comenta, kudos, likes, here or there, will be wellcome
Shy's fans were eager to see his new video.
Or at least that's what Shi Quinxuan—the real name of the young streamer who dabbled in the supernatural during his live streams by performing rituals, acting as a medium in exchange for tips from his followers, and accepting challenges without any fear of the consequences of venturing into the unknown—thought.
Shi Quinxuan didn’t know much about himself. He was in his early twenties, though the exact age could vary by a year or two either way.
He had been raised in an orphanage where no one seemed to remember when or how he had arrived. Only a mysterious nurse had once claimed that the child—a baby—had been there for many months.
That nurse had been his guide and his closest confidante. She had told him the story of the gods and the immortals, of wars that had taken place before the current world was even a dream, and of opening his eyes to the veil between the two worlds.
“Some immortals, as their followers dwindled in number, grew increasingly bored in the Celestial Court. There were no missions or requests to fulfill. Soon, they only came up to take a vacation or to heal themselves or recharge with spiritual energy. They called that energy mana. Some of the immortals even forgot that they had once had responsibilities…”
Little Shi, in his bed, listened spellbound as the woman told him such a fascinating story. And he was certain that what she was telling him was true.
-Two hundred years ago, the immortals’ apathy had consequences. The people who once trusted them entered a period of spiritual void. No one remembered them anymore, not even as a story. The elementals of the western forests, the djinn of the Arabian deserts—around the world, oblivion created a void of mana. The great religions or atheism took the place that was once theirs.
-And what happened?
-Unlike what happened to them, ghosts and demons were not affected at all. There will always be sorrow, pity, wars, blood, and a thirst for vengeance. They would always feed on it, growing stronger. The imbalance caused many ghosts and demons to escape the control of the various kings of their world. As long as no one lit an incense stick for a goddess of fertility or a god of water, there would always be someone willing to sell their soul to a demon to achieve a goal. And that allowed those evil ghosts to gain power, creating a true aristocracy.
When that part of the story came up, Shi always felt the need to curl up under the blanket.
-The immortals had been summoned to a war they lost. Currently, in the region that today occupies much of Asia, almost all the immortals are recovering in the Celestial Court from extremely severe spiritual wounds. Some have disappeared. Few have been confirmed dead. Many of those who fell in the Battle of Copper Furnace Mountain at the hands of a demon army controlled by one of those new leaders only survived thanks to the help of Blood Rain, one of the oldest Ghost Kings, who returned to the battlefield to betray her own kind, accompanied by her husband, who had once been a god of war.
-What happened to those who fought there?
-Well, things got complicated. There were many spiritual forces fighting at the same time, forgetting that their cause was not to kill one another, but to protect the mortal world. Those whom Hua Cheng, or Blood Rain, saved, entered the cycle of Samsara as just another mortal. At some point, once their souls had learned their lesson, they might become mortal again.
“What lessons?”
“That’s something only Buddha knows. Or the god who corresponds to you if you live somewhere else.”
The nurse looked exhausted then, as if she herself were atoning for sins.
“Others fell victim to curses or imprisonment. Blood Rain and her husband were exiled from the underworld until balance was restored. And for that to happen, the immortals who were captured or entered the cycle of reincarnation would have to appear.”
“That doesn’t sound fair.”
-Not if your thoughts are limited to the span of a human life. But karmic justice goes far beyond that; what lasts a human lifetime is a blink of an eye to a god and something imperceptible to the universe.
Those stories both frightened and fascinated Shi in equal measure. Sometimes strange things happened to him, and he had dreams of fire and anguish. It was long after the nurse left—suddenly, without warning—that he began to consider the possibility that he might be one of those lost immortals.
In any case, Shi Quinxuan, as stated on his birth certificate, was raised in an orphanage surrounded by girls—China was then at the height of the one-child policy era—and poverty.
When he found himself on the street at eighteen, he found it difficult to adapt to the world, but if there was one thing he had in abundance, it was wit and audacity.
He had taken on and strung together all sorts of temporary jobs until he could rent a room, and now he had managed to pass the exams to gain admission to the university on a scholarship.
Of all the jobs he had done—and there wasn’t a single one he hadn’t accepted—the most lucrative turned out to be social media.
There he created the character Shy, who performed tricks and used some real abilities—the few he had—to conduct séances and similar activities.
The halo of white light made Shi blink. He had spent the afternoon studying, but the invocation ritual stated that the most auspicious time to perform it was during the waning moon, and this was the last day for it to carry any credibility.
He was very tired, but the ritual was something he’d been asked to do a lot, and it was going to have a lot of viewers, which would translate into cash. Much more than he’d earned serving drinks the night before and pushing carts at a supermarket that morning.
“Hey, friends! It’s Shy here, your favorite enigma. I know, the biggest enigma is how I can be so handsome. I think it must be a divine gift.
He focused on his phone—his most valuable possession—and set about preparing everything.
“To summon a low- or mid-level spirit, in order to receive help in exchange for the energy you’ll give up through the ritual and without risk to your safety, we’ll follow these steps.”
He drew a circle on the floor with chalk, which could be easily wiped away, and then scattered salt to prevent any negative energy from entering.
“Always remember to have amulets and scatter salt. We want a wandering spirit to hear us, not an evil entity. You can buy the amulets in my online store. I’ll also be offering a course on making handmade amulets next month.”
He filled the area with repurposed amulets that, rather than looking shabby, seemed ancient and sacred thanks to Shi’s charisma.
He had put on a priestly robe that he had actually bought as a cosplay outfit and had applied makeup the way he liked to but couldn’t in his daily life. Eyeliner, red and luscious lips.
Shi couldn’t express herself like that in her normal life. It was hard enough just to keep people from finding out she was gay.
“The candles. It’s very important that we use white and red candles in this ritual. Since my Amazon package didn’t arrive, I had to go to the bazaar. I know they’re birthday candles, but the color is what matters—remember that.”
He lit the candles with numbers and figures on them and took a breath before proceeding to cast the spell.
“Well, here we go. Hopefully I’ll get lucky and the universe will send me a handsome, helpful spirit.”
His lips began to utter syllables in ancient Chinese. Something inside him felt different. He was so tired that he noticed how the energy he felt when casting spells this time entered and flowed through him with a force he had never felt before. He felt a cold wind, a smell of earth and water and incense, and the candles went out.
He opened his eyes, but his body drained of energy and he fainted.
