Shades and Scales: Ancient Gossip
After drying off and getting dressed, Wukong and Nüwa found themselves seated in the living room, with Xiaotian napping peacefully in a bassinet nearby.
“Alright, you may now continue your questions” said Nüwa.
“What’s your family like?” Started Wukong, enthusiasm clear in his voice.
“My Fùqīn, as I previously stated, was a prankster at heart, but beyond that he was very kind, gentle, wise and extremely loving. He was among the most powerful primordials in existence, but he always remained humble. He valued every aspect of people, and never judged their shortcomings, only their actions and the intentions behind them. My Mǔqīn is very similar, though she is certainly far more firm, with little tolerance for nonsense. Funnily enough, she fell in love with my Fùqīn because he could make her laugh. Lastly my xiōngdì Fuxi, he is a good man. Though stern and often described as cold, he is very loyal and affectionate to those he cares for, simply displaying it through action rather than words. We were never as close as I would’ve liked, mainly due to differences in personality, and partially due to our competitiveness, but despite that he was always there for me whenever I needed him.”
“Do you have any other relatives?”
“Other than my grandparents, both sets of whom I’ve never met, no, primordials typically only bear one child of their own, with siblings being the result of twins, triplets, etc.”.
“So you and Fuxi are twins”.
“Which of you is the oldest?”
“I am, but only by a minute. So we never bothered with specifying the difference”.
“Who do you take after more? In terms of looks I mean”.
“My Mǔqīn, both me and Fuxi look exactly like her, although she has sapphire blue eyes, scales and markings, and Fuxi has jade blue eyes, scales and markings, with his markings being on his bottom lids rather than his upper lids like myself and Mǔqīn”.
“So what did your Fùqīn look like?”
“He was very well built, and naturally very strong, he had the head of a monkey with a rosey pink face mask that stretched across his eyes, akin to a visor, paired with the most beautiful jade green eyes, he had the body of an ape, similar to a gibbon, with vibrant white fur, his arms were made of the softest clouds, and he had a pair of obsidian black horns atop his head” she said with admiration in her voice.
Wukong whistled lowly “he sounds like quite the looker”.
“Indeed, Mǔqīn said that many pined after him, but that he only ever had eyes for her” Nüwa said in absolute glee.
“Extremely, I was always the first one he’d ask to join him on his pranks, even though I preferred to simply tease others, he encouraged my love for learning, often proving me with scrolls containing more advanced knowledge on biology and astrology, he’d tell me detailed stories about specific beings he created and what they were up to, and once I was old enough he’d take me with him here, to help care for and maintain his world, of course he never excluded Fuxi from these instances, Fuxi simply preferred to spend his time with Mǔqīn”.
Wukong smiled at her joy, before turning solemn as his next question came to him.
“What exactly happened to him? I can’t imagine he died of old age, unless he married pretty late in life?”
Nüwa exhaled slowly “Well, I’m not a reliable source for what happened exactly, what I know is that I was looking over a pond when I felt a spike in energy, and far from the good kind, coming in the direction of the pillar of creation, when I reached it Fùqīn was already in the process of repairing it and when he finally succeeded, he’d overexerted his power to do so. He died peacefully moments later”.
“I’m so sorry” Wukong said somberly “How did your family take the news?”
“I don’t know, when the pillar was repaired, the pathway between this world and the chaos realm was sealed. The only way to get through was via astral projection, and even then it would take so much power that you could only peer through for a few moments. I haven’t seen my home or my family in nearly ten thousand years”.
“So they don’t know what happened to the two of you?”
“No, I’m certain they do, because at one point after creating the humans, I received a scroll from Fuxi, describing how he envisions human civilization should be, which he brought through via projecting. Of course I was asleep when it happened so I didn’t get to see him”.
“I’m sorry to hear that”.
“It’s quite alright” Nüwa said gently, pausing for a brief moment before continuing “do you have any other questions you wish to ask?”
“Uhhh…..yeah….I guess….just a few. What is your original home like?” Wukong emphasized the word original, trying in a way to comfort Nüwa, by indicating that she currently has a home in this realm.
“Not that much different than this realm. Think of a combination of this realm and the celestial realm, only instead of pristine white clouds, they’re dark black clouds, filled to the brim with glowing chaotic energy”.
“Did anyone from this realm ever see it before?”
“A few, but they always lost their minds as a result. Only those born of the chaos can withstand it in its purest form”.
“So even if the pathway was open, me and Xiaotian couldn’t go to meet your family”.
“No, Xiaotian is half primordial, so he should be able to withstand it. And you, if I understand correctly, were born of the excess chaos of this world, so you should be able to handle it, perhaps not as much as Xiaotian, but I’m certain you wouldn’t lose your mind”.
“Good to know” Wukong paused for a moment then continued “Why did you create Xiaotian, like why exactly I mean?”
Nüwa exhaled “In truth it wasn’t my first choice. A long time ago I had five beasts, each to wield one of the five stones I created to help maintain the pillar, then one day my fifth beast somehow got a glimpse into the chaos realm, went insane and turned against me. I took away the stone from him, and he later came back with a powerful spirit that damaged the pillar, we managed to destroy them and my fifth got away. I took the stones and…sacrificed myself to the pillar to fix it. I thought my essence would disperse into the world, like what typically happens when a primordial dies, but instead, I felt myself being merged with the pillar, it was horrifying. But by some miracle I was spat back out, the pillar was weakened with an estimated twenty thousand years before its collapse, the thought of having to experience that feeling again made me sick, so I sent the four others into semi dormancy, gave my fifth stone to the only being capable of handling its power, the jade emperor, and made plans to craft the perfect harbinger” she let out a shaky laugh and continued “I created a sacrificial lamb because I was afraid, how pathetic is that?”
“Hey you’re not pathetic, you were scared and acted without fully thinking it through. That’s not something to be ashamed of, not completely anyway, sure you messed up bad but anyone else would’ve done much worse!!”
“I’m just telling the truth” he said firmly, then another thought crossed his mind.
“Wait hold on….you gave your fifth stone to JE, is that why he’s indebted to you? Hold up!!! You mean some of his power comes from you!!!”
“Not some, the majority of his current power is because of the stone, and yes it is why he’s indebted to me” she said the last part with a smirk.
“Unbelievable” Wukong said with an amused shake of his head “Ok, finale question, why are you referred to as Lady Nüwa, even when being formally introduced, don’t you have a family name?”
“No, no primordial does. When introducing ourselves to anyone, we refer to ourselves as lord or lady, with the addition of young when we are juveniles, then our given name, followed by son or daughter of, then our mother’s name”.
“Your mother’s name?” Wukong asked in surprise.
“Yes, mothers are revered for their ability to create life without the use of magic”.
“Then why did Fuxi make humans a patriarchal society?”
“He didn’t, over the centuries humans and celestials that were once human, misinterpreted or twisted it until it became such. And even if he had suggested such a system I was under no obligation to enforce such a suggestion, because primordials aren’t allowed to interfere with each other’s creations without explicit permission.”
“Now that you’ve asked all of your questions, may I ask one of my own?”
“What exactly happened to Mihou? From what I understand you two were on equal footing in terms of overall power, so what led to his death?”
Wukong looked at her in shock, he then took a deep breath and chose his words VERY carefully.
“After the havoc when I was trapped under the mountain, we had a falling out. I unfairly blamed him for not preventing my imprisonment, he left and I wouldn’t see him again until roughly halfway through the journey. When we did meet again, he was angry, he couldn’t stand the way the others, especially my former master, treated me. We argued a lot, and he tried to hurt my companions. In our final encounter, a monster appeared, Mihou fought valiantly against him, but was ultimately struck down.” Wukong stopped as the tears began to sting his eyes.
“How wonderful” Nüwa said with admiration.
Wukong just stared at her in shock as she continued.
“Fighting fiercely against an enemy” she said while raising her hands curled into fists to emphasize her words “giving your last breath to protect the one you love most, even with the bitterness and resentment that’d grow between you” she laced her hands together and held them against her chest “what a glorious way to die. You must feel so much pride thinking back on his memory”.
“Y-yeah” Wukong said shakily as the tears threatened to fall.
Nüwa moved closer to him and gently took his hand.
“Hey, there’s nothing wrong with still mourning his loss. I still do with my Fùqīn. What matters is that you honor his memory properly, by sharing his tales, that’s how you keep him close in your heart”
Before Wukong could respond both of them were alerted by a distressed chitter coming from the bassinet.
Xiaotian had just woken up from his nap.
“It seems our son is demanding our attention” she said as she got up “we can continue this conversation later if you feel up to it”
Wukong nodded his head and watched her slither towards the bassinet, picking up their son and cooed at him, soothing his distress.
He felt a deep pit in his stomach for lying to her. Knowing that it’ll come back to haunt him. And when it did, he’d once again lose everything precious to him.
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