#part 2.7

[elinor-taylor]

There Once Was A Boy

The boy, Danny, grew. When at first he arrived in the strange and beautiful world beyond the foss, so many moons ago, he knew not what it meant to lead other than the fact he answered to no-one. That he kept losing moments of time was by the by. A few grains of sand in the hourglass. Was he happy? Not entirely. He still missed his mother, of course, though that diminished with the years. Not having to duck the swoop of his father's hand helped balance out the scoresheet of regrets.

The Diamonders feigned a welcome. Too stunned were they (though not yet afraid - that would come later) to be anything other than swept up in the parades and coronation events that sprung up alarmingly soon in the wake of the queen's disappearance.

A void must be filled. Not least a void at the top.

They weren't to know that the boy was the cause of their sadness. That he'd tricked the queen into a cursed jar, slammed on the lid, screwed it down tight.

'Such apathy will pass,' the courtiers told him, their tiny hands stroking his cheek when he questioned why the citizens didn't love him unconditionally as was promised. 'They'll come to know you as we do, Your Highness. Just wait. You'll see.'

But what cannot be achieved fairly and graciously in one way, they said, must be strongarmed in another. If nice didn't gain the loyalty and worship of one's subjects? Well, the King's winged forces knew what had to be done. And they did it with the clarity of thought reserved for those who knew their end play before they began.

Danny, alas, was late to the party. Too late even to save himself.

As he grew, they whispered in his ears what to say, how to say it, stole his will along with his days, tied him up in invisible strings, drugged him with everything he could ever possibly desire. And he danced for them like a good boy, all the while unaware that this was their game from the start: control of a different kind.

He didn't know it then, but the boy was a prisoner, no less than the queen herself. A tranquilised puppet, rolled out when needed and boxed up and kept out of sight when not.

There once was a boy named Danny, who grew to be a man as blank and angry and crammed full of resentments as his father was before him.

And that boy believed himself king.

[bingleycharles]

Part 2 - Other Characters

Baoshan Sanren (抱山散人, Bàoshān sànrén) - the teacher of Yanling Daoren, Cangse Sanren and Xiao Xingchen. A cultivator who lived on a celestial mountain secluded from the rest of the world, and took abandoned children up the mountain to be her pupils. 

Cangse Sanren (藏色散人, Cángsè Sànrén) - a pupil of the famous Baoshan Sanren, a rogue cultivator, and a mother to Wei Wuxian.

Wei Changze (魏长泽, Wèi Chǎngzé) - a servant of the Yunmeng Jiang Sect, the husband of the rogue cultivator Cangse Sanren, and the father of Wei Wuxian.

Xiao Xingchen (晓星尘, Xiǎo Xīngchén) - a pupil of the famous Baoshan Sanren, a rogue cultivator, and close friends with Song Zichen. 

Song Lan (宋岚, Sòng Lán), courtesy name Song Zichen (宋子琛) - a cultivator from Baixue Temple, and a close friend with Xiao Xingchen.

Side note: Xiao Xingchen became close friends with Song Zichen due to their shared dream of building a sect that valued common ideals instead of blood ties. The cultivation world described Xiao Xingchen as the "bright moon and gentle breeze," paired with Song Zichen's the "distant snow and cold frost."

A-Qing (阿箐, Ā-Qìng) - a young maiden who lives on the streets prior to meeting Xiao Xingchen, who takes her under his protection.

Ouyang Zizhen (欧阳子真, Ōuyáng Zizhēn) - a junior disciple and the heir to the Baling Ouyang Sect.

[thefishermansfavour]

A little late today, but here’s 2.7

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[theotter99]

Uncovering Fables

Chapter 1 Part 2. 7

I was in. After several minutes of swimming, I finally found myself in the cave. My first thought was that I was surprised that I was now above water. The entrance must have been below sea level but with our swim upwards, we must have rose over it. This was a nice surprise because I was ready to take off my mask.

The second thing I noticed was Maria standing on the ground next to me, smiling a lot. She had already taken off her mask and goggles so she can get a better look of the place. She squealed slightly in excitement. “Wow! We didn’t die! We’re here! What do you think?”

I slowly took off my goggles and looked around in the dark cave. If it wasn’t for the small cracks and holes in the ceiling, letting in the sunlight from above, we wouldn’t be able to see. I was in a small pool of water in the middle of the cave and Maria was currently taking off her air tank and flippers and she laid them down by the pool. I quickly rolled out of the pool and started to do the same thing as I had a sense of the area.

The rocky ground wasn’t smooth and had many small hills and spikes coming out from it. The room was large and the ceiling loomed over us. Many rocks above didn’t seem stable and I was almost afraid to know how the holes in the ceiling got there in the first place.

At the back wall was what caught Maria’s attention the most. Still standing by our pile of equipment, and me, who was sitting on the ground taking off my flippers, Maria’s eyes sparkled at the sight. There were three hallways on the backwall, but they weren’t rough and natural as most cave tunnels would have been. These ones were smooth, like people have carved in these tunnels. Right next to the tunnels, metal plates were drilled into the rock with something carved into it, which I couldn’t see from where I was. Along with that, there was also carvings on the wall around these tunnels. They appeared to be footprints with the blue and pink eyes overtop the middle tunnel. These carvings were painted, but due to time, the color has worn down to a duller state.

It was clear that there were people here before us, but who in their right mind would decide to build something here. How did they get here in the first place if the entrance was underground? Was there another way in that no one knew about? Or did there used to be one but the cave collapsed like I feared?

I slowly breathed out, scared of this thought but Maria still had that grin. “You ready to go explore this place. It looks so pretty. Maybe we’ll discover something special.” Maria brought her hand to me and I slowly took it without saying anything. Humming softly, Maria helped me up and now both of us were standing on our feet.

We were ready to explore.

I tripped a little on the way over to the tunnels. The ground might have been smoothed once, but it wasn’t anymore. It was too easy to fall over a lose rock on the floor and that’s what I almost did. I quickly was able to catch myself before I face planted, and that’s when I glanced behind us and I made a tiny noise of fear.

For a moment, I thought I saw a large shadow crawling across the furthest side of the ceiling. From the quick glance, all I noticed was its large tail and its sharp claws that allowed itself to crawl across the roof.

Maria noticed my small tumble to the ground, and looked over at me, worried. “You okay there, champ?”

Before I could say anything, I blinked and the shadow was gone. I quickly stepped closer to Maria. “Y-Yeah. I’m okay. Let’s continue.”

“You’re sure? You’re-“ “I am.” I quickly responded back.

Maria stared at me for a moment before she slowly nodded and the two of us soon made it to the entrance of the tunnels.

From where we stood, we noticed the remains of where torches used to be hung, right inside the tunnel but everything was still dark. Maria looks at the metal plates that hung next to the tunnels and tilted her head at the curvy engravings. “It’s Japanese. Huh.”

I stared at the engravings. “What?” “Look…” Maria touched the leftmost plate. “This says ‘living quarters and training.’” Maria walked to the middle tunnel. “This says something about being respectful? I don’t know. The engraving is falling apart. And that last one,” Maria pointed towards the rightmost panel. “Keep out. Private.”

Maria shrugged at me and I softly spoke up. “Why is it in Japanese?”

“Well… Japan isn’t that far away from here...” Maria’s eyes sparkles. “What if we found a hidden base...”

“Um, well… It’s just Japanese… That doesn’t mean that we found a base.”

Maria sighs, a little disappointed before her eyes sparkled again after a few seconds. “You may be right. You may be very right but… We never know until we look around. Come on.” Maria smiled widely and grabbed hold of my wrist before she quickly ran into the rightmost tunnel.

I almost tripped as Maria dragged me along, but I managed to keep my footing. The tunnel quickly got darker and I was no longer able to see the scene around me. All I could do was hear the excitement from Maria. At least she was happy, right?

I almost regretted this thought, when I felt my foot sink into something as I stepped on the floor.  A loud clucking sound could be heard far away from us until it rose overhead us and then the clang of a door closing behind us could be heard. 

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Pervious 

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