those we leave behind

a chance encounter

"when the lilies bloom again,
will you sing for me, my friend?
see you, till then."

A glaze lily bloomed into life before Guizhong's eyes. One of her favorite pastimes was to sit within a field of glaze lilies and sing them into bloom. They had a sweet aroma that distracted her from her daily life. She had been observing the humans by Mount Tianheng for quite some time, and had finally decided to spread her knowledge to them. She introduced herself to them and she was welcomed with open arms. By now they should be working on the houses she had taught them to build, so it would probably be wise to check up on them soon. It was beginning to become exhausting work, but for her dear humans, it was worth it.

Just as she was about to get up, the wind started to rustle the field of lilies. Guizhong shielded her eyes from the picking winds and could hear a giant beast descending upon the field. Deep purring bellowed from it and when she opened her eyes, she came face to face with a dragon.

It was a beautiful beast, with sleek brown scales and a spine that resembled luminescent amber. It's mane, chocolate with red undertones, was full and thick, looking soft like clouds. The dragon huffed it's hot breath in Guizhong's face, it's amber eyes staring at her harshly. Although Guizhong was having none of it. She scowled back at the dragon, not intimidated by the dragon in the slightest.

"If you are to approach me, the least you can do is shrink a bit. You're ruining the flowers." She gestured below the dragon to the many flowers that were now crush in it's imprint. The dragon observed this and started to transform into a smaller figure.

He still towered over Guizhong in this form, but at least now they were both human. His eyes were still a glowing amber and continued to stare at her. Was he waiting for her to speak? They sat in silence, staring at each other until Guizhong broke the ice.

"Not even an apology for the flowers?" The God looked behind him to observe all of the lilies he had crushed during his landing.

"Oh. I apologize." Guizhong could see he didn't look particularly sorry for the damage he had caused and sighed loudly. The field may have been big, but the size of his dragon form wasn't something to laugh at either. A good chunk of the field had been flattened and there wasn't much she could to about it now. She motioned the God to sit down with her. Agreeing, he sat on his knees and looked at her blankly. "I heard singing. I was curious so I came down here."

"That would be me. The lilies here love my singing." Guizhong caressed a lily in front of her and smiled fondly. The God's amber eyes followed her hand to look at the blue flower. Curious, he picked a flower next to him and held it up to his nose to smell it. Guizhong gasped when he did this and snatched the flower from him. He looked at her blankly again, wondering what on earth he could have done wrong. "Haven't you killed enough of my flowers?"

"Oh. I apologize." He settled his hands on his lap and that was when Guizhong noticed his arms. They didn't match his pale complexion, instead they were a deep brown with amber colored shapes and lines running down to his amber hands. His arms were buff with muscle, she could tell he was no stranger to combat. She smiled softly at him despite not being able to see a single emotion on his face.

"It's alright, the harm has been done. You might as well make the most of it." She tucked the lily behind his ear. "I am Guizhong, the Goddess of Dust. May I bother you for your name?"

"I am Morax, God of Contracts." Still no expression.

"Contracts? My, I didn't realize I was sitting with such a hotshot." She smiled coyly hoping for a reaction. She didn't receive one. "You seem to be very stoic."

"Yes, I hear that very often." Guizhong giggled, he had no idea what for.

"Tell me, Morax. What were you doing up in the air?" She questioned. After a few seconds of pondering, Morax realized he didn't have an answer. He had been flying around aimlessly in a trance-like state for who knows how long.

"I'm...I'm not quite sure. I cant seem to remember where I was going, or where I was coming from." His eyes looked distant as he stared at the flowers before him, thinking hard about her question. Guizhong extinguished his worries.

"Then how about we spend some time together? I could use strength like yours to help me watch over the humans." Humans. Morax could recall those small little insects from when he flew in the sky. To him, they were no more important that the animals they killed for meat. He never saw much use for them, so he tended to ignore them if he ever got too close, which was rarely.

"Humans? But we have nothing to gain watching those creatures." Morax looked back over to meet Guizhong's eyes, that now looked solemn. She stared at her hands and started to fidget them. In all honesty, Guizhong felt bad that that was how Morax viewed the humans. After all the time she spent with them, they were so much more than what she first thought of them. They had brought her so much joy, and she wanted to share this feeling with her new companion. She would teach him to see the humans as she did.

"Oh Morax, those little people are as small and fragile as dust. Because they are so small, they know not when they will lose their lives to disaster or strife, and so they are afraid. Because they are afraid, they try so hard to become more intelligent. This I understand. So I thought that since there is such a gulf between us in strength, I should use technique and wisdom instead." She turned towards him fully and leaned over to rest a hand over his.
"With your brawn and my brains, this city would surely become a great one."

Morax was extremely skeptical of this. Humans were so weak, even with their protection there was still a chance they could die. Yes, together is her brain and his brawn they would make a fantastic duo, why would they waste their talents on measly humans? Not only that, Morax certainly didn't want to sign a contract to agree to protect these humans, but he also didn't want to disappoint the Goddess who was before him after crushing her beloved flowers. Guizhong watched as he debated whether he should accept or not. Impatient, she thought about what would win the God of Contracts over.

"How about this," Morax looked over to see Guizhong curating an object in front of her. The soft glow of yellow then turned into a stone dumbbell. It's geometric shape continued to turn, unstopping. "This is the mark of our pledge, and it is also my challenge to you."

"Challenge?"

"All my wisdom is hidden within this stone dumbbell. If you can unlock it—"

"Are we signing a contract?" Guizhong smirked at him, handing him the dumbbell.

"While I'm sure contracts are what you're familiar with, no. We won't be signing a contract. This will be our promise to each other." Promise? Morax had just met this Goddess moments ago. Of course he didn't want to disappoint her, but to already make promises with each other felt a little odd. Sure he was a blockhead, but even he knew this felt a bit rushed.

"We only just met."

"My wisdom has never failed me, I'm sure we're bound for greatness." Guizhong continued to smile at him and Morax couldn't help but stare. Her chocolate eyes begged him to take her on but remained gentle, not wanting to scare him off.

"Alright." Her smiled widened and she stood up, her billowing sleeves dragging through the grass. She offered her hand to help Morax stand as well. Now she could truly see how much he towered over her.

"Come, I'll show you the true beauty of human life." Guizhong walked towards the north side of Mount Tianheng with Morax in tow, off to go visit the human civilization she had been taking care of.

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lyrics inspired from this yt video :)
the lyrics made me cry