Into the Pages

Prologue

The world was covered by night with millions of stars aligned by the heavens. The palace was illuminated with large torches as royal guards used lanterns extended on large poles to patrol the halls. Castrated male servants and maids tended to their assigned duties. Despite the hundreds of people who worked, a six-year-old girl managed to sneak past them all and walk down a marble road to a beautiful building covered in jewels. The trim was silver with a green roof, perfectly curved, and covered with layered ceramic tiles. Twelve dragon statues were used as columns, with candles lit in their hands and carved-out eyes. The door was a dark wood color with silver knockers shaped like bells and an enormous dragon carved in it.

With a timid creak, the young child pressed the door open enough to see, yet she was still hidden from those who stood inside. The little girl had tied her inky locks into a long ponytail and kneeled with her ears pressed against the entrance. Inside, dozens of uniformly dressed women were on their knees. Dressed as officials in light blue outfits printed with delicate patterns. They kowtowed with their right hands in front of their left, leaning their bodies downward with their foreheads resting on the floor and hands extended out as they spoke in unison.

"Please sacrifice Princess Teegan Yun Lung to appease the heavens' wrath!"

A regal woman with a sophisticated aura stood away from the ministers and higher above everyone. Her long locks, darker than the midnight sky, were tied up in a top knot and held in place with a silver crown engraved with dragons on either side and jeweled tassels dangling. She sat behind a dark wood desk covered with a blue and silver fabric, which cushioned a pile of imperial reports perfectly folded and stacked to be reviewed.

Her usually calm exterior melted from the rage slowly boiling inside her. She slammed her hands against the desk as she glared at the crowd, jumping from her seat. "How dare you!" Their eyes refused to meet hers. "You're asking me to sacrifice my daughter! Your princess!" She cried out.

After some silence, only one minister spoke out. "Empress! We beg for you to be sage! Since the birth of the fifth princess three years ago, there have been signs from our gods that she is not welcomed," The empress clawed into the wood of her desk.

Another gained her voice. "The fires in the north! The floods in the south! The insect infestation that is destroying our crops! The emperor's failing health! Poverty had risen drastically! The people need answers!" The empress paced back and forth, wanting time to think of a perfect exclamation

"The people are scared. The rumors are speaking for themselves."

"Rumors?" The empress slowly turned to her obedient officials, her hands pressed against the flat surface. Her eyes narrowed and burned as she pierced through the souls who quivered in fear before her. "What rumors?" Her haunting and intimidating eyes were cold and emotionless. The ministers trembled in place, unable to muster the courage to answer. The silence was agonizing. It weighed heavily on everyone below the empress. "WHAT RUMORS?"

"Replying to Huanghou: there are rumors of the princess being a demon, an unlucky totem, and not even your birth daughter!" A terrified eunuch answered, his head to the floor, bowing his body until blood threatened to seep from his forehead.

The anger overtook her. "IMPUDENCE!" She shrieked in unimaginable fury. The empress knocked everything to the floor. Her royal chalice clanked on the wood as dark purple liquid pooled around the imperial reports. Her ink stone shattered to pieces, with the dark paint splattering everywhere. Everyone in the room fell to their knees, hands on their head or one on top of the other. Their faces were forced to the ground, too scared to look at the ruler. They begged for the empress to calm herself. A twinge of pain punctured her royal heart at the horrible rumors that were spreading without her knowledge.