A Tamia's Tale

Chapter 19: Knights of Sora

Chapter 19: Knights of Sora

In the beginning, there was nothing. This world was a vast green land, dotted with mountains and a desert sitting in the middle. It was small, far smaller than the sprawling domain of my King Zhou.

In the beginning, I came to. For reasons beyond my understanding, I had been brought back to life after being banished by Nüwa. The body I inhabited was the same as before, yet something within me had changed. I could feel it—a subtle shift in the core of my being. My personality, my very nature, had been altered in a way I couldn't fully grasp.

I still remembered the darkness of my past, the wicked deeds that led to my ruin, the downfall I brought upon myself. But now, my heart recoiled at the thought of committing such atrocities again. It was as though my malevolent nature had been sealed away, leaving only remnants of a soul struggling to make sense of its purpose.

There was a silence in this world, an emptiness that stretched across the horizon, unbroken by the sounds of life. I wandered aimlessly through the lonely landscape, feeling like a phantom—a being that shouldn't exist, cast adrift in a place that wasn't meant for me.

Yet despite my disorientation, there was a faint pull within me, an inexplicable drive that pushed me beyond anything else.

I wanted to become a mother. Still, this land had no life. So, that man came to me. He gave me my powers, connected me to this land, and gave me the right to live my dream.

Time after time, he brought life here, and before long, I had built Ryuuji.

It was the people there who called it this way after witnessing a dragon inside the mountain that I sealed away. They called me their goddess, so, I acted as such while calling them my children.

Everything was going well for a few hundred years, but I grew bored of taking care of these humans. The desire to give birth to life, to be a mother still burned within me. I had declared that every human, every living thing in this world is my child, whether it is evil or not. Yet none of them, not even the most devoted, could truly satisfy the longing within me. I wanted more. Something different. Something beyond what this stagnant world could offer.

The boredom continued to gnaw at me, eroding the joy I once found in the people's adoration. Their petty squabbles, the cycle of flowers blooming and withering with the passing seasons, even my exalted title of "goddess"—it all began to feel hollow, devoid of true meaning.

That man who had given me my powers and purpose had disappeared without a trace, leaving me alone in a world that felt increasingly stagnant.

So, I decided to seek out something I had never truly experienced: love. Genuine love, untainted by the deceit and lies that had characterized my existence before. I longed for something real, something that could ignite the fading embers within me.

It wasn't long before a brilliant and beautiful man from Ryuuji came to me. He was ambitious and driven, and his eyes burned with a fire that mirrored my own long-lost passion. He asked me to become my disciple, to learn the secrets of the world from me. I sensed great potential in him, and, since I was desperate for a change, I took him in. Inside my temple, far above the clouds on the highest mountain of Tamia, I trained him in different martial arts, taoïsm, and other mystics.

For a time, this was enough. Teaching was something new to me so I found a new purpose very quickly, adapting my methods to his whims in the hope that he could grow stronger. After that first disciple, I took another in, and then another, until I had my temple filled to the brim with disciples.

Some accidents happened, but overall everything went great. And that first man that had been my disciple became my husband. It was a connection I had never allowed myself to experience before, as I was seeing humans as merely pawns. His devotion was genuine, and soon, we had a child.