Release Schedule: Once per week.
With no recollection of her past or even her own name, our heroine has merely been existing since waking in a place known as the Obsidian Terraces. Uncertain how to fend for herself or earn coin, she turned to protec...
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I inhaled the cool night air deeply, listening to the sounds of birds, insects, and water all around me. The scent of fresh, damp soil and blooming flowers filled my nose. A sound like jingling bells joined nature's song as I called forth the power I used to destroy Blighted creatures.
At first, I thought nothing was amiss with my power. It wasn't until I delved deeper that I found something akin to a lock. Something restraining me, keeping me from what was rightfully mine. I bit back a scoff. At least my body was my own. If I had been shoved into Xiuying's body... Well, it seemed unlikely to me that a mere human would have been compatible.
Darkness slid gracefully down the pathway behind me, accompanied by the sound of a guqin. Tendrils of shadow circled around my place of meditation, dancing in and out of reach.
When the dark presence grew closer, I opened my eyes to find the emperor's mismatched glowing red and violet eyes staring back at me. Shadows spread outward from him in every direction, coiling around my prisms of light as if to snuff them out. The tighter they coiled, the more melodious the hum of my power.
"You aren't going to attack me?" The emperor inquired, his voice a low rumble.
"No. I am going back to my meditation," I stated, closing my eyes.
"Is it not light's duty to snuff out the darkness?" The emperor's question was accompanied by a blade pressing to the side of my throat. However, I found his tone to be sharper than the weapon.
"Light and darkness are part of an eternal dance," I began, opening my eyes and flicking his dagger away from my throat. "I care about intent, not what you are aligned with."
The emperor studied me. "Intent..."
"Light has been used for just as many evil deeds as darkness has. Anyone who claims otherwise is a fool." I closed my eyes again and released a small sigh when his darkness loosened its grip. Why does his power make mine sing?
"And you know this how?" The emperor's question made me pause. "No memory, yet you speak so confidently of concepts most mortals fail to accept."
"I know I'm right," I spoke slowly, opening my eyes to look at the amused emperor. "Wherever I came from, that belief must have been pounded into my head."
"I will join you in meditation." The emperor abruptly turned and strode to the rim of the terrace to sit. He made a motion with one hand, summoning a guqin from somewhere behind me. The instrument flew to rest on his lap. He paused, his fingers hovering above the strings. "That is, if my playing will not disturb you."
"It will not." I closed my eyes, choosing to put the strange man from my mind. There were more important things for me to consider. I needed to figure out just what that lock's specific purpose was, and how to get rid of it. Perhaps I could even figure out a way to destroy whoever was responsible for it.
