Elemental

Fire

It wasn't until the moment he had died that Xufeng had truly understood the meaning of the word immortality.

It had been a given all his life, a birthright handed down from his Heavenly Father, an inescapable fact of his existence. Xufeng, the Fire Immortal, the legendary Phoenix of War, was a child born of destiny, or so his mother had always claimed. He had been arrogant young fool with a quietly large ego; at a mere few hundred thousand years old, he had been expecting to live forever as he had always been led to believe. After all, he was the Second Prince of Heaven and that was his mantle to carry. All of his life, Phoenix's mother had stoked his ego and indulged his every whim, cementing his priveledged mindset; he was perfect and he was untouchable. He was born in the light of the Heavenly Realm and light was who he was at his core; he was holy fire, and he positively glowed with power, virtue and grace. Xufeng had never been starved for love as he was positively surrounded by it; his doting mother, his knowledgeable father, his cheerful uncle, his unobtrusive brother. Even the masses adored him. It was therefore ironic that love was ultimately the cause of his utter destruction. 

Contrary to the lessons learned over the course of a very long lifetime, Xufeng had stared death in the face and it was deceptively lovely. Heart shaped and glowing like a lunar lily. Stunning eyes that sparkled enticingly like the jasper found throughout his father's realm. Soft ebony hair, slick like silk and wreathed in flowers. Lips as pink and delicate as peony, the embodiment of the floral goddess she descended from. Jinmi. His little grape sprite turned glorious Water Immortal. The love of his life. And ultimately, his ruthless murderer. Who would have thought a vision of beauty like her would house the most pitiless of hearts? Who would look at the delicate woman he had wanted to be his queen and believe that she was capable of such cruelty? He had truly loved her, so much he couldn't even verbalise it, which only made her betrayal cut him all the deeper. There was a fine line between love and hate and the newly reincarnated prince was walking precariously alone along the tightrope, uncertain as to which category he fell into. It would be so easy to hate her. It would be even easier to love her. It would be confusing to forgive her. It was altogether impossible to forget her.

Jinmi.

The heavenly Phoenix had always thought that he would fight voraciously when death came creeping from the shadows, a blight upon his bright and linear world. How could he possibly have anticipated that when his time did come, he would be taken by surprise and would be loathe to lift so much as a finger to defend himself? The God of War, felled by a tiny woman with the beauty and fragility of a flower. How tragically poetic. His beloved Jinmi had stabbed him through the back with a knife like a glacier; the blade had pierced him deep, the chill invading each of his organs with an agonising swiftness and yet, not a violent move he had made towards her. She had cut his very heart out of his chest and dissolved his immortal Dan, the primordial essence of his being, with naught but a flick of her fingers. Yet still, the almighty warrior did nothing to defend himself. How could he bring himself to hurt her when he loved her so?

Blood had spurted from him, filling his mouth with the unsavoury taste of burnt copper and yet, the agony he had felt most keenly was the sting of her betrayal. "Why?" Phoenix recalled gasping brokenly, bewildered, disarmed and heartbroken. The pain of her ice knife was nothing in comparison to the mortal wound in his soul when he realised Jinmi truly thought him capable of killing her parents - as if he would ever have hurt her like that! Jinmi had looked at him through eyes deadened with hatred - he felt like he died a thousand deaths knowing that he was the reason she had that expression, despite his innocence. Scores of years he had been consistently by her side, and yet, the Water Immortal was completely blind to the flame in his heart. A flame that burned only for her, unflickering, unwavering and unyielding. His love had never faltered but where Jinmi's faith had been weak, her attack had not - Xufeng should have known instinctively that eventually, the woman he loved would be the death of him. As sure as the sun rises and the moon falls, her water had extinguished his fire in her righteous fury, leaving him to flicker out in the ashes of his own broken heart, her last words echoing around his brain like thunder.