Transcendence of The Lotus

𝖳𝖧𝖤 𝖶𝖨𝖫𝖳𝖨𝖭𝖦 𝖫𝖮𝖳𝖴𝖲

𝖠𝖱𝖢 𝖮𝖭𝖤

" 𝖳𝗁𝖾 𝖶𝗂𝗅𝗍𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝖫𝗈𝗍𝗎𝗌"

𝗉𝖺𝗋𝗍 𝗍𝗁𝗋𝖾𝖾

ነየልርቿ ጌዪቿልጕ

Jiang Cheng sits onto the pier with Emperor's Sun by his side. Bare feet dipped into the cold waters where the pink lotus flowers are still in full bloom. The night is young, and cold, and Jiang Cheng unable to fall back asleep lets the silence comfort him as he contemplates to the truth that was his life, and of his lie

The night breeze chilling and Jiang Cheng who shivers slightly, the cold air slipping underneath his night clothes and prickling his bare skin, is completely alone. The smell of alcohol is strong, he notes as he wipes the dripping liquid at the corner of his mouth. The moon is full, and thousands of stars littered all over the sky, and Jiang Cheng has only one thing to admit.

Lotus Pier is beautiful, and it is full of life. Lotus Pier, or rather to be more specific, Yunmeng Jiang will always be his home, a place where he will die and finally gain peace by joining his ancestors (his family) to the afterlife.

There are no words to describe how he is grateful for the people who gave life back to Yunmeng. Sometimes, he could hardly believe that it was all true.

It is real. Jiang Cheng had succeeded. The Wen Dogs are all dead (except for the undead Ghost General and the Lan who was born wen and called Wei Wuxian 'mother'). He had rebuilt his home from its ashes, and it thrives.

Yunmeng Jiang lives— but it isn't quite the same.

It was home.

Even if it was different.

Lotus Pier has been rebuilt to be strong, never to fall and never will it be burned again. No marks, or any 'remembrance'of That Night. The people who call it home are happy, but always aware of of a threat, always prepared and always cautious.

Yunmeng is home...

But it will never be a source of happiness.

This home had just... become a duty. A responsibility he cares greatly for, but still just a responsibility.

Everywhere he looked, it was different. It was unfamiliar and strange. The people who had become the Heart of this Yunmeng were just, homeless, unfortunate strangers he picked up on and gave a chance to have a home.

(These people looked up at him like the respected Sect Leader he was, not the affectionate and fond looks disguised by annoyance as he and his siblings chased one another in the streets, loudly laughing and hollering at one another as they jumped and splashed in the water. These people were strangers whom he saved, not the people who saved him from being scolded by his mother, and gave him candies whenever he passed by. These strangers who were guarded, the night they had lost everything still haunting them. These strangers who looked at him, loved him and pitied him, and reminded him so strongly of what he had lost.)

He called this place a home. These people who he looked after, gave his protection, and gave him respect were all too formal, too distant and too unfamiliar with him.

For all the fact that this place was very important to him, he could not deny the truth—

It was too unfamiliar, too different, too foreign for him to not be reminded of what he had lost.

So yes.

He would never find happiness ever again, despite giving his everything to Yunmeng Jiang.

His blood, sweat and tears...

Body and soul.

His mind and heart.

This is his home, and he would protect everything and everyone in it with his life.

He would give up his life in a heartbeat if it meant saving Yunmeng Jiang from another tragedy.

"Cheers to Yunmeng Jiang," he said voice hoarse as he raised the bottle to the moon, mind heavy and hazy.

He'd give everything to it, but it still wouldn't make him happy.

Though, Jiang Cheng's sure he lost that capability to feel that feeling a long time ago...

ነየልርቿ ጌዪቿልጕ