the first is only a few seconds long - a sword fight against a ominous creature, spiritual energy sparking through your veins like wildfire. you fend the creature of yi nian bridge off with aplomb and grace - there are no words, just the sound of swords clashing together, the grace of your blade moving through the water underneath your feet, as you destroy a wrath level demon like it's nothing. you move to save others, to help your beloved xian le again and again, and when the demon falls, defeated, there's a crack of lightning and an earthquake, the heavens rumble as you make your ascension, the crown prince who pleased the gods now become a god himself.
and then, the memory seems to fade with that bright light.
your feet pound against the golden pavement of the heavens, and palaces go by you in a blur. you can feel spiritual energy that leaks off of you in waves - you are the young god taizi dianxia, the crown prince who pleased the gods, flower in one hand, sword in the other, the central martial god, and today, you are running in desperation.
you slam open the doors of the emperor's heavenly palace, interrupting what looks to be an important meeting. a handsome, older man with dark hair wearing a headdress looks up at you from his throne - jun wu, the heavenly emperor, who looks across at you with mild curiosity, and his usual fondness. this man is almost a father to you. maybe that's why you are fine speaking out of turn. (maybe it's because you are always fine speaking out of turn, when you're impassioned enough.) ]
My lord-- [ you say, bluntly, completely interrupting everything, ignoring any of the customs of the older gods in front of you. ] I'm descending to the mortal realm.
[ the heavenly emperor blinks mildly at you as the entire meeting comes to a stop. you could hear a pin drop. after a moment, the heavenly emperor closes his mouth, and speaks, his voice gentle. "Xianle... I am aware of what's happening, but you must remain calm."
you shake your head. ] My lord, I didn't come to request permission. I came to inform. My people - [ and you love your people, more than just as your devotees, you love every single one of them as fiercely as they have ever loved you, with every fiber of your body, and their despair overwhelms you ] -are currently sunken in the depths of hell, so please forgive me if I cannot remain calm.
[ plague. war. drought. destruction. everything in xian le is falling apart by the moment. you cannot just stand by.
the heavenly emperor sighs. "The universe has its own rhythm. Do you not realize that if you descend to appear before mortals, it will be a violation of heavenly law?"
something about that just lights a fire in your heart. the law? the law your people are dying, are suffering, and you're up here doing paperwork? you won't. you won't, you won't. you refuse, and you cry - ] IF IT'S A VIOLATION, THEN SO BE IT!
[ you are barely seventeen years old, and you have just defied the heavenly emperor.
shock ripples through the crowd, and murmuring starts, but you ignore them, your eyes only for the heavenly emperor, as you bend to bow. your heartbeat sings with spiritual energy. with pride. with determination, that floods your core. ]
Pray my lord let me go this once; just give me a little time. Since the fighting has started, casualties are unavoidable, but if I could stop this and reduce the number of dead, minimize the conflict, then after the fighting ends I will for sure return willingly to repent, and have my lord sentence me as see fit. Whether I shall be sealed under a mountain for a hundred years, a thousand years, a hundred thousand years--I WILL NOT REGRET!
[ you shout the final word of your sentence - adrenaline courses through you. you remain bowed low out of respect, and take a step back, but you do not turn. determined, fists clenched at your sides, ready to do everything for xian le. for them, for them, for them.
"Xianle!"
the emperor's voice rings out. you pause, mid step, and hear him sigh. "You can't save everyone."
and that is where you're wrong, you think, fiercely. the tiny fire in your heart blazes into a wildfire, now.
you stand up to your full height, seventeen year old prince turned god about to be prince, again, and lock eyes with the emperor. ]
Whether I can, I won't know until I've tried. Even if the heavens say I must die, if that sword doesn't pierce my heart and nail me dead on the ground, then I am still alive, and till my last breath, I will struggle to the end!
[ and in the end, you do not turn away from him. you still kowtow, to the emperor, because he is the person you respect most in the entire world.
but you walk straight out of that door facing him, and when the black shackle of being banished wraps around your neck, you don't look back.
you're going to save your people. you refuse to let the laws of godhood - stupid, stupid laws - be the reason that a single person suffers. not on your watch. not on your life. you will do anything for the people of xian le.
you will not let them fall. you became a god to help them, and become a god is what keeps you from them. the laws of the heavens are confining. frustrating. cruel.
so you throw it away.
you will not simply watch as your world falls apart.
[ It takes a moment to recover from the memory, a hand rubbing absentmindedly at his own neck while he returns to the present. Returns to now. A memory, he reminds himself. A story that is not his own but... intriguing nevertheless. He wonders, how will that story go? ]
...You're one of a kind, Xie Lian.
[ It sounds like a compliment at least. Curious, gaze ever-observant but peers at the other man as if in a new, different light. ]
[ imagine i was like "i'm gonna speedrun and get great cr with zetsu" and then immediately died
this isn't the first time xie lian has shared this memory, so - to see it again stirs up a complicated host of feelings. some bitter, some nostalgic, and some sad in between. absently, he reaches up, fingers playing with the bandages he typically wears around his neck. ]
...In this case, perhaps, I am not. It seems we both ascended, Kim Dokja...
There was definitely some nostalgia in his own memory, it could be saddening- were it his companions, they would be. But Dokja knew he was the only one that could have taken up that role. Nobody else. He couldn't risk losing them. So, he wasn't sad with the results, despite the pain. The sacrifice. ]
well! xie lian ends up smiling a little, and rubs the back of his neck. ]
Here we are, indeed. It's strange, isn't it...? This place's talk of gods is so very different than the realm that I live in, but...so many of the concepts are the same.
[ ascending for certain acts, and the like.
the smile grows, though. ] ... I don't know how to explain it, but - I'm quite glad to find someone who understands, at least a little! It's a form of camaraderie, no?
The way the upper management seem to be entertaining themselves here by having us solve these "disputes" is actually very familiar to the Constellations and dokkaebi back home. They'll give us scenarios to complete just so they can watch us scatter.
[ The corner of his eyes crinkle with his smile at that thought, but it eases when he looks curiously back at the other man. ]
..You could say that, yeah. Sometimes, you need someone who understands, to be able to really put themselves in your shoes, huh? [ "Why is it do the things that they do?" It might help in the future. ]
[ it might indeed. mostly because now they can look at each other and just nod in same hat. terrible. xie lian gives a little smile to that and a nod, and san lang chitters.
then, also, considering what he says about his world.... ]
I see... so, things like us vanishing at random hours, or - these trials, those would certainly fit into your narrative, no? What's a "dokkaebi", may I ask?
That's right. If the scenario sees a reason for a change of settings, it'll happen. We'll be given a certain timeframe to complete it and the penalty can be anything from losing coins to death.
[ So it really is kinda similar. ] They're kind of like furry goblin... One second.
[ Pulls out his notebook, which he gives a quick sketch of something like this. ] They have a channel which broadcasts to Constellations so they can watch us as we do scenarios, dokkaebi are in charge of giving them to us and can also increase the difficulty or add sub scenarios as they please.
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[ he looks very thoughtful, for a long moment, and...maybe surprised by this information? like he's somewhere else, for a moment. ]
Huh...
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Hard to believe, isn't it?
1/2
[ xie lian looks like he's trying to decide how to explain, but -
san lang, who is hopping off of his shoulder, gets to explain for him, because his tiny ferret paws touch a shard of memory glass. ]
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the first is only a few seconds long - a sword fight against a ominous creature, spiritual energy sparking through your veins like wildfire. you fend the creature of yi nian bridge off with aplomb and grace - there are no words, just the sound of swords clashing together, the grace of your blade moving through the water underneath your feet, as you destroy a wrath level demon like it's nothing. you move to save others, to help your beloved xian le again and again, and when the demon falls, defeated, there's a crack of lightning and an earthquake, the heavens rumble as you make your ascension, the crown prince who pleased the gods now become a god himself.
and then, the memory seems to fade with that bright light.
...and as the music begins, you are running, for the grand martial hall.
your feet pound against the golden pavement of the heavens, and palaces go by you in a blur. you can feel spiritual energy that leaks off of you in waves - you are the young god taizi dianxia, the crown prince who pleased the gods, flower in one hand, sword in the other, the central martial god, and today, you are running in desperation.
you slam open the doors of the emperor's heavenly palace, interrupting what looks to be an important meeting. a handsome, older man with dark hair wearing a headdress looks up at you from his throne - jun wu, the heavenly emperor, who looks across at you with mild curiosity, and his usual fondness. this man is almost a father to you. maybe that's why you are fine speaking out of turn. (maybe it's because you are always fine speaking out of turn, when you're impassioned enough.) ]
My lord-- [ you say, bluntly, completely interrupting everything, ignoring any of the customs of the older gods in front of you. ] I'm descending to the mortal realm.
[ the heavenly emperor blinks mildly at you as the entire meeting comes to a stop. you could hear a pin drop. after a moment, the heavenly emperor closes his mouth, and speaks, his voice gentle. "Xianle... I am aware of what's happening, but you must remain calm."
you shake your head. ] My lord, I didn't come to request permission. I came to inform. My people - [ and you love your people, more than just as your devotees, you love every single one of them as fiercely as they have ever loved you, with every fiber of your body, and their despair overwhelms you ] -are currently sunken in the depths of hell, so please forgive me if I cannot remain calm.
[ plague. war. drought. destruction. everything in xian le is falling apart by the moment. you cannot just stand by.
the heavenly emperor sighs. "The universe has its own rhythm. Do you not realize that if you descend to appear before mortals, it will be a violation of heavenly law?"
something about that just lights a fire in your heart. the law? the law your people are dying, are suffering, and you're up here doing paperwork? you won't. you won't, you won't. you refuse, and you cry - ] IF IT'S A VIOLATION, THEN SO BE IT!
[ you are barely seventeen years old, and you have just defied the heavenly emperor.
shock ripples through the crowd, and murmuring starts, but you ignore them, your eyes only for the heavenly emperor, as you bend to bow. your heartbeat sings with spiritual energy. with pride. with determination, that floods your core. ]
Pray my lord let me go this once; just give me a little time. Since the fighting has started, casualties are unavoidable, but if I could stop this and reduce the number of dead, minimize the conflict, then after the fighting ends I will for sure return willingly to repent, and have my lord sentence me as see fit. Whether I shall be sealed under a mountain for a hundred years, a thousand years, a hundred thousand years--I WILL NOT REGRET!
[ you shout the final word of your sentence - adrenaline courses through you. you remain bowed low out of respect, and take a step back, but you do not turn. determined, fists clenched at your sides, ready to do everything for xian le. for them, for them, for them.
"Xianle!"
the emperor's voice rings out. you pause, mid step, and hear him sigh. "You can't save everyone."
and that is where you're wrong, you think, fiercely. the tiny fire in your heart blazes into a wildfire, now.
you stand up to your full height, seventeen year old prince turned god about to be prince, again, and lock eyes with the emperor. ]
Whether I can, I won't know until I've tried. Even if the heavens say I must die, if that sword doesn't pierce my heart and nail me dead on the ground, then I am still alive, and till my last breath, I will struggle to the end!
[ and in the end, you do not turn away from him. you still kowtow, to the emperor, because he is the person you respect most in the entire world.
but you walk straight out of that door facing him, and when the black shackle of being banished wraps around your neck, you don't look back.
you're going to save your people. you refuse to let the laws of godhood - stupid, stupid laws - be the reason that a single person suffers. not on your watch. not on your life. you will do anything for the people of xian le.
you will not let them fall. you became a god to help them, and become a god is what keeps you from them. the laws of the heavens are confining. frustrating. cruel.
so you throw it away.
you will not simply watch as your world falls apart.
you're going home. ]
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[ It takes a moment to recover from the memory, a hand rubbing absentmindedly at his own neck while he returns to the present. Returns to now. A memory, he reminds himself. A story that is not his own but... intriguing nevertheless. He wonders, how will that story go? ]
...You're one of a kind, Xie Lian.
[ It sounds like a compliment at least. Curious, gaze ever-observant but peers at the other man as if in a new, different light. ]
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this isn't the first time xie lian has shared this memory, so - to see it again stirs up a complicated host of feelings. some bitter, some nostalgic, and some sad in between. absently, he reaches up, fingers playing with the bandages he typically wears around his neck. ]
...In this case, perhaps, I am not. It seems we both ascended, Kim Dokja...
[ he just chose to go down. ]
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There was definitely some nostalgia in his own memory, it could be saddening- were it his companions, they would be. But Dokja knew he was the only one that could have taken up that role. Nobody else. He couldn't risk losing them. So, he wasn't sad with the results, despite the pain. The sacrifice. ]
One way or another, mm? And now, here we are.
[ with ~ m u r d e r~ ]
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well! xie lian ends up smiling a little, and rubs the back of his neck. ]
Here we are, indeed. It's strange, isn't it...? This place's talk of gods is so very different than the realm that I live in, but...so many of the concepts are the same.
[ ascending for certain acts, and the like.
the smile grows, though. ] ... I don't know how to explain it, but - I'm quite glad to find someone who understands, at least a little! It's a form of camaraderie, no?
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[ The corner of his eyes crinkle with his smile at that thought, but it eases when he looks curiously back at the other man. ]
..You could say that, yeah. Sometimes, you need someone who understands, to be able to really put themselves in your shoes, huh? [ "Why is it do the things that they do?" It might help in the future. ]
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then, also, considering what he says about his world.... ]
I see... so, things like us vanishing at random hours, or - these trials, those would certainly fit into your narrative, no? What's a "dokkaebi", may I ask?
no subject
[ So it really is kinda similar. ] They're kind of like furry goblin... One second.
[ Pulls out his notebook, which he gives a quick sketch of something like this. ] They have a channel which broadcasts to Constellations so they can watch us as we do scenarios, dokkaebi are in charge of giving them to us and can also increase the difficulty or add sub scenarios as they please.