Chapter Text
Every year, a young woman would vanish into the sea, never returning to the surface, never she would be able to feel the warm sunlight on her skin, the hot soil under her bare feet, the ticklish grasses brushing her ankles, and had to struggle with the fresh oxygen in the suffocating blue water in her lungs. It was a rumor brought by the wind who acted as an invisible messenger to the two godly beings; the Lord of Geo and the Lord of Dust who ruled over the Guili Assembly. It originated from an area with several villages that were not under their rule, but soon to be, as the villages’ elders were in the process of considering the ‘contract’ Morax, the Lord of Geo had generously offered. Protection from a strong god and his band of immortals, who would want to pass up such a golden opportunity?
“I really think we should investigate this rumor further, Morax.”
Morax raised an eyebrow, folding his arms in front of his chest. “Why?” came his question, his tone was flat, indifferent. Either he’s used to Guizhong’s meddling or curiosity as they had been partners in ruling for almost four centuries now, that wasn’t a short time (Time seemed to be longer ever since he met the kind Goddess on that field of wild glaze lilies and had her constant companion as together, they built a civilization and named it Guili). “That territory isn’t ours yet. We shouldn’t meddle with their affairs no matter how grave it is. That is also a part of establishing a contract. The unwanted intervention will only create a crack in our...fragile relationship.”
“I know that,” Guizhong sat down, pouring the freshly brewed tea into Morax’s cup. She’s the host of her own abode, after all, it’s a part of the ethics she taught to the Lord of Geo. “But, I can’t get it out of my head; my curiosity towards the rumor and my worry over those young women. I can’t imagine how they are now in that cold, dark ocean, Morax.”
Ah, Guizhong and her sympathy for humanity (It is my love for them, the woman said to him, he couldn’t comprehend it, of course), Morax wasn’t able to understand that. Because of his inability to understand mortal feelings, it was why his judgment was sound and fair, he held no bias for anyone.
The woman hung her head as her two hands lifted the warm cup, pressing her lips onto its rim and cracking it open slightly so the black tea could enter into her body, relieving her stress with their mild sweetness and rich fragrance. Seeing her frowning wishlist plastering a thin smile on her face (she introduced it as one of the ‘sadnesses’ mortals often exhibit when they had unspoken troubles plaguing their mind), Morax averted his sight to the untouched cup, still full of its tea that he could see the same frown was now on his face. It was Morax's turn to lift it up and repeated the same movement as Guizhong did three minutes ago, he set it down on the stone table after taking a sip.
“Very well,” Guizhong shot her eyes at him, they began to regain back their light, Morax noted mentally, “If you wish to know the truth, then I shall accompany you,” and Guizhong could hear the- “however, you shall abide by the contract I am about to offer.”
“And so do you,” Guizhong grinned thinly, the woman was learning fast about contracts and all even managed to abuse the loopholes at some occasions, truly, the brain of the pair. “Let’s hear yours first.”
In war, those who strike first would surely gain the upper hand and a greater chance at winning, however, it was not always the case, the same as contracts which was a battle between two wits. “We will not intervene further if the situation demands it. And no matter how you feel for those people, you should never step out of the existing limit.”
“Deal!” Guizhong easily agreed, she probably had something else in her mind. “Then my contract for you will be ‘we should intervene further if the situation demands it’.”
Of course, that was to be expected. “Very well. The contract is now set on stone, those who-”
“-break the contract shall suffer the wrath of the rock, my Lord.”
Morax smiled thinly at that, stood up, and left her abode after a word of parting.
…
And thus, they were here, in the area called Mingyun which was famed for the noctilucous jade mining. And it’s not just Morax and Guizhong who made a visit, but also Xiao, the youngest and the newest addition of the Five Guardians Morax took under his wing. The three disguised as mortals, with Morax donning himself in a rather luxurious set of hanfu, Guizhong and Xiao both wearing simpler clothes compared to their lord. They were disguised as a merchant and his two trustworthy assistants (Guizhong insisted that Morax should dress up as a rich merchant hailing from Guili and everyone would surely buy the lie with no qualms, guaranteed, the Lord of Geo, after all, had not only the looks but also the manners and the aura of someone of high stature). Guizhong was staring at the crates and crates of lustrous blue gems stacked on the roadside as if the village was exhibiting their pride for all opened eyes to see, and sure, the air of arrogance was tight in the air, Morax could feel it, but decided not to comment on it as he’s too busy with keeping up with his excited friend. What about Xiao? The young man silently watched them, shielding the expression on his face with the large hat on his head.
“Ah, good Sir, are you perhaps interested in purchasing these gems?” an old man greeted Morax. “They were polished just a day ago and of the best quality.” he handed the Lord of Geo a piece of the most lustrous jade he had and the pair of cor lapis eyes were examining the texture and the lustrousness of the small fragile thing in his hand as it reflected the light of the summer sun. “These jades are popular among jewelry makers, it’s said that those who wear these jades as an accessory will surely be blessed by the greatest luck from the Heavens!”
“Is that so?” Guizhong asked curiously, the old man nodded.
“Beautiful,” Morax said after a long silence. “We’ll take the whole crate of these.”
Everyone around was surprised, standing still with their jaws dropped; well, except the two companions who were with the mysterious, rich young merchant. It was Guizhong who broke the stillness lingering in the atmosphere.
“Mo- Zhongli, no!” she yelped, waving both of her hands in front of the impeccable man. Morax was impeccable, sure, except when it comes to...economy transactions, he sucked so hard on that sector. Guizhong quickly pulled him to the sideline, whispering, “You can’t just buy the whole crate without evaluating the truth of their qualities first!”
“Is that so?” Morax-...Zhongli made a contemplating gesture, a hand around his chin, he hummed a tone. “You’re right, Hua’hui, I should evaluate the qualities of these lustrous jades first,” again he eyed the well-polished jade in his other hand with fondness. “Such beauty...it will be a waste not to buy them.”
“You really need to control your desire to buy everything on sight,” Guizhong had her hands on her hips, smiling in a mixture of endearment and fatigue. “If you really want to buy them, then let’s try to negotiate. I think we can apply burn tests at these gems just like how we did to fabrics.”
“That is interesting. We should try it.”
The pair came back and began their negotiations to test the qualities first. The old man of course didn’t agree but was willing to give them some thin samples when Xiao threw him a threatening look akin to a Death God’s stare. Guizhong noticed this and frowned at the young Yaksha while Morax simply took the samples and thanked the old man for his generosity. The Geo God promised to contact the old man once he made up his mind and they left for a small restaurant not far from the jade store. They sat down on the bamboo benches and placed their orders. Again, Morax was about to buy everything, but Guizhong stopped him (Remember, we are ‘mortals’, Morax, and mortals can’t eat that much food!, she whispered). Three bowls of wanton noodles were served on their table, each one for the customers. Xiao just stared at the well-folded noodles simmering in the clear yellow soup as if waiting for orders from his superior, Morax gave a cue that he should start eating, the young adepti took his chopsticks and silently started to dig in after thanking the Lord of Geo for his permission.
Guizhong, being the more socially talkative person of the group, decided to humor the shop’s owner with praises for the perfect noodle soup.
Then, stillness ensued as she dropped the subject in favor of digging information about the rumors.
“Hahaha, young miss, there’s nothing such as that in our village,” he said. “We have always been living in peace for almost two centuries and have been like this since then. Now, our elders were going to agree to a contract proposed by the Lord of Geo himself. It was an honor to be under his guidance.”
“That sounded fishy,” Xiao said when the man left them. Guizhong and Morax agreed with a nod.
There was nothing out of the ordinary even until the sun set in the west and the sky turned into hues of orange and crimson. Mingyun wasn’t far away from Guili, in fact, they were still a part of the same estuary. Guizhong insisted that they should stay in this village before moving to the neighboring village tomorrow, she wanted to experience everything the area had to offer because it was a rare chance for the adepti from Guili to be venturing outside their territory. And so they rented a room at the village’s best inn, two separate rooms because it would be audacious for men to be in the same room as women. The rooms they rented were different, Morax and Xiao got the second floor while Guizhong got the one on the third floor; theirs was facing the mountains of Jueyun Karst, hers was facing the endless dark sea sparkling faintly under the full moon. Both views were mesmerizing in their own ways, Guizhong felt she should invite her two friends up and enjoy the same oceanic scenery while having a pot of osmanthus tea. Just before she moved away from the window, a sight of something caught her attention...and she quickly rushed out of her room, banging Morax’s door like the end of the world was mere seconds away.
The Lord of Geo wasn’t pleased, judging from the stern expression on his face, but Guizhong’s pants and sweaty face averted his concern away from the rudeness.
“T-there’s something happening out there,” Guizhong said, her panicked voice falling so low it almost like she’s whispering. “There were...rows of fireballs marching towards the sea. I suspect that-”
“-that the villagers are doing something as the rumor said.”
“Yes.”
Morax nodded and turned to Xiao. “Xiao, I’d like you to stay here and keep an eye on the village. Report to me once they made any strange movements.”
“Yes, my Lord.”
The two gods walked out of the inn, the receptionist guarding the post bid them a good evening which was unheard of by the duo. They strode across the dimly-lit street, heading for the sea. As they followed the group of villagers discreetly, they were walking behind the rows of bushes and thick forestation, slowly, soundlessly, like shinobis from Inazuma so as to not invite any unwanted attention that would fail their mission.
The group consisted of several men from the village they stayed in, and the rest were seemingly outsiders from the neighboring villages. Half of the group were carrying various crates that seemed heavy, he didn’t know what’s inside, but upon more careful inspection, he noticed the glint of noctilucous jades and sea pearls in two of the crates. The horses dragged a large carriage containing baskets of fresh fruits, vegetables, and several livestock products.
Morax kept his golden eyes on the red wagon the four villagers carried, taking the most interest in the human-carried vehicle. He could feel a presence inside of the wagon, according to Guizhong’s stories a few weeks ago, the red wagon was often used in marriages to carry the bride to the groom’s home. He couldn’t ask for Guizhong’s confirmation if this group had some ties to the rumor they heard of, he could ask later.
The pair stopped and hid behind large tree bark, spying the group who lined up along the shore of the beach, facing the sea. It was eerily silent, save for the crashing sea waves and the occasional seagulls calling.
Suddenly, the sky darkened. The moon was nowhere up there. The wind picked up its pace, the temperature dropped down by a few celsius. The moisture in the air became damp, the salty tang of the sea was more evident. The sea waves begin to rise in size, growing taller and taller with each wave crashing to the beach. The Lord of Geo noticed several of the men were trembling, his hand was ready to reveal his legendary spear from nothingness to save those men from the incoming danger.
A giant sea clam emerged with a loud splash, floating on the sea surface. Its shell was lighter than the color of the sea, the thin layer of salt gave it a sparkling effect.
“What was that?” Guizhong's eyes grew so wide they almost popped out of her socket. “I-I never saw a clam that big before!”
Definitely, she’s looking forward to seeing it, maybe touching it, or even bringing it back to her abode for the sake of adding it to her collection and gaining more of the worldly knowledge. Morax commented on none of her actions, simply watching the scene unfold in front of his eyes wary.
The giant clam opened its lid, and what Morax saw next was something..not very unbelievable, considering he himself was something otherworldly too.
So did that presence calmly sitting on their throne inside the clam, looking with bored facade at the caravan, head resting on his left hand. The men quickly dropped to their knees, hands on the sandy beach, they greeted whom they called the Overlord of the Vortex like the being was their god.
...If they had their own god, then why consider Morax’s contract? Wouldn’t it be the same as they were betraying their original god’s contract in favor of his? It was unforgivable, but Morax was not someone who made quick judgment just from a glance at the situation. So he continued to scrutinize the people and the mysterious god, hands lowered and relaxed slightly, but he never dropped his caution.
The Sea God walked past the rows of men, stopping just in front of the red wagon.
“What is he going to do with the person in that wagon?” Guizhong asked, biting her lower lip. “Don’t tell me that…”
“It seems that the rumors are true, Guizhong,” Morax nudged his head up for a split second, “Look.”
Guizhong’s eyes returned to the wagon, she witnessed the Sea God take a woman dressed in red from head to toe out of the wagon, a silk red veil with white pearls hanging on its hem covered her beauty beneath it. She could see the woman was gripping her dress tightly with her free hand, she could tell the woman under that ceremonious garb was frightened of her fated doom. She wanted to step out, to save her, yet Morax halted her with a grip on her shoulder.
“Mo-” the woman was going to protest, but her attempt died down as Morax stated:
“Guizhong.” the deep voice, so commanding, paralyzed her on spot. “He knew.”
The Lord of Dust frowned and faced the sea again.
The giant clam was gone, so did the crates of fine jade and pearls, so did the carriage of high-quality foods...so did the newlyweds… Swallowed by the dark sea. Everything was calm, the villagers retreated silently like they were spared from possible annihilation.
And she returned her eyes onto her Lord.
She never saw that kind of glint in those golden amber eyes…
Their enemy recognized their presence. And, what did her Lord see?
A danger couldn’t be avoided now.
To Be Continued...