Prologue
By Cheerios Freak
221 Before J.-C.
End of the Three Dynasties
China, Xianyang
The darkness was still the king upon the city but the light wouldn't be long before pointing his first rays of sunshine to caress China like a mother with her child. However, the atmosphere was heavy almost unbearable. The bell of the temple of the Dragon had rang thirty minutes ago bringing the citizens out of their home to the public place. Their faces were twisted with different emotions but none of them dared to open their mouth.
This was the end but the beginning at the same time. Even the children could remember the screams, the pain, the destruction, the horrors of the flames, the scarcity of food... Today was the end of the war, the end of fear, the end of the execution but the beginning of the reign of the Yuui clan.
Five years ago, the Kumosuki clan had begun to die slowly but 'their brothers' had decided to accelerate their extermination. Their well water had been envenomed as their part of the royal compound had been reduced to dust. As for the survivors, they have been killed by the mysterious harm that had already killed most of them. Even the body of Hun Kumosuki, their leader, had been found in the bloody rivers.
In the other hand, the Jurinai clan had decided to fight back with all their strength, causing the fall of a million of Yuui soldiers but it hadn't been enough. The last Jurinai was supposed to be executed today.
Hun, Jin and Chang had been at the end of the three great clans of magicians; the Yuui, the Jurinai and the Taimusuki clan. They had ruled China since the beginning. They have been three men who were calling each other brother and yet, there they were, having killed each other, having made their own blood flowed on the valleys of China, all this for power and maybe another obscure reason no one had figured out... yet.
The wind raised and a soft rain began to pour. Even the sky was crying for the end of hope. Today was the end of the Jurinai clan, the only clan who had dared to fight for the folk. Tomorrow, the other clans of magicians will fall. It was simply a logical fact. It would be easier for an Emperor to rule over a country of dumbbells than over other magicians. In the center of the public place a platform had been raised so everyone could see the head of the last Jurinai fell along with hope and freedom. Some women were crying silently while their children were hiding behind their kimono because they knew precisely what was going to happen. The men were all inwardly putting their rebellion and their weapons down. The peasants were gazing at their feet already calculating when they will be ruined with the high taxes of the new royal family of China.
The executioner was the first to mount the wooden stairs of the platform hidden behind a blank mask. However, the slits of the mask were revealing two porcine eyes, hungry of blood. It had been a while, after all, since a true execution had been held in town. The folk were, usually, encouraging him and he was simply giving them a good show elongating the torment of the victim to the maximum. Today, their little weaknesses, their anger, their hatred, their desires and their cowardice were looming out of each of them creating a crushing mood of pain and sorrow. Leisurely, they were realizing things would never be the same again... The victim appeared in a pouf of smoke surrounded by five soldiers.
The woman was wrapped in a black kimono, with the color of Death. Chin up, her royal blood could be felt along with her beauty. Her long bend eyelashes, her loose brown chocolate hair, the gracious way she was standing, the silhouette of her body under the cheapest fabric made in China... everything in this woman was beautiful, gracious almost bewitching. Her soft features summoned by two piercing hazel orbs glared at the seat of the Emperor of China. This was far from the end… He hadn't won at all. This was only the beginning. A young man stood up unrolling a scroll as the executioner held up a pyre at the surprise of everyone. Her death will be slow and painful, as much for her than for everyone else's, but an entertainment for the members of the Yuui clan.
"Lords, Ladies, citizens, peasants and My Grace," He added at the traditional words saluting courteously the master of the Yuui compound. "Today, Lady Isobel Jurinai will be executed, burned alive on the pyre for high treason against the royal family of China, the son of the Heaven, for the murder of numerous members of the Head House of the Yuui clan, for the dishonor at the memory of Chang Jurinai, her husband and for abjections against the Dragon, His Grace Jin Yuui. May everyone remember that she is the reason of the war and the dishonor of the whole Chinese territory, Lords, Ladies, citizens and peasants."
He sat down as the woman mounted the wooden stairs at her turn. Without ceremony, the headman and the soldiers tied her to the pyre. She didn't have a move of resistance but something was burning in her look, an emotion between anger and hatred and maybe hints of irony. After all, she was at the head of one of the strongest clans and there she was, tied to a piece of wood to be soon burned alive.
"May God and the Dragon forgive you and wash away the sins of your soul." The headman snorted.
A smirk curved her red lips as the masked man let down the torch. Slowly the fire rose devouring the wood at her feet. The children and some young women and men closed their eyes or simply looked away.
A thick smoke reached to the sky but the smirk never left her lips. "I will come back! When the Red Moon will be whole, I, now considered as an impure, will avenge my fallen brothers through the bodies of my descendants! I won't have any rest until I see the end of the Yuui dynasty!"She bit her below lip before slitting her blood at the feet of the Emperor. Everyone widened eyes keeping their breath as the Emperor pursued his lips. Her smirk widened, visibly amused. The order never left his mouth because she opened hers before him. "I swear on my blood to be the fall of the Yuui family and the beginning of freedom for this country. For now on, I curse this country and may you, Yuui, the ones I have once considered my brothers, all burn in hell."Her laughter resounded in the public place while the Emperor of China jumped of his seat watching the pyre closely to be sure the woman was burning. He gritted his teeth. This was too slow. He raised his hand to give an order but stopped looking around. This stupid folk! They weren't even realizing what she had said. May it stay that way until the end.
The stupefied almost outraged comments were heard from the nobles' sides while the peasants began to talk at the same amazed, shocked and maybe afraid of what the princess had said.
"Ninth hellish curse!"
Everyone froze. She had cursed this country with a forbidden spell. Hesitantly, they looked over at the pyre the red dancing flames ascended, almost reaching the dark sky. The wind followed the lead and violently blew the ash and some morsel of fire towards the royal compound. The horses neighed under the guards as her laughter once more echoed in the crowed public place. Shadows ran in the streets of the city extending the darkness to the whole country.
"She is a demon!!!" Some screamed pointing the red moon above their head.
This time, even the folk began to panic, afraid by what she had said and done.
The scent of the burned cotton and of the charred flesh filled the air as the atmosphere turned into something macabre. The thick ash-gray blur shrouded the pyre and the entire platform. Coughs were heard here and there but everything seemed to stop. Many dropped their heads addressing a last prayer to her. No one needed to see… She had fought until the end but she was gone in the fire of Yuui, masters of the water element…
Only a shadowed silhouette smirked looking down at a necklace in shape of a red moon. He closed his pearl eyes clenching his fists around the silver.
'Until our next life, then, my love.'