Birth Throes – Chapter 6 – "Mandate" of Heaven

"Where am I?" muttered Yue Ying, slowly rising. "How did I get here?" She almost lost balance. "What am I standing on?"

"Meeee," came the familiar whining tone of Zhuge Liang. He rose to his feet, which caused Yue Ying to topple again.

"This isn't funny," she said, holding onto Zhuge Liang's robe to stand once more. "Where are we?"

"I haven't a clue." He looked around. The area was dark and clear. In the front of the two was the yin-yang symbol, surrounded by the eight types of trigrams. Ironically, the trigram Kun was on top, and Qian on bottom. Liang was only able to see this after squinting his eyes for a while.

"Do you see anything?"

"This is odd," he replied. "Of the eight trigrams which surround the yin-yang symbol, the symbol for earth, Kun, lies on top of the one representing Heaven, Qian. Since when are the Heavens below earth?"

"This doesn't bode well!" Yue Ying exclaimed. "We have to find a way out!"

"Wait look," Zhuge Liang said. "Reading from left to right, the left-most corner, I see the trigram Kan, and to the far right I see Zhen. Kan and Zhen when read right to left is Zhun."

"Zhun!" Yue Ying exclaimed, feeling frightened. Tugging at Zhuge's sleeve, she said, "Zhun means Birth Throes! This really does not bode well, my husband! We must leave!"

Shaking Yue Ying off of him, he bent down and on the dirt drew this, in Chinese, of course:

Earth

Throes Birth

Heaven

After staring at this for a few minutes, he recited twice, "The Heavens below earth, throes before birth. The Heavens below earth, throes before birth."

"Are you trying to curse me?" exclaimed Yue Ying. "We have to get out! I'm scared!"

If Yue Ying was scared, anything could happen.

"Wait, we can avert this," replied Zhuge Liang. He walked up to the yin-yang symbol and the eight trigrams and then recited, "When the Heavens and Earth are aligned, the throes of birth are benign."

He held the right and left side and made an attempt to turn it, only to fail and sprain his arm.

"Let me do it," volunteered Yue Ying. She walked up to the symbol and then, despite her strength, could not move it. "This is terrible, what should we do?"

Then a voice of the Heavens spoke. "Huang, what have you done with the dragon of time?"

"Dragon of time?" asked Yue Ying, looking around, trying to track the voice.

"The dragon which was circling Chengdu Castle earlier today was found in ashes!"

"Oh, that dragon," she replied shakily. "You see, h-h-he was a little victim of my shooting accident ..."

"And why is the dragon burned?"

"That was my idea!" exclaimed Zhuge Liang. "I told Lady Huang we should burn the dragon because if she didn't, she would be discovered!"

"You will suffer for this!"

"Allow it to be me!" Zhuge Liang begged. "My wife's carrying my son now! I don't want two to suffer for my mistake!" He knelled on the floor, his hands below his head, locked.

"Let me, not my husband! He's an insane man! He has been drinking before we were teleported here! Don't listen to him!"

"In order for a new dragon to take place as the dragon of time, it will need one month in place of someone who is already at least twenty years of age. That person will then become ... immature. Are you willing to volunteer yourself again?"

"I am!" exclaimed Yue Ying before Zhuge Liang could say anything. "Do it before my husband says anything, quick!"

"Very well. The dragon will take your age for one month and will be ready to continue time again. As for your son, he will stay with us with the same nourishment you will give him. You will ... become immature."

"Whatever's fine with me, it was my mistake anyway!" she replied. "Please don't do anything to my husband!"

"One month. That's all. This is our 'Mandate'."

---

Zhuge Liang fell down on the back garden. Rubbing his sore backside, he rose and started back to the Castle. He encountered Lady Gan once he reached the parlor.

"Shokatsuryu Koumei, doko Getsuei?" she asked.

Zhuge Liang shook his head. "I don't know Japanese."

Suddenly, Lady Mi sauntered into the room. "Ji Gout Leung Hung Ming, min-dou hai Yit Ying?"

"It's Nan Yue," muttered Zhuge Liang. "I don't know that either."

Guan Yu was walking by, overhearing Lady Mi. "Prime Minister, that's not Vietnamese, it's Cantonese."

"Close enough!"

Zhang Fei walked in as Guan Yu left. "Kongming, nide qizi zai nali?"

"This is ridiculous, I get three languages!" exclaimed Zhuge Liang. "First Japanese, then Cantonese, finally Mandarin! Can anyone speak English?"

"Zhuge Liang, where is Yue Ying?" translated Zhang Fei.

"I don't know," replied Zhuge Liang. "And I hope they'll let her come back soon." The three weren't listening to him. The two empresses were poking Zhang Fei in the stomach, causing him to vomit again.

"Ai-ya!"

---

Having a headache caused by the wine and the odd events that took place after dinner of the day, Zhuge Liang threw himself in bed and sighed. "One month. You can last one month."

He seemed to be lost in his thoughts for a quite a while. Would he be able to deal with not having Yue Ying for a month? Probably so. Would he be able to contact Yue Ying? Probably so. Would he be able to Would he be able to sleep this night? Of course not.

He was a sleep in a jiffy.

After a few hours, he turned over, sweat beads forming over his face.

He was dreaming.

No, it was a nightmare.

"Ah, my son!" exclaimed I. "Look at you!"

"I know," replied my son, whipping his tonfas. "I am strong, smart, elegant, but not gay. I am clever, bright, witty but not gay. I am stylish, quick, deceiving, but not gay."

"...Wonderful?"

"Father, I thought you would say that!" exclaimed my son, laughing. "Unfortunately, you will not see me at this age for about eighteen years."

"Dammit."

"You know the dragon of time which was circling around Chengdu Castle yesterday was coming to show you and Mother what I will be in the future. A shame you and Mother killed it!"

My eye twitched. "She killed it. I burned it."

"Close enough. Oh, did I mention that dragon would age certain body parts of Lady Gan as well?"

"Dammit."

Suddenly, he shrinked to a little baby boy. He cried, the two tonfas he was wielding on the floor nearby.

"Oh, dear, don't cry!" I exclaimed,, picking up the child. "There there, mommy will be back ... in a month."

Then the child turned into Yue Ying. Err, Yue Ying turned into the child.

Zhuge Liang shot up, breathing heavily. "What was that about?"

There was a cry outside. A baby crying.

"What is that?" whined Zhuge Liang, rubbing his face. He slipped on his shoes and then came downstairs, to the front gate.

Near the gate was a basket, a pink-silk blanket inside it.

"It's too cold for a baby to be outside," said Zhuge Liang, who picked up the basket.

The basket was empty.

Slightly further back from the basket was Yue Ying's clothes, a lump of flesh inside.

"What idiot would play this joke?" snapped Zhuge Liang, picking it up by the sleeve. The lump of flesh slid to the other sleeve. In haste, Zhuge Liang grabbed the other sleeve and held both sleeves with one hand.

The lump of flesh slid to the end of Yue Ying's garments, the skirt-side.

"This is ridiculous!" Zhuge Liang grabbed the last ending and then sighed relief, the basket on his left arm, the three openings held carefully with his left hand.

Then, out of the collar, came a toddler's head. It was no older than the age of three.

It would be only Zhuge Liang who would recognize who it is.

"Getsuei!"