Ten miles ch 21

A/n: the rest coming shortly

What is destiny?

Dong Hua felt the length of each day, unlike in previous years. Boredom was commonplace in the immortal's lifespan but never had he desired to hurry time as he did now. Whenever he was distracted by the egg, he seemed to forget anyone else was there. Liang Song stopped flipping his fan and stood when Dijun had spaced out again.

"Are you going to stare at it all day every day, or finish this game of Go?"

Dong Hua slowly moved his eyes to his friend, but otherwise didn't move. He regarded Liang Song with the same detachment that had become of him these last years, "will you continue to pester me all day every day? You want to gossip all of the time. Would you not do the same if it was a certain female fairy?" After he said this, he lifted a brow in question, then dragged his eyes back to the vacant board game in front of him.

Liang Song moved from his previous sitting position and toward where the egg floated. The elder god left it like this floating in the air in his study. Dijun always teased him in the past, but this was the flip side of that coin and obsessive in his opinion. Then again, he was known for being overly focused in battle. This was a battle of his heart.

"You take it everywhere," he tsked in a teasing manner.

Dong Hua raised his chin and one eyebrow again, "I want her with me always. You know how long it's been since I've remained alive? And alone. My world was loud for a short time, but the silence is rather deafening."

"Candid," Liang Song said deflated knowing he couldn't argue. The elder god seemed to have become slightly sentimental these last few years. It was probably due to the weight of the promise being lifted. For a long time, he'd single-handedly carried the weight of the world on his shoulders.

This was no fun, Liang Song thought as he tapped his fan on the edge of his index finger. He often teased Dijun this way but knew the consequence was having to eat Dijun's awful cooking was retribution. "I doubt this recovery will take as long as Mo Yuan."

Dijun returned, "Even if it was a moment, it is too long."

He didn't explain how lonely he'd been in that time. Though he never regretted protecting others, it was the first time he truly lived. It was the only time someone had belonged to him, and he longed to belong to her. It took so much time to recognize his feelings-even his lust-but it had been so fleeting he wondered if she'd even been real. Being so close to any part of her was a slow torture. Hadn't Liang Song said something like this before? Inwardly, he tried to remember it, but the conversation eluded him.

"Do we know what she is, exactly." He used the end of the fan to indicate the egg. His stern gaze reflected some of this thoughtful reflection. Of course, he knew how long Dijun's lifespan had been. It was an amazing feat that he stood the test of time and lived on. Liang Song secretly felt a strange joy at the prospect of his friend finding his 'other half'. Seeing an overly confident Dijun struggling with a simple thing like love was...funny. Not so much now, of course, but back then.

It was just that fate had used a strange method. The egg was a promise of things to come, but what those were, no one knew. It had changed into a deep red color and seemed to have grown wider and taller. Passively he said, "How can a woman emerge from this small thing?"

Dong Hua looked at his friend who seemed to have asked this to himself. He replied, "She is being reborn-in so many words. The chaotic times have passed when gods came into being in a wave of chaos. This is special, and it's special because she is a queen. Has anything been simple for her?"

"She is also a fox...so why the egg? Why not rise from the ashes? Why not emerge as a small mammal? Or simply, be reborn?"

"The ashes were tainted, Liang Song. Her fire, and her soul, purified that evil man and his evil blood. It is the essence of immortals-like a human's soul. Though there are only a few left of this clan, she saved her tribe as a true Queen would. Fate has given her this chance. Its method is bizarre, but I came out of a rock." he straightened and a small smile seemed to curve his lips. "Of course, the more dominant side would do...plus her mother may argue if she appeared alive for one, and pregnant again, no? She is not alive, so that is not an option. Perhaps this is all the method that was left. She'd have to come into egg-cistance."

Liang Song balked, "Was that a...joke?"

Dijun coked his head and maintained his seriousness, "You have ears?"

His friend sagged, "Don't say that you will tell me what came first next..." He gave a disgusted face, "how utterly horrible. Please stop." Dijun chuckled as Liang Song wagged his head back and forth and gave a fake shameful look. "It is worse than your cooking."

"Want to eat some then?" Dijun teased back.

He sat up taller and gave his friend a rueful smile, "only a few immortals would self-sacrifice for the greater good. Can you imagine the personal desires of a red phoenix, of a childhood like hers, and one who yearns to be whole? I often wonder what that took to deny it, so she could save all those people. I should be angry she chose to die, but she both hurt and saved me too. Never has one stood up to defend me." He didn't mention he'd almost given up before seeing the egg and talking with fate.

Liang Song took in these words, and how serious sacrificing a life was. That innate desire to protect was what made Dijun so good a God. He may cook badly, he may be shameless or stern, but in the end, he was just like the rest of them. Had he ever thought of the day that someone would protect him? This is the bittersweetness of love, he thought.

"She truly is a good match for you. Anyone rare like that is worth waiting for. I told you...love is a slow torture, but now you understand it."

Even fate could ask too much from someone, Dijun thought. Thankfully fate had seen his point, otherwise... What was the point of going on if you could only grasp your love for days, and lose them after an eternity waiting? What of never knowing you'd had someone meant to be your equal, of being in the position to share a life, only to have it ripped from your hand? He'd saved the world and its people...but Jiu'er...she'd saved him in so many more ways than he could count.

She was gifted a new life this time, he thought. Her life had been short and hard, and in that short life, she had saved many lives. He remembered her face then-when she was brave how her face was resolute. he remembered her stubbornness and the way she lifted her head high when she made a point and stood by it. He even remembered her shyness and innocence. What cut most though, was when she'd realized that she found herself alone and he couldn't go to her.

His mate was perfect, and he wanted her close to him always. Battles, peace, family life...she was just like him. How could they not be fated? Only fate could restore her primordial spirit -her essence- and create it anew. Seeing that she was encased in an egg, the humor was not lost on him. After all, he was hard-headed, stubborn, and had come from a rock. Still, he hoped she retained her dual nature which was also a part of her legacy.

Her father Bai Li had suffered the loss of his family. Each took their turns in coming to visit this egg, put hands on it, and talk to her. It seemed the current around the egg would settle during these times, and abrupt in other times.

Liang Song spoke and brought Dijun back to the present, "Have you noticed any changes?"

Dong Hua felt the sting as he remembered the moment she'd died. "There are times I think she can feel me. I get a sense that she is unhappy or uncomfortable." He went to the egg, and as his hand reached out, so did his threads. It left no mystery to whom they belonged to.

"So complicated." Liang Song didn't look relieved at his words. His frown grew as he looked at the egg skeptically.

He continued, "Cause and effect, Liang Song. Mo Yuan came back to life, but when he did so did the demon he fought against. Where there is Yin and Yang there is always balance. If she were to put herself back together, it is possible some of that darkness would remain. It is why she used her primordial self to end him. It's indeed complicated."

Liang Song looked at the egg and mirrored Dijun's earlier thoughts, "Perhaps fate has a sense of humor. In what other way can she be reborn, indeed!"

Dijun mentioned, "This is the way the first queen was born."

Liang Song was still not sure what he meant. The ancient times had long past and taken secrets with them. If anyone new those, Dijun would. "You think this is why the egg makes her rebirth something special?"

"It is the only reincarnation option she would be able to have. Even the forces of chaos have rules to abide by." Dong Hua smiled ever so slightly, "Because only after she became her true self would she appear on the rock of incantations beside me. A queen red phoenix may bear the mark, but she must rise to the position. It is how they were in the past. Only exceptional souls seemed to be born into the role and have the mark, but not all took its mantle of Queen. Their fate appears to be intertwined with mine in that we have a choice to make. When I came into being, I was pure but neither good or bad. She is the same. I have chosen the way of the Gods, but I am not exactly like them. Do I serve my people, or do I turn to darkness for self-gain?"

"Her true self," Liang Song thought it over. "I thought you saw no name when you made the promise. Not that it seemed to have mattered for such a cause. So, you are saying that fate put her in the book of mortals for its own plan? Even before events took place."

"Fate knows things but can manipulate what it creates. It is the unseen chaotic forces that hold everything together. We just live in the constraints of them. It is like this for humans-they live in a world protected and run by the gods but must adhere to laws of science and math. Time is not just a straight line forward." Dong Hua took one last longing look at the egg, and then turned to face him and indicated the seats they'd been in earlier.

Once settled, he nodded. "She had to choose to be good. Just like I had to. As I said three years ago when I first brought her back here as an egg, I did not see a name at that time. I did not see a possibility either since Zhi Yan's mate was killed and her shadow stolen. By then, she was the last known female monarch and there were no other girls that were known to the world. It was easy to make a promise for me. I had no stirrings of sentiments then. My one regret is that Jiu'er did not know of these things and thought I had chosen the world over her to begin with."

Liang Song sat back aghast at such a fate. Mortals and immortals often played games and schemed, but this was unheard of. The chaos of the beginning was not a body, it was not a mind, but it was a force...

"Time and fate are always changing. Some situations depend on choices that are yet to be made. My name was removed, and I gave a promise of peace for my marriage. If my name was not there, how could her's be? All the women appeared to be killed from her line, so how would she ever be born if she was even going to be? It was not a hard choice, but if you look back, if it had played out any other way, we would not be here today. The world would have fallen into war if not worse."

"But all Immortals regardless of age display on the rock." Liang Song cocked his head, "but then you are different than most gods. It stands to reason, but it hardly makes sense. It is a loop hole."

Dong Hua nodded, "It appears I have a direct link to something greater. My purpose was not yet set only when I made my own path could it allow for everything else to follow. Sacrifices earn a great reward."

Liang Song made a face, "your blood is golden. Had this really not occurred to you that you'd be a higher god state than the rest of us could possibly achieve? In that, why would your situation mirror ours? Zhi Yan has unmatched power also though he is still younger than you."

"I had not considered it. I came into being and spent my life fighting to survive and live. Then I did it for those weakest around me... So on and so forth until one day I stood above others. I never set out to be an emperor of the world. No one in my time has ever moved me either. None have been able to since. I'd looked at the rock after the Queen fell, which changes fate because you looked at it, and fate cannot be known by any other than itself. "

Liang Song nodded.

"At this time, Jiu'er was not listed. Once my name came off, she would also not be listed and it would aid in hiding her-this was the plan all along by fate. But she had to be listed someplace and that was in the mortal book of fates so our star lords could watch over her without knowing they were. Each generation-each pairing-led to her birth. Piece by piece...each ancestor passed on a part of her until the parts became whole. Do you understand now?"

Liang Song sat wide-eyed, "no kidding. So it was the plan all along?"

"Even after I made the promise...it didn't matter because all life is worth more than being selfish for one life of happiness. I did not understand the draw of this type of bond, however. Fate has been cruel in the past, but even I am not able to jump that hurdle. This is why things played out that way. In our world, it is required to have someone stand against the darkness. She and I were made to protect when Fate made us, and equal force had to be created to balance it. It is also why we were not able to come into existence at the same time. One came from heaven, and the other came from the mortals. It is my firm belief that Jiu'er, when she rises again, will have a big impact on mortals."

Liang Song agreed, "Just as you have had on the Gods."

Dijun nodded. "it could be in pairing Gods to their fated too. There are endless possibilities."

Liang Song concluded, "Being so close in the heavens like that-with the Phoenix mate bond would have led to disaster then. Fate gambled when it made you both then."

"I do not doubt this. For Feng Jiu, her name was written, but not in our books or on any rock of ours, as I mentioned. Siming found her in the mortal book of fate after we returned the day she died. He then checked the rock and saw the etchings of her name begin to appear since the egg has been with me. Since we already know we are fated through our threads, knowing this doesn't change fate anymore. The two occurrences were never tied together until she became her true immortal herself. Not even when she was a fox or when she was first reborn and saved Song ju. She ascended to high god right before she died."

Liang Song felt somewhat mystified, "fate has been unfair to you. But," he said and looked at the egg, "it has also smiled on you both. I do not envy the journey you had to take. We really had it easy compared to you both."

Dong Hua didn't really seem bothered by it, "it was not meant to be known. She has hidden among the mortals all along. How ironic she was born of two immortals in the mortal realm." He took a sip of tea.

"And now," Liang Song again used his fan to point at the egg.

"I wait still." Though he said these words, Dijun thought, isn't three years long enough?

#

Feng Jiu had been floating...somewhere when she felt a warmth flood over her. Unsure how much time had passed, she reveled in the comfort she'd felt come over her. It had been like she'd drifted into nothingness, and then slowly came back to herself little by little. At one point, she felt exasperated and hot, but then that comfort fell over her again. It was like someone was all around her and knew when she needed comfort. It had been like this for so long now that she seemed to forget anything before it.

When she woke this last time, it was too hot. Every now and then she could feel the confining sensation of walls all around her. There seemed to be someone else near her, and when that person was closer, she usually felt at ease. But tonight, it was different. It was like something was pulling her towards something else.

Her hands itched every time that shadow fell over the walls confining her. It was too tight here.

#

Siming rushed toward Tai Chen Palace as the thunderstorm grew larger. Lightning struck the roof, and at once hit the egg floating in midair. When he rounded the corner, he saw Dijun desperately trying to take blasts of lightning. Eventually, his ward failed and lightening went around the egg like a web of static surrounding it.

"What's going on?" He yelled to Dijun.

Dijun was focused on the egg, but rather than fighting with the lightning, he stood and pushed his power into the egg. No! This couldn't happen.

Zhi Yan had felt the current floating in the air and immediately went to see Dijun. "Take the egg inside!" When the static cascaded over the thing, it seemed to grow larger.

Bai Qian and Bai Li appeared with Song Ju behind them, "What's wrong?!"

Had everyone felt it?

Zhi Yan's hair ripped around his head in the wind, "rebirth!" He came toward Dijun, "you have to let her come out! This is what you've been waiting for. Trust your gut!"

"Why is it so violent?" He asked the other phoenix.

"It is always chaotic when a God comes into existence!" Their voices were loud over the howling wind and rain. It was night time, and the storm was worse than any they'd seen in some time. "It's ascension."

He pulled Dijun backward, "give it space. She will come forth then."

The ground began to tremble as they all looked on with excitement and joy. Before they could reach it, the egg shattered into thousands of small fragments of dust just as the rain stopped.

Time seemed to stop then.