Maiden of Flame
Once upon a time, there was a peaceful kingdom centered around a volcano. It was small, but every village was well united in heart. To thank the world for the blessings, the kingdom made a glorious temple inside the volcano, and held all of its greatest ceremonies there.
However, one day the volcano came to life, and its bowels boiled harder with each passing day. Fewer and fewer people dared go to the temple, and they have tried every ritual they could think of to appease the mountain, yet nothing helped. Driven to desperation, people have turned to sacrifice.
A mournful procession came to the sorrowfully abandoned temple, gazed upon the boiling heat, and threw their hopeless victim in. With both a sunken heart and relief, they saw how the mountain gained peace once again.
The lave was still rippling, somewhat restless, but at least their kingdom had time. Thus, with deep regret, they set up a grave ritual of "offering to the mountain." For years, they were watching the volcano until it became restless again, and then chose another helpless sacrifice. No one like the tradition, but all realized how crucial it was.
That was, until one day, a team of skilled cultivators went up the mountain to try and find a better solution by studying the temple for hints. They were still young, all kids from the same village, all dedicated themselves to cultivation for the sake of saving their kingdom and friends from the volcano.
Since there were no monsters, they also allowed a little 9 year old girl to come with them, held by the hand during the ascension. She was a little bundle of joy, the love manifested of every villager they knew. Naturally cheerful and open, she was curious to see the mountain and its temple. As she asked with a smile, no one had the heart to refuse. And thus, it was more of a trip of adventurous kids than anything. Nonetheless, it was a trip of everyone's hopes.
While ascending the long spiraling steps into the hanging temple, all of their hearts grew tense with reverence. Once the view opened up to the inside of the boiling cauldron, they saw endless faces, endless souls swimming in lava menacingly, craving to take down another victim, knowing full well it was about time to receive their offering and tear it to merciless pieces. However, they were down in the cauldron and could not do anything until they grew strong enough to spill out of the volcano, to cause its eruption and swallow everyone that lived around the mountain. It was only a matter of time, but time not too pressing yet.
The little girl kept watching the boiling souls, feeling their heat reach her face, without a word. Once the team reached the temple, they somewhat spread out to study the place more freely. The little girl was also left on her own, since no part of the temple was crumbling.
She gazed upon the crimson sea, and felt how their hearts were desperately calling onto her. She felt their loneliness and pain, their hopelessness. She remembered how her mom would always tell her that in the heat of the mountain, everyone dies from heatstroke far before they reach the surface. It is supposed to be the most merciful death, so why did they all suffer so much? She wanted to embrace them. All of them, and give them peace. Share some love they had lost.
They called onto her, seeing her listening to them on the edge of the temple. The called on, and she came. Without a shadow in her heart, she made a step and plunged into the vast boiling cauldron. After all, the happiness of all is far valuable than a single life, so why not take the leap?
The hearts of her friends sank as they saw her move. Her name was called out one final time, most desperate and sorrowed, and then she was enveloped by heat, embracing it with her entire heart and soul. Her body burned in an instant, only her soul left to be torn by all who surrounded her, craving to feed on her fear and desperation.
However, she had none of those feelings. She was welcoming and warm, and though suffered through all their vicious screaming, she welcomed them with an open heart. She gave each one of them an embrace with the true meaning of warmth, and one by one they shrieked once more, filled with the sharp pain off all their sorrows and agony melting away.
The crowd did not dare rip her apart, each craving to get some warmth for themselves, and each craving to see something so new. Over time, more and more of the sea gained more and more peace.
With a shattered, crumbled hearts, her friends returned to the village, unknowing of how she felt, only able to imagine her suffering. The whole village mound, holding a farewell funeral in the temple, a purposeful visit the place hadn't seen in a long time.
The girl mourned not herself, but all the pain she brought on those who loved her. Nevertheless, she told them 'goodbye' in the heart and let them go, joining the mountain forever.
The kingdom waited another year, unsuccessful with their search for solutions, and then another, and another, waited to the mountain to wake up again. But the time never came. The souls never once boiled again, never once demanded a sacrifice, never once wanted to spill. She was the last sacrifice, made of a pure heart. A heart forever remembered by those who knew her… who passed away while she was still the shortest time in the volcano.
Her story was made into that of the kingdom's hero, and then turned into a fairy tale, until it was close to forgotten. An age passed, the kingdom became but a province of a vast land, and the volcano had turned into a place of adventure. The temple, once more with staff that would fill it time-to-time, served as a luxurious hall for conferences and the such, as many noble cultivation sects would find it as the best place to demonstrate their fanciness. Thus, it became the time of peace again, especially in the mountain.
And the girl never suffered.
She was never lonely either. Nor was her fate anyhow sorrowful. She inspired and awakened love and warmth in the hearts of the lava souls just like in her village, and she became their treasure. With her, the meaning of heat changed, and instead of boiling agony it became mind-melting peace and comfort, the warmth of love. Not a heat beyond what a human could handle, but a heat that pleased the soul more than anything. The heat of pure love.
Bound with the lava, they all cuddled like kittens, and the heat became their most comforting thing. They would no longer feel at peace in the cold outside world, and they have found all they ever needed in the community that they created. Thus, the cauldron became their own paradise, even better than heaven. After all, one a soul goes to heaven, it has to reincarnate and work again, suffer again, be lost forever in the world of the living. The mountain was preferable, and they were all happy.
They were never bored either. There are infinite games that could be played with words and stories, or as racing currents of lava. Even so, in such mind-melting heat, they never felt the need to think either. They were just enjoying it. Enjoying their existence.
Their peace lasted, until one day the temple was visited by the most malicious of crowds.
It was the age of cultivation clans, and the world was filled with wars. One cultivator, most talented, had to turn to the dark arts to protect the world. He was cherished, but only until the common tyrant was taken down. After than, he became the next target. He never tried nor wanted to rule or have power over others, but he was the strongest cultivator in the world, even if he had to sacrifice a lot and suffer many losses that left him broken for it. Each 'noble' wanted power of their own, and to reach it, they needed to get rid of him. The only thing he was vulnerable to was the will of society, as he never really knew how to stand for himself with words, only in combat, and so it was easy to gang up on him and color him black. They were smiling like treacherous snakes, all of them demons beneath masks of righteous nobility.
The cultivator suffered the loss of the last few people he had left beside him, and completely broken, gave up on his life. And yet, he could not entrust the world to these people. They were all wrong, and the world would die if given into their hands, so he chose to take them all with him.
He summoned everyone to a banquet in the volcanic temple, and everyone eagerly assembled. Like ravens, they smelled his death coming and knew he had no defense left. With just a little more, they would take him down and punish him from the world, or at least make him seal away all his powers under their twisted excuses, just because they all agreed it was necessary. They were eager to pick at him and what's left of his treasures like vultures.
Once the time came and everyone assembled in the temple, he had all the servants secretly leave, as if to bring something special for the occasion. He closed off the gates, and everyone was excited, thinking that he would not be able to escape now. They were so eager that some of the demons didn't even hide their winged demonic hides as they flew to the gates, only to put on their appearances right as they entered. The gates waited for every last one of them before closing.
Everyone happily mingled, guessing the eagerness in each other's eyes. And then, Wuxian took the stage to officially welcome them. The dark cultivator, who protected the world and was stripped of everything by it. Now, it was time to bid his farewell.
The stage was like an amphitheater for everyone to hear, and he used a new music instrument for him just so that he could sing along with his song. And thus, he began his song*. (* "My funeral" by Dope, watch?v=TUEWnM6nGPo or Nightcore version watch?v=e9oU18wJ63A )
Now, as I lay here in the dark
And I think back to the start
I know some things have to end
For the next one to begin
I walk alone free at last
I feel the pressure letting go
From the very bottom of my soul
Flash your bone from the past
Light the ashes in the rain
And fade away
It's my funeral
The bridges to the temple suddenly shattered, and the whole temple plunged into a fall, right into the abyssal depths of the flaming cauldron.
Welcome you home
This is the end of the night
So thank you for coming along
My time has come
I don't wanna leave you behind
But this one I'll do on my own
At first everyone was paralized with shock and disbelief of what was happening. They could expect an all out fight with him, but here fighting was useless, they had to leave him and escape at all costs to survive.
Now, as we stand two worlds apart
The times hardened up my heart
From a world of no regrets
That I hope won't soon forget
Demons half-abandoned their human forms and flew around like mad, trying to find a way out, but all of those were sealed off, and the barrier was set from the outside to keep them in. The gates they laughed at at the start now sealed their fates, as if laughing back with adamant mercilessness.
I walk the line on broken glass
I let the passion take control
Of the very bottom of my soul
Cross the line, fade to black
Hold the candle to the flame
And light the way
To my funeral
They had no way out on their own, so some of them aimed at Wuxian and clawed at him to demand a release, only able to threaten his life, but it was all useless. They had no leverage nor chance.
Welcome you home
This is the end of the night
So thank you for coming along
My time has come
I don't wanna leave you behind
But this one I'll do on my own (3x)
It's my funeral!
In his final moments, Wuxian gazed up, happy and free, released of all his debts, and allowed his soul to leave his body freely, unburdened by anything of the mortal realm anymore. No joy and bonds to hold onto, no vevil to keep sealed away anymore. The volcano would do it on its own now, as no evil soul could ever escape its bowels. That's how the volcano worked, so why not sacrifice himself for it as well?
And yet, his soul was pure and free, and so it effortlessly slipped through everyone's hands as a little pure blue flame that quickly floated up to the heaven, weightless and free, a final slap to the face of all the rage-devoured monsters that were left behind.
As the volcano was deeply at peace, its lava level was also low enough for a full song, but all the loving souls of heat could feel the deep resentment that was about to come down, and they realised how poisoned they would be with it. They knew to what flesh-tearing state of mind they would return to, and all worried for their treasured little girl. Thus, they chose to do everything they could to save her. Having took over her ways, they would do their best to subdue the demons until those gave up and let go of their evil, departing from the undead state they would gain and thus from mountain's bowels as well.
In the meanwhile, the girl would have walk the surface, holding on to her own deepest flame, and return home once it's safe. Even more so, they treasured it as a chance for her to live a happy life she deserved. She didn't want to leave her family, but she understood the need, and already yearned for a day of peace to return into her warm cradle.
With each souls' cultivation and strength put together, they managed to create a tiny miracle and give her life, a living form, truest to her heart. Out of a heated crack in the mountain, came a maiden most fair, with beauty divine, inspiring charm with her entire being, young and mature, dressed into the most vibrant crimson dress, as if a charming bride of the world. The mountain released its treasure and accepted its duty, the duty of sealing evil.
There was only one thing Wuxian didn't realize. There was one soul left that cared for him, one that loved him more than anyone else. Another cultivator, who always scolded him with concern, but never truly hated despite the strict looks.
That one person heard the news of the banquet. His eyes widened with disbelief. He came to the mountain himself and saw the empty space where the temple once stood, surrounded by broken bridges.
Shattered.
He didn't was to live anymore. He almost jumped in himself… but there was one thing that held him back. A blind, hopeless faith that he actually escaped in time before plunging everyone down. That one thought held him back. It became the one string that held him alive.
He returned home and waited… waited for that one soul to come back. To come back alive and to bond forever. He waited and mourned, silently yet with endless melodies crying from his guqin.
And he searched too, everywhere, for all the hints that could speak of his desire and help satisfy his yearning.
One day, he met the maiden of flame, the sweetest girl in the world. She sorrowed how people were no longer bonded together in her old home, but didn't let anything darken her heart, not even bandits or thieves.
Seeing her defenseless and sweetest nature, he decided to look after her. She had nowhere to go, so she followed him. Warmed by her heat, he felt free to tell her the story about the one who fell fell into the cauldron, as it truly was rather than how everyone saw him. She felt incredibly dissatisfied with how it was and became determined to help them unite in love as they deserve. She told him her story, of her family and her birth, and suggested that it could be possible to bring him back just like she was, but for that, they would need to find Wuxian's soul.
And thus they traveled together.
…
Long story short, they eventually found him, and though her flame lessened in the cold world the more she helped others, making clothing more and more revealing yet no more indecent, they finally managed to dissolve the plunged demons, summon Wuxian's soul, and she sacrificed her blessing for him, returning to her family in the warm flaming sea as the two lovers were reunited.
Some may think that was an unfortunate fate for her, but it was the happiest future she could have. No soul was as loving as those in the mountain, she was married to the flaming sea, happy and free, and if anyone would feel that her story was unfulfilled, it was because they yearned for her warmth and love themselves, projecting, yet afraid to face the mountain themselves.
Thus, this tale was written by the two to let everyone know that the kingdom was saved by a story of love rather than loss, marriage rather than funeral, and all the blessings earned were given fair.