Hi everyone! I'm back with a new chapter! Thanks to Subha-Chan, CRSWoodferns, Desires of autumn leaves and Cutetyhils for reviewing. Also thanks to Desires of autumn leaves (For following it) and CRSWoodferns (For favoriting and following it). :D

Warning: Bad language.

Disclaimer:

Greetings to everyone. I'm China. Sometimes the patriotic Chinese people call me mother. Scarcely am I called as "Mother China". Reason?

Most of my people are traitors. They're brought up by me, nourished by me, yet they forget me. This is not my pain. My pain is...sometimes they hurt me and their own brothers and sisters. For a mother, what could be more agonizing than seeing her child being killed by his or her siblings?

Thankfully, all of them aren't like that. Had they been, I would have been no more. Today, I'm going to talk about the arrival of one of them, one of my most adorable sons: Emperor Ray Kon, the guardian of the sacred white tiger, the loving child of the nation.

Readers and readeresses,

Without a queen, a king is not a king. So, on this day, I'll tell you about the birth of the noblewoman who was admired a lot. From ages to ages, this couple will be adored.

The silken fringe of the cherry-blossom painted kimono slid against the craggy slope as the Regina continued running through her trajectories. The night airstream untied her bun, revealing the beauty of her gorgeous black hair, almost dissolved in the darkness. Where her aurum-smeared, ruby-embellished tiara had fallen down, she didn't know. When the thorny road had peeled the soft skin of her feet, she couldn't feel. With the passage of time, her speed was diminishing. The acceleration was forming into deceleration. But she didn't care. All that she cared about was a petite creation wrapped in a velvety towel. She was grasping it closer to her chest. It was crying and crying, exploding its own voice. She should have stopped. She should have fondled him, should have found out the reason why he was crying. Irony, she couldn't do that. Had she done, she might've been successful, but she could have been deprived of something more than that.

Saving the little life which was only three days old.

While she was painting enflamed blood-spattered taints of her feet on the uneven gradient, something substantial was elicited by her.

Flashback:

"No! You can't leave me like this, Heian!" She clutched the collars of his patrician velvety kimono shirt, "You…you've to be alive for us."

"Riza….try to understand…." The dying emperor caressed the chin of his darling wife, "My…my time….is over….please…flee from here…"

The empress kept staring at the aground ruler with a pair of sniveling eyes. He was coughing violently. At least five shafts were stabbed at his chest and back. His attire was silvery, but maraschino. He was shivering. Bit by bit, his skin was being paler. The temperature of his body was going to overthrow the northern polar caps.

"I'm not going to anywhere leaving you here!" Firmly Riza clasped the hand of her husband in hers, "If we've to live, we'll live together. If we've to leave the earth, we'll do that together!"

"Please don't be silly….." His breaths were shaky, "For our Ray, you've to live. You've….you've to stay alive….only for him…"

The black-haired woman lowered his head. She remembered a quotation of her husband:

"I am Heian. In Chinese, Heian means darkness. That's why I'll name my unborn child 'Ray'. And the ray only can enter in the field once darkness escapes."

"Don't be….late….save the…..heir of…..throne…"

Exhaling once, he closed his eyes, finally taking the final leave in his lifespan.

Flabbergasted, the lady didn't blink once. Tears exuded from her orange eyes. Her cherry-blossom gown had already been soaked with the blood of her better half. In the golden cot, a little baby was screaming vociferously.

Whirlwind passed across her body. Within a second, taking the baby in her arms, jumping from the window, she vanished underneath the murk.

Flash forward:

Huffing and puffing, she entered into a deep woodland. Inside it, someone had made a striking orchard. Diverse breeds of flower greeneries and lianas were there. Not hesitating once, she went under a wood-rose bush. From the corset, she popped out a brush with black color on its top. It hadn't dried yet. Simply, she drew a sign of Taijitu on his soft wrist. Putting off a chain with a ying-yang locket, she made him wear it.

"My son….please pardon me…." She whispered, kissing on his cheek, "But you've to stay alone here. I...I…can't take you with me….it'll be dangerous for you….don't worry, since it's a garden, somebody will surely take you and nurture you like their own son. If I love my son wholeheartedly, if I do care for him, then surely we'll meet again."

Leaving the weeping elfin being behind her, she left the garden. Running for half kilometer or one, she got caught by a large platoon.

"Take her to the king!" One of the soldiers aimed a stripped sword at her.

"Where's the baby?" Another of them inquired, "Where have you kept him?"

"I won't tell!" Riza scowled, "You can never find him!"

"She is not going to tell anything without being pressurized!" The previous trooper affirmed, "Let us find him. Now arrest her!"

Chaining her hands into a pair of handcuffs, they took the poor lady, leaving half of the squad in the search of the infant.

"Damn, you're fucking sexy!"

Taking a sip of the red liquor, he licked his lips, glancing at the top to the bottom of her, "You don't look like a new mother whose baby was born three days ago."

"Leave me, you scoundrel!" Riza was struggling against the strong arms of the soldiers, "What will you get from me, Zagart? What do you want?"

"It's you that I want." The green-eyed man poured more whisky in the crystal glass, "You're beautiful. And Emperor Zagart does have the rights on all the beautiful things of the world."

The ex-empress didn't speak reasonably clenching her teeth. Zagart continued, "You've two choices, my lady. Either marry me and regain your previous position in this kingdom. Or watch your cute head-servant marrying me and being the queen of China. Already she's been the mother of my two sons, so she'll be served like a divinity in this fortress. Then you've to be her head-servant. Agree or not?"

"Huh," Riza simpered, "What do you think, ghoul? I'll feel insulted and marry you? No, never in this life! I won't hesitate once to serve Shaina but I will never spend my life with you! You're the guy for whom I've lost my beloved husband…"

Her voice was braced, yet she continued, "You're the one for whom I've been separated from my child. With which feeling, with which condition am I going to marry you, bastard?"

Zagart was about to open his mouth. At the same moment, a soldier appeared in the room.

"Any news?" Zagart stood up.

"A good news, your Majesty." He retorted, showing a blood-tainted cloth piece, "The baby has been eaten by any wild beast. We've got his gore towel."

The ex-queen of China gasped. Turning her eyes away, she shut them tightly. A quick pain pierced her heart like countless needles. In fact, no mother would want to see this thing with her own eyes. Notwithstanding, darkness couldn't grapple her every hope, every expectation. In a single corner of her heart, the hope was still rising, spreading all its rays.

"Buhahaha!" The king burst out a hysterical laughter, "Dear Riza-Chan, now what will you do? You have no way now without marrying me."

"No chance!" The newly widow let out her defining feelings, "My child can't die. He's still alive. I…I can feel his heartbeats still. And one day, he'll destroy you, beast!"

Without giving him any chance to speak, she spat out on his face. The villain turned his face. Fury rushed through his blood vessels. His ears and cheeks got shot with blood. Burning in the fire of abjection, he bellowed, "Soldiers! Take her to the dungeon and imprison her for her lifetime!"

Giving him a death glare with her bloodshot eyes, she left the relaxation room with the soldiers.

Later, 365 days:

A raven-haired lady was sitting on a large boulder, tucking her head between her knees and wrapping her arms around them. Her jagged tresses like the fibers of jute were ruffled, messily wafting by fits and starts. Her silvery skin had been coppery while dark circles were displaying their proliferation beneath her dimmed orange-eyes. She was not in her usual aristocratic cloths and accessories. Somehow, the lady kept her dignity wearing a piece of gray corset and a black cotton skirt, reaching her ankles. She had lost her weight, eating the rotten and innutritious meals during her imprisonment. Her feet were fastened with the chains.

"How many times do I have to tell you, Riza?" Zagart was standing in front of her in royal attires, "Please marry me. I can assure that you won't have to rot in this penitentiary."

Gradually, the captive raised her head. A faint contortion took place in her face.

"Fie!" She rolled her eyes, "Zagart, don't you feel ashamed ever to beg to me for marriage on every day? What will I get by marrying you? You're a womanizer, you're a fraud. You just think the women as the goods that you can consume, right?"

"No Riza…."

"Don't need to give me any objection, Zagart." Riza tucked her ringlets behind her ear, "I know how many maids have committed suicide in last twelve months in this fort. I also know in how many nights Shaina has had to shed her tears from the past 8760 hours of darkness. Girls are your puppets, aren't they?"

Zagart turned away his stares.

"Fine then!" The woman stood up, "I've also heard that Sharina is going to bear your third child today. I pray to God so that you can be blessed with a daughter. When she'll get hurt, when she'll shed tears, then you'll understand, Zagart! You'll understand the outcome of hurting so many ladies!"

The emperor was attempting to tell something but he was hindered by a guard carrying a good news.

"Pardon me, Your Majesty!" The sentry saluted him, "But the head spy of the queens' castle has informed me with a great update of joy. Empress Shaina has given birth to a beautiful princess."

The avocado eyes of the ruler gleamed up. Somehow in a quivering tone, he managed to speak, "What? A princess?"

Pulling out a bag full of golden coins, he handed it to the soldier, "Take it and adorn the whole China like a bride! My daughter has arrived on the earth!"

Effusively he left the dark compartment looking at none. Riza smirked once, sitting on the same rock.

'I don't want anyone to get hurt. I'm not vindictive,' She again placed her head amid her knees, 'All I want Zagart receiving the bitter fruit of his misdeeds.'

"Where's she?"

Zagart rushed into the queens' castle not caring at anybody. A group of midwives were waiting for his arrival with the baby girl enfolded in a purple velvety towel.

"Here she goes, your Majesty." The leader positioned her in the protective arms of her father. Soft scarlet hair was covering her head. She was gazing at the wonderful but diverse planet with her enchanted, enlarged black orbs.

"My peace…." Tears formed in the eyes of the father, "My peace, My Salima has come to me finally after this…after this long waiting…."

"Aww my baby…don't cry….papa will come soon…"

A pastoral Chinese woman was trying to pacify a one-year old baby boy. No profit it was bringing. How? When you are starving, can you be pleased with great words of knowledge?

Soon, following her words, her husband entered into the room. Seeing him, she rushed to him, placing the infant on the cot.

"Have you got anything?" She queried, eyes full of expectations.

Bending his head, he shook it. Getting the utmost truth, she bit her inner lip.

"Qi, why to keep him more?" The husband kept a hand on her shoulder, "Now send him to an orphanage. We can't bear his expenses anymore."

Right at that time, the eyes of the mother glowed with agony and fury. Clasping her fists, she protested, "Never even if I've to sacrifice my own life! I have no biological child. When I found him beneath the bushes of wood-rose, I…I just got my happiness, got everything in the form of him. And you…you're speaking to throw him?"

"A true mother you are." He sat on the bed, "Though he's not your own child, you love him more than that. And one is his biological mother, leaving him between life and death. Just think, what a ruthless heart she owns! Even a demoness can't be that cruel."

"Let it be," The foster-mother wiped her hands, "Can you remember how desperately the soldiers were searching for him? Thankfully I showed them the pieces of his towel streaked with red color which was considered as blood-streaked. Somehow we managed to convince them saying that the baby had been eaten by any ferocious beast."

"Then?"

"Then what?" The lady smiled, "We brought him. We got a ying-yang locket from him, remember? Behind this, a name was written."

"And the name was…"

"Ray." She yawned, "According to it, we named him. Thus he has taken his entry, as the ray of hope in our dark ecosphere of miseries."

Mysterious the fate is. Light and shadow can be born either in the same time, or in the same place!

Umm...how's that?

Do read and review. Pardon the grammatical and spelling errors. Take care :D

Misty ^_^