Disclaimer: The magnificent Jade Empire belongs to Bioware. I know because I was at their official website & they told me so.
Notes: This work would make more sense if you, as a player, received the Open Palm ending and had a romance with the Follower Sky. What can I say, I'm a Sky fangirl. However, this fiction can also be a stand-alone, as long as one knows the story of the Jade Empire videogame. Hopefully, you'll all enjoy. This is my first foray into the Jade Empire fandom.
Character Notes: The protagonist of this story is character model Scholar Ling, renamed Snow for no apparent reason.
Jade Empire: The Phoenix Saga
Chapter One
Where a town suffers a giant,
New lives are lived,
And two friends reunite.
"By the Great Dragon, it's a monster! Aiyeeee!"
"Blood! BLOOD! Demon! Aaaargh!"
A young man dressed in the robes of a student surged through the sea of panicked townspeople, brandishing a long spear. He had fine, delicate features, too delicate to belong to any warrior of real skill. Indeed, the boy looked like he wanted nothing more than to turn tail and run with the rest of the town, but he held his ground, albeit shakily, and faced the 'demon' without wavering…much.
The so-called "Demon of Tien's Landing" was a behemoth of a man, standing well over seven feet tall, dressed in blue, blood-soaked rags and a bright orange bandana around his head. In his meaty, hairy hands he held twin axes, which he twirled with ease as he surveyed the young student cowering before him, a smile hidden behind his bushy black beard.
"So you're the newest punching bag?" the 'Demon' asked with a chuckle, twirling his axes experimentally. "You're so small I could eat you!"
"D-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-don't come any closer!" the young student stuttered, waving his spear at the much-larger man. The wielded weapon shook violently. "I shall have t-t-t-t-t-to dispose of you, b-beast!"
"Beast? Who're you callin' a beast? So what if I killed a few cattle, crushed a few goat heads, and terrorized the townspeople! That's no reason to call me a beast!" The axe-wielder roared, raising his axes and swinging down furiously. The young student shrieked like a woman and dropped his spear, raising his hands above his head and certain of his death—
—and he was suddenly tackled to the ground. The young man squealed again, flailing wildly, struggling to fend off the sharp, deadly blows of the axe—
—and then he heard laughing, a gruff, very amused chuckle, that sounded like it came from the Demon of Tien's Landing…
Slowly, and not breathing, the student opened his eyes. "M-M-M-Master!' he yelped.
Indeed, the figure that stood over him was the Master of the Open Palm School, a lovely woman with a jet-black hair and eyes of a deep brown. She was dressed in simple robes, like a monk—pure, white cotton from head to toe, soft shoes on her feet. She would not have looked out of place in a monastery, she seemed to completely embody the harmonious, understanding philosophy that was the Way of the Open Palm.
And at the moment, the understanding, soft-spoken, and harmonious Master of the Open Palm School had drawn her long sword from its sheath, and raised it above her head in a defensive stance. And she was staring down the Demon of Tien's Landing.
The student drew a breath—none of the students in the school had ever seen their Master fight. She had always told them to look for ways beyond violence to solve problems, and now, here she was, blade at the ready, and the student realized that it would be HE…he was to become the first witness to his Master's skill. The honor was almost too great—
—and it seemed that the Master read his thoughts, for her gaze shifted from the giant to him, and she lowered her sword.
The Demon of Tien's Landing strode forward.
"Master, lookoutbehindyou!" the student screamed, sure that the axe-wielding monster would strike a death blow.
"I haven't seen you in a while!" the Demon greeted, laughing again. "Little Dawn Star!"
"As I, you, Whirlwind." Master Dawn Star of the Open Palm School turned back to the giant, and bowed. "I believe it has been a year."
The student sat there, flabbergasted. The Demon could talk!
The Demon—no, Whirlwind—glanced over the Master and nodded towards the student. "That one o' yours? I thought you'd grow them a little bigger now that you've founded a school here in Tien's Landing. He's too damn small to put up a fight. Looks like a pretty boy, too."
Dawn Star glanced back at the student. "San is one of our most capable beginners, Whirlwind. I believed that he would be capable of stopping the menace that is the 'Demon of Tien's Landing.'" She shot the taller man an annoyed sort of look. "Am I correct in believing that the Demon is you?"
The Black Whirlwind, the deadliest mercenary in the Jade Empire, shrugged noncommittally. "You know how it goes for me," he mumbled, seemingly undisturbed by the title of 'Demon'. "You come into a town, can't find anyplace that has beds your size, so you decide to camp out in the Southern Forest. Then, when you're hungry, you try to find yourself some cattle. You kill some, someone sees you, next thing you know, there's a crazy story goin' around about some demon. Not my fault. You know they don't even have wine here? What the hell is that about!"
"Tien's Landing is undergoing a much-needed change," Dawn Star replied, helping her student to his feet.
"That's no excuse for not having wine!" Whirlwind roared, throwing up his hands. To San the student, it seemed again as if he were ready to strike, and, overcome by the excitement of the day, he keeled backwards, his eyes rolling into his head as he fainted dead away and landed with a loud thud! on the grass. Dawn Star and Whirlwind turned to look down at him.
"You sure make them tough around here!" Whirlwind laughed.
"Oh, shut up!"
"So, how're things doing around this boring backwater town?"
"Things are well." Dawn Star carefully and skillfully ignored the demeaning words Whirlwind used for her new hometown. "The Empress—my cousin Lian—decided that her father had ignored the needs of Tien's Landing long enough. She wanted to create a more thriving economy here, when she found out about the incident regarding the Great Dam. She asked me to create a school here, in honor of the school her father burned down in Two Rivers." Dawn Star faltered for a moment. "I thought it would be a good idea to…ah, settle down for a bit. Thanks to the school, more and more people are coming here, and Tien's Landing has become better off."
Whirlwind nodded. "But you still haven't told me what happened to the wine."
Dawn Star frowned. "We haven't received any new shipments this week. It seems news of the 'Demon of Tien's Landing' is scaring the wine merchants from coming here." She shot Whirlwind a sly look. "You wouldn't know anything about that, would you, Whirlwind?"
The mercenary shrugged. "It's not my fault everyone in this town gets scared by a hulking shadow walking around in the middle of the night."
"Especially when he's running around wrecking boats and screaming at the top of his lungs," Dawn Star retorted. She surveyed her school, a modest, two-story building with a large, grassy courtyard, and two small shrines near the entrance to the building. In the courtyard, where she and Whirlwind wandered around, there was a small group of students that looked as if they were training, though Dawn Star knew that they were simply watching in awe as their Master entertained the Monster of Tien's Landing within the walls of the school. "What are you doing here, Whirlwind?" she asked very quietly.
"Well, hunting for those bastards in the Celestial Book-crazy or whatever the hell you call them gets boring." The giant of a man scratched his beard thoughtfully. "So I thought I'd try going up North. Good place for a fight, but their wine tastes like watered-down urine, and it didn't get me drunk at all."
Dawn Star laughed. "So you decided to go to this boring, backwater town? What did you expect to find?"
"Well, when I heard about the new school here, I thought it'd be nice to see what kind of kids you made. I didn't think it'd be you teaching, though." Whirlwind scratched his head. "I was expecting…well, you know."
"Snow." Dawn Star nodded. "She stopped pursuing the path of a warrior after…" she trailed off, then shook her head. "After she killed my father." She raised her gaze to Black Whirlwind. "If you want to find her, you have to find Sky."
"Sky?" Whirlwind queried, confused. "Why do I have to find that pretty boy?"
"You didn't know?" Dawn Star sounded amused. "They're married."
Whirlwind looked absolutely stupefied. "You really didn't know?" Dawn Star echoed, thoroughly bewildered.
"You think I'd give a damn whether that girlie-man would get married or not?" Whirlwind blinked.
Dawn Star laughed. "They were married a few months after Lian became Empress…oh yes, you had disappeared by then. They were married in the Imperial Palace. Lian had them married. I think she wanted to make sure that Sky didn't run out on Snow. Everyone in the Jade Empire knew about it. They were famous. After a while, though, both Sky and Snow grew tired of the attention and they removed themselves from the public view, with Lian's help. Not many people know where they are. But if you wanted to, you could seek out Sky; he became the unofficial leader of the Guild after Gao the Greater's death. I'm sure you'll find Snow once you find him. I haven't seen her here in Tien's Landing, myself. Not since I began the school six months ago."
Whirlwind scratched his. "I'd figgered she'd be here, since…you know, you're girlfriends or something."
Dawn Star stretched out her hands to her old comrade. "Well, she isn't. I don't know where she is. To tell you the truth, if she didn't want to be found, she wouldn't be. She hated the publicity during the wedding. I would love to see her again, but I have to respect her wishes—"
Whirlwind cut her off, "So what're we standing around here for!" He sounded downright genial. "Let's go raise some hell and find these Guild members with their fruity leader Sky! I'm pretty sure they'll have wine!"
Despite herself, Dawn Star could not help but smile. It had been a year since she and Snow had been together. Perhaps time with her childhood friend was what she needed, and to get away from her students…
She heard a squeal and turned around, alarmed. One of her students had fainted when Whirlwind had yelled. San again.
Dawn Star sighed. I sure made them tough around here.
Notes: Hopefully the characters have retained their personalities. Please leave useful criticism, not just random, hateful flames. I tend to laugh at those and ridicule them in my later chapters. Thank you.