Once upon a time there was a great Magician. This Magician was the most powerful sorcerer in the whole world. Even when he was a child he was magically stronger than anyone else. His parents were strong sorcerers, one from the west, the other from the east. Because their child was so powerful they taught him everything they knew as soon as he could speak. When the child became a man he could do anything. He could control the weather, he could create things out of thin air, he could tame animals with just a word. People from far and near came just to talk to him, just to bask in his presence.
But the Magician was not happy. Because of his powers many people also feared him. Everywhere he looked people were scared of him, envied him, hated him. The ones that did not, wanted to use him. They wanted to make him do things for them. They flattered him with false compliments and they flirted with him, hoping that he would grant them some favour, or that they could find a weakness of his and exploit it. But the Magician could see beneath their false respect into their dark hearts full of dark desires and turned them away with a smile. This continued until the magician grew to hate people. He did not trust their smiles, he could not stand to see the fear in their eyes, and he grew weary of fighting sorcerers who only wanted to say that they defeated him. But because his parents were so proud of him and loved him he stayed to please them even though he felt so lonely.
One fine spring morning, the Magician's father died. He passed away quietly among the poplar trees with a smile on his face as if the afterlife held some pleasant surprises for him. The Magician and his mother cried, mourning the loss of the one they love. They gave him a quiet funeral, with only friends attending. They cried and cried, the magician more than the mother because he had lost one of the two people he loved most in the world. Now he only had one person who did not fear him. So they cried, but they moved on, they could not stay stagnant in sorrow forever.
The Magician looked after his weary mother, making her life comfortable. The mother told her son that she could not die until she was sure he was happy. She told the truth. He knew she was tired but he also knew she would not leave until she had fulfilled her promise. So to make sure she would not have to worry any more the Magician travelled the world looking for something that would make him happy.
He found it.
The one thing that would make him happy was a young man with long honey-brown hair and warm brown eyes. He was from the Li clan and thus a distant relative of the Magician. The Magician did not love him, not in the conventional sense, but the young man made him happy. He did not fawn all over the Magician, he was not afraid of him, he did not wish to defeat him. Instead the Magician found that the young could and would argue with him, forcing him to do the right thing, making him see things from another point of view. The young man was intelligent, caring, and strong. He was a warrior with pride and a heated fury when roused to anger. Oh, how the Magician adored him.
The mother, safe in the knowledge that her son was finally happy slipped away into the shadow realm, joining her husband who had waited for her. The Magician mourned her passing. But his friend comforted him, telling him that life was not over yet. Knowing that his friend was right the Magician wiped away his tears and calmed himself. He would not shame his family.
For years the Magician and his friend went back and forth between the east and the west. They were loyal to each other and protected each other. You see the young man was also a strong magician. Not as strong as his friend perhaps but strong enough to attract unwanted attention. Not only that but he was also heir to the Li clan making him even more desirable. It was not rare for the two of them to be challenged in their travels, or for magicians to send their servants to attack them. And when trouble came the two would guard each other's back. For years they existed this way. For years they lived for each other. But all good things must come to an end. Nothing lasts forever.
It was on a cold winter night that the young man was killed. Neither the Magician nor he, for all their great powers, could foresee that the young woman they would accommodate on such a cold day would be a golem sent to kill them. They let her join their table, they gave her shelter, and they welcomed her into their home with nary a hesitance. After the dinner the magician led her to her room and bid her good night. How he would regret his actions.
In the dark of the night while they slept the woman followed her orders and slit the throat of the young Li heir. The young man did not make a sound. Her task completed she dissipated into her original form, that is, a doll. The magician slept on not knowing that his precious person had been slain in his own home.
Soon enough morning came and with it, revelation. The Magician woke and as was his tradition took a bath, dressed himself and began to make breakfast for the two of them and their guest. With a cheerful tune on his lips he approached his friend's room and knocked. There was no answer. And there would never be answer.
There was blood.
There was death.
There was lost hope.
The years that followed were full of despair, hatred, and anger. Sorcerers and sorceresses died left and right as the Magician hunted down the killer. Any and every challenge was accepted and no mercy was given to his opponent. The Magician had changed. He was no longer the shy youngster, the caring son, or the kind friend. He was the cold moon. The world would regret ever killing the Li heir. He would make sure of it.
During that time he created two guardians using the blood of his murdered friend. Two magical beings that would help him in his search for revenge. One was a dark haired angel with dragon wings and the most beautiful mauve eyes. He was kind and sweet, his powers of healing and empathy lending him an understanding of the human heart that many magical constructs could not grasp. The Magician called him Sying. His counter part was a golden haired man with equally golden dragon wings and pale sapphire eyes. He was beautiful, untouchable, and he was cruel. Hesperos, the evening star. He was the Magician's weapon, his champion.
They were not beholden to him, both of them drew their powers from the stars; Sying from the dark stars and Hesperos from the shining ones. The Magician had bound them to him only through a tenuous thread that naturally existed between creator and the created. Hesperos fought for him, protected him, and Sying cared for him, soothing his anger away with a touch. Though they were not tied to him, they loved him and protected him fiercely.
As he had promised to himself he hunted down and killed the sorcerer responsible. But no peace came to him. There was no purpose to his life anymore. He would sit for days by the window in his mansion watching the world go by outside. Nothing made him happy. Only then did he appreciate that his special person was gone and, no one and nothing could replace him. Not his creations, who loved him, not revenge, and not magic. There was no colour in his life anymore.
A young woman changed his mind for him though. This young woman was the designated wife of the Magician's friend and she had loved the heir very much. She was beautiful with large emerald eyes and glossy honey brown hair. Her name was Ying Fa. She came to visit him with one guard, charming her way past the protective Hesperos and the cautious Sying. She tried to use her very small magic to unlock the study door and when that did not work promptly ordered her guard to break it down. She then proceeded to berate the Magician for forgetting his friend. Stunned, the Magician protested that he did not such thing. Ying Fa only had to show him the way he had abandoned his friend's beloved garden, study, and bedroom, for the Magician to realise that he had indeed forgotten his friend.
Slowly the young woman helped him rebuild his life again. They found solace in each other. They had both loved the young man and they both felt the lack. They would tell each other stories, confide in each other, and it was the Magician Ying fa ran to when they pushed her to marry again. But, as with the young man, nothing lasts forever. The young woman did not have enough magic to continue living. She died underneath a blossoming sakura tree, a book by her side, and a smile on her face.
By this time the Magician was tired of having to watch people whom he loved die. He was tired of life. Bit by bit he began to retreat from society until he disappeared from society all together. He lived in the house he had shared with first his friend, then the young woman. His guardians cared for him as they had since they came into being. One day though the Magician began to crave noise, noise that had existed while he was living with the young man, and Ying Fa and her guard. Sying was a quiet young man who spoke gently and never more than he absolutely had to. Hesperos was quiet in a different way; his quiet was one of ice and storms. His quiet was a prelude to a hurricane though no one had witnessed it yet. Frustrated by the silence in his house the Magician created two more guardians.
As the sun set on a beautiful spring day the sun and the moon met in the sky. At that exact point in time the Magician called on his considerable magic. His two guardians watched with worried eyes as he summoned the magic of the sun first. The sunbeams gathered in the east coalescing into a small lion cub with fluffy white wings. The lion cub yawned and instantly fell asleep. Chuckling over his newest creation's actions the Magician turned to the west where the moon shone. Once again the magic was performed and once again the moonbeams gathered into a magical being. This being was a young child with snowy white angel wings and large amethyst eyes. His first action was to kick Hesperos, who had grabbed his shoulder when the child stumbled, in the shin. The child was named Yue, and the cub was called Cerberus.
From then on the house was filled with laughter, scathing insults and retorts, and outraged yells. All four guardians had a niche to fulfil in the Magician's life. Hesperos was the feared elder brother who did not hesitate to punish his younger brothers for misdemeanours. Sying was the mother to whom all of them would gravitate to for comfort and healing in cases of pranks gone wrong. Cerberus was the instigator of many pranks and stolen puddings, and the one in charge of irritating Yue and Hesperos both. The youngest of them all was the beloved, studious child, babied by everyone. This was the perfect life the Magician had dreamed of.