Chapter Text
To Nüwa, the goddess who created the Great Cycle to begin with, this was merely another end to a world that would very soon be mended and returned to its starting point, good as new.
As she watches the cracks in the sky start to form, she knows the Harbinger shall awaken shortly and join her for the last few moments of this cycle before everything resets. A necessary sacrifice, all to protect this world. Perhaps some, especially the small mortal beings of her creation, would find her method of eventually erasing all progress and putting them back in the beginning a bit unorthodox.
However, they are only mortal after all. They would never understand, not like she or the other gods and immortal beings of this world did. This was the only way she could protect them. Her children.
Her small, ignorant children.
Not that them being ignorant to the nature of this world was a bad thing. In fact, she considered their ignorance to be something of a gift. A gift that lets them all live without the fear of the chaos that lay beyond her protection, the knowledge that all they work and progress towards will all inevitably be for nothing as the world is brought back to the starting point.
In truth, every time she watches the world reset, every time she watches the mortals fight their battles, survive through the ages, make remarkable journeys like the Tang monk and his pilgrims or defeating powerful foes such as the Lady Bone Demon like Sun Wukong and his group of unlikely allies, she sometimes wishes this was not the way she had to protect them. If she could make it so that this world could progress forever, without the need for a cycle, she would.
But she can't. So she simply protects them the only way she knows how.
Which brings her thoughts back to the Harbinger.
Each time she reforges him and places him back in the stone that once held Sun Wukong, she cannot help but wonder what it must be like, to wake up from over an eon of slumber only to immediately sacrifice himself right after. An unfortunate situation, but again, it is necessary. Which is why she first created him the way she did.
She knew that her creation that would need to sacrifice themself could not exist immediately after being made. As awful as it sounded, there was no place for a sacrifice meant for the end of the cycle to be, well, actually living in the cycle for long. He could form connections, grow his own personality, live his own life. Only to be forced to throw it all away once the Jade Emperor and the Mythical Beasts die and the Great Cycle must be restarted. She would not even consider forcing any of her children to bear such a burden as they grow. So, it is better for her child to not have any connections. Only the one goal of collecting her stones and merging himself with the Pillar of Heaven in order to mend it.
And that is why the Harbinger of Chaos is her most cherished creation. At every end of every cycle, he does exactly what he is meant to do without fail. He merges with the Pillar with no hesitation. He understands his purpose, his reason for existence. He knows he is sacrificing himself for the good of every other being in this world, just as she did when she had to sacrifice herself so long ago. She could not be more prouder of him. And she knows this time will be no different. He will make her proud again, and continue to do so as each cycle ends.
Some time passes, and she knows that it is only a matter of time before her Harbinger returns to her and the cycle resets. All she has to do for now is wait.
Eventually, just as she expected, the Harbinger appears before her and opens his eyes to the goddess in front of him, eyes wide with no emotion or memory of who she was. Smiling fondly, Nüwa leaned forward so that she was a bit more eye-level with the smaller creature and repeats the phrase she's been telling him each time he meets her in this special space, a phrase she will never grow tired of telling him.
"Child... I'm so proud of you."