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Harsh flames ate away at the dark wood holding up Lotus Pier like wondrous pillars amidst the chaos. The fight had been for naught as blood spilled into the water and more Jiang disciples fell into blissful rest by the hands of the Wen. There was nothing more they could do now, their sect leader had fallen along with the core Jiang family. The heir had escaped the mess, the young mistress was away at the time, and the pitiful servant that accompanied him was most likely gone as well. The lotuses that drifted among the blood in the water were stained, the pretty soft pink color eaten away by the harsh crimson color.
Yunmeng was a beautiful city filled with traditional houses with dark wooden structures holding them together and purple silks with lotus motifs. Lotus Pier was the home to the Jiang clan grounds, where the Jiang family resided and where they trained their disciples.
Now the beautiful palace had been lowered to mere ashes and the Jiang disciples, to a pile of bodies, the fire licking at their skin. Blood painted the wooden structures meanwhile more Wen boats settled over the dock. The surrounding lake was mixed with the blood of the Jiang disciples. The once prideful clan was reduced to a memory.
Since it was night time, the only thing providing light was the fire, shining the sea of lotuses in the lake. They cried at the destruction of their home. The lotuses were all a staple of the local Yunmeng culture, they were native to the lake and grew and thrived in it. One particular lotus stood out amongst the flowers. Protruding from the bloodied water, a lonely lotus grew amongst its family, though it grew higher, fuller and bigger. Though it was still a bud.
Across the years, that poor little bud had grown, slowly in the Yunmeng lake, nurtured by the warm sun and the cool night. Now it stood equally as high as the other flowers, soon to grow higher!
Unbeknownst to the outside world, this lotus housed a soul that had been carefully nurturing a developing baby for years. This poor flower wasn’t as strong as a human mother to grow a baby in nine months, so it took more time than a normal human to grow. This little soul had grown to a toddler by now, but wasn’t still strong enough to go out on its own, so it still had to be coddled by the motherly lotus.
Today, Yunmeng burned and lost its previous identity to adopt a new clan. The Wen Clan. Time passed slowly, the burning had stopped, the lotuse's damage started to heal, and the Wen disciples started to rebuild a new order, the lotus motif changed to a sun symbol, the lovely purple silks changed to a passionate red. Many things changed within the city.
One fateful night, unexpectedly, the Wen sect leader, Wen Ruohan, visits one of his many settlements after sending his sons to expand the empire and continue terrorizing the cultivation world. He was a fairly young looking man, though his looks deceive. He was much older than his looks showed. Since his cultivation was advanced, he had been able to keep a youthful look to him. He had raven black long hair, white robes imprinted with the sun motif and fire symbols.
He was currently on a Wen float on his way to the previous lotus pier, his eyes drifting boredly on the lotuses on the lake, a reminder of the clan that once ruled this land.
He has gained a new right hand man who helps keep his power, and he keeps thriving at the top of the cultivation world. Even though his paranoia gnaws at him after having heard whispers and receiving letters of a certain campaign to ‘shoot down the sun’ or the Sunshot campaign; he wasn’t going to let that scare him away. It was a dark night amidst the Yunmeng lake, though the soft paper lanterns littered with sun symbols kept a comforting light to accompany the boat.
As his gaze drifted over the lake once again he stopped and squinted his eyes for a moment…
Was he seeing things right? He wasn’t native to Yunmeng, or all that well versed in Yunmeng’s infamous lotus lake, but he was pretty sure lotuses dint grow that full, nor big. What an odd sight. He called up his new loyal servant.
“Meng Yao, check up on that…particular looking lotus” He ordered the servant firmly pointing at the object of interest. This Meng Yao had joined the Wen clan ranks just recently, but he had ascended to his position quite quickly, with a soft complexion, average height and lean build, at first, he wasn’t much promising. But his quick wits made him ascend as swiftly as he did.
“What are you referring to my lord?” The servant turned his gaze at the strange lotus and he slightly flinched but kept his composure. His face slowly shifted back to his usual formal expression. “I will make quick work of this my lord” Meng Yao called up another servant and hesitantly approached what they understood was some kind of beast or anomaly.
They both alerted the captain of the boat to slow the boat down so they could investigate the beast slowly. The other Wen servant picked up a twig that had fallen into the deck much earlier and gently prodded at the enlarged lotus. Noticing no reaction whatsoever, Meng Yao and this unnamed servant kept approaching the lotus slowly. They went head on until they noticed no sign of movement of the lotus at all.
After noticing that there was no harm in approaching the lotus they beckoned their sect leader to join them. Wen Ruohan at first hesitated, not interested in checking it out himself; but he conceded anyway. The former approached the lotus, his servants walking in tow behind him.
“What kind of creature could this flower be housing…” Wen Ruohan trailed off as he prodded at the flower bud. Meng Yao hardened his gaze on the bud while the other servant turned away, fearful of what would be revealed.
After it dint budge, he went and opened the petals forcibly. Slowly but surely, the poor lotus flowered and opened, revealing a small form huddled under its petals.
“What is it!” The servant exclaimed, scared, irony was, he wasn’t even looking in the first place. “Huh?” Wen Ruohan squinted slightly, not fully understanding what he discovered. He moved the petals away to expose a bundle of short brownish hair, having a reddish tint. A soft pale face peacefully sleeps within the lotus embrace, once the light of the lantern hits its face, the little form’s eyes open and widen.
The girl had risen from her sleep and now a storm flooded her senses being overflooded by different sensations in such a short amount of time. The creature started to gain its senses one by one: first, she felt a delicate touch cradle her. A soft blanket providing her warmth though, now, the harsh cold of the air seeped in through her skin as the petals moved away from her. These petals, being forcibly opened by an external force. The smell of the fresh lotus flowers wormed their way into her nose, her brain registering for the first time this particular smell. The girl’s hearing was being crowded by the different sounds merging at once to a cacophony in her ear. Her sight was contaminated by the unknown force shoved near her face making her squint, her eyes watering.
“It’s a… child…?” Meng Yao stated while looking puzzled as he fixed his red robes. He’s never seen this in his life. Wen Ruohan’s gaze hardens at the sight.
The second servant raises a brow.
“Odd place for a child to… appear, is this a charity?” The second servant said at last with a tone of sarcasm.
Meng Yao shook his head, even though he was also disturbed by the distinct sight— he was more calculative about it.
“Perhaps someone left it here, what strikes me odd is that they don’t particularly look like they have been left to rot” he pokes the child’s forehead, where the delicate lotus mark remained. He was sure that, if the mark was only makeup, it was going to smudge at his small contact, but it, surprisingly, did not…
“A birthmark?” Wen Ruohan questions out loud to not any person in particular, a question thrown to the air. “It is, essentially, a part of her, how curious… take this child back for examination” he ordered firmly, crossing his arms— a slight expression of interest formed on his face.
The two servants quickly scramble and prod at the lotus and the now crying toddler inside it. Meng Yao held a hand to the other servant so he could try it alone, soothing the toddler with the same methods his mother used to use. A soft lullaby as he took the twig in the other servant’s hand and opened the lotus wider. With a gentle hand Meng Yao picked up the small form and cradled it in his arms. He adjusted his grip. “Please bring a robe to provide warmth to the child, she’s shaking.”
The poor girl was terrified even if she stopped crying long ago from the soothing song that entered her ears. Who were these people! She wanted to go back to her trusty lotus and keep resting. Her eyes began to water again. The cold was too much, so she trembled a bit in Meng Yao’s hold.
“Shh.. don’t worry, don’t cry…” he cooed but he faltered as a dark shadow blocked the light of the lantern, it was Wen Ruohan looking down at him.
“Maybe we could take her back to Nightless City? I’ve never had a daughter, and if she was really born from a lotus, maybe she has a hidden power we could exploit”
Wen Ruohan plants. A smirk coming to his face, now content in having a new weapon and claiming this child as his first daughter of his sea of sons.
“You think that would be a good idea?” Meng Yao inquires.
“Are you questioning my line of thinking?”
“Of course not” Meng Yao quickly soothes his temper and turns his gaze down at the shaking child, the other servant quickly arrived and they wrapped the toddler in robes that would warm her like the lotus she inhabited.
She closes her eyes again as she is wrapped around a robe and feels a hand gently brushing her hair, lulling her to sleep. Meng Yao noticed she had gone limp, held her in his arms gently and tried not to move as much.
“Let’s continue our way to the Pier, let’s not halt our journey, I still need to see our settlement in the fallen clan of Jiang.” Sect leader Wen said decisively as he nudged Meng Yao to stay within the rooms of the boat and order the boat to continue on its journey to the once Lotus Pier.
The boat starts to drift again in the water in the direction of the Pier soft lotus scent permeating through the air and soft sounds of the splashing water ringing through the We servants ears. The lotus they had previously opened had rotted and died after losing its lifeline and its purpose. A testament about how they destroy everything on their path. Though this lonely little lotus has served its purpose as it nurtured the toddler for years and protected it, now it dint find any use for itself anymore, nor any joy in losing its host.
Wen Ruohan had noticed the drastic change from the flower after they plucked the girl but it was too late to do anything about it since now they were moving away from it. That would be a problem left to whoever comes next. The lotus mourned the mother flower, the soft petals lost its life and it lowered as if in distress to the dark muddy waters of the lake. Though this may indicate the new political order between the clans.