2 Prologue 2 - Six Words

Scenes like these played out again and again across the sect as thousands of years of heritage and foundation were packed away with care while brothers and sisters of the sect bid farewell to each other, no one knowing when they would next reunite.

In the deepest part of the valley, behind the waterfall at the head of the River of Convergence, a similar scene was unfolding in a hidden palace that few could enter. In a round chamber fifty meters across several extraordinary figures gathered around a soft bed and the dying woman laying atop the elegant bedspread.

"Long Yao," the woman's voice called out, soft but crystal clear despite her fading vitality. "This is not our first parting and it likely will not be our last. Why so fierce this time?"

Beside the bed, a man with powerful presence and elegant azure robes that bared his well muscled arms knelt, fighting down the curses he wanted to spit at the enemy who had brought his Empress to this state. "Empress, this isn't the first time, but it's the cruelist. I've never failed to protect you so utterly, I've never," his voice choked as he fought to contain a cry of frustration.

"Yao'er," the woman spoke gently, reaching out a hand to rest on his powerful shoulder. "Even for Immortal Dragons, there are mountains beyond mountains, might beyond might. If you had fought in my place, it wouldn't just be you lying here, it would be all of us gathered to mourn a True Dragon and true friend who's companionship we had lost forever. I managed this victory because he wished to possess me, not to kill me. No one else here could exploit that opportunity."

"This doesn't feel like a victory my love," replied a tall woman in gleaming white armor whose aura radiated a predatory fierceness. "We've faced the most merciless of empires, the cruelest of demons and the mightiest of beasts, but we've never faced a defeat that forced us to disband the sect, much less a victory."

"Little White, my heart, we've also never fought gods. You can't imagine the might of a Divine Lord intent on subduing you. This is victory. The seal I was able to place won't be broken for at least a hundred years, perhaps a thousand if his other enemies are able to attack him while he's bound. Those years will give our sect time to hide, to gather new strength and to prepare for our return to the divine realm. This is victory enough, and the rest of this life as a price to give that opportunity to all of you is more than worth the trade."

"I'm still bitter. In this life you shouldn't have had to carry this kind of burden. You brought music to tens of millions, enlightened hundreds of thousands with your zither alone. Your hands weren't meant for blood in this life and yet…"

"And yet there will always be a part of me that rode into battle with the bravest Sword Maiden the world has ever seen," the fading immortal said with a hint of a smile on her plum colored lips. "Little White, I'm counting on your bitterness and even the burning resentment in your heart. Turn it into the strength to hunt down anyone who would harm our scattered disciples. Make sure the price to offend them is higher than anyone could ever wish to pay and then double it. You can do this for me until I find you, can't you?"

"Mother," a crimson haired woman in red and gold robes said as she came to stand by the woman in white. "You know auntie would do that whether you ask her to or not, so why make a point of it now?"

"You'll understand one day An'er. Everything the heart feels, all the myriad aches and joys, they all have their time. I want your auntie to be free to feel the pain, to work through it and to come out the other side of it without thinking I would want her to suppress what she's feeling. You hadn't even hatched yet when the world quaked at the mention of of the Crimson Tiger and the Obsidian Warlord, but we never restrained our blades then and despite the peace I've known in this life, I wouldn't ask her to restrain her blades now."

"My love," the final person in the room spoke as she came to the bedside, her silky black robes pooling on the floor like spilled ink. "It's time. The cards have been prepared. If you're going to burn the years that you should still have to pass the energy to your next life then it's best that we begin sooner than later."

"Qi Yue," the woman on the bed said gently as she reached out to Long Yao for help standing. "I've burdened you with this once again. How many times has it been now?"

"Seventeen my love, but these moments of goodbye and the centuries of separation never get easier, no matter how many times it happens, I still worry that this time, something will happen and it will be the last time."

"I know," the woman said as she stepped close to kiss the woman in dark robes, savoring the softness of her lips and running her fingers through the silky strands of her hair. "I promised you love that would last across a thousand lifetimes and more. No matter how many times we part, I will always find you."

"I know," Qi Yue whispered, tears slipping from the corners of her phoenix eyes. "But it still hurts. Every time."

"I know. This time, I need you to do something else. It's An'er's first time. She's only ever known me in this life. You'll take care of her for me won't you?"

"Mother!" the young Phoenix cried indignantly. "I'm grown now, I don't need a minder to watch over me."

"I'll watch her," Qi Yue said solemnly. "We all will. She's your first daughter after all these years, how could we let our little princess suffer any harm? Now, come here little Phoenix, your flames will help light the way for your mother to find her next life."

Slowly, Qi Yue led Feng An around the edges of the chamber, stopping at each of one hundred and eight obsidian columns to place a card on which was written a single word. Ruler. Moon. Ice. Void. Again and again the cards were placed. Each time a card was placed, Qi Yue led Feng An in lighting the border of the card ablaze with flames that carried the smallest trace of a Phoenix's power of Nirvana.

"Mother," she asked as the last card began to burn. "What words did you have for this life?"

"Music, Lotus, Enchantment and the one that brought me this catastrophe. Beauty," her mother replied, a trace of bitterness coloring her words as she thought of the many enemies who pursued her relentlessly to possess the most beautiful woman of the era, culminating in the possessive unbridled lust of a selfish god. "I hope I'm free of that one in my next life."

"Is it always four words?"

"No," Qi Yue answered. "The first time we only managed two. That was before we forged the crown of the Myriad Paths Immortal Empress. Before the sect. Before we knew if it would even work. We didn't care. We just couldn't lose each other."

"This time, I'm hoping for five," the dying woman said as she withdrew a shimmering crown from her Soul Palace and placed it gently on her head. "Today, the Myriad Paths Immortal Empress dies again to be reborn again," she intoned formally. "Let the sect remember that this was the era of the Singing Lotus Immortal Empress Mei Lien. May they forgive me for the calamity I've brought them in this life and be kind to the next woman to wear this crown."

Suddenly, the crown blazed brightly in a multi-colored fountain of light. Blues, reds, golds and greens, a dozen colors erupted before a few began to snake their way across the room towards the burning cards, connecting them one by one to the crown.

"Saber," Mei Lien said with a smile. "Little White, perhaps it won't be long before I'm fighting at your side again."

"It better not be long," she pouted. "But this is good, you won't be as passive this time around."

"Scroll," Mei Lien said as the next word lit up, a twinkle in her eyes. "Seventeen lifetimes of learning won't be wasted."

"You'd best not lose yourself in it my love," Qi Yue teased. "I still remember how hard it was to pull you out of the library in your years as scholar."

"Song," Long Yao said with a frown. "I hope this isn't a burden on you. You'll need greater might next time to deal with that madman."

"Earth," Mei Lien said looking at the next one. "You're not nudging this are you Yao'er? Even a zither is deadly in the right hands. Now, quiet everyone, to go further means burning away what remains of my destiny in this life and," her voice grew strained as the fountain of light grew brighter, beginning to engulf her figure. "And it hurts more than ever."

"Fire," Feng An whispered as the next card began to glow.

"Five," Qi Yue whispered, gripping the young Phoenix's hand tightly. "Your mother has succeeded!"

"It's not done," Long Yao muttered, eyes wide as a tendril of light reached out to a sixth card.

"Alchemy," the woman in white said softly. "How long has it been since she was last an alchemist?"

"Since the first time," Qi Yue said, a tear full of memories flowing down her cheek. "When we met, she wasn't even an Alchemy Initiate yet, just a little orphan girl struggling to cure other children of an incurable disease. Her alchemy flames burned brighter than anyone's. In the end, she refined her own soul in the cauldron of her Alchemy. We thought that the Heavens had taken Alchemy away from her as punishment for refining the Pill of Endless Samsara that made her what she is today."

"Mother!" Feng An cried out as the light faded and Mei Lien collapsed to the floor like a puppet with cut strings.

"Little one, you can't!" Qi Yue shouted, wrapping both arms around the young Phoenix to prevent her from rushing to her mother's side. "If you touch her now, the crown will use your life's energy to fuel her rebirth."

"I'd forgotten," Long Yao said, his eyes hardening as he strode forward. As he walked, his right hand began to twist, fingers becoming claws, azure scales flowing down from his elbow, revealing a portion of his true body.

"Yao'er," Mei Lien choked out, her body already beginning to fade from this life. "What are you doing?"

"In this life, I failed to keep you safe. I couldn't give you the protection I promised when we knew you'd need it most. This time," he spoke firmly as he used a talon to slice open his left wrist, forcing out three drops of his blood essence and allowing them to fall onto the crown. "This time, my blood will keep you safe until I find you again."

"Yao'er, stop, if you do this you may never ascend in this life," Mei Lien sobbed. "The blood essence you give my rebirth won't ever return to you!"

"If that's the price, then that's the price," he said unflinchingly. "The blood we share will help me find you and THIS DRAGON WILL FIND YOU!" He swore with the power of his blood to bind the oath and a voice that rumbled with the might of an Immortal Azure Dragon.

"Let me go!" Feng An shouted, tears streaming from her eyes as she wrestled free of Qi Yue and took on the form of a resplendent Three Tailed Phoenix, blue, red and green flames blazing from her wings. "Mother!" she cried, fluttering to her fading mother's side.

"An'er, no! Yao'er, stop her," Mei Lien pleaded helplessly as Feng An flew to her side.

"Mother, it's okay," the young Phoenix said, wrapping her flaming wings softly around her mother's fading figure. "You were the one who kept me warm for a hundred years until I hatched… Now, now it's my turn to keep you warm on your journey…." she sobbed.

"Everyone," Mei Lien said, her voice sounding like it came from the end of a tunnel far away. "I will find…"