In Defense Of Mortals

Jubilant laughter could be heard as the household was alight with music and chatter. Huang and I were dressed in our best suits and told to serve the guest, who appeared in the middle of the night.

I pushed my brother’s wheelcart over to the stranger. Huang held on to a platter of the only thing we could truly offer him. Bread. Huang set the platter in front of the richly dressed male and waited for the outcry. It never came.

Instead, Huang was patted on the head. “Is this your best?”

“The best this house has to offer,” said Huang, peeking at the man. He had hair that was a flowing dark curtain of curls, and his hands were in dragon hide gloves to complete the regalia of a pure white robe that glowed like the moon at its zenith and black boots.

“Good,” he said, breaking the bread and handing Huang and me the pieces.

“Eat.”

My stomach growled fiercely, and I took a big bite out of the piece of bread I was given. My uncle came in and scolded us.

“Why do you eat his bread? It was for him!” he yelled, eyebrows ticking as he set the guitar he was stringing down and came at us.

The man stood and patted Huang and I’s heads. “Calm friend. I am stuffed. Your house has been generous in its giving. I wish to rest,” said the stranger, and Uncle nodded, showing him toward our room. Guess we were sleeping in the barn again tonight. I glanced at Huang, who shrugged.

Halfway through the night, we heard a noise.

“Mei?”

I turned to Huang, eye twitching.

“Come with me? It’s dark, and the chair gets stuck.”

I left my cozy cocoon of sheets and faced him, before slowly picking him up. Together, we approached our room to find it empty except for a sword. On it were the kanji of a Heavenly Official, blazing in gold and sparking with magic.

“I knew it! Mei, look,” my twin brother said as he leaned towards the sword and picked it up. The sword was twenty inches long and one inch across, with a pommel made of a half-black and half-white stone, adorned with red tassels hanging from the simple red silk-covered guard. “We’d better return this.”

I shrugged my shoulders and gave my little brother a quizzical look.

“Well, I read in a parchment that Heaven Officials have temples that one can visit and give them offerings,” said Huang with a smile. “We visit our guest’s temple, give him the sword as our offering, and that’ll bring it back to him!”

I nodded and applauded; what a good idea my brother had. I picked him up and carried him and the sword to our barn. Aunt and Uncle should know of this, but they were busy, and the temples weren’t so far. I set the sword beside me, and hid it, in a small hidey hole and cuddled back into my blankets. Tomorrow was another day.

As daylight dawned, bright and early, I was woken to do my morning chores of feeding the chickens and collecting their eggs for breakfast. The sword remained hidden and Huang and I had to beg to visit the temples. Auntie relented an hour before noon.

“Be back by supper!” she called, as I picked Huang up, and we walked toward the barn. I slipped in and got the sword after repositioning Huang on our push cart and hooking up Emily, our donkey, to it. I rode in the back with Huang, anxious to get this journey over with.

“Sister, look, our guest’s footprints remain on the road!” said Huang as he looked at the ground. He pointed down the road that led to the local hill. “He went that way! Let’s follow the footprints!”

And so I led the cart down the road, which remained muddy from last night’s rain. We passed many farmers who struggled to push their carts in the mud, but with Emily, we drove by easily.

“Mister Shu!” My brother called out to our village elder’s youngest son, who was selling apples by his house on the road. “By chance, did you see a man with flowing hair and a white robe like the moon?”

“I did,” replied Mister Shu. “Sold him an apple, and he paid me with a gold coin. He then went up the hill in a hurry. What was a man that rich doing in the sticks?”

“That was a Heaven Official!” My brother excitedly said, and I nodded. “We’re returning the sword he left at our house!”

“Then take these with you,” Mister Shu said as he gave us some apples. “Don’t worry; that gold coin paid for those. You two must have been great hosts.”

We bid our goodbyes and continued the journey. We feasted on the apples when we grew hungry, leaving only two for later.

Large drops of water trickled down our heads as the morning sun inched to noon and lightning raced across the dark skies. I slowly drove the cart to a small cave near the farm’s end and the woods’ beginning. It was deep enough to hide us from the torrential rains starting to fall. Emily refused to enter the cave. She pawed the grass and huffed shaking her head to and fro. I left her at the foot of the cave.

I placed my twin behind a smooth sandstone pillar and relaxed beside him.

“Why do you think the Heavenly Official was in such a hurry?” asked Huang as he kicked his feet against the rockface. I shrugged. Huang sighed and nodded, turning to watch the rain.

A faint moaning sound echoed through the cave as something shuffled through the passageway. Huang and I stared in horror as the thing came into a shaft of light. It had mottled green skin, likely rotting off the bone, and large jaws from which a long pink tongue could be seen as the thing eagerly licked its black lips.

Beady yellow eyes searched my cart for food, finding the two apples. It grabbed the apples and ambled down the cave again, moaning as it went.

“Yanqi!” mouthed Huang as I lifted him and scurried to the cart, sitting him down. I grabbed the handles and quietly turned the cart to the entrance as the thing wasn’t far off. The wheels squeaked, and I forgot about being quiet for speed. The thing roared, and I fled full tilt to the entrance.

“It should be trapped by its afterlife in the cave, sis. Run!” cried Huang as he glanced behind me and paled. I dared not look back. The ground was littered with potholes, and even with my strength, the cart was a pain to push. I grabbed Huang and lifted him, carrying him. It was only a few feet from the entrance. We could make it. The thing shrieked, and I felt its breath fan my back. The hairs on my neck stood on end.

Pit, pit pat gave way to squish squish squish as my feet left the rockface and were covered in mud that squelshed between my toes. I kept running. Three feet. Two feet. One foot. Finally, with a burst of adrenaline, we were out! The yanqi roared in disappointment, but as Huang said, it wouldn’t be able to follow us. I collapsed to my knees, dropping Huang

He turned and pulled my hair from my face as I panted. “No more caves, sis.”

I nodded. I knew the countryside was teeming with dangers but a yanqi? I glanced at the clear sky. It wasn’t raining anymore. Emily was gone. Huang sat, holding the sword while looking at me expectantly. “Now what?”

—----------------

Let me tell you that carrying your 105lbs twin is hard, and while he was very slight in weight, which I give the gods my every thanks, it was still no walk in the rice paddies. I adjusted Huang around my hip and swatted his butt to keep him from shifting and knocking us over again. I was full of mud from head to foot due to that! He frowned at me but held still, petting the sword and putting on his thinking face.

“Why did a Heavenly Official visit the sticks period? I mean, we have so little to give! All we can offer is hospitality, plain porridge, and bedding on a straw mattress. Wouldn’t he want silks?”

I sighed and clocked him on the head, shaking my own. Who were we to question the gods on their motives? He wanted to sleep in the sticks, so he did. End of story. We as mere mortals couldn’t reject him lest we perish early or get some curse upon our households. I lowered Huang for the fifth time in two hours. I may be strong, but I wasn’t a goddess.

“We are never going to get to those temples with what remains of today,” said Huang as I placed him on a stump by the road. I sat beside him, rubbing my arms and back. Huang was right, though. We were getting nowhere like this. The temples were still a ways to go. Whistling caught our attention as an old man with a beard dressed as a farmer and hauling a cart of goods came walking by. He stopped wrinkling his forehead quizically when he saw us.

“Two mud-covered children alone in the woods? Where are your parents?” he asked, and Huang got a little sad.

“In the realm of Yami. We live with our aunt and uncle. Good people! We are on our way to the sacred temples to return something to a visiting god,” said Huang, smiling.

The old man smiled back. “I am also going there. We can travel together.”

Huang smiled shyly and then glanced at me. I glanced unsurely at the old man. He could be a wandering demon here to let us astray, but a gut feeling told me to trust him, so I nodded and started to pick Huang up. I secured him around my hip, and we started down the road with the old man smiling and trailing his cart along.

“My name is Lou Gon,” he said.

“Li Huang and my sis Li Mei.”

As the road became more pot-marked, the old man slowed to drive his cart over the holes.

“This old cart has made this journey with me a thousand times,” he said, springing it from a hole and driving it straight into another. Huang was becoming heavy again, and I wanted to clear this chunk of road before we had to stop and rest. I sat Huang on the cart and went to the back to help the old man push. We got it through the road with a whoosh! The cart went rolling, and Huang screamed as he was suddenly rolling down a hill. I ran after him.

Leaves and branches smacked my face as I ran after the wayward cart that was stopped by tree roots wrapping around the sprockets. I didn’t ask how, only thanked the gods, and grabbed a panting Huang, who was staring with wide eyes. His nose was millimeters from a tree’s bark.

“Is he ok?” asked Lou Gon, as he made it to my side, panting and coughing.

Huang nodded, gulping, and I grabbed the cart, swinging it back to the road. We traveled in absolute silence for a while until Gon started humming.

“What do you sing about?” asked Huang as he stopped trembling and faced the old man, swallowing.

Lou Gon smiled. “How Chang’e stole the elixir from Hue Yi and became the moon goddess. It is an old chant from where I am from.”

Huang’s eyes became bright. “Can you tell me the story?”

“Certainly! So long ago–”

I listened with one ear open and the other on the road. I had spotted three travelers coming our way. One was a beautiful woman dressed in jade and obsidian silks. The other two were holding up her palanquin.

Gon and Huang noticed them too.

Gon frowned. “Our visitors are not what they seem. Come. We will evade them.”

“Haven’t they seen us?” asked Huang, shaking again for a different reason. The three had revealed their red eyes. Demons. The woman had grown nine furry appendages that flowed around her in a dance. A hulijing.

“My magic is concealing us,” said Gon.

Huang and I gave him a suspicious glance over, but we found nothing demonic about Mr. Lou Gon.

Then the woman on the palanquin smiled right at them. “Tudigong. Where are the children? I need that sword.”

Gon grew serious. “You will not get that sword, Da Yi. The children are hidden from you.”

She snapped. “Fang, Dog! Find those children! Get me the sword!”

Tearing was heard, and then I saw them. Demonic red eyes that pierced the soul. These were Yami’s guard dogs in hell. With hulking white and black bodies and arms that fell like a monkey’s. Their tails were wriggling stumps of meat, and they were rotting off. Their jaws were dropping green, acidic drool melting all they came in contact with, and their red tongues lolled out of their mouths from black lips. These monsters were from Yami’s court. What were they doing here?

Huang gasped and whimpered. I slipped my hand over his mouth as a short scream left him. He shook and turned away. Eyes landing on Gon and Da Yi. They were staring at one another. Then they were exchanging blows, their feet not touching the ground. Both landed apart on separate trees. Dark power surrounded Da Yi, and she flickered before appearing in front of Lou Gon, who caught her fist and deflected her hand with his right one.

Da Yi’s tails swatted the old man but he weaved through them like a reed in the wind. They jumped in the air, Gon kicking Da Yi’s left side and sending her flying into a tree. She growled and sent a tail after him, shaking the hit off like water and standing. Their power repelled them again.

Da Yi held her bloody face while Gon breathed heavily.

A rustle to our right reminded us of the demons after us, and Huang buried his face within my shoulder. I had taken him in my arms. Far faster than a cart. I rubbed his back and fought the urge to run. The demons were far faster than a cart, and I was worn thin by the day’s travel. The Tudigong’s power was all that protected us, but it only extended so far. If we ran, our protection was void.

I took a step back, avoiding the demon’s gorilla-like arm. I danced around it and froze when I came face-to-face with the other. Its fetid breath blew against Huang’s neck, and the smell made us choke. Like something dead.

I tiptoed away to the side and watched as the dog demons lurched over where we were. They weren’t too bright and couldn’t follow our scent, which I imagined was also hidden.

“Argh!” cried Da Yi as roots, many of them, swarmed her and locked her in a cage of indestructible wood. Gon left her side and trapped the dog demons in their own cages. Da Yi growled.

“This isn’t over yet! I am a primordial force!” she said as her eyes bled to darkness and night rolled in. The shadows came alive, and she smiled, sinking into the shadows.

“Mei, Huang. My cart is magic. It shall lead you to the temple. Grab on. Return the sword before Da Yi finds you,” said Gon as he set Huang on the cart. “May the gods be with ye. I shall detain her as much as possible.”

Huang hugged Gon, and I nodded, grabbing the handles. With a flash, we were teleported to the temples, leaving a shrieking Da Yi to follow.

The temple hill was lush and green, kept full of mountain flowers year-round. Sadly, Huang and I had no time to enjoy the sight as I pushed the cart as fast as I could down the lane, evading the writhing shadows that flung themselves at me.

“Faster, Mei!” my brother cried, gripping the sword. I felt like tossing the thing. It had led to so much trouble, but we were almost there. The cart led to the biggest temple. Fuxi’s temple. I hauled the cart up. Laughter came from the shadows, and Da Yi stepped through.

Huang gasped as she materialized from the darkness around us. Gon was nowhere to be had.

“Well, children. Enough games. Give me the sword!”

Huang grabbed me and slipped the sword into my kimono. “Sis, I’ll distract her. Get the sword to Fuxi.”

I begged him to stay safe with my eyes, and he kissed my forehead. “Go!” He turned to the woman, and I heard him say. “One more game? If you can guess this riddle, the sword is yours, no fight.”

“The sword is mine anyway.”

“Please?”

I didn’t stay to watch. I ran to the temple and slid to the altar, grabbing a few incense sticks and lighting them, placing the sword within the offerings. I bent down and prayed.

“Dear Fuxi, my brother and I return your sword. Please help us against the demon.”

“You tricked me!”

A golden light encompassed my vision as the outside Pavilion exploded with power.

Huang! I scrambled to my feet but was grabbed by the demoness and thrown against the altar.

She smiled. “All these gods and none to help you. How deliciously quaint of them. Now, where is the sword?”

I glanced at the altar where the sword still was, and she giggled, walking to grab it. The sword glowed in her hands and disappeared.

“What!” she cried, narrowing her eyes as the temple came alive with gods. I watched as the flowing-haired moonlight-dressed warrior stood, sword once more at his side.

“Da Yi, primordial of Chaos and my sister. You know, after you were turned from Tian, the sword no longer responds to you in the same way,” said Fuxi, his dragon tail lashing against his legs.

“I just wanted to hold it again!” cried Da Yi.

I crawled to my feet and gently touched Da Yi’s arm, before pointing to the pavilion, tears in my eyes.

Huang!

She looked at me quizzically, but before I could do anything, his voice sounded.

“Mei! Mei!”

Here!

Gon showed with his long beard and walking stick, and on his back was a crying Huang. I pushed Da Yi and ran to him.

“Don’t kill me with hugs, sis,” he muttered as I smothered him in hugs and kisses.

I wasn’t conscious of what was spoken to Da Yi, but she became a ball of darkness and streaked out of there, five tails flying behind from the nine she had before.

“Children. While you did an honorable, good thing, it was your uncle we were testing,” said Nuwa, smiling.

Huang muttered, “Whoopsie. Will we get punished?”

“Heavens no. You shall each gain a reward of our choosing.” She gave Huang an egg. “This comes from one of the celestial dragons. It shall be your mount from now on and a good friend. Treat him well.”

Huang gasped and took the egg gently. Smiling, he nodded.

She presented an egg and a book to me. I took them, glancing at the blue-speckled egg.

“You, too, will have a companion you can speak to and that can speak for you. The book tells you how to communicate with her and the ancient form of telepathy. These are heaven’s gifts to you. Guard them well.”

I smiled and nodded, holding my egg. It also had red spots, and I was anxious as to what it could be.

Gon smiled. “Come. I shall escort ye to your home.”

Huang and I smiled and bid our goodbyes, but everyone was already gone. Gods were a busy lot.

The trip home was far calmer. We ran into Tengu, who wanted our eggs for breakfast, but Gon quickly made mincemeat of them. It was dusk by the time we reached our farmhouse again. We invited him in, and like before, my aunt and uncle were hospitable. When the morning came around, a very familiar sword was left.

Huang glanced at it. “Should we?”

I shook my head.

Let Uncle handle it.