Lovely Blossoms

Li Li continued to speak in a soft comforting way, drawing Fen Hua in with every word.

"After the divide their gifts were made as clear as day. Fires raged across the cities outside our Empire, entire kingdoms crumbled into nothing. After the fire there was ice, ice so thin and frail is was like a liquid. Everything it touched burned and died from the cold. The world was in chaos. Our Empire was accused of causing these misfortunes. The other nations no longer looked for help, but began to join together to attack our Empire.

Our Empire rallied together once more for one final time. The people saw who are kings truly were. Beautiful creatures men gifted with powers from another world. Tan Yeong the smallest of the five could control fire, his very eyes would burn, his steps would bring a fire, magma from the ground. It's yellow-orange power would take on a power of it's own finding it's own direction, killing as it would."

'She talking about Lava,' Fen Hua thought, but seriously could she really believe this stuff? I mean this was taking story telling to a whole new level.

"The second, King Sin Jue, had an ability even more frightening. He caused a steam like clouds to rise from the ground, but this was cold, so cold bodies would blister then freeze moments after coming in contact with it. When the fire from Tan Yeong and the Smoke from Sin Jue touched the entire floor would break apart. Cracks as long and as deep as cities would form. The entire world was in fear of being devastated. There was nothing anyone could do, except for the other kings.

"It was the handsomest of the five King Quin Dong, who brought a semblance of peace back to the world. He begged his brother's, King Jing Ping, and King Jin Rao to intervene. Her persuaded them that it was the only hope for this world. These kings had never truly fought against one another, to make a decision to come against the other two was not easy. Half the population, maybe more, of people outside our nation were dead. The damage done to the earth was irreparable. They had no choice but to take sides.

"King Jin Rao, was able to absorb the power of the gifts from King Sin Ju and King Tan Yeong, but he could never get close enough to do so without the help of King Jin Pings ability to enter their minds and force his will.

"During the greatest battle this world has ever seen, the Kings Jin Ping and Jin Rao forced King Sin Ju and King Tanyeong into submission, what they didn't realize is that by stripping them of their will, and taking away their gifts, they had killed these brothers. But it wasn't these two kings that took the guilt of these deaths, it was the King Quin Dong, who never showed a power, who still to this day has not presented an heir with the gift.

"He took the brunt of the blame, the blame for their deaths, the blame for the damage left behind by King Sin Ju and King Tanyeong, he took the brunt of the guilt and then wrote a decree dividing our Empire into five nations, and one territory. Only in this single territory, in the center of the other five, it's border touching the border of each other nation, can business be done between nations.

"If someone sold a slave from their nation within the border of their nation, they would be sentenced to death by treason. But taking the slave into the neutral territory strips the slave of it's nationality and anyone is free to purchase, even people from their own nation. It's not fair, and it is tragic that the world works this way, but this is how it is."

"What happened to the other kings then?" Fen Hua asked. It's not that she believed the story, but she did find it interesting.

"King Kin Rao, and King Jin Ping both lived on to a late age. They bore children, and their children bore children. Although rare, every now and then a child is born with this gift. Never has it ever existed as strong as the first Kings, but anyone with the gift is looked upon as royalty. Even a slave with the gift would become a king. Only the people from the direct lineage of the Kings can be born with the gift, so in a way, even as a slave, they always were royalty."

"And the other two kings? Did they have children before they died?"

"Many, and those children had children of their own. And many have been born with the gift, but none of their gifts can compare, even to speck of what the original kings held."

"And the last King? The King of Quin Dong?"

Li Li looked away, when she turned back she had a sad smile. "That depends on who you ask. If you were to ask someone from the Nations of Sin Ju or Tan Yeong, you might here that he killed himself for his treachery. If you were to ask the Nation of Jin Rao, or Jin Ping, he chose to ease the burden of the people by taking his life. But if you were to ask the people of Quin Dong, they would tell you he never died. That he still lived somewhere in this world. No one knows what gift if any he held, and no one from his nation has ever been born with one either. Which story do you like? It's always been up to the people to decide what they believe."

"What do you believe?" Fen Hua asked.

"I choose to believe that he sacrificed himself for the greater good," she gave that sad smile again. "Once a year our Nation of Jin Ping holds a memorial for him. He is a martyr and a hero to our people."

Fen Hua thought about it. Her mind easily sinking into the story, wanting to believe that someone was willing to do something so noble, but the thought of that person dying made her feel sad. It was preposterous to think that someone could live as long as the Quin Dong people believed their King had, but it was what she wanted to imagine, she wanted to believe this sad King had found some kind of peace at the end of it all.

"Then I will choose to believe that he is still alive."

"If he were still living child," Li Li said, a deep pain in her voice, "his life would be the most miserable life ever lived."