ALTERNATE FATE LORE

THE DOOR GUARDIANS

On the night of his death, the thief found himself on the street where he’d always lived, but it was gray and empty except for a nightclub he’d never seen before.

The club had two doors, one red and one blue. Outside of the doors stood two menshen security guards: a hybrid rabbit-woman in a red silk dress twirling a dragon-head revolver around her trigger finger; and a dapper man with ice-blue horns and a blue silk suit swinging chains by his sides. Red lanterns cast a warm glow in the eerie death-gray.

“Look, a thief,” said the man. “A perfect recruit for the Infernal Dragons.”

“Don’t be hasty,” said the woman. “Let’s take a look.”

The thief watched, astonished, as a scene played out on the street before him: the ghostly figure of himself as a young boy, stealing a dumpling out of a cart when no one was looking, then handing it to a hungry beggar girl. “Some people misbehave for darn good reasons. He’s Lucky Aces material.”

“That was just the first thing he stole,” said the man, and his chains swung through the scene, breaking it into mist. Ghostly figures formed again, but this time it was the thief as an adult, taking the pearl necklace from a lady’s throat while distracting her with a dance. The horned man laughed. “He belongs to the Dragons.”

Let’s see how he died,” said the woman, “then we’ll decide.”

The burglar watched in horror as the night of his death played out before him in the mist. He saw himself scale the wall of the wealthy man’s home, slip the cursed Jade Goose into his jacket and race away…

Away from the city the thief fled, into the cold forest night. He hiked until dawn, the ice-cold Jade Goose against his chest, until he came upon the Jade Goose Temple.

An ancient monk met him at the paifang gate. His old eyes widened with surprised tears when the thief handed over the Jade Goose.

“Oh no! You have taken the thief-curse,” said the monk. “Now you will die!”

“I am happy to pay for my wrongdoings,” said the thief, smiling his last before crumpling to the snowy ground. The scene in the mist disappeared.

“How boring,” said the Infernal Dragons’ security guard.

“Right this way, dear,” said the Lucky Aces’ guard, opening the red door into the nightclub.

Check out more Red Lantern Festival stories:

The Red Lantern Festival

Flicker’s Best Red Lantern Festival Dumpling Recipes

The First Red Lantern Festival

Read Gwen’s canon lore:

The Complete Collection

Read Reza’s canon lore:

The Complete Collection

WALLPAPERS

‘RED LANTERN’ REZA

‘RED LANTERN’ GWEN