Chapter Text

Lian closed her eyes, listening to the sounds around her. There were people in the streets, there were people outside the Throne Room, demanding entry. There were people in the courtyard of the Kingdom, waiting with little patience.

Lian’s eyes opened and she rose from the scarlet and gold throne.

She walked to the front door of the Throne Room and into the hallway before it. This hallway led to a great door and that door led to the people, hundreds, thousands of people.

Khan watched her from his position beside the throne. If he was uncomfortable, Lian could not tell. His glowing irises locked to her, his face was tight and emotionless.

Lian approached one of the great windows of the Throne Room hallway. The glass was broken and weakly boarded up- this was how the people had gained entry. The bricks and stones they had thrown through the windows had been cleaned up. Lian was slightly disappointed that she was not there to witness the spectacle as members of the mass outside had broken in, sieging the very kingdom to which they had sworn loyalty.

A newspaper lay on the ground near the window. Lian scooped it up and scanned the header article:

“The Ruby Queen- A Maniacal Tyrant?”

Lian chuckled slightly. She could remember every headline that had been released this morning and the previous morning: Once Jia had delivered the diary to the news publishers, the knowledge of Meili’s crimes traveled fast. Lian wondered how long it would take until the entire Realm learned.

“That gown looks like one of my mom’s.” Jia’s voice was soft.

Lian turned to him, twirling in the scarlet and gold qipao, its added train shifting around her ankles.

“Isn’t it beautiful?” Lian asked, moving her hand to her face in fein modesty, “It is my wedding gown. When my father had this dress tailored to me years ago, I looked upon it with hate. This dress signified the end of my life, and the beginning of the hell that would be standing as your brother’s bride.” She looked down at the dress, running her fingers along the seams, “But now? Now it’s beautiful.”

Jia did not respond. He watched her with a calm expression.

“Aren’t you happy?” Lian asked suddenly, “You are free as well as I! You can run away and find Skye and be happy, just like you wanted.”

Jia glanced away, “I apologise if this is a bit… difficult for me to take in. All of this.”

Lian approached him and wrapped her arms around him in a hug, “You’re a wonderful man, Jia, and I never could have done this without you. You and I have saved the Ruby Kingdom, and this marks a new day for every man, woman, and child in the Eastern Continent. I will lead this kingdom in honour and glory, kindness and peace, prosperity and greatness, and I could not thank you more.”

Jia gently backed out of her hug and gave her a faint, yet empty smile.

Lian turned to the great window and looked out over the crowds and crowds of people. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Jia move to stand beside her. He kept his eyes on the people below, disinterested in viewing any more of the scene.

Lian took in the view, smiling as the sun shone down on her face, illuminating the rooftops, reflecting in the window panes, shining off the tree branches, and causing Meili to look even more pale-skinned than she had when her head was attached to her body. Both were mounted on separate stakes over the city, magically enchanted so that they would remain immune to the course of rotting.

Of course, Lian did not quite approve of such barbarism, nor was it in her best interest when the people had broken into the kingdom seeking blood. If it had been her will, Meili would have been rotting in a prison cell alongside her eldest son, and Jia would be pardoned from his mother’s crimes as a hero. As Lian had discovered, the Ruby Kingdom was not one that a ruler conquered, it was one that a ruler earned. The people wanted her to lead them because they trusted her, but they were wary of her, she would have to prove to them that their trust in her was not misguided. Meili had cheated this system with lies and hidden corruption. Lian had nothing to hide.

Lian looked up at the mounted head that gazed at her. Meili’s dark eyes were calm, her hair flowed and fluttered in the breeze, and on her lips she wore a smile. The people had said she was laughing every moment that they surrounded her, beat her, and up to the moment her head was chopped from her body by someone’s shovel, crazed laughter rang through the halls. All who had been present swore that it was the most sickening thing they had ever heard.

“I can speak to the people.” Lian turned back to Jia. He was already walking away as she continued, “I can tell them how you helped me, how you are their savior as well as I. They will not blame you for your mother’s crimes.”

“What good will that do me?” was the former prince’s reply.

“You are welcome here, this is your home.” Lian answered.

Jia glanced at her over his shoulder. His gaze was soft as he spoke, “I appreciate it, Lian, but I’m not settling down just yet. My work isn’t done. I still have three things I must do.”

“Oh?” Lian followed him back into the Throne Room.

Jia moved to one of the back windows and crawled up onto the windowsill. He did not look at her as he spoke, “First...my brother is still out there. He escaped, and I’m going to keep an eye on him. I’m going to kill him, Lian, but I’m not going to start the fight. He is going to know when it’s time for him to die, and he’s going to come to me and we are going to fight and I am going to kill him.”

Jia stood on the windowsill, looking out at the town. The people were gathered at the front of the palace, they could not see him here. He continued, “Second, I am going to find Skye. I love her and she loves me, even after all this time, I’m going to find her and we are going to be Twilight Assassins together.”

Lian approached Jia. She gently kissed her fingers and touched them to Jia’s hand in a silent goodbye.

Jia looked at her, “Third… I’m going to watch you. I will watch you very closely, Lian. I chose to help you because I know you’re a good woman. You are a strong leader, and you have a good heart.”

His gaze became cold, “I trust you. Betray that trust and I will take you out of this Realm faster than I put you on that Throne. These people deserve a good ruler. Be that good ruler. Or I’ll replace you just like I replaced my mother.” With that, he leaped out of the window and into a tree below, before vanishing off into the day.







Lian returned to the Ruby Throne. She took her seat and glanced up at her hardened Primus. The Giant stared straight ahead, his eyes locked on the great door at the end of the front hall. In a moment, Lian would order those doors opened, and the people would come. They would come in, cheering and celebrating, welcoming their new leader. This was truly to be a new day for House Aico, for The Ruby Kingdom, for the Eastern Continent, and for the Realm itself.









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The shouts and curses were deafeningly loud, stones and bricks battered the tall windows of the kingdom. His heart rode in his throat as he ran, trying to find her, trying to hold her. If only he could get to her in time, he could take her, he could save her. The people wanted his blood as well, but he didn’t care. He only cared about her, he only ever cared about her. She was beautiful, she was wise, and he loved her, he would not let these barbarians put their hands on her.

He stopped in the hallway when he saw her. She was standing by one of the great windows, looking down at the people, watching them climb the walls. Their fists and stones pounded on the great doors just a few dozen metres away from her. Her scarlet and black skirt was neat and proper, her ebony hair was freshly washed and done, donning intricate braids leading to a formal topknot.

He approached her and wrapped a hand around her upper arm. She did not respond, her expression was calm as she watched the scene below.

“Mother, come on, we have to go!” He cried, pulling at her arm. She glanced at him over her shoulder and placed a hand on his.

“Mother!” He insisted, but she was unmoving. She turned to him and took his head in her hands, before gently leaning to him and placing a kiss on his forehead.

“Zhin, my beautiful Ruby Prince, the burning sun over this darkened land. Zhin, my dear, my beloved son.” She cooed, stroking his hair.

“Mother!” Zhin cried with frustration, pulling away from her grasp and yanking on her forearm, “We can use the catacombs. We can get away from this, then we will raise an army and take back our kingdom!”

Meili turned back to the window. She closed her eyes and spoke, “Zhin, my dear, I have a request of you.”

“Anything!” Zhin watched her, horror tearing through his soul.

Meili glanced at him, her expression still calm, “Your brother is blood of Embers, and you are Blood of Fire. Find your brother and light his embers. Make Jia into something I can be proud of, just as I am most proud of you.” With that, she turned back to the window.

“Mother, we’ll do it together, we can rule a new kingdom and-” Zhin began, before he was cut off by the sound of a window shattering. The people had scaled the wall, several were beginning to climb through the window at the far end of the hallway.

“Go!” Meili snapped at Zhin. He turned and ran, his own quick breath and pounding heart drowned out by the chants and cheers of a bloodthirsty mob, until a new sound rang through the hallways, a sound which set Zhin’s blood aflame.

The laughter of the insane.

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Cracked hooves dug into the soft rain-set mud. The horse panted and strained, as deprived of food and water as its rider. The two had been travelling with little rest for days through the barren, dry landscape. The horse’s rider had been to this land long ago, and although nature had changed, his traces remained.

Over a decade ago, a boy wandered away from his kingdom, desperate to see the land for himself. This boy had ended up on a ship bound for the Western Continent. Upon his arrival on the desert shores of The Badlands, the boy had suffered hardship, starvation, and the elements themselves. The boy had worked to piece together his own fortune, his own army, his own kingdom. Grown men cried when this boy raged, and this boy’s fury had burned hotter than the oil on his flaming sword.

This boy became a man, and this man became a king. The king wanted nothing more than a true show of his greatness, and what better show than a creature of his own creation? He had returned to the Eastern Continent with his army in search of the perfect person to mold, to change, to break and to grow. His army of bandits had settled in the Northern corner of the Eastern Continent, until one day a traveling salesman made too many bets and owed too much debt to the king. And so the king came for the man and killed him. And the king killed the man’s wife. The man’s daughter had run, and the king had sicced hounds on her, but she fought them, she killed them. And so he took her, and he named her Hou Han Jin: Fire and Ash.

The girl was his warrior. His machine. And now she was gone. The Magistrate had taken her and they had raided his kingdom, they had stripped him back down to the boy he was. So the boy had returned to his home, only to have this stripped away too.

The horse struggled to take another step. The boy, the man, the king- lowered off of the horse’s strained back and directed it to a small well in the village in which he had arrived. Those who lived in this village had once ranged in the thousands, now stood only a few hundred, gathering in the town center to watch him.

“I recall there being more of you.” He muttered. A man stepped forward, a large muscular man with bushy eyebrows and a bald head, “M-master, is it you?”

Zhin turned to him, unsheathing his sword. He glared into the man’s green eyes, and the man dropped into a bow, followed by the others present one by one.

“There were more of you.” Zhin repeated.

“They’ve given up hope. They thought you wouldn’t return. We are your faithful, master, we waited.” The man replied, his eyes to the ground.

“You will find every man and woman who abandoned us.” Zhin snarled, “And you will kill them, every one of them. Your master has returned to The Thousand Hands, and we will reign stronger than we ever have before!”