Empress of Fire

Chapter 2: Wrath of the King

Huogwai's terror gripped her soul. Knelt in the heavenly halls amidst the tinkling bells and unfiltered sunlight, she kept her head down, eyes downcast. She didn't need to look at the bristling black eyebrows or the crackling black beard trailing down to his knees to know Daidi, the father of heaven, was furious. If not for her affinity of flames, the heat radiating from his throne of heaven might have incinerated her on the spot.

"The world we are duty-bound to protect, the humans who I moulded from clay by my very own hands — you have the audacity to claim them as your own?" His mouth didn't move, but his voice reverberated within Huogwai's skull. She curled further into a ball in hopes to placate his wrath. "And you dare to take the form of the ones you have devoured?"

Huogwai kept her forehead pressed to her hands on the ground, the human form's long red hair flowing all around her like her bouts of flames. She didn't dare to speak, less she incensed Daidi more and he tore her to shreds. Deep within her abdomen, the screams of the souls she'd eaten continued, but as their voices weakened, the powers within her grew.

"You assume this submissive stance now, Huogwai, but your brothers and sisters have spoken of your actions. You are dissatisfied with the rule of the gods. Yet you continue to thrive on humans' offerings as you devour their own. I cannot tolerate this in the heavens any longer."

Huogwai sat up for the first time, her arms trembling, eyes flicking up to the stormy face of Daidi for the first time. Those endless black pits of eyes bore into her soul as if reading every thought she ever had.

"Please," she whispered. "I am your creation. You cannot cast me out."

"Can I not?" Although the words came in a whisper, the torrential roar shook her to the core. "Were you not also a god, Huogwai, the price for your actions would have cost your soul centuries in the eighteenth level of hell, but that would not give you redemption. No, you will live out your days in the human realm amongst those you so despise. When you have redeemed yourself, you may return."

"Daidi, please."

His bottomless black eyes were the last things she saw before darkness swallowed her whole.

****

Lian's eyes fluttered open, sleep lingering on the lids. Blood red silk curtains hung from the four top corners of her bed, through which sunlight filtered, staining her world pink. The quilt was soft beneath her back. The familiar faint scent of lavender mixed with incense hovered in the air.

A dream. It was all a dream. The last of the roar of Daidi, father of heaven, echoed in her mind. She brushed the soft silk curtains aside, running her fingers along their delicate embroidered patterns. Sunlight shone through her windows, made of rice-coloured paper stretching between the wooden panes. She swung her legs out of bed, bare feet landing on wooden floorboards. Pale legs peeping through the wraps of her nightdress bore superficial scratches up all over. Long, tangled black hair tumbled down her back. It should have been silky and tidy had her maids brushed it before bed; long hair was the symbol of royalty, after all. Short hair was sported only by the poorest of common folk. Lian wondered which maid was meant to service her last night who had been so careless.

Then she remembered where she was last night. The memories came flooding back: the little hut in the middle of the woods, far from the bustling royal city, the old healer who harvested sacrifices under the guise of healing folk, the deadly price in return for a miracle healing.

And the all-seeing green eyes and black-scaled form of Huogwai, the spurned fire god, cast from the heavens for devouring mankind. Lian had seen her and felt her fury before her world went dark.

"Ziwa!" she yelled. She would probably be reprimanded for such un-princess-like behaviour. Her maid hurried in, the wooden blocks that made up the soles of her silk shoes clip-clopping like a horse's hooves. She dipped a knee and slid the wooden door shut behind her.