The Winds of Change

Goddess of the Clouds

Whipping though the mushroom forest, Bai Qian went in search of a woman she had seen earlier before she ran with everyone else at Mo Yuans approach.  The fear he had unleashed on them all had sent many home, but hoping she, or any other females were still lingering nearby, she eventually found one.  Only she too was in the throes of passion with a young man whose head was buried between her legs.  The mushroom forest was a favoured meeting place for young lovers so she was expecting to find her in that position.

But that wasn't what she cared about, all she wanted was her outer robe.  The girl was small like herself, and no sooner had she taken hold of it, she was not only covering her nakedness which thankfully hid her body from view, she was back in the air and heading north.  The last thing she wanted to do was approach her brother naked, especially as her body was still bruised and seeing as she was still at least two days away from reaching his mansion that was buried in a forest not much different to that one, she wasted no more time.

Under the brightness of the full moon which would help her to find her next landmark, which was the sea of clouds in the far east, Bai Qian revelled in her new found freedom.  The air was crisp but behind her barrier, she was more than comfortable.  Even more so, because she couldn't feel Mo Yuan at all, but she knew that in time he would catch up with her.

Only now she was no longer concerned about it, because he was at least allowing her to leave though she was expecting him to come roaring after her any second.  And so for a while, her mind dwelt on the emotions that had hit her in that forest which seemed as contrived as his feelings were for her.  She was of course under the same spell, but not to the same extent that he was in fact she figured she could get over him once the spell was lifted and he returned to his life.

But could she? she wondered to herself as she followed the edges of the forest to yet another well known landmark that brought visitors from around the world.  But as she dwelt on that question, she honestly couldn't answer it truthfully, because something had definitely changed.  Before she left Mount Junji, she had considered herself to be in full control of her emotions.  She knew what she wanted and she knew exactly how she felt about him.

She had grown to know every part of him.  He left nothing of himself out and she doubted even his most trusted friends had come even close to what she had seen and learned of him.  Not even Zhe Yan, she thought to herself and he was very good at reading inner character, and of course they had been friends since they were children.  But still, there were certain aspects of the man she was positive Mo Yuan would never have allowed anyone else to see had it not been for her spell and it was these that she dwelt on.

To the world, he was this all powerful High God, whose name was so revered that few in their world dared to repeat it.  He was in the same league as Donghua Di Jun and Zhe Yan and even her father who was addressed solely as Emperor Bai.  But the world did not intimately know any of these men, so they did not see their true natures.  And it was Mo Yuans true nature that she thought she may have fallen in love with.

It wasn't the aggression or the overwhelming presence, or even his natural ability to dominate without question.  Nor was it the tenderness in his smile, the soft eyes or gentle hands that caressed her when she became tearful.  And it certainly wasn't the rage he could conjure at a seconds notice either.  In fact, that part of him scared her senseless, because she knew first hand he could easily lose control of it and though she didn't think he would seriously hurt her, he would certainly allow his rage to hurt others if it meant he couldn't have her.

But it was precisely all of these things that brought her to what she thought she was in love with.  Every part of himself that he had shown her when stripped to their core essence, were in the end, simple human traits at their most elementary level.  He had literally been stripped bare of the reverence and War God status until only the most basic part of the human condition was left.  Jealousy, rage, fear and desire, but also that most basic of animal hunger to own and possess.  This was the natural inner markings of all men.  The fundamental flaws that they were all made up of.