"Back then, it was said that the world was governed by numerous celestials and the world. Those below the earth is the world of the dead and those above it are the heavens where a large illuminated palace sat called the Jade palace. It housed the powerful and might king of the celestial, referred to as the Jade emperor, and his wife, the Queen mother of the West. Underneath their status and power were all the other celestials and fairies of this world and the ones from the land of the dead. This included the Humans who lived between these two realms alongside other living beings." Lotus continued as she drew the image with a stick in the sand, "During the reign of a tyrannical emperor, a general had sent in his request to increase the days of his absence from work as his wife was still heavily pregnant bearing their third child."
"A third child." Kalim hummed, "Sounds like they are a very happy couple."
"And a very caring one as well." Lotus nodded with a heavy sigh, "For they came across the most peculiar incident since the start of the kingdom's history. For you see, his wife have had this child for an impossible three years and six months."
"What?!?!"
Ignoring their expressions of disbelief, Lotus continued, "Everyone was baffled by this crazy turn of events and the emperor had sent his most trusted retainers and seer to witness proof of the reason for this request numerous times. Each time, the retainers would say it was true and the poor mother was struggling to keep her child alive despite all these years."
"She's crazy..." Cater sighed, "Normally, it would be an impossible situation to even keep an unborn infant alive after all those months inside the womb."
"That's true. However, the general was growing worried. As much as he loved his children, he also cared more about his wife than his unborn child. One night, she received a dream where a taoist, or religious practitioner, handed her a child in her arms. Then, to the couple's horror, she finally gave birth the next day, but it was to a ball of flesh." Lotus frowned, "Horrified, one of the retainers proclaimed it a demon and the father pried himself away from his reluctant wife to strike it with his sword. The moment he did, a little boy emerged from it capable of speech and walking the moment he appeared."
"Talk about a crazy beginning to life." Grim muttered in bewilderment.
"It definitely was." Lotus grumbled, "The child was given the name Nezha and was immediately taken in under the mentorship of an immortal. Immortals are those who have studied magic for a long time and incorporated into their own mind and body giving the great longevity and wisdom as they live a secluded life in mountains and forests. You could also say that they are quite close to being celestials themselves. For a long time, the child became the talk of the capital and palace. Whether he would be a demon in disguise or a celestial as he was talented and unusual to begin with. However, this strange yet peaceful moments didn't last long. Among the celetials were four god loongs and each ruled over a direction of the waters: North, East, South, and West. All four were powerful and have control over the rain and waters making them well-respected amongst the gods and officials. Among these, the people decided to give offerings to the east loong king of the East Seas. However, he rejected the offerings and declared to wanting to eat human children instead. Specifically, two children of opposite genders. During this time, Nezha and his friends were playing outside when one of the loong king's men came out and kidnapped a girl causing Nezha to jump in and great injure the guy. The soldier hurried returned to his king and reported everything to him. The king immediately dispatched his third son, the third prince to take the child's life. However, with his great strength and knowledge, the child killed that prince instead sending the king into a mad fury and horror as he reached out to his other three brother loongs to confront Nezha and his family. Needless to say, it was an ultimatum. Kill the child or they would flood the entire region and report this matter to the Jade emperor."
"That's quite an ultimatum." Cater sighed in defeat, "There's no many crazy stuff here, I don't even know where to begin."
"But killing a member of royalty IS a great offense..." Lilia shook his head in dismay, "Yet consuming children is a gruesome demand."
"So, what happened next?" Jade turned to her rather interested in the tale.
"Nezha, a mere child, took his father's sword and took his own life to spare his family and the people." Lotus replied.
"What?!" Grim growled, "How does that solve anything?!"
"But it did." Lotus sighed, "Because all the kings wanted was his death for everything that went wrong, especially for the death of the third prince. In the end, his death sent everyone back home safely without a scratch and the loong kings even threw a huge celebration."
"Ugh. Talk about a bad ending." Grim grumbled in disdain, "I mean, the one in fault here was those kings! Out of everything, why in the world must it be children?! I'd as for grilled chicken, canned tuna and lots of good food, but they wanted to eat children?!"
Lotus shook her head, "Even with sentience, they are still loongs and not humans. So, these things aren't uncommon in the past. Besides, since when did I say that the end?"
"Eh?"
"After the death of their son, the mother continued to mourn for days until she received a dream. In the dream, she encountered her son who requested him to create a shrine for him so his soul could finally find rest. However, the father was sick and tired of the third child and every antics he had pulled, so she knew that he would be against this and how strained the relations between the two have become. In the end, she secretly created the shrine in his name. The shrine quickly gained popularity as every sick and injured would received a miraculous cure."
"Woah..." Kalim jumped excitedly, "That's so cool!"
"But what of the relation between the father and son?" Jade hummed curiously, "Didn't he hate the child? Surely, if it was so popular, he would've heard news about it."
Lotus sighed in disappointment, "He did. So, he burnt the shrine down as he was still angry at his son while remembering all the trouble he had brought to the family."
"Children needs to live their life carefreely. We can't expect them to mature overnight. They are prone to getting themselves into trouble too and that's how they learn." Lilia raised a brow, "To begin with, what did he expect from the third child? Obedience?"
Lotus nodded her head, "Very likely. After all, no matter the antics, the child must show obedience to the words of the father first and foremost alongside with the growth of the family and name during those era. Everything else can come second. But no one can expect children to live their lives without mishaps. However, no matter how disobedient a child is, there is another saying in that era."
"What is it?"
"No matter how ferocious a tiger is, they would never dare to harm their own cubs. This is referring to how parents are to be towards their own children. No matter how cruel they are, they should not dare to shed a single drop of blood of their own child." Lotus frowned, "However, the father burnt down his son's shrine further separating the two apart and now, the son wanted his father's life. One bad turn led to another for these two parent and child and their enmity grew."
"I would've been mad too." Grim jolted in shock, "I mean, the kid gave his life to fix the mistake, but the dad didn't let him even have a shrine in his honor. Still, it wouldn't be to the point where I'd want the father to lose his life too."
"One day, his teacher descended from his secluded meditation and decided to revive his student. He took some lotus roots together and a lotus flower. Using these, he resurrected his student using a magic ritual. Having regained the shape of a human through this ritual, the boy received two new weapons from his master. One was the fire tipped spear. A spear with a tip shaped like fire and it was as flexible as it was durable against steel that was said to be of the strongest materials back then. The second was the Wind Fire Wheels."
"The Wind Fire Wheels?" Kalim looked to her in confusion despite the wide smile on his face, "That sounds really cool. What is it?"
"These two wheels were made of steel and shaped in circles like a wheel. However, while it was wielded by humans in hand, Nezha who stand on them and use them as a flying magic vehicle with a chant. It was super fast and, as long as Nezha wants to, he can use to absorb fires or shoot out fires with a command. This weapon also has a will of its own and has chosen Nezha as its master." Lotus explained as she drew out the shape from memory.
Such weapons did exist after all. However, the weapon from her memory was so powerful that, even when the human emperor and empress wanted to capture the thing, it proved difficult to do so as the weapon could not be commanded nor tamed by them. In the end, she heard that a child had taken the wheels after it was tamed by another god. That child, however, was no longer heard from after thousands of years later.
"Woah!" Grim said in awe, "That's so cool! I want it!"
Lotus shook her head, "It was said that those it did not acknowledged has been burnt to death or cut to death. After all, it was also a blade as it was a flying magic vehicle. This, however, didn't pose well for his father as the first thing the boy did upon revival was chase after his father who had already fled as he knew he was no match for his overpowered son. During this chase, he had sent his second child to subdue the third, but it failed as the second son was quickly defeated. Upon realizing the hopelessness of the situation, the father then tried to take his own life but was stopped by a very powerful taoist who have heard about the situation and helped him keep the child at bay with his strength. His companion, another taoist, protected the father behind his back before restraining the child. He taught the father magic and made him capable of utilizing magic before handing him the item capable of restraining the child: a miniature golden pagoda that was capable of growing to any size and trapping those within it without damage upon itself. The companion taoist then helped mediate the conflict between the father and son. With the success of the intervention and mediating the conflict, the two finally were on better terms. With their magic powers, the two later went on to becoming gods themselves with the father earning the title the Pagoda Bearing Heavenly King from the Jade emperor and his son the Third Lotus Prince. The child was also sometimes referred to as the army leader of heaven and the Child god as he could never age into adulthood."