It was night time in the space when Peony awoke and decided to get back on her feet. Having stayed for hours in the ring, she expressed her desire to leave and return to camp now that everything was over outside. Malleus was against the idea at first, but it was easy for her to use human time perspective as her excuse and threat of a search party to persuade him who also wants to keep the matter as quiet as possible.
"Finally!" Lotus yawned, "That took so long. I was worried we'd be mistaken for slacking off. Man, that would be difficult to refute with no evidence available to back it up!"
"...Lotus." Malleus glanced to her curiously.
"What?"
"Will you be telling a story later tonight?"
His question made her pause and turn to him with a look of confusion. Is he a kid who wants a bed time story?! Why would he want a story from her?
Malleus mumbled, "That story about the child god... It sounded rather interesting."
"That was the only tale about him that I have heard of. Other tales may mention him briefly, but that's it." She replied bluntly.
"What other tales are there?" He questioned curiously.
"You sound like a child who wants a bed time story..." She muttered before contemplating in deep thoughts, "The east has many tales of old in the past. Some are not repeated anymore due to the overwhelming popularity of more prominent figures. When I was small, there was someone who told me an interesting chronicle of a stone monkey, a tale of an archer and the ten suns, one of that archer's wife, and so on."
Or better put, it was something exaggerated over time or something that actually happened in the past which she had witnessed or heard about. Still to think that this guy wanted to hear a story from her.
"The chronicle of a stone monkey?" Malleus muttered in bewilderment.
"Ah." She muttered in bewilderment upon realization, "Doing that would require quite a bit of knowledge of the hierarchy structure of the gods in that society to understand it as well as another religion."
"Really?" Malleus looked to her in confusion, "Why is that?"
"Well, the story of the stone monkey outlines all the loopholes and faults of the hierarchy and those celestials' mistakes. At the same time, the person who wrote this tale had the entire prologue based around this monkey's fury and childish behaviour, while the actual plot was on the monkey's development and wits. To understand what he did wrong and the gravity of it, you might need to learn a bit on the history of the eastern country's political hierarchy and their laws to understand this tale."
"And you know of their culture that well?" Malleus looked to her doubtfully.
"The eastern culture now is no longer what it was in the past. But, the society I was born in honored that tradition like science and law on the outside. Due to this the schemes become nastier by the minute and the people become number to it all as it continues to occur. Not knowing these things could spell your own death in that place. Recklessly breaking one without thought is just courting death. Luckily, the eastern countries have mostly moved on from that. Yet, in the slums and more impoverished places, you will see those who stick to those teachings like facts making those who are recently educated well suffer from decisions of those who have not had the same luxury but believe they are in the right as a person or as a family member. In the end, whether those decisions would end well or not is really just up in the air until one person makes their next move."
She took a deep breath and shook her in with a look of irritation, "When you thrive in a society like that, it would make you wonder your own morality by that point. All of it sounds like a great hassle though. To leave that place really was the best choice I have made in my opinion."
"If that monkey broke such laws, did the story end with his death?" Malleus pondered curiously.
"No." Lotus shook her head, "It's because that monkey was so indestructible that no one could bring death upon him. Perhaps you don't know this, but, in our culture, when one dies, they are escorted or brought down by soldiers from the underworld. In the Underworld, there are ten palaces across a flowing river. Each palace has a king and each one has records of the life and death of the person including every minor sins. These kings punishes people according to the sins they have commited and the gravity of their sins. The monkey had broken a taboo and was brought down by the soldiers of the underworld after his apparent death to be trialed before the kings. However, they underestimated the monkey unfortunately. The monkey quickly overpowered every gods and soldiers present, then he crossed out his name and all the other names of his people out of fury that he had been proclaimed dead despite having achieved immortality through a taboo art. Thus, he had made himself and his people immortal in this manner. This outrage infuriated the kings that they sent the one with the leadership of the ten to plead to the ruling god of the heavens for justice as the monkey had brought chaos and calamity upon the order of life and death in the Underworld. Thus, the prologue took an interesting turn… for what seems like an entire two hours…"
Hearing her groan this, Malleus was stunned in bewilderment, "There was such a tale with such a long prologue?"
"Very few I read has such a long prologue, but this story was ridiculous yet it was a really good chronicle. To make it crazier, the monkey wasn't even the main character." Lotus explained as Malleus looked stunned, "The main character was a humble monk who discovered his true lineage was actually the long lost great grandchild of the wise emperor of the country. That man is the main character."
"A monk, you say?" Malleus muttered in confusion, "I do not hear of this religious position often from other kingdoms. But they dedicate their lives to educating others the teaching of a god and live very humbled lives, correct?"
"That is a bit complicated…" Lotus grumbled, "What they spread is not the teaching of god but the natural order and, rather than god, the being's position is more powerful than the king of heaven. The being is a famous peacemaker if you want to understand a little bit easier. They seek to abolish greed and desire from their hearts solely to pursue after the teachings. Hence, they are bald so they would not be distracted by such matters regarding fashion. Living a humble life, helping free others of their pain and suffering through teachings… For such reasons, he is not a god but a well-respected and illuminated peacemaker in a sense. Since I practice the Dao, I do not focus on the teachings with such intense focus. So even I am not as knowledgeable about this as I had imagined. The main character follows the teachings of such a divine being since infancy and learns of his true heritage from the head monk of the temple from a letter of cloth written with her blood as ink."
Malleus cringed as he raised a brow, "Blood? Why can she not ask for ink? Was it not available during that time period?"
Lotus shook her head, "His mother was a great beauty and of high standing. Unfortunately, during the wedding night on a boat, a boatman slaughtered his father in cold blood just so he may impersonate him and steal his position and assets. To many other's surprise, she had been bore the main character during that time and did her best to hide her pregnancy. She bore the child as she was struggling to live under the tyranny of the imposter and had no access to much supplies. Hence she used rags as paper and blood as ink as her only source of communication. She hid the infant into a basket and wrapped him in the rage before pushing him onto the river right before the imposter could have the chance to take his life after he found out. Most children might have died in that situation, but he was lucky since those above wanted him to live so he was pushed towards a temple by the waters."
"The story just gets more and more interesting by the second." Malleus muttered in bewilderment, "Are all stories like this?"
"Not always." Lotus sighed, "The story of the stone Monkey is one of the longest chronicle ever written. What it basically does is tell a moral of the chapter and it changes each time. What he learns and what is taught. Once the monk reached adult age, he found that the gods saved his father from death and reunited with him. Together they returned home, found the mother and brought the ferryman to justice. A rather happy ending… for chapter one, that is. I could go out and say that this is basically a deed never goes unpunished, but really it's just telling you to not do stupid things regardless how desperate you are. Murder won't solve everything."
"The chronicle sounds very interesting. May I ask that you tell it to me or have a copy of the book?" Malleus questioned curiously.
"No." Lotus stated bluntly, "Also, the last copy I had was burnt because a "couple of certain kids" decided it would be fun to just use it as a freaking elevated post for their science project! Ugh! I spent over five hundred thaumarks on that series and it was gone like that!"
"Five hundred thaumarks for a copy of a chronicle. Who were those people?" Malleus looked to her in amusement having finally seen her frustrated.
"Vil and Jack." Lotus grumbled bluntly much to Malleus's bewilderment.
"Vil Schoenheit? Is he who you're referring to?" Malleus questioned with a look of surprise.