Two thousand years ago in Duan Cai's home world..
"Hey! Look isn't that Saigai and Duan Cai?!"
"Ahh! Duan Cai is so beautiful!"
"Shh! Quiet do you want to get the attention of Saigai as well?"
The words of the mortals along the village fields were filled with joy and excitement at the sight of Duan Cai as they walked along together. Duan Cai was the highest ranking god among his fellow deities. Saigai always felt frustrated working under Duan Cai as he was the second ranked god among them, but he always buried his emotions inside himself where nobody could hear of what he felt. At that moment he knew that everything around him did not feel as beautiful as it did to the other gods and goddesses when he looked at everything. While he could hear the praises and love mortals and even the other deities had towards Duan Cai he knew that the reactions he was given were in the opposite direction. The attention given to Saigai had always been cold and unwelcoming.
"Are you alright, Saigai?" Duan Cai's voice rang in his ears as he turned his face to see a majestic pair of golden eyes staring at him as though they were trying to pierce his soul. Though Duan Cai was in a mortal form his eyes still retained the look of a pair of golden dragon eyes and he had a pair of golden horns protruding from the sides of his head that leaned backwards.
"Yes, my lord, I am fine." Saigai replied with as much respect in his tone as he could muster up. He and Duan Cai were of a rare species in their world known as the Draconic Race. It was a species of dragons that were naturally born deity level beings. It was extremely rare of them to be born, but once they were they were already on level with deities and after thousands of years they would reach the realm of true godhood. Duan Cai had been born a golden dragon which was the rarest and most powerful known while naturally holding a symbol of peace and hope for those it ruled over. Saigai, on the other, was born as a red dragon. Even though Saigai was on par with Duan Cai his dragon form symbolized the exact opposite as Duan Cai. The red horn that tilted back from his forehead and his natural red dragon eyes brought nothing but fear to those who saw him.
He had struggled and fought for thousands of years to reach the level of the gods, but those who saw him always had a natural instinct to flee. As soon as he had entered into godhood he was already shoved into the ranking of second just under Duan Cai and had to bow respectfully to him. Duan Cai could not sense any of how Saigai felt about him because he didn't want him to become aware of it and hid it with everything he could.
"Alright, do not get side tracked. We are here to ensure that the village is doing well." Duan Cai stated as he tossed away the thought of prying onto why Saigai was acting strange.
"Yes, of course." Saigai looked around as they both walked alongside each other.
"I'll be right back. You wait here for me." Duan Cai said as he strode off; leaving Saigai behind.
Saigai waited there for what felt like an hour in silence as Duan Cai was walking around and talking to the villagers. As gods it was their duty to watch over the villages in their domain. Throughout the world the gods had been spread out in branches who each took charge of their own domains and mortals. Duan Cai was the one in charge when it came to the domain they lived in while Saigai was simply in charge of following orders he'd be given.
"Wahh!"
A sudden thump shook Saigai from his gaze as he turned around to see what happened. A red apple had rolled across the ground and bumped into his black boot. His eyes slowly moving from the apple connected with the sad gaze of a child as she gazed up at him with a scared expression. It was a gaze he had long grown used to, however it still made his heart ache. She was clearly a child but he was sure she had already been warned towards going near him.
With a heavy sigh and a pain in his heart he knelt to the ground in front of her. His hand reaching for the apple and picking it up while she gazed at him. Her body was stiff as if she was unsure of what to do as she watched him slowly move the apple towards her in an attempt to return it to her. The motion of him returning the apple to her caused her eyes to sparkle with excitement as she quickly took it back.
"Well?" Saigai scoffed as he watched the little girl instantly go into eating the apple without so much as a thank you for him.
"Mn!" She made a noise as she pointed at the horn on his head while chewing.
"What? What do you want from me?" He asked her as his face twitched.
"Mn!" She repeated the motion.
"Look, I don't know what you want from me so just leave me alone."
While he continued waiting for Duan Cai to return in silence his face could not help but twitch every so often. Naturally he was use to waiting in silence for Duan Cai to return, but that day he had waited a few hours with the combination of a little girl chomping away every so often on an apple while clinging to his leg. She was a mortal child so he presumed she must have had a family, but nobody came to claim her.
"What is that?" Duan Cai asked as he slowly walked up and saw the child clinging to Saigai.
"I.. I don't know exactly.." Saigai glanced down at the child and sighed heavily as his mind could not stop racing. He felt confused and frustrated for many reasons while at the same time he could not deny that he did find a slight enjoyment in the fact that she was clinging to him. He had never met anyone who was willing to so easily get close to him because of what his red tone as a dragon meant.
"Well, get rid of it because we're done here and we're heading back." Duan Cai said as he started walking.
"Letya."
"What did you say?" Duan Cai paused as he asked over his shoulder.
"Her name.. Letya." Saigai grit his teeth as he mustered up every fiber of what he could in order to speak his mind towards Duan Cai in that moment. His eyes were not even looking up towards the emotionless void of a god that stood in front of him as he could not tear his gaze away from the child that was gazing up with a shine in her eyes that warmed something inside himself that he had long thought he'd lost. "She'll stay with me."