The blossoms of the plums dropped like snow, evanescent and fragile, as Li Chen cleaned the final autumn leaves from the graves of his ancestors. The morning fog lingered on the mountainside, blurring the lines of the world. In the valley below, their village lay sleeping, like a child—smoke rising from earthen roofs, the far-off ring of a blacksmith's hammer, children's laughter chasing hens down the muddy alleys.
"Brother!" Li Mei called out, her voice as clear as wind chimes. She ran up the hill, her straw hat tilted, a basket of wild herbs bouncing from her elbow. At fourteen, she still ran like a fawn, all restlessness and curiosity. "Look what I found in the stream!"
Li Chen sighed, leaning on his broom. "If it's another 'dragon bone' that's actually a goat's skull, I'm throwing it back."
She thrust her hand toward him, palm upturned. A shard of crystal lay there, no larger than a walnut. It pulsed faintly, its surface etched with veins of gold that shimmered like trapped starlight.
"It's warm," she whispered. "Like a heartbeat."
He scowled. Their father, Li Wei, had wasted years fixating on things like this—ancient stones and broken scrolls, mumbling about "Progenitors" and "celestial bloodlines." *Foolishness*, Mother said. *Hazardous foolishness*.
"Dispose of it," Li Chen said, facing back toward the graves. "You know how Father is when he—"
A crack of thunder ripped through the sky.
Not thunder.
**Engines**.
---
The village erupted into riots.
Black-clad soldiers poured down like crows, their boots trampling vegetable plots, their swords cutting through bamboo fences. Li Chen pulled Li Mei behind the ancestral altar, his heart pounding. From the lattice window, he saw General Mò Yán march into the square, his face concealed behind a mask of molten obsidian. The light around him distorted, as if the very light was afraid to touch him.
Bring me the Húnjīng Shí," the general ordered, his voice as cold as a tomb's whisper. "Or this valley burns."
Father stood in the doorway of their house, holding a leather-bound book to his chest. Li Chen's stomach knotted. *Burn it*, he prayed silently. *Burn it and flee!*
But Li Wei did something worse.
He laughed.
You believe the Empire's flame can obliterate the truth?" Their father's voice trembled, yet his eyes glowed. "The Progenitors' memory is for *humankind*, not your invented gods!"
General Mò Yán waved a finger.
One soldier advanced and shoved a spear through Mother's breast.
---
Li Mei howled.
Li Chen clapped her hand over her mouth, the salt and iron flavoring her lips. *Don't look*, he pleaded as Mother collapsed, her blood spreading around the rosemary she had planted that spring. But Li Mei struggled against him, her tears burning his palm.
"The cave," Father bellowed, launching his journal into the fire. Pages were consumed by flames. "RUN!"
They ran.
Up the hill, past the grove of dead plum trees, their gnarled roots digging into the rock like skeletal fingers. Li Mei tripped, her ankle twisting. Li Chen carried her onto his back, her ragged breaths burning and frantic against his skin.
"They will kill everyone," she wept.
No." He lied as smoothly as he had when she'd questioned him about the winter fever that killed Auntie Ling. "Mother's cleverer. She'll conceal herself."
The cave entrance yawned before them, concealed behind a drapery of ivy. Within, the air was scented with wet rock and aged incense. Murals painted the walls—ancient warriors in starlight armor fighting serpent-like monsters, their eyes jade chips.
Li Mei held the crystal shard to the largest of the murals.
It *reacted*.
Gold light spiderwebbed the stone, and the mountain groaned.
---
The soldiers came for them too fast.
Li Chen pushed Li Mei back into the cave as swords struck outside. "Stay hidden!"
No!" She held onto his sleeve, the crystal shining more brightly. "I can help! The stone—it *showed* me things. Like Grandfather's stories!"
He freed her fingers. "Stories won't stop them."
"But *this* will.
Before he could move, she passed by him, the crystal burning like a small sun. The soldiers stiffened, their armor shrieking as the light burned through steel and meat. Li Mei screamed—a noise that began human and ended raw and animal. The cave shook, rocks falling.
"MÉI!"
She turned, smiling out from the blood running down her nose. "Live," she breathed. "Even if only for vengeance."
The ceiling fell.
---
When Li Chen opened her eyes, the world was quiet.
Ash fell in place of plum blossoms.
He crawled out of the wreckage, the shard of crystal lodged in his palm, its veins of gold now seared into his flesh. The village below was destroyed—nothing but burned bones and the smell of molten stone remained.
A voice whispered in his head, cold and musical.
Hey guys I already created this Story it just need to be released if response come good it will come constantly and remember don't just read one chapter keep on reading it will keep getting better and better I requested okay enjoy
*"How poetic. The weakling survives."*
A nine-tailed fox appeared before him, her fur white as funeral robes, her eyes twin pools of liquid mercury. Xuě Húlí—the Snow Fox. She danced around him, laughing.
*"Shall I teach you to burn the heavens, little star? Or will you die weeping in the dirt?"*
Li Chen clamped his fist around the crystal. It bit deep, but the pain was nothing.
Nothing at all.
"Teach me," he said.
And the fox smiled.