The Kingdom of Roses

21

Treachery’s Shadow

When a being falls into obsession, all kinds of deceptions take over. Jiàn Shēng planned his arguments and plotted his responses to trap the King. That night he stood on his balcony looking at the heights of Méiguī shān where the woman he loved rested.

‘I will give her one more chance to accept my love. If it fails, then she should not blame me for what comes,’ he thought to himself.

The Bride used to prepare a special wine when the pomegranates were ripe in her garden. She infused it with roses and spices and sorted them into four portions so all could taste it. The wine was served from ornate silver pitchers which dispensed it till everyone had their fill.

The Tŏngzhì zhě usually appointed one of the Tiānshǐ under their authority to collect the portion for the realms they stewarded. Those picked had the right to enter the archway of Méiguī shān. They would only enter the open garden immediately past the archway, no further. They honored this place as holy ground and the private chambers of their immortal King and his Bride.

Jiàn Shēng wanted to enter her presence and persuade her to give him a chance. Bái Láng had told him that the Tiānshǐ appointed to represent the south was one of their own. Jiàn Shēng obtained the token needed from this ally of his and made his way to the heights of the mountain. He left Wěi Hóng waiting on one side of its steep cliffs.

He climbed the chiseled steps and took the narrow way where the path broke into two. His brothers, Pèi Zhōng and Zhì Shēn stood on either side of the arch made by their wings as they guarded the entrance. While they would normally greet the one who approached them, their eyes glowed like embers and they remained sternly gazing at their brother as he drew closer.

‘Halt there!’ Zhì Shēn said firmly.

‘You again?’ Jiàn Shēng asked in mock humor.

‘Why are you here? You were never assigned to gather the wine portion,’ Pèi Zhōng questioned.

In response, Jiàn Shēng flaunted the token and smirked at them.

The King and his beloved were expecting him. She quickly tugged at her beloved and urged him, ‘Please, you know it must be done. Hide yourself.’

‘If he misbehaves, I will take action!’ the King promised, his eyes glowing with a ferocity that was unusual.

‘Alright, but for now I must play my part,’ she said as she pushed at him. The King listened to her, making himself invisible but staying close by. She called out from the heights to the watchers, ‘Let him in!’

Pèi Zhōng and Zhì Shēn signaled to their brother to enter. As he walked beneath their wings, the incense they had made bathed him with a heady and intoxicating fragrance that clothed him from the top of his head to the sole of his feet.

As he climbed the steps leading towards the open garden that spread to the left of the mountain, Jiàn Shēng imagined himself to be the King making his way to the inner chambers to meet his woman.

‘She permitted me to enter! That is a sign. She must have some feelings for me. She cannot forget all the beautiful memories we created in the northern realms!’ he told himself.

He ought to have stopped when he reached the lovely garden which was a riot of colors, sounds and life itself. This was where all the Tiānshǐ waited for the Bride to bring out the wine. During that time, they were free to roam in the garden and be refreshed by its splendors. He was the only one present for he had come earlier than the rest of the representatives.

Instead, Jiàn Shēng entered the large, central opening that led to the private area on the right side of the mountain. His eyes grew large with wonder as he gazed upon the lush grove and its trees and waterfalls. The Bride was under the cherry blossom tree, preparing to bring the wine pitcher to him. This space was sacred to the King and his beloved. It was their very bedchamber.

‘Jiàn Shēng! Why have you entered here?’ she asked him.

He smiled as he approached her. He was quite a sight. It was clear that he was a very beautiful being and any other woman would have been sorely tempted by his charms.

‘I wanted to see with my own eyes what this place looked like. It is quite nice, I can get used to it. But, it needs to have some additions that I will attend to later,’ he rattled off.

His eyes caught a glimpse of the glowing rose that was visible from where he was standing. It shone with immense power and beauty on the uncut rock that was at some distance from the tree under which the Bride stood.

‘What is that?’ he asked as the sight distracted him. She did not answer. He did not bother. He made his way towards it swiftly only to find that she had reached the spot before he did and was blocking him from approaching the mysterious flower.

He pressed forward and stretched out his hand to reach for it.

The Bride held back his hand and asked him firmly, ‘What do you think you are doing? Is this what you came for?’

Jiàn Shēng broke his gaze off the magnificent rose and directed his attention to the Bride instead. He spoke, ‘I want to make a proposition that I hope you would consider!’

‘What is it?’ she asked.

‘My Queen, you know I love you and will trade everything to gain you. Why do you not allow yourself the chance to experience a love different from what you have grown accustomed to? Is it not boring to only love one?’ he said as he drew closer to her.

She avoided his attempt to hold her hand.

He continued, ‘If that is not enough, I will make all the realms worship you as the Queen of Heaven. You deserve so much more honor than what you have been given now. I will entrust you with far more power, far greater fame. I will treat you as an equal and not a lesser being.’

The Bride barely hid the flash of fiery anger in her eyes. Exercising great restraint, she spoke, ‘I do not desire what you offer Jiàn Shēng. I am satisfied being his Bride. I am his equal and he has never treated me as a lesser being. Your accusations are baseless and aimed to sow discord, and divide the love between the King and I. The love I have been given outweighs all your offers of power, fame and worship combined! Are you done speaking?’

‘You have made the wrong choice,’ Jiàn Shēng continued. ‘My patience has its limits. Do not force my hand.’

‘Are you not the one who is forcing me to pick you?’ the Bride shot back.

Seeing he had angered her, Jiàn Shēng made a feeble attempt to change the topic.

‘Forget these unpleasant things. Here is something far better…,’ he said as he reached out to take the rose from its lofty stand.

‘Stop! You have no right!’ the Bride stated furiously as she pushed his hand away from grasping the precious flower which was the love token between her and the King. It contained the seed of both their primordial spirits.

Jiàn Shēng drew back a little surprised, ‘I meant no harm. I only wanted to take this rose,’ he said.

‘It is not yours to take!’ she replied.

‘You mistake my intentions. I only wished to give it to you as you love roses,’ he tried to defend himself.

‘It is not yours to give,’ she insisted, her eyes blazing.

‘You are in a very contrary mood,’ he said thoughtfully. ‘This rose must be special in some way. What makes it special?’

Emboldened by the fact that he stood on forbidden ground, Jiàn Shēng took another step forward being full of lust for the Bride and her rose. What happened next, caught the master of trickery by shock.

The Bride’s eyes flashed with deepest blue as she drew her sword in one swift move against Jiàn Shēng. She purposely missed hurting him but she kept her sword drawn at his chest. The lion on the hilt growled fiercely at him, while the eagle’s peal pierced his ears.

‘Thus far and no further!’ she thundered.

‘Why is it so precious to you?’ Jiàn Shēng wondered again.

‘Jiàn Shēng, I have restrained my hand this time. But I make you a promise. The next time I draw my sword against you, I will vanquish you without mercy. It will wreck full vengeance on all your schemes!’

Jiàn Shēng knew he had to act swiftly. He pressed against the sword so that it went deep into his heart. A stream of liquid, glowing gold trickled out. The wound would have healed but Jiàn Shēng had other plans. He had made a potion that would keep the wound from healing. By now the Bride had withdrawn her sword. As he held his chest, he quietly spread the potion on the self-inflicted wound.

He smirked at her and whispered, ‘Perfect, you have now fallen into my trap! What will the Council say about such violence? Will they not give me justice?’ He laughed in anticipation of his victory as he quickly made his way out of the area and back into the open garden.

From the edge of the cliff he called out to Wěi Hóng. Once the dragon appeared, Jiàn Shēng jumped onto him and commanded, ‘Quick, head to the southern realms!’ He stayed low so that everyone only saw his dragon flying across the sky from the direction of Méiguī shān.

As they flew over Bái Láng’s home, Jiàn Shēng threw the token into his left general’s hands. ‘Tell your subordinate to go and collect the wine as planned,’ he ordered. Bái Láng swiftly went out to do his master’s will while Jiàn Shēng rushed to his own home.

He had to keep applying the potion to keep the wound fresh or it would close up leaving no evidence that it was the Bride’s sword that had injured him. There was no fear of great injury, death or pain in the heavens. The forced wound was a minor inconvenience. The greater problem was that of intentional violence which is what Jiàn Shēng wanted to use in his favor.

He removed his shirt and stood before the mirror, examining the wound while applying more potion to it. Jiàn Shēng could see the little shard belonging to the Bride that had entered his heart when they rescued Wěi Hóng in the northern realms. Anyone could tell it was a part of her. It sparked with fury like crystallized water and at times it settled into a glowing blue flame.

‘Just a spark! I want all of you in my full embrace forever,’ he said wistfully as he thought of the beautiful woman who had captured his heart. ‘That rose was an unexpected discovery. Strange, why none of us know about it?’ he wondered.

Jiàn Shēng thought through the whole scene over and over again trying to figure out what it was that made the rose so different and intoxicatingly powerful. Then it dawned on him, even though it was not a full understanding.

‘It seems to be some form of vessel that is holding her life within it. The closer I drew to it, the more the shard of her spark in me grew in intensity and power. Perhaps it felt naturally drawn to its own element?’ he pondered as he slowly drifted into sleep.

The King had seen all that transpired on the heights of Méiguī shān. As soon as Jiàn Shēng left, he had made himself visible again and rushed towards his beloved to check if she was well.

She smiled at him. ‘It is done!’ she remarked as she put away her sword.

‘I would rather stand trial alone. I dislike you incriminating yourself,’ the King commented aloud.

‘My love, the pain I must bear is nothing compared to what you will bear later,’ she said sadly, looking into his eyes. ‘I wish I could bear the pain instead.’

‘I will count it all joy when the time comes as it means regaining you,’ the King replied confidently.

‘We do not have much time left. The trial will begin soon,’ the Bride continued as she thought about what lay ahead of them.

‘What an irony! That we must now count the days and weigh our time when time here is limitless,’ the King said as he too thought about the things that were about to happen.

‘Times may change like the tides. Even the realms may shake causing the mountains to tremble and fall into the heart of the sea but my love for you will stay firm,’ the Bride told her beloved as they looked out into the realms from their vantage point.

Treachery had cast a deep shadow over the valleys and the hills. It had not yet met the power of a love so strong that its light was destined to dispel all shadows forever.