Crimson Qi, Exiled Beautiful Lady Falls in Love with a Shy Demon

The Bloodline

"Put something on, or we will be late for your ascendance," Minh said.

"They won't start without me," Xi grumbled. The quip sounded forced, but Minh meant well. So he squatted in front of his chest to dig out a fresh black tunic, smoothed it across his knees and froze staring at the black silk. Why did he wear black his entire life? Why had he succumbed to love only three days before having to set it aside for the sake of doing what was right?

"You do not have to be there, you know," Xi returned to the only outside topic they had broached in the safety of their short-lived slice of Heavens where they were young, and in love, and nothing but.

Minh's chin thrust forward, his only answer.

Xi suspected that deep down Minh believed that the ritual would fail. He might even believe they could hide out in the South together once the Empire fell. Whatever Minh's fantasy was, it softened his dark eyes with hope. Xi wished for him to dream his unknown dreams for as long as possible, so he kept silent, regretted it, and kept silent as they rode to the site.

The only hope Xi himself clang to was that ascension would preserve his memories intact. Then he could keep Minh safe in the upcoming battles, keep him safe forever.

Xi's horse trotted on, without his input. After all, they had come this way every day over the summer. If he wanted to, he could count down the steps left to him in Minh's company. He did not wish to, but he knew all too well the last curve in the road. After this bend, the sacred lake would come into view - and it did, inevitably. The bright blue flashed and expanded before his eyes filling him with sadness.

A pristine sight that Xi remembered from when he'd first laid his eyes on the lake was long gone. The workers trampled the shoreline into mud-pit by their boots and their boats still docked to one side. The construction waste piled up in a few waist-high dumps barely away from the Emperor's dais. The works had the rough-shod, frantic feel to them, particularly the nightmarish structure that rose from the exact middle of the bespoiled water body.

"It looks like a snare," Minh whispered taking Xi's hand.

Xi squeezed Minh's fingers, could not resist bringing them to his lips. "It is going to work."

He realized how feebly it sounded when the Radiant Forge amounted to a rickety tangle of ceramic and metal pipes, and glass coils connected to a metal frame two hundred yards offshore.

No wonder suspicion creased his lover's brow. "Why is it in the middle of the lake, heart?"

"Once the energies converge on the ascendant---"

"On you!" Minh snapped.

"On me," Xi kissed his fingers again. "Once it happens, the heat would be enormous. On dry land, it would have baked dirt to a significant depth and the lateral extent would have been even harder to calculate. Lakewater flowing through these pipes over there, and---"

Minh maneuvered Warlock to turn their back on the Forge. He was awkward in the saddle, certainly not a natural, but nowhere near as bad as his tales led Xi to believe. "Maybe I don't want to kn--- Wait!"

Xi was still mumbling 'submerging' when his lover's horrified shriek and widening eyes made him whirl to see what had spooked Minh so.

"You didn't tell me anything about the human sacrifice..." Minh's hoarse words trailed him as Xi raced towards a small crowd by the water's edge.

"No! Sayewa! Stop it! Mother!"

Fortunately, his mad dash froze his mother to the spot instead of galvanizing her into plunging the dagger into her chest.