Faithful Heart (Flesh of my Flesh...Blood of my Blood 2)

Prologue - Pain

Author's note: Prologue was re-writen and edited on Friday, July 15, 2022. Original prologue may be found on AO3 for comparison.

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There was a hole in his chest that oozed pain. Rejecting Feng Jiu in the hut had been the most difficult thing he had ever done. And upon returning to Tai Chen Palace a terrible longing had settle in his chest. A need to see her, to hold her and tell her that everything had been a lie.

This was madness. He needed to be in control.

But nothing would calm him, not meditation, not sleeping potions, and not even the copious amounts of wine he had consumed in the last four days. Why had he ever thought that going through a mortal trial with the girl would be a good idea in the first place? Instead of satisfying both their needs to be together it had added fuel to the fire.

Donghua now knew what it felt like to be loved by her. To see her smile and look at him in adoration. He should have nipped this in the bud, the moment he saw her dressed as a maid, he should chase her out. Instead, he had kept her around foolishly thinking his calamitous love fate would do the trick and she would hate him in time.

Not one to ever regret his actions Donghua found that this decision had done a number on him. Reaching for the wine bottle at his side and drank deeply, the liquid burning down his throat as he swallowed. He had been drinking far more than usual hoping to numb down the torment he felt.

He needed to forget. If only he could stop feeling...

But above all, he needed something to take away the vicious chest pains he had developed after seeing Feng Jiu in that cursed hut in the Mortal Realm. He had been so lost in thought, so weakened by the failed love trial, that she had managed what no one had in hundred of thousands of years. She had taken him by surprise; sneaking upon him was a feat few rarely accomplished and lived to tell the tale.

"If the romance started and ended it in the mortal realm, then what is Your Lordship doing in this ruined hut? What is it you cannot forget?"

Dong Hua looked at the bottle in his hand and felt a sharp stab in his chest. Her words had torn him open and left him expose emotions he could barely contain screaming his head. Feng Jiu had caused him to lose control; Dong Hua despised losing control. Stewing in his dark thoughts, he tipped the wine bottle once again and drank until it was empty.

"Flowers bloom and wither. Everything comes to an end." Said a male voice behind him, causing his eyebrows to dip into an ugly scowl. "Why? I have never heard a stupider line to make someone forget about you. The poor girl cried as though you had stabbed her."

Slowly, Dong Hua turned towards the voice and found an ancient looking man staring back at him. He carried a wooden stick in one hand and was dressed in a simple mustard colour robe. Donghua knew this man, and his presence was unnerving. It was also maddening that he would dare repeat the words he had said to Feng Jiu in private. Anger burned in his throat, that meeting had been private.

"Yue Lao." Said Dong Hua, his eyes narrowing. His mind hazy from the chest pains and alcohol. Any moment now, a vicious headache would take over. "What brings you to see me?"

"Old Stone, you have gotten slow in your old age. There is no other way I can think you haven't noticed the strange signs around you." Yue Lao said as he hobbled slowly towards Dong Hua and sat gingerly on the pillow opposite him.

Dong Hua only looked at him with disinterest and reached for another bottle of wine. "Say what you came to say and then leave."

The wizened old man stared at him and simply reached towards Dong Hua, gently picking up in his hand a red ribbon that lay on the ground and pulling on it causing Donghua feet to slip. "Look at this Old Stone. Do you know what this means and where it leads?"

Dong Hua inhaled sharply in shock. "H-how? This cannot be." He breathed in denial and anger. "I was told it would never be."

"Unlike you, Old Stone, the Universe can, in fact, change." Yue Lao sighed.