Chapter Eleven: Legend of Xiu Ming (Part One)
THERE ARE TWO ways that Xiu Ming is rumored to have been born. The first is through deceit. His father was tricked into procreating with a fearsome she-devil disguised as a beautiful woman, but the other is that his father, a scholar, was a helpful man that was out one night carrying dozens of scrolls in his arms. He came across a group of hunters trying to find a pelt to sell, and they had cornered a magnificent, large fox -- perfect to make a luxurious pelt from. Surely her skin would sell for quite a large sum, but she was too beautiful and innocent a creature to die for human greed. From a distance, Xiu Ming’s father, Xiu Bei, threw his scrolls at the offenders, making wild sounds like ghosts and monsters to spook them away.
Of course, they ran after some time, and Xiu Bei had to gather his priceless scrolls he had just flung around. The fox he saved, however, was so large because it wasn’t a normal fox at all. She was a fox beast, and when such a gallant human saved her when she couldn’t save herself, she decided that such a human was who she wanted to spend the rest of her life with. So, Xiu Bei, unsuspecting of the fox beast’s plans, returned after bowing to the fox and finished his duties, writing notes, and reading through the scrolls he had taken home with him. He fell asleep, and the next day woke up to a beautiful woman sitting on his front porch.
“Can I help you, miss?” he asked, because why wouldn’t he?
“I was foraging nearby, and I picked too much for myself. It would be such a waste to let them rot. Perhaps you could eat them for me, kind sir?” she said, offering a basket filled to the brim with the much plump and luscious berries. Xie Bei invited her inside for tea, and ate the delicious berries. They spoke of poetry and art, something they both enjoyed. Xie Bei had to return to the palace for work soon, and he let the young maiden stay in his home if she needed a place to stay. He promised to return, as it was his house. When he came back, she was gone, but she had left a note with the most elegant calligraphy he had ever seen, even considering his own.
‘I’ll be back soon. I just needed to fetch us supper’ was written on the note. Xiu Bei went about his night, reading his scrolls, and writing his corrections. The woman reappeared later that night, with more berries, and a cleaned pika. He cooked the meat she provided, and they ate together once again.
This continued for many months, although some suggest this courting period lasted years. In the end, Xiu Bei went to his boss and asked for permission to marry Yucha, the woman of his dreams, and it was granted, given his duties didn’t suffer with her in his life. They married, and consummate their relationship -- the written account is too graphic for me to detail to you now, but trust me, it was actually quite beautifully worded. Anyway, once they were married, and after they had spent a few days in post-marital bliss, it wasn’t too long before Yucha grew round with a child. Nine months later, their baby was born, Xiu Ming.
He was born with a tail and glowing eyes, and so Yucha hid him away, claiming he was ill. She raised him in secret, and used her fox magic to hide his differences. When he was one year old, she finally introduced him to his father. Xiu Ming adored his father, almost more than his mother, and wanted to be just like him. When Xiu Ming was eleven years old, Yucha started to grow ill, from feeding her energy into her son so he didn’t have to perform any rituals to steal energy from humans. Knowing she was dying, she pulled her son to her, and told him everything. She spent a week teaching him his heritage, before she kissed him as he slept, and transformed back into a fox and vanished into the night.
Yucha was never seen again, but Xiu Ming knew of his abilities, and he used them, being able to use magic, unlike his father, and unlike his mother -- as far as everyone else was aware since they thought her to be a normal human. He was rather good at divination, and could tell the future very well, down the milliseconds between time being accurate. With this ability, he looked into the future for the emperor, Emperor Xing. He saw nothing good, in fact, he saw the empire going to ruin. The empire was destroyed in this vision, broken up by magicians who condemned people like Xiu Ming -- our current world of Aishold. He couldn’t tell the emperor this, and so he kept it a secret. He said that the world would prosper and that they just needed to follow his advice.
In order to avoid a world where he was persecuted, he spent years and years preparing and planning to take land for himself and the people like himself and his mother.
***
Nilhin listened avidly to the story that Gronjas told him, but the man wasn’t telling him the important parts.
“How did Xiu Ming get energy? Was he a murderer like other fox beasts?” Nilhin asked. Gronjas hummed and stroked the side of Nilhin’s hair again, his thumb brushing against his eyebrow.
“Well, nobody knows for fact, but it’s rumored that fox paragons don’t always kill their prey, and fox beasts technically don’t have to either, but why would they not? Xiu Ming was smart, he knew it would get him caught, and he knew himself well. Keep in mind, it’s just an old legend. It may not even be true,” Gronjas said. Nilhin surged forward, grabbing his arm as soon as Gronjas tried to pull away.
“Tell me what happened in the legend? How did he not kill people?”
“Why do you want to know?” Gronjas asked with a chuckle. Nilhin bit his lip and tugged on his arm, pulling him towards him.
“I want to help feed one,” Nilhin said. “If there’s a paragon out there, if he killed Ogar, he must be scared. So scared. I just wanna help him, but I don’t wanna die.”
“If you found a fox paragon, you should do the right thing and tell someone so we can take care of him,” Gronjas said, and Nilhin leaned forward to brush his face against Gronjas’ arm. Gronjas laughed and petted his hair again, pushing him on his back and tumbling on his side beside him. Gronjas reached out and stroked the side of Nilhin’s face. It was such a gentle gesture.
“But what if I want him to live,” Nilhin whispered. “How do you know he’s evil? Why should he die?”
“The legend says that the fox beasts and paragons can control it, given they know how to use their abilities,” Gronjas said. Nilhin, both playing into his drunk act, and because of his overwhelming disappointment, having gotten absolutely no answers to help him, started to cry. His crying was accompanied with laughter, because it was so horribly funny how everyone would so readily kill him for something he couldn’t control, he hadn’t known, and now had no way to help. Gronjas slid a hand across his back and rubbed soothing circles against it like Nilhin was a child -- which he arguably was.
“Why are you crying?” Gronjas asked. “It’s okay, Nilhin. It’s gonna be okay.” Gronjas laughed a little, both nervously and with amusement, because to him, Nilhin was just drunk. Nilhin wasn’t drunk at all, he was just terrified because he wasn’t what he thought he was at all. He was a fox spirit. They could change their children into human looking people, they could do that. Nilhin could be killed by the sect he had joined, he could be executed for simply existing, and no one would bat an eyelash at it.
Nilhin’s nails clawed into the back of Gronjas’ tunic and he held onto him.
“It’s all right, Little Hin,” Gronjas said, and Nilhin pressed his face against his neck and held onto him. Gronjas stayed like that, even when Nilhin cried harder at being called ‘Little Hin’ which is one of the two nicknames his mother had called him. His mother, who had lied to him his entire life and died without telling him… who had gotten sick and died because of…
When Nilhin finally calmed himself down, his frantic breathing settled mostly so he only hiccuped every few moments. Gronjas continued to stroke his back and finally Nilhin let him go so he could lay down properly, sniffling as he did so.
“I’m sorry for crying on you, senior brother,” Nilhin said, reaching up to haphazardly wipe at his eyes. Gronjas saw him fumble, and pushed his hands away so that he could thumb away his tears instead in a much softer manner.
“Don’t apologise,” Gronjas said with a soft smile. Nilhin didn’t deserve it. It was true that now Nilhin knew what he was, he could use that, his new magic, his new gifts. He was a fox paragon, or at least he thought he could be, and that meant he was powerful. Powerful enough to be properly feared. That also meant that he couldn’t stay with the Hvit Clan, especially not since they were looking for him so they could terminate him. He also had nowhere else to go, and if he was truly a fox paragon, then really, there was nowhere safe from the prejudice of the legendary dynasties, and probably the clans beneath him.
“Why don’t you just sleep it off? I’ll tell you what happens next later, when you’re sober,” Gronjas said. Nilhin nodded pathetically. Gronjas lingered, running his fingers through Nilhin’s straight hair before he stood up.
“Why do we hate fox beasts?” Nilhin asked. “I’ve never met one, but… but they surely can’t all be bad.”
“You’ve never met one, so how could you know they’re not?” Gronjas asked. Nilhin didn’t agree, but he stayed quiet about it, and slept. He curled up, but he suspected Gronjas didn’t actually leave until he was truly asleep.
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