Yu was still vaguely aware of what was going on as she listened to the sounds of the group fleeing. Blood from her mouth, nose, eyes, and ears was mixing with the rain and mud, creating a puddle which was now half covering her face. Every raindrop that splashed on her caused an explosion of pain.

But despite it all, she felt a sense of peace. She had done it. In saving this beast, she had finally made a difference.

It wasn’t much, yet that was all her body could provide for her. One moment in a lifetime. One single victory.

She pondered simply leaving her face in the growing pool of water and blood and letting herself drown. Jing Wei was right after all – she was a cursed creature who did nothing but bring misery to her family and dishonor to her clan. Better to end things now, with this one small act of defiance. Before life could once again remind her how futile her struggles were.

Then Yu heard a soft growling sound to her left. The tiger. Laughing in her mind and to the fates that caused her to have such a life, she rolled her head to face the creature that was now towering over her.

The great tiger stepped even closer amidst the downpour, the crackle of lightning an almost constant chorus, singing her demise. Maybe in her next life, if the gods granted her one despite her corruption, she would do better. Maybe she would even become a true cultivator, able to accomplish more than this single act of a warrior.

Yu rolled onto her back, groaning at the pain. She looked directly up at the massive head which was now nearly touching hers. As it sniffed her, Yu felt a deep, vibrating growl that was loud enough not to be drowned out by the cacophony of lightning and thunder. The storm had started striking the trees and grass of the clearing, causing earth and wood to fly about.

The tiger looked down at Yu and she saw twin droplets of crystal blue. She felt ashamed that such beauty was staring into her own mundane, dull gray eyes. Resigned to her fate and accepting that she would finally be free from her curse, Yu hoped for better in her next life. She reached up and stroked the fur of the tiger’s enormous muzzle. For some reason, she had lost all fear. All fear of the beast. All fear of death. It was merely her fate.

The tiger’s white fur was softer than the softest cloth she had ever felt, and she luxuriated in it. Touching such beauty while staring into the eyes of majesty was not such a bad way to go. And the burden on her family would finally be lifted.

Yu stroked the face of her death with a smile as she spoke gently in between bloody coughs, “Go ahead. I’m ready.” Another cough. “Please be quick if you can.”

The tiger blinked its enormous crystal eyes and moved its head down to stare at the sign of her corruption, the pyramid indented into her flesh. Yu’s clothing was torn to shreds, and she was oddly relieved because the beast would have less in the way when it eventually bit down.

The tiger sniffed at the center of her chest where the indent was. The sign of her corruption. Could it tell? Was she even too much of a freak to be eaten?

She saw the tiger look toward the heavens and then back down at her.

A nearly simultaneous flash of lightning and crack of thunder echoed through the clearing, and the tiger wobbled and fell into the mud next to Yu. Without thinking, she reached for it and began to pet its massive soft pelt, trying to comfort the failing beast. The agony of moving did not register in her slowly fading consciousness.

The beast whined and was barely able to lift its head enough to lay it on Fenghuang Yu’s chest. The pain of its weight on her broken body had returned, but she found she didn’t care.

She was dying. To do so alongside a beautiful, powerful creature in a storm of might and awe that rang with the thunderous energy of the gods themselves… that was the best someone like her could ask for.

Yu looked up at the dark sky, not flinching from the rain striking her face or the flashes of lightning or the cracks of thunder. She smiled through the pain, never ceasing her rubbing of the mighty beast’s head. She scratched it behind its ears and a rumble vibrated through her as both of their breaths shallowed and darkness approached.

In the end she had not saved the beast. Both of them were fading. Yu supposed it was fitting for one such as herself; that she would not be allowed even this one small victory.

Yu’s hand slowed and stilled as the last of her breath began to leave her. Just as her eyes closed, she thought she might have seen a God Sign, but then everything went dark and she welcomed a world free of the pain and horrors of life.

Behind her closed eyelids, she let out her final breath as a bright flash lit a world she could no longer see. The last thing she heard was the vibrating crack of one last bolt of brilliant light.

***

In the sky above, a violet bolt of lightning leaped from the clouds and streaked through the air, constantly altering its direction, adjusting back and forth. It knew its purpose and would fulfill the whim of whatever or whoever guided such heavenly creations as itself.

The lightning vaporized any raindrops that dared to be in its way as it reached a destination predetermined by forces beyond even its divine power. The lightning demanded to reach its destination and would destroy any who interfered. It drove downward following the commands placed upon it, even though it did not know why or how or who.

In the blink of an eye, it made its undulating way to the ground and struck the middle of a clearing empty of everything but two creatures of earth. It knew only that it must strike, and it did. The bolt pummeled the clearing with such might that the earth shuddered, and the vibrations could be felt in the city more than three li away.

The pair of creatures the lightning punished for whatever offense it was sent to address flashed into an explosion of color so bright that none – not even the strongest cultivators in the nation – would have been able to peer inside. The brightness increased even more, and a small sun formed in the clearing, expanding to encompass it in its entirety and even further. Out into the tree line it grew, and further yet.

And just as suddenly as it had started, the sun collapsed into itself, releasing a shockwave that blew down trees for nearly a li around its center. When silence and darkness again returned to what was once a clearing and two creatures of earth, all that remained was a crater of dirt becoming mud in the rain, and the body of a girl, naked but for the long silky silver hair splayed about her and a glowing silver crystal embedded into the center of her chest, pulsing like a beating heart.

***

Back in the city, Long Meixiu was looking through several documents regarding the training of the many youths under her care. She now managed the martial training of both the house guards and the youth of her clan, and surprisingly found herself enjoying the job.

It was not many years ago, at least as cultivators saw time, that she wanted nothing but to do battle and advance her cultivation to the peak of the world. It was when she met and eventually fell in love with her husband that things began to change.

At first, she figured they would grow and battle together forever. And they did… for a while. It was when she found herself pregnant with Yu that her perspective began to change. A child. It was both joyous and terrifying, bringing a life into this world. Theirs was not a peaceful life. Wars between clans, factions, nations, and even empires were waged constantly. And, of course, the perpetual threat of the demonic beasts from the wild forests and mountains was constantly on the mind of all humans. The threat was like a murmuring river – constantly in the background. until it eventually overran its banks and devastated the land as it washed away lives.

Meixiu stood and walked to an open window, watching as rain fell into the private training yard in the back of the City Lord’s Palace. A lightning flash made her Qi want to release and join its brethren. The cultivator settled down her power, and watched the courtyard where she used to see her daughter practice – at least, before she was forced to do so more privately.

Her daughter…

Bringing Yu into this world had been a surprise to both her and Da as they both practiced a Qi skill which should have prevented pregnancy. It was an ancient skill and one that had been used successfully for tens of millennia by almost all cultivators. Her husband asked her if she wanted to have the child, and she considered the question long and hard before deciding it was created for a reason, despite all the precautions taken.

All knew of Meixiu’s powerful Lightning affinity. It was widely believed to be the strongest purely offensive capability in the nation. What no one alive but she, her husband, and some in her original family knew was that she had a second gift – an affinity rare in all the world.

Meixiu received visions and feelings from the gods. The gods sometimes told her of the future, and on very rare occasions even used her to send their messages. That had only happened three times in her long life, but when she received such messages she delivered them without fail, and followed any instructions given.

Sharing the idea that their child might be an… intervention by the gods, Da had agreed and Yu’er was born to two of the strongest cultivators in the nation.

She should have been one of the greatest of the family. She should have been learning the might of battle and the harmony of Qi. She should… She should have been whole and healthy and welcoming of love and affection.

Contrary to the belief of many, Yu’er was not cursed. Meixiu’s lightning was a purifying force and would know anything like a curse or evil that demanded purification. No, she was… crippled. The gods had sent them the gift of their beautiful Jade, and those mad fools had ruined her.

Lightning sparked over her clenched fists as she reflected on things she could not speak of. Letting out an angry breath, Meixiu returned to peering out the window, letting go of her anger from a past that could never be changed.

The storm was growing in intensity, and the walls were shaking with it. Her power was demanding escape and she longed to give in to it. But something stopped her. There was a feeling of strangeness to this storm. Something ominous or great, she was not sure which. But definitely something of consequence would come of it.

She watched for a few more minutes and was about to return to her papers when, from the heart of the storm, the largest bolt of lightning the three-century-old cultivator had ever seen struck three or four li into the forest. A moment later, light brilliant enough to turn the darkness of the storm into the brightness of a noon day filled the sky in the distant forest. It kept increasing in brightness, so that she had to turn her head away and cover her eyes with her arm. The room around her rumbled and the teacup she was sipping from vibrated itself to the edge of her desk and crashed to the floor.

Then the light faded and all was back to normal. All that remained was the pattering of rain and the occasional crash of distant thunder. Meixiu turned back to her desk and looked down at the spilled tea. The pool spread on the expensive ornamental rug as she approached the puddle.

It had stopped spreading and was frozen in the shape of a cat, its tail swishing behind it. The shapes and patterns on the now ruined rug gave the cat stripes and made it appear a tiger with its mouth open and mighty jaws roaring for the world to hear. Staring down at it, the world faded around Meixiu as she heard the dominating cry of the ferocious feline in the background noise of the storm.

Meixiu’s power sparkled around her as, in the lightning’s flash, she saw the tea morph into the form of a woman on the back of the tiger. She was wielding two matching straight swords which blurred into oddly shaped blades, and then many-jointed whips, and then again into a bow and arrow. Another crash showed her battling mighty beasts and humans alike and them falling before her. But then she too fell when another shadow came and stabbed a short blade into her back and out her chest.

Another crash of thunder echoed through the room and the vision faded, causing Meixiu to stumble forward and lean on her desk for support. Just as she gathered herself, she heard the familiar stomping footsteps of her husband approaching.

He had always had the canny ability to know when she needed him. Da whipped the door to the side, and his large muscular form stood in the doorway. He saw her unsteadiness and instantly appeared next to her, supporting her body against his.

She hugged him hard and whispered, “We must go to her.”