(Page 1 of 7) The Empire is Crying by Kevin Newman
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SUMMARY: This story is HEAVILY influenced by Three Kingdoms by Lou Guanzhong. My hope is that if I get published it may lead people to that text. I also want to fuse eastern flavour and western flavour into fantasy as there are not enough eastern fantasies. Let It came to pass in the year 184 SD that the Emperor Jiasun Long (styled Gonglo) passed away as the Northern Barbarians pillaged a land in rebellion. Emperor Gonglo was buried in the Dynastic Temple in Nan and posthumously named Seth Jun, the Goat Emperor. His son, Jiasun Gong (styled Dilo) was given to hold the Imperial Seals and Scepter. The Reign year was changed to Imperial Moon and an amnesty was sent out to those rebels who fought the Barbarians. The Imperial City of Nan was soon besieged by the Barbarians. A rebel general from the eastern provinces named Gugo Lung (styled Huna) raised an army and marched them to Nan. She defeated the barbarians and rescued the Emperor. She and her troops were given amnesty and she was titled General who Saves the Empire. Soon, her minions moved into positions of power and she had the Prime Minister executed as a rebel. The Emperor, a child of eight summers was frightened of her power and so had no choice but to install her as Prime Minister. This was how things stood in the Eastern Empire of Nangia.
In the west, the plains-people fought against one another. Tribe killed tribe, killed tribe. The King of the Plains, ridiculed in the Empire, was unable to quell the chaos. Two years after the death of Emperor Gonglo the son of the King began his quest. Leaving his wife and children, he went on a pilgrimage to the temple of Zirb. The next year he fought the three Sorcerers: Bear, Wolverine, and Wolf. Bear was stripped of his power and escaped, Wolverine and Wolf were gutted. He took their fingers and toes to the western forests and planted twenty trees with one digit each. He fought many other enemies as he returned home. Three years later he is at the end of his quest. This was how things stood in the Western Land of the Plains.
Gentle drops of rain were plucked from the leaves of a young maple. The wind whistled through a fog at the edge of Tuana forest. The glistening drops fell under the full moon, a haze hung low in the sky. The girl, Tua Ian (styled Ynang), fingered a black beard that swayed in the wind beside her. Ynang was crouched beneath the maple in a moist furrow at the base of the tree. Her father, Tua Ang (styled Nangow), crouched behind the tree; his eyes were gleaming and nostrils flaring. Father and daughter looked out across the great expanse of the plain as the fog rolled south. Ynang leaned into her father's beard, pressing her eyes shut. Suddenly a wind swept in from the northeast and pillaged the forest. Leaves took flight from the forest in a forced migration. The wind whipped the leaves high into the air and carried them above the tree line. Ynang looked up in wonder as the Blood Moon was eclipsed by millions of maple leaves. As the wind shifted, the leaves spun in the air, held in thrall for a moment before being driven across the Great Plains to the northwest. Ynang gazed at the grasses that swayed under the school of leaves. The Great Moon gave each blade a silver sheen and the Blood Moon bathed one edge red.
"Papa, if you were one of the Little Zirbas, would you think you were running through knives?"
Nangow smiled down at her and nodded.
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