Missive on the Lake of Reincarnation for the War God

'Missive on the Lake of Reincarnation for the War God' the title read, as Lee looked down the scroll, sat on the opposite side of the girl from the side.

Her dress began to look strangely familiar, particularly the flaring motions of the fabric, whenever the girl moved and took a step whichever way. He placed that aside for now as he decided to read the scroll:

The number of lives lost from the previous Celestial War have been found to be too great. We, The Alliance of the Lesser Gods for the Protection of the Balance, seek the aid of yourself and your brother, as both of yourselves have the cultivation necessary to fulfill the role of the Head God of War.

We implore that the rate of conflicts, and the violations of the Laws of Human Protection will both be decreased, through the decreased of exploitation of the will belonging to the previous Jade Emperor, as paraded by the current Head God of War.

You may or may not know of the Lone God of Reincarnation. He is a figure that may be found within the Shang region of the Earth, within the desert where he lives alone, on the shores of the Lake of Reincarnation. The lake itself is an artifact, created by the first God of the Underworld, and the role of the God of Reincarnation is to regulate the power of the lake.

Those of us, who are participating in the alliance, do not know what the God's method's consist of. He has remained at his vigil for over a thousand years, continuing the ancient ceremonies which effect the rate of reincarnation.

Some ancient scripts, within the Jade Emperor's Grand Library, speak of the Lake of Reincarnation being filled with ink, and that it is the role of the God of Reincarnation to pluck the souls from the lake, with his brush, and to dictate their fates in the next life. However, this account is, by the author's admission, unreliable, told to the author, before he ascended as the Fifth God of Music, living on this Earth eight hundred years ago, by a travelling pedlar who had allegedly gleamed the story from the grandson of an old, senile woman, while she was on her deathbed. The woman claimed to have seen the God during a vision from when she had almost passed the previous night, and that the God had accidently dropped her soul back into the black lake waters when a dust cloud appeared.

We cannot provide any more information regarding his location and his powers.

The Alliance seeks to be able to increase the rate of reincarnation, or prevent any further conflicts, until the balance of souls has been returned to the safe and prosperous levels which they were two hundred years prior.

The Great Celestial War, has created a surplus of souls demanding reincarnation.

If this continues, there will be no more celestial soldiers to fight within the armies of heaven. The human population will decline, and if the emperors of the land cannot produce heirs, the mandate of heaven will be forced to shift, perhaps against the will of the Jade Emperor.

I am speaking to you, rather than your brother, because we, of the alliance, believe that you are the wiser one. We cannot provide you support. We can only divulge our worries, and our hopes.

We beg you to consider this information. We beg you to dedicate time to this dire matter.

May the Jade Emperor favour you, and this cause.

The Alliance of the Lesser Gods for the Protection of the Balance

...

...

...

What the fuck?!

Lee looked back to the little girl, to gauge her own reaction to read this, and to see if she was reading the same thing.

He watched the slow horror of the situation dawn on her face. He watched her eyes widen and her jaw drop. In those eyes, Lee saw himself. He saw the same muddy brown eyes, that sat tacitly on his face, on her own. Her pupils were blown wide, just like his, with fear and worry swimming in her pupils.

Suddenly, without warning, she threw the scroll back, the paper flying through Lee's body, as she scrambled backwards, firmly into the cold sunlight. Lee felt as if sheaths of ice had formed through Lee's body, freezing his blood where it has passed through.

Lee almost didn't care of the growing frost, stretching over his skin, through his veins, and wrapping around his nerves.

The little girl's face matched his own.

Lee wondered whether he should try to kill her, here and now, to stop himself from existing, and to save her, and himself, the grief.

She breathed in and out harshly, placing her hand on her chest as she tried to control herself. Her hands shook and her muddy brown hair flailed around as she shook her head, a few strands escaping from the buns in her hair, and frazzling.

She shook her head, and clutched her face, covering her eyes.

"This isn't real. This isn't real," she mumbled to herself," This isn't real. This isn't real."

Lee looked over at her, and turned back towards the scroll she had thrown through his body.

He saw the fallen God, at the door of the hut, on the threshold between the light and the shadows. The edges of his body that dared to pass through, and be touched by the sunlight, burned and smoke rose up from those edges, rounding out his skin and his body.

The single red eye was at the forefront, looking out towards the little girl, transfixed on her, the iris and pupil twitching and moving along with her, following her and all of her movements. It glared, the slit of the pupil narrowing in anger and some incandescent rage, so strong and burning so brightly that it almost produced its own light.

A rage that could and would only be found within the hearts of the Gods, their eyes having seen too much, their ears heard too much, and their minds thought too much.

"I need to be brave. I must be brave," the little girl whispered, from behind Lee.

He turned back and watched her crawl towards the scroll, on her knees, arms and legs shaking as she reached out towards the paper. She stumbled and fell as she did so, hitting her leg on a stray stone, and bloodying it, the red seeping through her trousers, and her skirts.

Lee swung his body out of her path, unwilling to feel her body pass through his, gifting him more pain to suffer through. She would certainly get her chance at a later date.

And she certainly did take advantage of those chances very well.

She continued mumbling that mantra, as she came closer and closer to the scroll, closer and closer to the corrupted God.

She flinched backwards, a high pitched scream erupting out of her mouth as did so, as the God reared slightly out of the hut, but quickly throwing itself back in, as soon as the light reflected off of it.

Her eyes slightly widened as she saw more smoke rise from his body. The smell of burnt flesh permeated through the glade, emanating from the hut, and from the unfortunate wounded creature.

The girl rearranged her body into a more appropriate sitting position, and looked to be deep in thought. Lee slightly scowled as he realised that it had finally occurred to the girl that the being hiding inside the hut, burned and hurt by sunlight, was not going to harm her, as long as she didn't commit any transgressions against it.

The only thing she needed to do was give him back his scroll.

"Y-you know," she began, still frozen still and possibly in shock," There's not a lot of places that I can't go too."

Her voice was weak and incredibly shaky, her voice wobbling, and so different from the harsh, firm, and final tone that Lee was used to. They both looked too similar for her to possibly be anyone else though.

"I found out yesterday, that I'm going to be married to a boy, older than me. I don't know him, and mother said that if I don't, I have to kill myself by drowning in the river. She said that she'll take me there, and help me with it. I don't want to drown, so I have to marry him. I can't hang out and play with my friends, because some of them are boys. I have to learn how to sew, cook, and clean, and, and... I don't want to do any of it!" she screamed out.

"I want to… I want to be kind of like you. I want to live in the forest alone, away from everybody. I hate people! And people hate me!" she cried out, her eyes all scrunched up.

"I'm talking about all my problems with a monster in the woods," she sobbed.

"I have to talk to a monster in the woods about my problems, because my mother will kill me..."