Acceptability

"Opportunities are usually disguised as hard work, so most people don't recognize them." - Ann Landers

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The sounds of the living city hit me like a truck. All of it was beautiful and impossible, by my standards. In the far distance I could see how whole chunks of mountain were floating in the air.

"What the….?" I stayed in the same spot, for hours flabbergasted, watching people go about their day. One thing I noticed was the hidden fear and paranoia most of them had. Their eyes scanning every corner and crevice as they walked down crowded alleys.

Seems like life here is tense and terrifying. 'Wait! If this is the end of the Empire, that would mean the Bloodstone Emperor is in power!'

When the daughter of the Opal Emperor ascended to power as the Amethyst Empress, her envious brother cast her down and proclaimed himself the Bloodstone Emperor and began a reign of terror and slavery, in which he practiced dark arts and necromancy, took a tiger-woman for his bride, feasted on human flesh and cast down the gods of Yi Ti to worship a black stone fallen from the sky.

This Blood Betrayal, as it is known in the annals of the Further East, ushered in the Long Night, with the Maiden-Made-of-Light turning her back on the world, while the Lion of Night came forth to punish the wickedness of man.

The darkness ended when a great warrior rose to lead the virtuous into battle with the sword Lightbringer in his hand. Light was restored, but the Great Empire was not reborn for the restored world was a broken place where every tribe of men went its own way, fearful of all the others, and war, lust, and murder had endured.

So….I have to endure the Bloodstoone Emperor's brutal reign, The Long Night and the aftermath of the whole event. 'This is not gonna go smoothly.'

For the first time, I moved from my spot. I could barely walk. I looked down at my body. I observed how tiny they were, how a steel band wrapped around my wrists, how my clothes hing from my body extremely baggy.

'I'm a slave?' I came to the conclusion from seeing my tiny, rough and calloused hands. Scarred and burned as well, they weren't fit for a kid? Maybe 10-11 based on my size. Im sure thats effected by my malnourishment. I could be older.

A simple breeze blew against my skin, it felt like my soul froze. 'Winter?'

"Im so skinny." My eyes trailed down to my arms. I had basically zero muscle. I was built like a lowercase L.

"Yes, yes you are." A man comes outta nowhere, shocking me.

"Who are you?" I look up to him. He was dressed in stylish silk battle robe adorned with red stones and embroiled with Chinese pinyin.

"Introduce yourself first." His voice was one of mountainous weight. Like a lion roaring in a cave.

Names of all kind came to me, Japanese names in a Chinese influenced empire. Could I dare to be different?....So I thought of the most powerful Japanese name I could think of, "I'm…..Yamamoto, sir!"

The reason I answered sir? Momma taught me respect and this man, this man commanded it. "A strong name…for such a weak boy." He said to me.

I didn't take offense as his statement was true. "I wont be this way forever you know?"

"How? You are just a slave. Where is your master?" He asked callously.

"Couldn't care less, old man."

"….Old man, how presumptuous of you. A brat, to fearless for his own good is what I see in you, boy." He got to a knee and leaned until I could smell his breath and whispered "What makes you think I wouldn't kill you where you stand?"

"My time before I was born was peaceful, perhaps death will be as well." I said to him in the same hushed tone. A minute of silence passes as we stared each other in the eye. People passed by us, to caught up in their own lives to pay attention to us for more than a few seconds.

"I am General Han of the South-Western Province. Loyal Servant to Yin Yin the Sea Dragon, Admiral of The Grand Dragon Fleet."

His titles impressed me a bit. "Well sir…..what is a general of a Regional Lord doing talking to a poor slave child?" I ask in curiosity.

His eyes narrow and then he says "A feeling…a great feeling of despair if I didn't come here on this day. So…perhaps the gods have led me to you, little one. Enough talk, follow me." He turns sharply, and walks off.

I mutter to myself, "thank you, Aemond."