Emperor of Ji

Meng was very confused, last night she was being flown, albeit, while being kept aloft by her arms, through the beautiful starry skies of Ji by the dragon she’d spent months searching for.

Now she was being dressed up by a flurry of courtesans and concubines in the Ji Royal Palace.

“My goodness, your hair! When was the last time you washed it?” An older woman asked as she aggressively scrubbed it free of the decades of dirt that had built up in it.

“Uh, when I last had a bath?” Meng said, not entirely confident she’d ever even had a bath before.

“Dear oh dear! Terrible, how terrible! No wonder THE captain of the guard sent you to me first!” The older woman cackled as she continued to aggressively rinse the confused girl's hair.

“I just wanted to go to the moon… Was that so much to ask Youshin?” Meng thought as she hugged her legs to try and suffer through the cleaning based onslaught as best she could.

The Ji Royal palace was an enormous fortress with 3 concentric walls, with the city of Jeiwo debatably being the 4th wall of defense for the palace. Each wall contained its own city within it, high class craftsmen staying in the 3rd wall, lesser nobility the 2nd and the most important men and women in Ji within the 1st wall.

Of course, only a select few of those important men and women ever got into the Palace itself, aside from the thousands of workers that kept the place running of course.

Meng was clueless to all of this of course, she was a girl from a small village and as far as she was concerned, she was just getting dragged away from her next journey to find Youshin.

“Finally! You look somewhat presentable now.” The older woman sighed as Meng tuned back into reality and saw herself dressed in a red dress and pants, with her hair being done up with clips and a pair of loops.

“I hate it.” Meng declared bluntly as she looked up at the older woman.

“Now now, such unladylike behaviour will not be tolerated by the Emperor’s court.”

“I don’t want to go to the Emperor's Court, I want to find Youshin.”

“That kind of language is dangerous young lady! I would suggest you hold your tongue, only speak when spoken to and-”

Meng tuned out again and started planning what she’d do to convince Youshin that going to the moon was a good idea.

“If seafood wasn’t enough maybe he’d like a gift? Dragons like silver right? Maybe he’d like silver…” Meng thought as she was dragged into the Emperors Court by the older woman and a pair of palace guards.

The massive columns that held aloft the almost impossibly tall ceiling of the central palace were engraved with the various histories of the Ji Empire’s, with many monks studying their words and committing them to memory to meditate on further once they leave this palace.

According to them it was drenched in negative Chi.

Meng would agree, though she’d just call it loud, busy and generally distracting to be in.

The pair approached a large curtain with intricate patterns spiraling throughout. The older woman stopped and suddenly Meng was forced to sit down on her knees and bow her head.

“Show disrespect and the Emperor will have us both killed!” The older lady hissed, cutting Meng off before she could even begin to complain.

Meng just gulped deeply as she kept her head firmly planted on the carpet in a deep bow.

Trumpets blared as the curtain was lifted, revealing the elevated throne that Emperor Taoyan sat upon.

He was a large muscular man with a long black beard and moustache. His face was closer to that of a warlord than an emperor. He rested on his right hand, his left arm covered in purple scars.

“Raise your head girl. Concubine, leave.” Taoyan declared, waving away the older woman with his rotted left hand. It was stiff and struggled to move from the side of his body, but he forced it to move regardless. Meng looked up and audibly gasped upon seeing the Emperor of Ji.

The older woman flinched but quickly scuttled off, leaving the girl to her fate.

“Can I assume you know where you are girl?” Taoyan asked, his voice was deep and booming, an aura of malevolence surrounded him. Meng coughed and nodded.

“The Royal Palace…” Meng muttered as she stared up at the Emperor.

“Good, I assume you were treated well by my staff?”

Meng just nodded,

“Excellent, now I’d like you to explain how this works.” Emperor Taoyan snapped his fingers, a guard walked over and dropped the compass stone in front of Meng. It glowed for a moment but sputtered out just after landing.

“Uh, it… you just…” Meng mumbled as she grabbed it, hit it against the ground and it started pointing towards Youshin.

“Hmm, fascinating. Tell me, what do you desire? Gold? Land? Whatever your heart yearns for, I offer it to you.” Taoyan explained sincerely as he stood up, revealing his left leg was withered in the same way as his arm.

“WHAT?! Why?!” Meng shouted before quickly clasping her mouth, causing the Emperor to laugh heartily as he limped down the stairs.

“Let me tell you a story. A long time ago I was on a… let’s call it a hunting trip with my brother. We had a small platoon with us. Just as we left the forest, we saw him.” Taoyan explained, his voice starting in a friendly tone before transitioning into something more hateful.

“He took a great umbrage with me and my brother. We tried to reason with the wicked demon but he refused. We tried to retreat but he mercilessly tracked us down.” Taoyan continued as he made his way to the ground that Meng was still kneeling on. He lowered himself to Meng’s eye level and placed his hand in front of her.

“I jumped into a small clearing before he cast a spell that turned the land into a frozen tundra in an instant. Every other man in our hunting party died that day, including my older brother.” Taoyan finished as he painfully clenched his scared fist in front of Meng’s shocked eyes.

“Y-Y-Youshin did this?”

“He did, I’m surprised he let you live. Perhaps he wishes to taunt me more. But you, you’re a clever girl aren’t you?” Taoyan grinned as he picked up the compass stone from the floor.

“You can lead us straight to him can’t you?”

Meng simply nodded.

“So I ask again, what is your heart’s greatest desire? So long as it’s within my power as the Emperor of Ji, I will grant it.”

“I-I-I…”

Taoyan stared, his face had a faux kindness to it, like a preying mantis disguised as a lilly.

But Meng felt that refusing would be even more dangerous than accepting.

“I want to go to the moon…” Meng mumbled, looking away from the emperor.

“A simple matter for the Emperor of Ji. Men, we set off tonight!” Taoyan announced as he forced himself up, using his scabbed to help him up.

Meng felt a sinking feeling as if she’d just massively messed up.