Dreams of the Founder
As Ling Chao broke through, sensations flooded his mind. His breath was like the seasonal storms, his blood like pumping magma, his bones like the great trees, his feet felt fleet enough to dance amongst moonbeams, and his thoughts expanding to encompass the heavens above. He had done it, he had begun the journey of an immortal. Opening his eyes, he saw that the meditation room in a different light. Colors were sharper, shadows darker, and the illusory moon projected in the middle of the floor looked… more real and physical.
Opening the door, he nodded to the guard outside the door. It was eerily quiet in the halls. Even with guards for every door. No one else was around, and none of the other doors were opened. Which meant… he was the first! The first of his generation to break through into the red realm! He needed to tell Mother! And Father! And Grandmother! With a start, he began sprinting down the hall towards his Mother's office, oblivious to the amused glances from the guards.
With the speed that Ling Chao had, the various tapestries and murals of the junior meditation hall blurred in a dizzying array of colors. The great silver and jet black doors at the end of the hall beckoned him, seeming to sparkle and shift in hue ever so slightly. It was but a moment, though, before he was pushing past those doors and into the manor proper. And then, as the cheerful sun warmed his form, exhaustion struck. Darkness crept at the edges of his vision, his limbs, once so light and fleet, turned into lead, and his head began to swim. With all the grace of a duckling learning to fly, Ling Chao fell forward onto the edges of the courtyard and fainted.
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Ling Chao felt his consciousness return to him slowly. First came the sensation of warmth and soft mattresses, the smell of subtle perfume came next, then came the sounds of murmuring and whispered conversations. Finally, he cracked open his eyes and saw his bedroom, dimly lit, with the moon shining through the window. Turning his head towards the door, he saw his mother sitting upon a chair at his bedside, writing something on a document held aloft by invisible hands.
With a soft smile, Mother stopped writing and looked up at him. And suddenly, he could feel the strength behind her gaze so much more clearly. A soft strength, born of cotton sheets and gentle nights, but no less expansive for it's perceived softness. Mother's strength felt just like he thought it would feel once he was a cultivator. Once… he was a cultivator! He bolted up straight with an energy he never felt before and smiled at his mother.
"Mother," he blurted out, "I did it! I'm a cultivator now!"
"So you are," his mother replied with a gentle smile to match his own. "And I heard from the guards that you were the first out of the meditation chambers. Congratulations."
Ling Chao twisted his body and hugged his mother. "I'm going to make you proud Mother. I'm going to make the whole family proud."
His mother hugged him back, and gently whispered, "You already have made me proud. Now rest, Grandfather wishes to speak to you in the morrow."
Ling Chao nodded and straightened up, letting go of his mother. "Yes, Mother. I hope that you have a good night."
"I dearly plan to. Goodnight Little Light, and may the Moons grant peaceful dreams."
And with that, his mother simply shimmered away, as if she had been but a dream. Giddy with excitement, Ling Chao buried himself under his covers. Energy coursed through him, and he began the qi cycling exercises that had, until now, merely been theoretical. But now, they were all too real. He had really done it, he had become a cultivator! Soon though, the excess energy had been burned away due to the qi cycling exercises, and Ling Chao fell asleep to pleasant dreams.
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Waking up had been an ordeal, but Ling Chao had finally dragged himself out of bed. The servants had already prepared the bath and had laid out the expected clothes for meeting with the head of the Ling family. After bathing and dressing, Ling Chao ate a quick breakfast in the dining hall. He could feel the daggers of envy from his cousins, but that was to be expected. After all, he was the first of his generation! However, there was no time to gloat or preen. No, Great-Grandfather had asked for his presence. Asked… might have been the wrong word. Ling Chao was sure that it had been polite and observing all the formalities for missives inside the Ling Clan, but as the Head, a request from Great-Grandfather was merely a politely worded demand. A demand that was expected to be fulfilled.
Walking through the Ling Manor as a cultivator was incredibly different than as a mere mortal. The paintings which adorned the hall seemed to hold greater meaning and have deeper colors. The marble busts seemed almost alive in their motion. And the shadows between the sparkling lights seemed even darker. But soon enough, Ling Chao was before silver and crimson doors that marked his great-grandfather's office. Two pair of guards stood at either side of the door, and with a nod from the most senior guard, Ling Chao entered the office.
Immediately, he tasted the tang of copper on his tongue, heard whispered pleas of mercy granted or denied, and felt the shadow of a guiding hand stained with blood above him. And as suddenly as he felt Great-Grandfather's strength, it disappeared. Before him sat an old man, the Head of the Ling Clan, at his desk. Quickly, Ling Chao began to march forward over the onyx flooring accented with crimson rubies, beads of sweat gathering at the small of his back.
Once he reached a small image of the moon before the Head's desk, Ling Chao bowed low and began his rehearsed speech, "Honored Great-Grandfather, you have requested my presence, and I have come."
"Raise your head child," came the soft, weighty voice of his great-grandfather. "I have not requested your presence to pronounce judgment, but to give permission."
Despite the weight of the ceremony, the excitement began to build in Ling Chao. Keeping the excitement out of his voice took some effort, but finally, Ling Chao responded.
"I am honored, Great-Grandfather. For what have I received permission to do?"
"As a cultivator of the Ling Clan, your privileges have expanded, as have your responsibilities. You will have access to the first floor of the Ling archives, to explore at your leisure with appropriate supervision. Resources shall be provided for you so that you may cultivate more effectively. More esteemed tutors will be available to you should you seek further education in an area that interests you. But before all of that, you shall pass the Trial."
Ling Chao's excitement continued to grow, and he bit his tongue to regain control of himself. "May I ask what this Trial is, Honored Great-Grandfather?"
"You may, but I shall not answer. As you shall not answer when others ask you. For it is the right, privilege, and duty of a cultivator of the Ling Clan to undergo this trial. All those who have not undergone the trial are not cultivators of the Ling Clan, and it is not for them to know what the trial is."
With a wave of a knarled, knotted hand a shimmering door appeared on the side of the office.
"Go now, Ling Chao, and become a cultivator of the Ling Clan."
Almost trembling with excitement, Ling Chao quickly sped towards the shimmering door, opened it and walked through. Inside was a dimly lit room, floored with silver and onyx. The roof was a dome upon which all phases of the moon were engraved, each in precious metals and jewels. In the middle, raised upon a dais, stood an archway. Seemingly made of a solid, twisted rainbow and a strange twisted black stone. Carved into the black stone were silver formations, etched in almost impossible finesse. And in between the archway, a shimmering sheet drifted and floated. Confined within the bounds of the archway, it seemed almost hypnotic in its slow intricate motions.
With confidence he did not feel, Ling Chao approached the archway, took a deep breath, and stepped through.
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She[he?] darted around the bread seller's stall with her[his?] purloined goods. The pangs of hunger were like a knife carving at her[his?] stomach. There was enough food in her[his?] hands to survive for days! Dashing with a desperate determination, she[he?] vowed not to get caught. If she[he?] got caught, then there would be a beating, and she[he?] would be too weak to get more food. And then she'd[he'd?] die, and that was unacceptable.
Scenes like this played out for days as Ling Chao took the place of a frail, sickly, and hungry mortal. Reliving her attempts to survive on strange and unfamiliar streets. Whenever the girl introduced herself, the name became a blank, and whenever the name of the city was mentioned, there was a hole in his memory. Other than those strange rules, every brutality the city had to offer he suffered. Every indignity he knew of he did. All to survive one more day.
It was almost unbearable, some days. The thirst for a drop of water, the knife of hunger. But death was unacceptable, and whatever it took to survive he[she?] would do. It was frightening, to see how desperate people acted to just survive one more day. One time, she[he?] stole a cloak off of an old decrepit man simply so that she[he?] could survive the night. It was done… with full knowledge that the man might die because of the theft. And that knowledge was simply ignored. Pity was a luxury that could not be afforded.
One day, suddenly, she[he?] encountered a strange man. A man with a mask who made a simple offer. Become a cultivator, or lose the ability to cultivate forever. She[he?] accepted, and then the dreamer woke.
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Stumbling through the other side of the arch, Ling Chao fell to his knees and retched. He could still remember the smell of scavenging through sewage for a scrap of something useful. The feeling of filth which coated him after a particularly adventurous dive into a trash heap for bits of food to eat. But worst of all, he could still feel the desperation. The desperation to survive at all costs if it meant just one more moment of freedom.
Glancing forward, Ling Chao noticed a person crouching in front of him. Looking even higher, and he recognized the face of his great-grandfather. Great-Grandfather reached out towards Ling Chao, with a clean scented rag.
"Here, child. Wipe your face with this. It will help."
Taking the proffered rag and quickly wiping his face, Ling Chao looked up into the face of the man who sent him through this hell. And there was some measure of… sympathy? And sadness?
"What was that Great-Grandfather? Why did I have to go through that?"
"That was the memories of our founder, Ling Qi. Memories of her time as a child, and much more. Various events are etched into this arch and others like it. Memories so that we remember. Remember where we came from, and of the privileges we have secured because of the hard work of generations. It is to remind us that the world is not the Ling Clan Manor. That the world is full of suffering, and we must fight, daily, to keep our place secure from such deprivations for the future generations to come."
Grimacing, Ling Chao stood. "I… I, understand Great-Grandfather."
With a small, indulgent smile, Great-Grandfather replied, "No, I do not think you do. Not yet, and not truly. However, your mother is awaiting your return. Go to her, and tell her of your experience in the Dream Arch. Remember, you are not alone in your suffering. All cultivators of the Ling Clan have suffered as you have."
Nodding his head, Ling Chao tiredly walked towards the shimmering door. Pushing it open, he was surprised to see his bedroom with his mother sitting on a chair. And with tears in his eyes, Ling Chao cried in his mother's embrace. Cried for a life long since gone. A life which started with such suffering and desperation.
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A/N: If you are wondering why the mother called the Head "grandfather" but Ling Chao called and thought of him as "Great-Grandfather" it is because the Head is literally the grandfather of the mother, which makes him the great-grandfather of Ling Chao.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed my interpretation of a possible future Ling Clan. There was some discussion last thread, and perhaps this thread about throwing Ling Clan children in the slums of streets so that they can learn about desperation and need, but I felt that was a crude method. The method used in this omake is simply to use the memories of Ling Qi and have the children live through those memories. Also, I fleshed out the reason why a clan would do such a thing, as I felt previous reasons were lacking.
As always, I hope you enjoy the read, and I welcome critiques and criticisms. Also... another Omake for the Omake throne
@yrsillar
