Chapter Text
PROLOGUE: Falling
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“I wish we could be a pair of one-winged birds in heaven flying together.
I wish we could be a pair of trees on earth growing side by side, our branches intertwined.” (1)
Cries of war reverberated throughout the wasteland like thunders shattering rocks and hills. Thousands of warhorses galloped down the line like bellowing beasts charging straight to their prey, disregarding pains and cuts marring their frames. What was once a meadow thriving with lush green fields had been mowed down to the ground; what was once an expansive farm full of harvests to feed hundreds had been trampled to dust by men and iron. On this land ravaged by decades of bloodshed, countless lives had been lost and the earth reeked with the stench of death.
A general of the eastern army looked on to the distance. Far-reaching was his sight from the back of his mighty steed, yet seeing the end of the wasteland he could not. Swords and spears clashed fiercely all around him; arrows flew in the air to strike down their unknowing quarries. Screams of terror and anguish pierced his eardrums and the echoes would remain to haunt him in the coming days and nights.
Victory was already within his grasp, a result he had already long foreseen. The Dragon banner waved proudly in all its glory amidst the vicious air to swallow the struggling Carp. They couldn’t even reach the end of the Yellow River; how could they even dream of attempting the impossible of climbing the great waterfall? A battlefield was not as merciful as the current of a river flow. It wouldn’t allow them to return back to where they came from but devour each and every worn-out soul down to the bottom, never to see the surface ever again(2).
However, even if he had accomplished the task entrusted to him, the general felt no sense of joy.
The wrestling men and beasts had kicked up dust to fly up on this barren field, yet his eyes never failed to find what his heart sought the most.
Once, a long time ago, under the blue sky painted in thin billows of white clouds fluttering about and a sea of vibrant red flowers flourishing at their feet, he met a person.
A friend from the neighboring land, a like-minded stranger, someone who carved a memory so precious in his life that he wouldn't forget it even if the world were to turn upside down. Though young he might be at the time to understand the sentiment taking root in his heart and ignorant was his mind to give a name to this feeling, his little self knew at least to preserve that brief moment they spent together as the most cherished possession he’d ever found.
And a promise they made on the day he left: To meet again under the blue sky where tiny white clouds were dancing about, on a field of brilliant red flowers blooming at their finest, never to part.
But one’s fortune was as capricious as the weather(3). A reunion they did have, yet their long-awaited meeting seemed just about to become an eternal parting.
His sword stained with the blood of his enemies; his hands stained with the blood of his fallen comrades—Beside his lifeless steed, that person had crumbled under the weight of the colorless sky and drowned in the crimson flood beneath his feet. His once startling bright eyes had been blurred by despair, sorrowful and disillusioned.
It was this empty gaze that met the general's watching eyes, a seething exchange made between them instead of a tender reunion.
Where were those young, innocent souls who knew only of the warmth of sunlight and the fresh sprinkle of rain?
The memory was distant and the present implacable. As though to mock the last remnant of that sentiment now hanging by a thread, an arrow flashed by and pierced through that person’s flesh, spraying his blood to wet the barren soil.
As those marching under the Dragon's banner emerged triumphant from this bloodshed, the general heard a part of himself shattering.
“I wish we could be a pair of one-winged birds in heaven flying together.
I wish we could be a pair of trees on earth growing side by side, our branches intertwined.”
“The heaven is eternal and the earth long-lasting.
Must I let this sorrow unfold, unceasing, and complete, becoming a regret everlasting?” (4)
FOOTNOTE(S):
- Taken from 長恨歌 (Song of Everlasting Regret) by Tang Dynasty poet, Bai Juyi. It was inspired by the love story between Emperor Xuanzong and his most beloved consort, Yang Guifei.
- Referring to the famous Chinese mythology of a carp fish that persisted in swimming upstream and managed to leap up the waterfall of the Yellow River where the Dragon Gate stood. The gods noticed the carp fish’s efforts and then turned it into a dragon.
- From the idiom “天有不测风云，人有旦夕祸福” which more or less translates to “fortune as unpredictable as the weather, every day may bring fortune or calamity”. The meaning can be understood as “something unexpected may happen at any moment”, or in a more pessimistic sense “Accidents may/will happen”.
- See Footnote No. 1