You cannot scream to the skies and to earth for fairness. You cannot find the soul of man within an empty world. The Heavens are the Heavens because we make them so, and the Hells are the Hells because we make them so. That is the greatness of humanity, that is our depravity.

  -Nei Lo, The Judicar.

  Somewhere outside of the region was a man facing tribulation.

  The skies roared and lightning rained down upon him as a holy test of strength and Tai Lui persisted. There was nothing near him for tens of thousands of miles. That’s how it was in the wilds. You’d find small pockets of civilization sometimes, but it was mostly empty, of both qi and people. Only beasts of the lowest stature and vagabonds would be out this far.

  Tai Lui had fled his home, his region, and his sect. That damn immortal had all but destroyed him. He was beaten. How could he return home after that?

  And that boy, Cai Xuin, he knew him. He knew his name and it was only a matter of time before the rest of the sect found out.

  So Tai Lui had fled. He left the region before any trackers could be set on him. He wandered through many dangerous territories before settling down in this empty place of misery.

  The qi here was sparse, barely even there, much like the qi within the Great Desert Strip. Cultivators needed external qi to circulate in order to grow their reserves and keep their strength and if it weren’t for his many spirit stones, he’d be in dire distress.

  And yet he had done it. He was here in the hellish wilds, facing the skies with all the pride of man.

  The lightning attacked him.

  The Heavens refuted him.

  And all of his mortality clung to him like rotting filth.

  But Tai Lui would be cleansed.

  He fought, draining his qi, draining his spirit stones, and all of his resources. He had saved for centuries but in mere days all of that had been turned to dust.

  Tai Lui awakened, and his mortality turned to dust with it.

  He stood, broken and nearly dead, but he stood.

  And he was proud.

  ********

  Above Ah-Marin was a moon made of chains. From below it looked like earth and dust had been gathered together to make a star-sized satellite. It was the size of a star, not as big as Ah-Marin’s suns but certainly noticeable, even during the day. It was a moon and it stayed in locked orbit over the Void Blade Sect.

  But if one looked and knew what they were searching for, they would see it.

  The strange straight mountain slopes that seemed to go on for hundreds of miles, that was just one link out of millions. It had been easy to see a long time ago and down on the earth of Ah-Marin, you would find mortal myths of a ball of chains floating in the sky.

  They said it was where the raging goddess of wrath was held. They said it was the bindings of the last daughter of darkness and nothing.

  And they were right.

  Fey Lin Fo, for that was what they called her, heaved.

  The mountainous chains that had gathered age and rust refused to move.

  Her limbs were each held by four chains, and her neck was held by five. She was at the very core of it all holding a mass of bindings together. She was the foundation of her own prison.

  If her left hand tried to pull in the chains, her right hand would be ripped off. If her legs tried to break free, her head would be yanked to the sky.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Strangely enough, while the chains had gathered debris from impacts with asteroids and many other of the moons that were in orbit of Ah-Marin, the woman herself looked pristine.

  Her beautiful red hair flowed all the way from her head and down into the chains below. No one had combed it and yet it seemed to glow in the pitch-black room, like a river of crimson lava flowing at the center of the earth.

  Her clothes were simple fabric and they were replaced every year by the staff here. They would rot off otherwise. She never sweat, she never aged, and she never looked disgusting.

  They thought it was just her nature to be beautiful. They let her grow her hair out because they couldn’t bear to cut it. They kept changing her clothes because they couldn't bear to expose her unclaimed womanhood.

  It had been thousands of years, but what was that to an immortal of the ninth rank? It probably felt like yesterday for them, she thought. Her family, her friends, and her so-called suitor hadn’t given her any choice in the matter.

  She had been born a pawn of the Eternal Darkness Sect and sent off to marry someone of the Void Blade Sect. A political marriage between the Ten Great Sect of Ah-Marin.

  But she had refused. She had instead killed her suitor, stole the Void Blade's most sacred technique, and cultivated both her own Eternal Darkness technique and Void Blade Technique to the ninth rank.

  It was the greatest insult anyone could have done to both sects and yet the Void Blade Sect was resolute in sealing her.

  “She is so talented, too capable, too beautiful to kill.”

  That’s what they had said.

  Footsteps approached. A good-looking man of the ninth rank entered. He wore a long violet robe that seemed to shimmer in the darkness as if it were eating the shadows. He had no weapons by his side and wore an enchanted smile on his face.

  “Fey Lin Fo?” The young master of the Void Blade Sect spoke.

  So Whe, one of the children of the current patriarch. He came before her, got down on one knee, and opened up a beautiful box. Within it was a ring, a shining glittering enchanted ring.

  One that had been made especially for her. It was a tenth-rank artifact of enslavement and it had been bought from one of the many merchants that came by here from the void. She had wanted to leave this world and head out for the void at first. She had planned to abandon all her problems and reach out for the worlds beyond their reach.

  But that was a long time ago. That was before her imprisonment and before this strange humiliation ritual that she had endured thousands of times over. That was before she had been leashed like a dog and forced to be a thing for one of these disgusting people to claim.

  And it wasn’t only men, many women had tried as well. She was too beautiful, too attractive, they refused to let her free, even in death.

  Someone had to own her.

  She was past freedom now. She was past escape and there was only one thing running around in that pretty little head of hers, as they called it.

  Vengeance.

  Her hair, her beautiful hair that they had refused to cut glowed deep into the chains. It was beautiful they said. It was red and shimmering, like the crimson glow of a night star. They couldn’t bear to cut it and many of her ‘suitors’ came knowing they’d be rejected if only to see her hair in all of its beauty.

  And in their ownership, in their desire, they had forgotten one thing.

  To a mortal, hair was nothing more than that, just hair. But to an immortal, to a demigod, it was an extension of them, something that could hold their very essence.

  The man left after a day of talking. He laid out reason after reason, offer after offer, but she made no sign of listening.

  She never did. Her rejection was in some cases, enough of a reason for them to stay. They liked hearing her talk, they loved listening to her voice. Any emotion, no matter how hateful would be something they incited and they loved to make her feel.

  She had learned that long ago.

  She kept time, second by second she kept time, and a month after he left. That was when the rainy season would be happening within the Void Blade Empire. It was a busy time for them. It was tax season for most of their regions and it was the time of year they all went out to harvest their resources. Some went to the stars, others talked to merchants. Some even left the realm.

  Long Whe and many others of the sect, along with a gathering of people from the nine other sects would be heading out this year. Gu Xin had told her that.

  Her small disciple who had since recuperated her worth a thousand times over even now. She could sense her in some backwater realm beneath the moon, moving, waiting.

  Their communication was one-sided. All Fey Lin could do was sense her position, but through centuries of work they had developed a code and Gu Xin spoke to her as if she stood by her side.

  Fey Lin Fo breathed in, her hair seeped into the bindings below.

  This was it.

  And with one big breath, she pulled.

  Her neck, her legs, her arms, all threatened to rip off but she pulled anyway. Pain struck her a thousand times in an instant, skin tore beneath metal, but she pulled anyway.

  Her hair was ripped from her head and her scalp threatened to go with it.

  But she did not stop.

  And then the chains broke. First one, then ten, then thirty, then hundreds.

  She couldn’t slow, not now. If she did they would catch her. They would notice.

  Millions of chains didn’t have to break. That wasn’t necessary, only the ones immediately binding her limbs. One from her neck, two from her right arm, three from her left leg, all five of her left arm, four from her right leg.

  With a crisp snap, everything broke and Fey Lin Fo smiled.

  She moved her hands, her shackles were still there but that was something she expected. Those would need a bit more work to tear off.

  She waved her hand and her blood, her hair, and her discarded skin burned. The clothes on her burned as well and she left the crumbling moon.

  “Gu Xin,” her voice spoke for the first time in a millennium. “I need to rest.”

  The patreon is really behind right now. I was going to write during the break but I got an awful stomach bug and just got back to normal. God bless pepto bismol and Imodium.

  I hate hospitals.

  I plan to write all the chapters out and post them this Tuesday for patrons. Sorry patrons.

  CHECK OUT MY OTHER STORY. Its good, I promise.