- Invitation Status
- Look for groups
- Looking for partners
- Posting Speed
- Multiple posts per day
- 1-3 posts per day
- One post per day
- 1-3 posts per week
- One post per week
- Slow As Molasses
- Online Availability
- My times are pretty erratic, but I try to avoid being on EST 11pm-9am.
- Writing Levels
- Intermediate
- Adept
- Advanced
- Adaptable
- Preferred Character Gender
- Male
- Female
- Genres
- Fantasy, Modern, Historical Romance.
The city of Beijing was imposing and dark on the evening of December 24th, 2015, the towering skyline obscured by the thick smog that remained undeterred by the biting cold of the winter air. The streets were bustling, as they always were, however, its people used to such a state of affairs this time of year, and some of what clouded the air were also rich scents of roasting potatoes, and the noisy honking of perpetually backed-up traffic. In other words, it was just another regular wintry day in the city. For most, anyways.
For the thirteen children of the zodiacs who had gathered here today, it was quite a different story. Following the address they had been given in the strange message from the Four Pillars of Destiny would lead them all to one of many tall buildings. Stepping inside would reveal a shockingly luxurious interior, complete with glossy orange marble on the floors and a fancy chandelier on the ceiling. It was a high-end hotel, and it was not a particularly surprising choice, as most such establishments had large gathering rooms available for hosting events. The Thirteen had been instructed to go past the lobby and to the thirteenth floor, but upon entering the elevators, they would find no such thirteenth floor existed. The numbers went from 12 to 14 without pause. Many buildings in China didn't have an official thirteenth floor. It was considered unlucky.
Were they to ask the man who worked in the elevator, however, pushing buttons for people, his eyes would glow white and he would respond in a tongue only members of the zodiac would understand. A tongue none of them had ever heard, but all of them knew. The same tongue used in the book each household owned. He would ask them if they had come for the Gathering, and a simple yes would cause him to reach over and press a button between 12 and 14 you were quite certain was not there before. It held not the Arabic number 13, but a single Chinese character: 星.
The thirteenth floor comprised of a long, carpeted hallway with two elegantly carved wooden doors set into the right-hand wall. The wall on the left, however, was suspiciously bare. This being suspicious, because on the first floor that had been quite a lot of room to the left, so there was no reason for there to simply be a wall when the building clearly had more space than that. The two doors were both open, and bright, yellow light shone from them, illuminating the hallway much better than the electric lamps on the walls. Inside these doors, they would all find a large room, with an enormous round wooden table and thirteen, squashy red chairs evenly spaced around it. A name card was in front of each placing, each one with a name of one of the houses, in the language that the representative understood best. Cross-legged, sitting on the smack center of the table, was a little girl with features that were difficult to assign to any particular race, though for certain it was not Western. She had medium-length black hair tied into two braids on either side of her head, and her eyes were closed, though she was facing the doors.
One by one, the representatives of the houses trickled in, and when finally they all were seated, the little girl floated off the table and began spinning very slowly in the air. She did not open her eyes but she opened her mouth and from it came four, deep voices, reverberating ominously through the air, in that language they all understood. "Welcome, representatives of the Thirteen Houses." A single voice, a man's, came next, though the girl's lips were not moving. "It has been too long a time since last we met: the first, and what we had hoped would be the last time. As according to the agreement with your ancestors, we have watched over the Houses silently for all the years of your existence, keeping you from meeting with each other, and waiting for such a time as this, when we would have to overturn all of the rules that were set in place long ago, to save you all from a power too great for any of you to handle on your own." The next voice was that of an old woman, a gentle voice, but a warrior's voice. "We, the Four Pillars of Destiny, have called you all here today, twelve days after the twelfth day of the twelfth month by the solar calendar, to tell you that you have only one choice and today is the day you must make it: Leave here, forget the other houses, and consign your houses to their inevitable doom, or pledge yourselves to follow the letter, join together, and find the one who threatens us all." The next was yet another man's voice, this one a little sterner, but younger. "Such was the last decree of the Emperor of the Heavens." They did not explain that further, but a last, sibilant, hissing voice came snaking out of the girl's mouth. "Make your choice." And with that, the girl vanished with a small poof. That was all.
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