For the Next Life, Part Four: Purple Song

The day I was born was the day my parents died.

Some people called me ill-omened because of it. I think they were right.

I slid from the warmth of the womb, my body covered in mucus mixed with blood. In my memory, that moment feels as if it happened only yesterday.

A black sword, dark as iron, cleaved down from the sky. Lightning flashed and thunder roared. Blood gushed from the heart like a pillar of water, and a strong, sturdy body became a dark red, lifeless corpse in an instant. Red stained the earth. Layers of blood mist filled the air, spreading their vivid hue to the horizon. The whole world was ablaze with red: my father's blood.

My father was killed by a sword through the heart.

Yao Xue was my father's name. Everyone in the Heavenly Domain knew that Yao was the royal surname of the Sun Clan, and that my father was its last king before the clan fell into decline.

The Sun Clan was the symbol of the sun. On the day my father fell, the earth cracked apart and the sky darkened like death.

Zi Tong was my mother's name. I know many mothers in the world are women, but my mother was a man. People told me he was gentle by nature and peerlessly beautiful. Even among the Charm Clan, famed for producing beauties, he was among the very finest. He had once been the Night King's most beloved consort, but he died for love as the lover of the Sun Clan's king.

Legend had it that Zi Tong, the Night King's runaway consort, died in childbirth.

Everyone said my birth had taken my parents' lives.

And so I was ill-omened.

I think they were right

A short story featuring physical torment. Read at your own discretion.

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