Aochikan stared at the formation before him, sunk in deep melancholy.
They said that by placing materials into this formation, you could summon a chosen Descender.
Oh, don't get the wrong idea. He wasn't hesitating over whether to summon someone. He was hesitating over what to use as an offering.
To free Xibalak from his fate of sacrificing himself to the Sacred Flame, Aochikan was still working hard today!
What's this? The Kingdom of the Night God? Useless in Natlan. Toss it in.
What's this? The remains of the Pyro Dragon King? Harmful to Natlan. Toss it in.
What's this? A contract with Ronava? The thing that pushed Xibalak to his death. Toss it in.
What's this? Natlan's Sacred Flame? The source of what took Xibalak away. To make sure he won't have to sacrifice himself again, toss it in.
At long last, Aochikan stood in the formation and took a deep breath, activating it with himself as the sacrifice.
I can't help Xibalak, so I'm something that ought to be cast aside, too! Descender... Please take my king, my god, away from the shadow of death.
Ronava had sensed something amiss with the contract and come to watch. She couldn't help but marvel: What a Natlan hot-pot extravaganza, just like one from Liyue.
Then, without a care, she tore from within herself the divine spark that symbolized the authority of the Ruler of Death, split it cleanly in two, and tossed one half into the glowing formation.
Summoned by the formation, the fire spirit who wielded the Night Flame took the place of Aochikan's soul. Opening his eyes in this strange world, he found himself in Aochikan's half-dragon body.
In the distant future, the fire spirit, aka the Pyro Dragon King, the Night God of Natlan, Natlan's Sacred Flame, the new Ruler of Death, and the other half of Serein, fulfilled Aochikan's wish above and beyond all expectations. Grinning, he said to Aochikan, "What? You're not happy that I'm the Pyro Dragon King?"
Warning: potential content issues
1. This is the second installment in the Spinning Flowers series. The previous work is "Descender Banner: One Pull, and the Scarlet King Appears," but you don't need to read it first; this story stands on its own. It's a slow-paced, serious ensemble story, with a male lead pursuing his ambitions. The early chapters are mostly a road-trip adventure through Natlan, defeating the Pyro Dragon King and building up Natlan.
2. The protagonist's name is Aozifudu, a Night Flame spirit, but early on he uses Aochikan's body. He doesn't get a body of his own until he defeats the Pyro Dragon King. At first, he and Aochikan share one body (though Aochikan hates it and the protagonist does most of the driving), so there's plenty of banter inside their heads.
3. The protagonist's love interest is Serein, a Heavenly Pillar Knight, and the protagonist is the pursuer. His love interest is not Aochikan, definitely not Aochikan. Those two could never be a couple. But the captain won't appear until much, much later: the timeline starts in the Archon War, when the Pyro Dragon King is fought, and the captain won't appear until the Cataclysm in Khaenri'ah (though that isn't certain, since Istaroth might stir things up). The protagonist is the more dominant one, which is my personal preference.
4. The protagonist is an adult, an adult, an adult! He's just a little short (171 cm). He's just a little short!
5. The protagonist's special abilities are partly inspired by Dark Souls, but are entirely original. This series also involves an organization from a large-scale worldbuilding project I've been developing for a long time, so there are original additions, original additions, original additions.
As I always say, if you think something doesn't fit the setting, just treat it as a parallel world.
(That said, I do want to respect the original work, so whenever there isn't a conflict, I'll try to incorporate its canon details.)
6. The motto of this story: Any discrepancies are original additions, and any similarities are purely coincidental.
7. The characters' values do not represent the author's.
8. There may be other warnings I haven't thought of. No worries, I'll add them if I think of any.
Theme: End the war and bring peace to Natlan
