The Bride of the Serpent is Silent

The wheels of Lei Gong's carriage, suspended on clouds, never to touch the ground. There was neither the jostling of cobblestones nor ruts of dirt tracks to disturb them on their journey back to the water god's estate. However, the disorientating feeling of the flying vehicle, still serving to aggravate Jing Li's nausea. The bride of the water god clamped her eyes shut as she leaned onto Xi Yang's shoulder. Conscious that the closeness of their positioning made her guardian somewhat uncomfortable as she felt him shift uneasily in his seat. Jing Li felt apologetic for her impropriety but was admittedly too weary to move, whilst the carriage continued to careen across the night sky. 

Her eyelids, growing heavy as Jing Li rested her drowsy head casually on the man sitting next to her. She was to fall asleep, before were to reach the walls of Shui Long's estate. Unsure of the amount of time she had slept or the hour that it was, Jing Li awoke to find herself stranded once more upon the shores of a strange land. The sky plagued with an oppressive darkness that seemed to leave the surrounding landscape devoid of color. The somber clouds cast ominous shadows upon the banks where Jing Li now emerged from her deep sleep. 

Lying beside the vast motionless waters, which extended out beyond what the eyes could see. Jing Li could not say with any certainty whether it was the sands of a lake or an ocean that she had washed up on. However, the very contemplation of its foreboding expanse, sending a shiver down her spine. Jing Li hauled herself up from the embankment. Her body, feeling lighter now as she lifted herself from the black sands. Jing Li realized that she had been freed from the pain and dizziness she had suffered from that evening.

This epiphany initially incited a moment of relief in her; before dread was to inevitably follow. Looking out over the surface of the sinister waters and the crooked forms of the gnarled trees that protruded from the soil around her. Jing Li finally acknowledged that she may have unwittingly entered the realm that was only seen by humans after death. The souls that entered the Diyu rarely returned from its shores, Jing Li only knew what had been told to her through the legends and fables. 

Nonetheless, the despair that permeated the air of the dry and deserted land, seeming to confirm Jing Li's suspicions. The bride of the water god took a few tenuous steps away from the inanimate tides she stood beside. Unsure of which direction she should be traveling in or even if there were directions in this realm, which appeared to lack either a sun or a moon. Jing Li had plenty of time to contemplate this and to mourn the reality of her death as she wandered aimlessly through the desolate plains.

Alone amidst the barren wasteland carrying the regrets of all of the hopes and aspirations that were never to come to fruition for what felt like hours. Jing Li steps slowed as she detected the forlorn sound of others crying in the distance. Their miserable wails occupying the stagnant air of the Far Shore as they lurched across the horizon slowly. Jing Li squinted to observe the souls of the departed for a moment, before the presence of a familiar figure made her gasp in disbelief. Spotting the tear streaked face of her pitiful mother swayed along with the sea of anguished spirits that seemed to all be staggering in the direction of a long bridge.

Her heart, eager to make amends for abandoning the woman who had raised her. Jing Li rushed towards her dearly departed mother, whom she had never expected to be reunited with after death. However, stumbling over the dusty land as she tried to fervently catch up with the sorrowful figures that still marched along the horizon. Jing Li was beginning to become discouraged by the fruitlessness of her efforts, when she did something she had never done before. 

"Wait!" Jing Li called out in desperation.

The cry heard clearly through the strained exhalations of air that escaped from her lips. Jing Li stood dumbfounded as she observed everything around her on the barren land come to a grinding halt. Appearing to have frozen at the behest of the woman, who had never once been able to utter a word over the course of her life. Jing Li felt perturbed by the eerie stillness that fell over the landscape as she looked around for another entity that could have caused the phenomenon. However, discovering only herself present in the vast and empty space where the urgent cry had originated, Jing Li touched her throat in startled amazement.

Beginning to realize that the physical laws, which had prevented her speech previously, might not apply to the land of the dead. Jing Li was still marveling at the sound of her own voice, when a comment that was made from beside her made her flinch in surprise. 

"It appears I have passed my burden onto you." remarked a sage voice. The sudden appearance of the man, nearly provoking another dizzy spell as she turned rapidly to see who had spoken. Jing Li froze as she saw the ethereal stature of a man materialize next to her on the plains of sullen and foreign land.

His dark hair tied up into a neat topknot high upon his head and regal profile remaining prominent as he stared out at the figures that hung grimly in the distance. There was an unknown sorrow held within the man's resplendent blue eyes as he said, "I had hoped never to see you here." His voice calm, despite the emotions of longing and sadness so evidently playing on his pale brow, he added, "However, I cannot deny that there was a part of me that wished we would meet someday." Although the man's speech and characteristics seemed to hint clearly at his identity, Jing Li still discovered that she was too shy to utter her next word in anything other than the form of a question.

"Father?" Jing Li asked, her eyes searching his expression for a sign that her hunch may have been correct. This answer was supplied to her with a gentle smile as the man replied, "It has been a long time since I have seen you last, my daughter." His clear and honest eyes, turning to her now as they appreciated every aspect of Jing Li's face for a while, he began to speak again.

"Tell me, how is it that you have come to this bleak land?" he asked. A sad tranquility to his tone as he continued to review the daughter that had grown without him. Jing Li met his eyes with a similar woeful expression as she replied, "I think, I was poisoned."

Recalling the symptoms of her ailment and perhaps having heard the diagnosis from the space in which her body still occupied, Jing Li still felt strange to admit the circumstances of her death aloud at this time. The words falling like heavy stones from her lips, Jing Li frowned after having spoken them. Remorseful that another trap had denied her the happiness of a future with Shui Long, the water god's bride grew silent as she once again stared off into the horizon. A sigh heard from beside her, Jing Li's father said solemnly, "I had hoped for a more peaceful life for you away from all of this, but I suppose Fate has her own plans too."

Her eyes fixed on the figures ahead of them, unsure of the reason why they were to remain unmoving. Jing Li posed a timid question towards her father, "How come they are all so still?" The man's considerate regard, following his daughter's gaze towards the souls of the deceased that had been halted in their arduous journey. He responded, "You have unfortunately inherited some of my powers, Jing Li." The man's flawless skin marred by the wrinkles around his mouth, there was a frown that formed as he added, "Your voice holds the power to command anyone. Even the gods, should you wish it."

Allowing this news to sink in as the two looked out over the somber landscape that was cast in shades of gray. Jing Li, who had only observed weakness within herself, felt a profound fear at the realization of this power and the destruction that it could cause were it to be used unwisely. Her apprehension towards this news, made apparent by the thin creases that were to appear between her brows. Jing Li's father continued, "Originally a blessing, meant to prevent the gods from committing too many atrocities. This power was eventually to be seen more as a threat to their sovereignty than anything." 

Acknowledging that many deities would not be too keen to discover the existence of this power, laid in the hands of Shui Long's potential wife. Jing Li thought it somewhat fortunate that she never had the temptation of employing this talent in life. Safely removed from the politics and the love that could potentially drive her to do more foolish things, as she now was likely to remain in this dark and foreboding land. Jing Li posed another question to the man beside her, "Can I stay here with you?" Her voice, sounding mildly hopeful of their reconciliation at a time when all else seemed to be lost. The father looked down on his daughter with the remorse of a parent, who knew that they must one day let their child go as he replied, "No, this is not a place that you belong to at present." 

Somehow trusting in his sad smile and solemn tone, Jing Li did not follow the man as he proceeded towards the horizon. Watching her father's dignified figure fade into the distance for a while, Jing Li eventually mustered enough hope to persist in her journey through the Diyu. The procession of souls, no longer waiting for Jing Li to join them as she veered in a separate direction from them. She peered back to observe their dreary figures once again march laboriously across the flat soil of the Far Shore, before renewing the seemingly futile endeavor of somehow escaping this realm. 

Finding no other creatures living amidst the land of souls as she came to pass over veins of empty streams and the disfigured branches of the twisted trees that grew there. Jing Li finally happened upon a field, where she sat amongst the bright red blossoms of copious spider lilies. Exhausted by her efforts, though she knew that it was only her spirit who had traipsed the Diyu, Jing Li released a long exhalation as flopped down onto the thick carpet of flowers. Beginning to feel discouraged as she watched the dark clouds roll by overhead. Jing Li laid amongst the tall stems, contemplating whether the hope she had placed in her father's words had been misplaced; when all of the sudden the face of a horse appeared above her. 

Startled to find that she was not alone in the field, Jing Li sprung up from the ground. Shui Long's bride, scrambling away from where the creature, who now stood with her amidst the flowers. She stopped long enough to observe that it was only his face that resembled a horse's. The rest of his body, quite clearly that of a man in a robe and armor, Jing Li could not prevent a little gasp from escaping her mouth as she recoiled away from him. However, her surprise, misinterpreted as abhorrence towards the man's appearance. There was a twinge of mortification apparent on the guardian's long face as he said, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you."

The being of the Far Shore, holding his palms out from his side as though to illustrate to her that he had come in peace. Jing Li bowed an apology, responding "No, I'm sorry. I- I wasn't expecting to see anyone else out here." Jing Li's speech, a little disjointed, due to the fact that her mouth was still unaccustomed to forming words. This nonetheless seemed to alleviate some of the injury that she had caused to the horse-faced guardian's feelings as another more gruff guard approached them.

"Is this her?" said a man, who bore the head of an ox.

Evidently aggravated by their search across the vast land, the guard's nostrils were still flaring as he regarded the woman they had discovered in the field. Her curious gaze and dumb expression, seeming to exasperate him even more, he grumbled over to his partner, "If it's that serpent's bride, then just bring her along. I haven't got the patience to explain things to her." The guardian of the Far Shore who possessed the head, and also apparently the temperament of an ox, had already begun to stomp back through the red blooms in the meadow; when Jing Li and the horse-faced guard decided to follow.