Rin walked into the Onikaze Forge.
"We're closing up!" a voice called.
The same woman with the shaved head he'd met the first time turned. "Oh — it's you." She looked him over. "I've been keeping up with your matches. Just to see if you were all talk."
Rin smirked. "What do you think now, Ms.?"
"You're pretty good. Yoru Oni looked nice on you." She grinned. "And those Viatras are cold as hell, hahaha." She paused. "Sorry if I didn't introduce myself the first time — call me Timesha. Titi, for short."
"Titi. Got it." Rin nodded. "Thank you. What — you're not scared of the Viatras?"
Titi laughed. "Mannn. I see danger every day and make the best weapons for some of the most dangerous, strongest Seekers around. Why would I be scared of those eyes of yours? Besides, my gran—"
An old woman walked out from the back, cutting her off. "Girl, you talk too much sometimes. You never know who's listening."
"Sorry, Grams." Titi turned to Rin. "Sorry — this is my grandmother, Wai. But like I said, I was closing up. Anything you need, I can handle tomorrow."
Rin looked at the old woman and smiled. "Baba. You really gonna send your grandson away?"
Titi's head snapped around. "*Baba?!*"
"Yes, yes," Wai said. "Rin is my grandson. When he came to the store the first time, to buy Yoru Oni, he was checking in — he even left his aura residue on the Tola he used, knowing I would count it and see it."
Titi stared at Rin. "Why didn't you just *say* something when you came in?"
"I didn't really know who you were," Rin said.
Wai readied her long pipe, packing it slowly as she explained. "So." She blew smoke out of her mouth. "Listen carefully. I'm only going to say this once."
She began.
"Long ago, before Chun, even before Chu — when the landmass was called Chi — it was a hostile, savage land. Different warlords, each vying for land, riches, power, but none could get the upper hand. Not a big enough army. Not enough resources. Nobody familiar with anyone else's territory or terrain. Infighting. You name it, it happened."
She told Titi to lock the door and Rin to sit down, and continued.
"Til one day, a man named Guan Bai Qin — who would later found the Great Chi Empire and become the first emperor — met his best friend, whose name is lost to history, but most know him as Fatiha."
She emptied her pipe into an ashtray, looking at the cooling furnace.
"Chi's warring period was one of the bloodiest eras in Margerina's history. Hundreds of years of chaos. Millions of lives lost in such a small span of time — all with the same goal, to unite the Chi continent under one banner. General Guan fought under the Hua Clan, winning the hearts of the people and the minds of the scholars and the military. But the Hua Clan leader didn't like this. Sent the General on an impossible mission, hoping he wouldn't return.
"Guan succeeded. Barely. But came home to find his family slain, and the Hua leader had fabricated documents — said General Guan had stolen from him, allied with his enemies. That sent Guan fleeing through the night, away from southern Chi, north — until he ended up in a forest town called Aoi Mori. In a tea shop, down on his luck.
"That's where Guan met the man. Fatiha."
Wai's eyes went somewhere far away.
"Three men walked up slow to his face, looking up at him — he towered over them, seven feet tall, eyes glowing the deepest red you can imagine, aura fuming off him, ŌI activated without him even meaning to. It dropped the weakest people in the room to their knees. Two of the men. The third apologized. Fatiha paid the tea shop owner and left.
"Guan tried to give chase and collapsed to one knee — nearly knocked unconscious by Fatiha's ŌI, without Fatiha even trying. That stunned Guan. He vowed right there to recruit him.
"Guan tried everything — for days, weeks, months, even years — just to learn a little about the man. Learned he came from a deep, unexplored mountain valley jungle, somewhere between Chi and Rajputana. Didn't talk much. Prayed. Trained at night, when he thought no one watched. People called him the Red Ogre — for the deep red eyes, the tall stature, made him look like a black, red-eyed ogre in the dark.
"Guan kept asking. Kept coming back. Til the third year, Guan brought all the gold he'd taken fleeing southern Chi and told Fatiha — if he faced him in combat, he could have it all.
"Fatiha refused.
"So Guan unwrapped something. A sword. Said, 'This is the greatest sword in the south. QingYu. I won it in my many battles. It's slain many foes, with me and before me. I know a man of your calm and stillness needs a blade to compliment his style.'"
Wai took another puff.
"So did he take the sword?" Titi asked, finishing up the store's locks.
Rin sat cross-legged, Tetsuba resting on his shoulder, listening.
"Yes," Wai said. "He foolishly took the sword. Men's egos are stirred by money, women, and power. Guan gave Fatiha a taste of the first, promised him the other two along the way. And that was the start of what would become the largest death count in Chun history."
"We all know men," Titi said.
Rin looked at her for a moment before turning back to his grandmother.
"They gathered followers over another three years," Wai went on. "Starting from northern Chi, sweeping east, then up into southern Rajputana — clans, tribes, banners, family crests, Guan unifying them all under one banner. A jade serpent. With Fatiha as his war dog.
"Fatiha led every battle. Always slaying thousands. QingYu got famous — not just in Chi.
"Finally, Guan ended up back facing the Hua Clan, most of the northern territories under his control by then. Both armies clashed in a grand battle known as the Battle of the Green River. Forest fighting, near the river, both sides caught in a chaotic, bloody melee.
"Fatiha met the Hua Clan leader in the middle of it. Read every one of his moves before he made them. Slew him. Sent the whole Hua army into flight the second they saw their leader fall. The green river ran red that day.
"To make sure the victory stuck, General Guan hunted down and killed every surviving member of the Hua Clan over the following weeks. But something never sat right with him — not since the day of that battle. He always thought — *I should have been the one to kill Ji Han.*
"A day later, General Guan proclaimed the first empire in written Margerina history. The Empire of Chi. Guan became Emperor. Emperor Zhongyi, the common people called him. And Fatiha earned the title Shèn Jī — the base of god.
"The empire stretched from south of Rajputana all the way to the southern territories of what's now Chi. Only the western territories, ruled by the barbarian hordes, stayed unconquered.
"Years passed. Both men started families. And that's when it happened."
Wai's voice slowed, grew heavier.
"Fatiha's wife — Tomoe Zetian — infatuated with money and power, swayed her way into Guan's bed. A long affair. Til one day the Emperor made the grave mistake of visiting her and fleeing with her back to his capital — Chang'kyō.
"That started a civil war.
"Fatiha rallied southern Rajputana under his own clan — the Shèjī Clan, made up of his sons and daughters, the best generals from Chi joining his side. The Siege of Chang'kyō. Fatiha used Earth Muti to divert the Jade River away from the capital, making Chi's ships useless. Blocked every road in and out. Killed anyone they found, war or not.
"Emperor Guan countered — straw dummies to steal arrows off the enemy, psychological warfare, harassing the attackers' camps at night, horns blasting around the clock, never letting up. But Fatiha had a hundred and fifty thousand men against Guan's ten thousand. It was only a matter of time before terms came to the table.
"Guan said he'd surrender — but only if he could come alone. His clan told him it was a trap. Fatiha would've done anything for his wife back, so he agreed — went only with his eldest son, Kishimoto.
"They entered the city under heavy guard. Walked through streets where soldiers and citizens looked at the man they'd once called a hero. Made it to the palace. Guan embraced Fatiha like a brother, right there, while Zetian looked on with disgust — but Fatiha only smiled at her, like he was glad to see her.
"The meeting moved on to terms. Fatiha reuniting with Chi. Getting his wife back.
"Zetian, fuming, walked over to him, seductive, and leaned in close, whispering in his ear — *I never loved you* — and slit his throat in the same breath. Blood everywhere. Fatiha recoiled, trying to hold his own throat shut, as his son rushed to his side, trying to stop the bleeding.
"It was too late.
"Fatiha died with his eyes open. And Zetian laughed. Manically."
Wai let the silence sit a moment.
"That sent Kishimoto into a blinding rage. His aura roared grey, then turned violent red, and a massive figure rose behind him — a hundred feet tall, a woman in a kimono, gentle-faced like a goddess priestess, a cloth wrapped over her eyes with hair bangs covering her face. The whole court froze. Some of the palace guards tried to attack anyway. The figure grabbed the palace pillars and columns and pulled them inward, collapsing the entire palace on itself. Killed everyone inside.
"Til a massive hand burst up through the rubble. Kishimoto, still holding his father's body, the giant woman towering over him, his eyes blazing blood red."
Wai inhaled from her pipe.
"What do you think Fatiha's son had just tapped into?"
Rin said, low. "The Viatras."