Vermillion Hereafter

This place known as The Chasm has shone with a cinnabar luster since ancient days. The mountain miners and the metropolitan merchants still tell the legend of a Yaksha... People say that the lone traveler with four arms once came to the barren wastes where the star fell. Hearing that this wandering figure's evil-exorcising travels had now brought them hence, the tribes-people of the mountains came forward one after another:

"Guest from afar, please accept our wine, and hear our plea." "You may consider our aged spirits bitter and hard to swallow, a far cry from the sweet brews of Mt. Tianheng that even Rex Lapis praises." "But the heavens have graced us with stores of precious stones and marvelous jade, and we carve the jagged rock for a living." "Thanks to the grace of Rex Lapis, our lives are, while not ideal, at least free of terror." "Yet things have changed, and a dark shadow is cast over the blessing we have received from the fallen star." "We do not have any precious gifts to present as a pledge, but still we beg for your succor."

The guest heard the elders' plea, and silently drank every drop of that bitter wine. The guest promised nothing, and did not chastise the mortals for their insolence, but simply turned east, disregarding all attempts to make them stay.

As for what came after, all now know what happened...

But the simple crystal-sand wine cup that the guest shared with the tribal elders remains to this day as a testament to their pact.

Even the ancient cinnabar cliffs were once home to lovely blooming flowers. Even in the era when blackened blood flowed freely, they were not stained by even the smallest smidge of mud.

While the Millelith stands guard, evil shall never prevail. Even should the enemy be dark demons, this would not change. The silent mountain people and the steel moon constructed their peaceful camp.

"Oh daughter of the cliffs of Glazed Sand Crystal, weep not for me." "I was born in the shade of Tianheng, and I fight to repay Rex Lapis' mercy." "I entrust my life to the four-armed Yaksha, and we shall go into the glowing depths." "The shadowed road of the darkest pits we shall tread, we shall brave the stony crystal halls." "We will face the defilement arising from the depths, the twisted beasts that dwell there." "These horrors and their strangeness shall not put me to flight or fear."

The night wind interrupted the Millelith soldier's words, causing him to be unable to finish what he had to say. He simply left this small flower for that young daughter of the mountain tribe as a memento, a ward against forgetting.

"The only thing I truly fear is to be lost and forgotten." "Should ill fate dictate that I am to be buried in some nameless place, do not forget me."

Legend has it that a hero once plucked an eagle's feather from atop the highest cliff of The Chasm. It is also said that those who could accomplish such a deed earned the right to die alongside the adepti.

"Going to one's death willingly in defense of the people... A good cause indeed." "Yet, if you think about it, this would be akin to a fish sinking into a deep pool or a bird plummeting into a forge." "I may yet achieve my own desire, but we shall go unknown, and ultimately unremembered." "Mortals like us are like feathers caught up in a whirlwind, floating into the deep sky." "Saving, defending... In the end, these are all pointless things, void of meaning."

These dark murmurings shook the hearts of those who would never make a name for themselves.

But the battle was over in the end, and many a soldier would rest eternally in the cavernous depths. The freakish cries of the dark forces were also silenced like fading ripples... And though mortal spans are short, the land will forever remember.

Tianqiu once played host to a Yaksha, four-armed and mighty. He came to The Chasm from afar, to the praises of the tribes. A feast they put forth for him, the food in abundance. Blade in hand, he entered The Chasm, a disaster to still. Mighty as a demon, purple bale-fire shone in his eyes. The lightning pierced the deathly shadow, and thunder dissolved the darkness. The clouds hid the abyss, maw stretching to devour the firmament. The wild wind howled, the cinnabar sweeping the darkness. The mountain ranges shock, and the gorges caved in. The depths cried out as they collapsed, and then all was silent. The dense clouds solidified sundown-light as the perching birds sang sadly: "Do you not hear? The drums die in the north wind, the hero sinks into the vortex." "Have you not seen? The Yaksha's battle for the dawn — alas for a life so spent."

It is said that Rex Laps was yet young, the sun was a chariot that raced across the earth. When the three sisters of the night sky were martyred in a calamity, the solar chariot fell into a deep gorge. The mountain people, taking it for a sign, repaired the device, allowing it to shine through the darkness again. And though it was returned to its constant westward cycle, a single piece would forever remain behind. When they moved to the city, they would grind that fragment into crystals and sell it to someone who knew its value...

"Hey, hey, that's a joke, right? I mean, you can't trust these baseless folktales, can you?" "The merchants of Shenglu Hall have long left their obscurity and forgotten their past." "Glittering Sand Crystal cannot easily be made into lacquerware, after all, nor is it suited to making luxury paints." "According to the miners at The Chasm — and mind you don't believe this story too readily either—" "This timepiece and sand crystal came from the Millelith five hundred years ago."

In the lightless abyss where light wrestled against darkness, even one with a Yaksha's might could not hold out for long. And all the more did mere mortals need light to prevent them from getting lost in the steel curtain of devouring night. The Millelith thus collected glowing sand to light the way, and it just so happened to resemble the pale moonlight. The timepiece for its part told of the time they spent there in the abyss, and serves as proof that where they fell, others have come after to take up their duty.