Seated upon a temporary throne within the mirror chamber, was Lord Hebo within his golden robes. There was no one else beside him inside the room, and he grimaced to look at the person on the other side of the mirror.

It was a very handsome man, whose very face shone like a halo, and radiated with absolute confidence in himself. He wore a robe of deep red that seemed to flicker and come alive with every movement of his person, and sat upon a dark-red throne of his own.

Perched on top of his crimson throne was a strange bird, its beak and plumage charcoal-dark like it had been thoroughly burnt.

It had three legs.

The man smiled, exuding a charisma that was the envy of all fellow men. ‘I was absolutely overjoyed to receive a contact from the River Palace today! Tell me,’ he chuckled sweetly, ‘shall I take it that you’ve come to accept my little… proposition?’

Lord Hebo looked up to him in deep, solemn thought. His brows seemed only as sewn together as the tough curl of his lips, until they finally parted an almost whisper:

‘...I do.’

The red man clapped happily. ‘Marvelous! How reassuring it is to have the Lord of the Rivers’s support in this daring venture I am to undertake!’

‘Save your circumlocutions for someone else, Shaoyang!’ Lord Hebo grunted with an annoyed wave.

The man on the throne was Shaoyang, Lord of the Immolating Sun, and a direct prince of the Jade Emperor. He governed over the Solar Realm, and was one of the most powerful gods even within the Heavenly Realms.

He looked toward Lord Hebo with an inquiring smile. ‘Then you be direct and tell me, Lord Hebo, what has turned you over? I was rather worried you’d just sit and hold on to your chair until the fighting was all over, I’ll have you know.’

Lord Hebo’s fist clenched upon the rests of his throne.

‘...I want you to promise one more thing in return for my support, Shaoyang.’

‘And what thing would that be?’ Lord Shaoyang asked without hesitation, laying himself comfortably to a side of the throne in preparation to listen to a long story.

‘... I want you to kill Houyi.’—

Lord Shaoyang chuckled. ‘Don’t you know?—By godly standards he’s considered to always be killing himself!’

Lord Hebo’s expression darkened. ‘... I mean, permanently.’

Lord Shaoyang arched an eyebrow, and straightened his head resting upon his palm. ‘What happened between you two?’

‘... He assaulted me without orders from the Jade Emperor!’ Lord Hebo related the encounter from the other day.

Lord Shaoyang held his face by his cheeks as he listened, and finally lifted his fingers when the story was all over. ‘... I’m afraid Houyi’s got a case there. If you sue this up to my venerable father, all you’d get is more penalty for slacking on official business.’

‘... But what if I sued this up to you instead?’

Lord Shaoyang understood his meaning. ‘Regardless’, he waved his hand as though suddenly feeling hot, ‘it is still too steep a price’—

‘How hard can it be to get rid of a god once you’ve obtained everything you’ve wanted?’—

‘The matter is which god you want me to get rid of!’ Lord Shaoyang clapped impatiently. ‘Houyi is a special case. His ties with the heavenly construct are loose, and his influence within the mortal realm can be a real asset’—

‘So what?! You want to win him over the same way you did me?!’ Lord Hebo bellowed. ‘The moment you open negotiations with him is the moment I talk!’

For the first time within the conversation, sun god’s radiance was lost from his face. His smile took on a grim ambience, as he thoroughly scanned the man in the mirror before him.

‘... You have to learn to pick your fights wisely, if you ever want to become a heavenly god.’

‘Be wise!’ Cawed the ominous blackbird beside him.

‘... Heavenly god!’ Lord Hebo scoffed, ‘—you mean that title given based on relationships instead of merit?’

‘What are you’—before Lord Shaoyang can interrupt him, Lord Hebo had pressed forward with his tangent.

‘That’s the only reason Houyi is a heavenly god while I’m a lower one! Every meritorious deed we did upon the earth, we did together—Hell, I did even more than him! I volunteered myself whenever I saw that I could be of service, and he was slovenly enough to let me!’

Lord Shaoyang smiled more beamingly as he beheld Lord Hebo’s fury. ‘... Houyi was a heavenly god before he was human’—

‘But it doesn’t mean he’s any better a heavenly god than I would be—he wasn’t even any better a human than I was!’

Lord Shaoyang fell silent. His radiant glow seemed to bubble around his person, as he shifted his head and tapped his fingers, but slowly, it expanded in full brilliance again.

He smiled brightly at Lord Hebo. ‘... I’ll give you what you want—and in return, I expect nothing but absolute loyalty from you.’

‘I will prove to you that your choice is correct’—

‘You have an entire army of fishmen; he has a temple of scholar-priests who cannot even do magic—what is there to prove?’

Smiles spread upon the two gods’ faces. A confident one on Lord Hebo, and an amused one on Lord Shaoyang.

‘Before we end this contact,’ Lord Shaoyang started suddenly with a bored slouch, ‘I would like to try and clear up some complications upon the board if I can. They may be minor, but if I don’t know for sure if they’re minor then I could be in a lot of trouble down in the long run.’

‘What complications?’

‘The missing lunar rabbit’, Lord Shaoyang said with a yawn.

‘Ah, that.’

He noticed the unsurprised tone of Lord Hebo’s voice, and widened his eyes quizzically.

‘Tell me.’

So Lord Hebo told him everything. About his newly wedded wife who was Lady Heng’e’s sister from the Lunar Realm, and how she had been at fault for causing the rabbit to run away, and how he had sheltered her within his River Palace.

Throughout this account, Lord Shaoyang’s amusement visibly increased upon his face.

‘What is that smirk about?’ Lord Hebo asked with annoyance once he had completed his story.

‘... Heng’e has no sister, only a pet rabbit.’

This statement sent a resounding shock through Lord Hebo’s entire body. He straightened like a bolt.

‘That can’t be!’

‘Single child!’ the blackbird cawed in corroboration.

‘But the resemblance!—her complexion, her hair, her eyes—everything! I have admired Heng’e’s beauty my entire life now!—this I cannot be wrong about! Who is she then to be able to resemble her so much!’

At this outburst, Lord Shaoyang only chuckled softly. ‘My Friend, do you truly not realize—or do you simply refuse to?’

‘Refusal!—Denial!’

‘What are you talking about!’ Lord Hebo bellowed menacingly, half shifting into his draconian form in rage.

The smile disappeared from Lord Shaoyang’s face, and was replaced by a look of concern instead.

‘... What I mean is, your wife is the moon rabbit.’—

‘Lies! You’re lying to me!’

‘It’s the only explanation that makes sense! She is just using transformation magic—animal companions are known to naturally take on forms similar to their masters’—

‘Not to this degree! I can see through the transformations of my mermen just fine!’

Lord Shaoyang shrugged. ‘Maybe there was a powerful artifact or complicated ritual or circumstances involved—maybe she’s just talented at the art. But the fact is, your wife is the Lunar Rabbit.’

Lord Shaoyang then chuckled thoughtfully. ‘I’m willing to bet Yangjian would have little trouble seeing through it with his famed Third Eye, however. It’s hard to get past his watchful eye.’

Meanwhile, Lord Hebo sank back into his throne without expression. ‘No… How can this be…?’

‘Well, perhaps you were too infatuated with her form to realize—you know lust does do things to limit one’s greater faculties’—

‘What about Houyi!’ Lord Hebo roared, ‘—he’s smittened and monopolized the most beautiful goddess herself!’—

‘While remaining celibate!’ Lord Shaoyang chuckled. ‘It’s one of the criteria of becoming a heavenly god.’

As he looked down at the river god sunken upon his own throne, Lord Shaoyang realized that he needed him to be in better spirits for his plans.

‘Cheer up, Friend! It is not your fault! Upon becoming river god you’ve partially turnt dragon, and we all know how libidinous those creatures get! It’s all because of the injustice you’ve suffered from the very beginning.’

Slowly, Lord Hebo nodded to this. ‘...You’re right! It’s because of this unjust system!’

‘So let you and I together go and try to change it! To make things right!’

‘To show them all!’

‘Show them all!’ The blackbird quarked, ‘—Show them all!’

It was from there that Lord Hebo began having meetings with human cultists.

Joining them in their devious plotting.

He took his mermen with him in disguise whenever they needed strength in numbers.

To make public speeches promoting the sun cult.

To take the dissenters out in unfortunate accidents.

They laid the groundwork for a new religion.

Each stone extorted of human blood and tears, as they stacked upon one another into their grand towers and temples.

Always lit in a grand blaze in praise of the sun.

Like a ravenous fire that swallowed up all the firewood within its vicinity.

And when firewood became scarce, it demanded other things as well.

The world became warmer, as the forests were eaten up by fire whether humans were actively causing it or not.

Ice melted from the frosted peaks, and their waters flooded violently into the plains.

The tides rose irregularly and rain fell less and less.

Their waters all slowly become corrosive, and life became harder for its aquatic creatures.

But Lord Hebo only watched as it happened.

He watched as the fires burned nine holes into the barrier of sky that had surrounded the Earth.

Letting the full might of the sun in its merciless brilliance.

…Like nine new suns.

Lord Hebo only stood and watched.

As magical priests who spoke with inspiration and acted with flame.

As the people slowly suffered from the light.

Their eyes going blind, and their skin burning from within.

As they cried in pain, and heed the sweet promises of the priests in red robes.

The preachings of prayer to the sun.

For mercy.

For blessing.

As the humans suffered more and more, and the faith of fire spreaded across the world.

And as the extreme light corrupted both their bodies and their souls.

…Lord Hebo smiled.