Page 91 of Elemasters

When the group arrived, Mr. Liu himself was standing in the doorway, clearly preparing to flip off the open sign. The second he saw the group rushing for the door, he smiled softly at them.

“You youngsters got good timing, I was just about to close up for the night!” he said, his warm gravelly voice trembling as he held the door open, allowing them to step inside. He was a whole head shorter than Dustin, largely because of his curved stature, and his hair was a mess of unkempt silver. A pair of wire frame glasses sat precariously on the bridge of his nose, and they bobbed ever so slightly as he hobbled around the counter, “how can I help you all?”

Dustin let his eyes wander around the room for a long moment, taking in all the different bits and baubles on display. There were Chinese scrolls that looked absolutely ancient, along with more statues and figurines; it definitely looked more like an antique shop than a pawn.

“Okay, there’s no way to say this without sounding absolutely insane,” Bailey sighed, “we know your first name is Ruanyu… and we also know there was someone in the Tang Dynasty with the same name. So, we’re wondering… are you him? Is he you? Are you like, the same?”

Mr. Liu was silent for a long moment, before he nearly fell over himself with boisterous laughter.

“My, my. You all must be quite the students of history to make a connection like that! I didn’t think a name like Liu Ruanyu would even survive in any records!” he adjusted his glasses slightly and looked between the trio, “those rings you all are wearing are really nice! What are they, some sort of friendship token? They’re really lovely… you wouldn’t be considering parting with them, would you?”

Chloe and Dustin exchanged confused glances. As powerful as their rings were, they were entirely unassuming solid-colored bands. It wasn’t the kind of thing to draw attention… unless…

“We can’t exactly ‘part’ with them,” Chloe explained, “which I’m sure you already know, don’t you?”

Mr. Liu smiled coyly.

“How fascinating. All these years and I am still surprised by twists of fate. Da Siming never ceases to impress with his manipulations of fate,”

“Da… Siming,” Dustin scratched his head for a moment as he tried to place the title. It came to him like a rushing wave, “the Director of Destinies? From Chinese Mythology?”

Mr. Liu tapped his nose like he was playing charades.

“Spot on! Smart one! But given all that you’ve seen, all that you’ve done, surely you know better than to call it myth young man,”

“Okay, not to be rude but all this is making my brain hurt,” Bailey whined, “you know who we are? What these rings are?”

“You’d do well to maintain an appreciation for whimsy young lady; it’ll serve you well when you get to be my age. Though, I sincerely hope you never get to be my age,” Mr. Liu began, “to answer your question, yes… but also no. I do not know you, in specific. But I know exactly what those rings are. Created millennia ago to correct the transgression that threatened the balance of both heaven and earth,”

Mr. Liu hobbled from behind the desk… or at least he did before he started to walk upright, with a spring in his step that suggested he was relieved that he didn’t have to perform the ailment any longer.

“When Qin Shi Huang’s bold ambition grew so large that he stole a scale from the almighty Dragon King, the power that resulted was enough to give even the Jade Emperor’s heavenly court a start! But of course, the heavens hesitate to intervene in the mortal realm flippantly, especially after all that nonsense with Hou Yi,” he shook his head, like he was remembering something inconvenient, “but Da Siming has ways of guiding mortals in a manner that allows them to solve their own problems,”

Dustin’s eyes widened.

“So… that’s how Fusu and Sima Yao found the lost writings of Laozi that led them to Mt. Penglai. Da Siming led them in the right direction?”

“Possibly,” Mr. Liu shrugged, “can’t say I know exactly how the big guy works. But what I do know, is that things must be dire if you all are here seeking me out,”

“Dire is putting it mildly,” Chloe huffed, crossing her arms, “Qin Shi Huang is about five hot minutes from forcing his way into our world, and Sima Yao told us we need to find the Heirloom Seal if we want to stop him. But we have no clue where it is. Apparently it was last seen with… someone from the Tang Dynasty who very possibly might be standing in front of us right now, and we really need you to help us find it,”

Mr. Liu took another long pause… and then he just started snickering like he’d just heard a dirty joke or something.

“You know, I’ve spent centuries hearing scholars debate about where the Heirloom Seal of the Realm is, what it really looked like, why it was so important, how it went missing. But none of those stuffy academics ever stopped to ask the most obvious question in the world. Not where, why, or how… but who?”

“I’m sure plenty of historians have wondered who took it,” Dustin immediately replied, only to be silenced by Mr. Liu raising his hand.

“Not who took it… rather, who is it?”

Dustin, Bailey, and Chloe exchanged a look that said everything without saying anything; what the fuck is he talking about?

As if he read their mind (which Dustin guessed wasn’t entirely impossible), Mr. Liu continued.

“Of all the possibilities, no one has ever considered that the Heirloom Seal of the Realm isn’t merely an artifact, but perhaps… an entity all its own. One capable of changing its form as needed. Perhaps to the kings of Zhao, it served as a ceremonial slate, to the Emperor of Qin, a seal of absolute authority… and as the empire threatened to crumble into disrepair, it understood that the time had come for it to exist in an all-new way and seek out its own destiny,”

Dustin’s jaw had hit the floor so hard that it was currently digging its way through the floorboards.

“You? You didn’t take the seal, you are the seal?!”