Shadows of the Sunless Sky

The sun had always been a symbol of life, prosperity, and balance in the Middle Kingdom. Its golden rays once danced on the roofs of jade-tiled pagodas, illuminated sprawling rice fields, and kissed the mountains crowned with mist. But those memories were now like fragments of a forgotten dream.

It began suddenly—a day when dawn never came. The sky turned an ominous shade of ash, and the warmth of the sun faded into a bone-chilling cold. Scientists, monks, and oracles alike failed to explain the celestial betrayal. The heavens were silent, and the earth wept.

In the first year of the sun's disappearance, chaos reigned. Crops shriveled, rivers dried, and the land cracked under an unforgiving darkness. Hunger became the new master, and the weak were its first victims. By the second year, famine gave way to disease. Skin poisoning from the tainted air turned flesh into festering wounds, and death swept through villages like an unrelenting tide.

But then, a miracle—or a curse—emerged. A chosen few, scattered across the shattered provinces, discovered they could summon small, radiant orbs of light, imitations of the vanished sun. These "Lords of Light" became humanity's new rulers, hoarding their power and demanding loyalty in exchange for survival. Cities crumbled into slums, and the once-proud empire fractured into fiefdoms ruled by their blinding light.

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In the Slums of Wuji Province

Lian Hua coughed into her sleeve, her thin frame trembling as she trudged through the crowded alleys of the slums. The air reeked of decay, and the ground beneath her bare feet was a patchwork of mud and ash. She clutched a worn bamboo basket close to her chest, the meager contents—two shriveled turnips and a handful of dried rice—barely enough to last a day.

Once, Lian Hua had been the pride of her village, her beauty compared to the moonlit lotus for which she was named. But beauty was a fragile thing in this world. Her delicate features were now marred by scars, reminders of the punishments inflicted by those who ruled above.

Her eyes darted toward the towering manor on the hill, where the Lord of Wuji resided. His light shone brightly at night, casting shadows on the slums below, a constant reminder of the gap between those who had and those who did not. Lian Hua hated that place. It was there that her life had been stolen, where she had been forced to endure unspeakable horrors at the hands of the lord.

Now, she carried the weight of her shame and the life it had brought into the world.

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The midwife shook her head as Lian Hua screamed through her labor. "You're weak, girl," the older woman muttered. "The heavens took the sun, and now you want to bring life into this cursed world?"

Lian Hua gritted her teeth, her fingers clawing at the dirt floor of the hut. "They will live," she hissed, her voice trembling but resolute. "My children will live."

The first cry pierced the air—a strong, defiant wail that made the midwife gasp. She lifted the infant, a boy, his tiny body glowing faintly with a soft golden light.

"By the ancestors..." the midwife whispered, her hands trembling.

But Lian Hua had no time to process the miracle. A second wave of pain gripped her, and soon, another cry followed. The second boy was born in silence, his eyes wide and curious, as though he already understood the weight of the world he had entered.

The midwife's expression darkened. "Two suns cannot rise in the same sky," she muttered, repeating an old Chinese proverb.

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Word of the glowing child spread quickly, reaching the ears of the Lord of Wuji. Soldiers stormed the slums within hours, tearing Lian Hua's fragile home apart. She clung to her sons, desperation etched into her every feature.

"Take the elder," the captain ordered, his voice cold. "The Lord has no need for a weakling."

Lian Hua screamed as they ripped her glowing son from her arms. The second twin, silent and unremarkable, was spared.

As the soldiers vanished into the darkness, Lian Hua cradled her remaining child, tears streaming down her face. She whispered a promise into his ear: "We will survive, little one. And one day, we will bring back the sun."