The Dreams Of A Goddess - Chapter 0.5

Yume slowly woke up to the cold touch on her wrist lingered on her skin for what it seemed like hours in her mind. With her sunken eyes staring at the group of boys, she felt something in her heart sprout. She could feel the warmth spread in her heart. Unknowingly, Yume moved her hand upwards toward them and she saw them quickly take her hand in caution and concern.

Yume was really tired after just moving her arms but she was happy to see her sworn friends see her as a little sister as she saw them big brothers. She did everything slowly while flashing a smile to the boys with some ease.

The boys relaxed to see that Yume was still alive despite her frail nature over the years that they spent time with her.

Seeing that life that sparkled in her eyes contrasting to the pale color of her skin, they relaxed a little. Though there was a little uneasiness, they could still talk with Yume and spend more time with her. Everyone knew to treat her well but Bai Ran was pensive, standing there dazed about what he saw in her body.

The power struggle between body and cultivation. Something that rarely happened if not, it was something unusual to the God’s Realm. He could not believe that Yume held something that no one could share. The pain and experience that Yume had could not be shared and even if she opened up about herself, it would take centuries for her to talk about it.

Yume looked at the dazed Bai Ran and she sat upright to pull Bai Ran’s sleeve.

“Ran er, what are you thinking about?” Yume looked up at Bai Ran in her short stature because she hadn’t reached puberty or her growth spurt.

Bai Ran snapped out of his daze to see the small Yume sitting on the bed and realized that he was showing an expression that shouldn’t make Yume burdened or worried. He composed himself and stooped to her level and patted her head.

“Yume, we all are worried for you,” Bai Ran sighed as he looked into her eyes with a helpless look. “If you’re not telling the truth about yourself, how can we save you from the pain you’re in? I know it’s painful for you to open up to us but we have sworn to be friends forever and be there whenever our sworn one is suffering. We sincerely care for you and we don’t want to see you be in this condition. Please. We don’t want to see you suffer like this.”

The urgency in his voice could be heard and Su Ling Fen joined in.

“I agree with Bai Ran, Yume,” Su Ling Fen sat next to her and took her hand in his. “I can see that you were saved by the Goddess of Wishes when you were little because you were supposed to die early. I know that the halo that keeps you from dying but in this condition, you are bound to live a very hard life because this halo is not going to be erased from your body. So please let us help you.”

Yume looked at the two and saw how much they cared. Every single time, Yume had hung out with them and felt comfortable. No matter how many times she tried to tell them about her condition while she saw the content on their faces knowing that she was just a noble’s daughter, Yume did not have the ire to tell them the truth. They had given Yume the trust that she was never given and had already taken them as her brothers. A family. As a family, she was willing to open up to them no matter how painful it was for her to live life.

“I know you guys,” she earnestly smiled but her smile slighted a little. “You have been my family for the longest in my life and I appreciate you staying by my side even if I didn’t tell you who I was. My name is still Yume and I assure my life did not change much before I met all of you.”

She looked at each one of the boys and scoffed, “Who am I to do this to you guys? I feel so bad.”

All the guilt she felt when she had struggled to tell them had all come out. Yume stood up from her bed slowly despite being tired and too weak to move. Yume endured the pain she felt from just standing but Yume did not want to come up as weak. She had to tell them all. The truth.

And she spoke more calmly, ready to tell the truth, “Let’s start at the beginning of my life. I was born in the Cold Palace, given to my mother’s personal maid to take care of. I grew up to know nothing except feeling a repulsive nature against my mother. My mother was…the Goddess of Wishes.”

She paused before continuing, “She loved my father dearly but the love she had for him was greed and selfishness. A love born out of need and wishes. Yes. My mother wished to have someone love her yet all the suitors my mother had already loved her. But her capacity for love was much more than just one. She targeted the Jade Emperor and used his wishes as his weakness and took advantage of him. Took advantage of birthing a new heiress. Me. She had used me to make my father look her way. Everything she did was to keep my father in check. Her personal maid also followed my mother’s orders and I realized whatever I did to escape my predicament, my mother’s personal maid would’ve dragged me to the Jade Emperor no matter the damage I inflicted on myself. So I stay put. And she died when I was four, cursing me with her selfish wish to keep her lover thinking about her. But I only received these bracelets from my father the fifth year that my mother was supposed to be released and waited for the execution date. I was claimed as his daughter and was excused from my mother’s sin and then I met you guys. You’ve all made me happy that all I feel is content. Whatever I do, I know my life will end one day. So please don’t mourn for me. Go and spread your wings. I shouldn’t be the one that is making you prevent to fly. My wings have already been clipped since birth so don’t worry about me.”

Yume smiled brightly at them, showing all the happiness that Yume received from them, not realizing she and they were already pouring tears upon their faces and loved each other dearly. They had a group hug for a long time and Yume felt her soul weakening to the power struggle inside her.

She never failed to hold a smile before her hands fell down and the boys had to catch her falling down. The boys were startled at the movement but they knew that she could not die.

Yume was the youngest in their group and she had not seen the world with her own eyes. They needed to save her.

So, Bai Ran, being the one with systems to dispatch to the lucky people, quickly made an administering system that could bond with Yume’s soul and directly affect her body so she won’t die faster than giving her a lower system. Su Ling Fen, on the other hand, did his best to prolong her body life while Bai Ran was bonding the newly made system to Yume and Chang Su playing soothing music so there would not be any disturbances in Yume’s soul in transition. Ju Ren Lei, being the God of Wine, he was useless in this situation so he just softly cleaned Yume’s body and washed her natural raven black hair so her body wouldn’t feel as bad when she woke up. Also, he was to watch over her physical condition because Yume couldn’t be affording to be weak when she comes back.

It took a while for them to assemble Yume’s life source because she had become the biggest asset in their life that they could not forget even if they chose to follow her decision of forgetting. Bai Ran, Su Ling Fen, Chang Su, and Ju Ren Lei looked at their masterpiece (basically looking at Yume’s tidy and clean sleeping ‘corpse’) before taking a breath and recalling Yume’s background.

They had heard that Yume was not just a noble’s daughter but the Jade Emperor’s! She had been born from a taboo relationship with the influences of greediness that neglected Yume’s presence. Also, with the Jade Emperor not visiting Yume or asking about her condition, they were pissed off!

The Jade Emperor that they oh-so glorified and praised, did not glance at Yume one bit! She was thrown in the back of their heads and Yume endured. She wanted to have someone love her but she had no one to turn to even though she had them. The love she wanted was not brotherly love. It was the need for a love belonging to her parents.

With her to be left in an empty courtyard, Bai Ran and the rest rushed to the Jade Emperor’s throne room. They did not bother listening to the eunuchs that tried to prevent them from getting in while the Jade Emperor was handling some negotiations.

The banging of the throne room entrance could be heard with four silhouettes that hurriedly ran towards the throne. Before Bai Ran decided to do what he was about to do, he wanted to ask something of the Jade Emperor.

“It seems that Your Highness thought about talking to your daughter?” Bai Ran spoke calmly, hiding any intention of threat.

“Oh?” the Jade Emperor looked at the man that stopped in his tracks and blatantly asked him a question without any permission. “Yes. You don’t need to mind her. I will be visiting today to see how she’s been doing lately.”

Hearing the answer, Bai Ran was about to run and punch the Jade Emperor but Ju Ren Lei, being very protective of Yume because of her learning abilities, and having to be influenced by Yume’s nature and thinking, got to him first.

Ju Ren Lei punched the Jade Emperor. No one was able to catch Ju Ren Lei in time for the Jade Emperor to be stopped from harm.

“You f***er! You shouldn’t be deserved to be called father! You haven’t seen her in twenty years and now you’re telling me that you will check on her? How could you?” Ju Ren Lei shouted, stopping everyone from moving.

The panic that had just reached the Jade Emperor’s subject during the meet immediately shut down and was replaced with silence.

“Your Highness, how long are you going to dawdle over how to confront your daughter. Even more so, have you been seeing the correct person?” Chang Su, deeply interpreted Yume’s explanation to them and him being a hopeless romantic, he did have a brain in how people in love worked and functioned.

“Of course, I’ve seen the right person,” the Jade Emperor stood up, about to reprimand Ju Ren Lei that just punched him. “I don’t think that my eyesight is wrong, is it?”

“Your Highness,” Chang Su took a deep breath before looking at the ruler in his eyes. “Do you know exactly where your daughter lives?”

The Jade Emperor scoffed at his question, “Of course I do. She lives next to my sleeping quarters.”

Su Ling Fen, upon hearing the Jade Emperor’s statement, frowned. He was very pissed that someone had taken his friend’s identity and he didn’t want Yume to suffer if she ever woke up and they had lost their case against the Jade Emperor.

“Then isn’t there a bracelet that cuts off magic on her wrist?” Su Ling Fen spoke, trying to jog the Jade Emperor’s memory.

Su Ling Fen had wanted to try and help Yume for once.

“No, she doesn’t. Why?” the Jade Emperor spoke and Bai Ran found a chance to make the tables turn.

“Because your daughter is supposed to have one, isn’t that correct, Your Highness? She shares your blood and if anything is not handled correctly, it could lead to chaos in our God’s realm, am I right?” Bai Ran gained confidence in arguing with him. “We have been accompanying your daughter for a very long time and it doesn’t seem that she is the one next to your sleeping quarters. Your daughter looks fine but I doubt that she has the same blood as you.”

The Jade Emperor was stupefied by the thought of the bracelet that he had once given her and immediately remembered. In fact, his daughter couldn’t take off the bracelet because if she did, she would’ve gained an upper hand against his power to rule. And if she were to rule after him, the mood swings that she has will affect the days in God’s realm by having very severe climate temperature. Having Chang Su, Bai Ran, Ju Ren Lei, and Su Ling Fen help him remember something important, he stood up, realizing that he had been deceived. He had showered love onto another woman other than his daughter and did not notice anything.

With all the swirling thoughts in his head, the Jade Emperor announced a decree for the man he was sentencing before the boys showed up, “In order to pay for your sins, you will go under a series of transmigrations to the lower realms and learn new things. Once I have deemed that your progress is good enough to come back, the system you will contract with will tell you in time. Meeting dismissed. You four. Follow me.”

The guards that stood at the tall and graceful man that exuded a cold aura, escorted him out and back to the jail, the men around him felt unsatisfied with the Jade Emperor’s behavior.

“Commander! Why did you not interrupt the group of boys coming into the room? The Jade Emperor should also show some respect for your contribution to the wars you have taken care of in the lower realms to deter world destruction. Why–” one of the guards beside him was interrupted by the commander’s side look that gleamed with even more coldness.

“Don’t blame the Jade Emperor,” the commander sighed. “He also has a daughter to take care of and right now, he has been showering the wrong person that impersonated his daughter. If we continue to push him, the Jade Emperor might force his hand to give me a much worse punishment. With his lover gone, his daughter is the most important and I believe his daughter is not in good condition. We cannot delay his quest to take care of his daughter. We cannot deprive the Jade Emperor of his love for his daughter.”

The commander explained and everyone just stood there. The commander didn’t want to be angry at his soldiers that acted his guards so he spoke once more.

“Come on. Leave me be in this jail. I will go and receive the decree after a day has passed,” the commander sat in his cell and looked at his wrists bound together.

His arms shouldn’t have anything on it. However, with a closer look, there was a carved dragon on his right arm shining brightly while there was a flashing trace of a white tiger on his left arm before it disappeared.

The commander cold-face lifted with just a smile-smirk on his lips and muttered, “My mate is a white tiger. Huh. I wonder where she is now.”

Meanwhile…

The Jade Emperor and the four boys rushed to his sleeping quarters and saw a completely different woman humming with evil intentions lingering on her lips.

“Who are you?” the Jade Emperor’s voice startled the woman and panic were seen in her eyes.

The pain of beguilement in his eyes, his fervor turned into anger and wanted to drive the woman out.

“You are not authorized to step into the palace anymore. I don’t wish to see your face anymore,” the Jade Emperor looked coldly at the woman who he had never seen before but could tell that her sitting and combing her hair in the garden, was the exact woman that deceived him.

Even the etiquette she exuded and portrayed were all similar and the Jade Emperor wanted his daughter. Not some fraud.

The four boys called for the guards to execute the woman that made her way into the palace, and waited for the Jade Emperor to make his move. The woman that barely spoke a word soon cried out for the Jade Emperor to save her like the Jade Emperor loved her but one glance into the Jade Emperor’s eyes, she had made a mistake.

“Who said that I loved you?” the Jade Emperor’s mood dropped really low and the people around him could feel the temperature drop negatively and the woman who previously shouted for him shuddered in fear. “I only love my daughter and you took advantage of the opportunity to drive away my daughter that I haven’t seen in twenty years. Don’t talk about me loving you if you took away my chance to love my daughter. You can’t deceive me now. In my eyes, I only see my daughter. Nothing else. Send her to the depths of hell and don’t let her reincarnate in the six paths.”

The woman was quickly finished off and the Jade Emperor looked at the four boys that had the guts to go against him but he backed off since they had known his daughter for a long time while he was deceived that the woman that he usually met was his own daughter.

“Now where is she?”