"Well?" Amatesu snapped, her ethereally perfect face contorting into a frown which still managed to look good, like she wasn't angry at all. "You're a piper? Then, tell me a story."

Kai-Se clasped his hands together, his fingers starting to twiddle each other again. "I-In here?" he asked, glancing at the crowd watching him with either looks of apprehension or arrogant smirks. There was no in between.

" 'I-In here?'," Amatesu waved her hands in the air as she mocked Kai-Se's tone. She slapped a hand on her armrest as she leaned forward. The beads on her crown knocked against each other. "Speak clearly, orkamtang."

He had no idea what that word meant but judging from the peals of laughter washing over the crowd, it's not a compliment. He tore his eyes off the throne, his insides screaming at him to get out of this place. It was something he didn't understand. He had just escaped two lizards looking to trade him for booze. Shouldn't he be grateful he's managed to get out of that cruel fate?

So, he should be doing his best to tell the best story he has ever told. Not to pressure himself, but his life kind of depended on it. He swallowed against the growing lump of fear in his throat, feeling the nervousness creep at the back of his head and devour all of the rational thoughts inside.

For someone who had spent a lot of time opening his mouth to speak in front of strangers, this sensation was new. In fact, it was unprecedented. Kai-Se had always loved telling stories so much he couldn't even feel the fear of having to speak in public. But now...

Was it because he had stayed cooped up in the Imperial Palace for a long time? Had he lost his touch?

"Piper, when I tell you to do something, you do it," Amatesu said from her throne. Just like that, Kai-Se's attention was back to her pale but immaculate face. "Tragic fates meet those who make me wait. You don't want that, do you?"

Kai-Se bit the inside of his cheek. "N-No, Empress," he said. "I'll tell you a story. My best one, so far."

Amatesu leaned back on her throne. Immediately, a servant looking remotely human dressed with pale crimson fenhai minus the wide sleeves stepped forward and began massaging the Empress' shoulders.

He scratched the back of his neck and racked his brain for something—anything—that could help him avoid Amatesu's wrath. Never in his insipid life did he imagine he'd be telling the Spirit Empress a story. "Once, in the secluded mountains, was a lonely little girl," he started. "She was the most beautiful of all, but somehow, she was always alone."

Kai-Se took a deep breath, forcing the shakiness of his voice to subside. He looked around the crowd, occasionally holding eye contact with some of them. That should dispel some of the nausea gripping his stomach and head. "She couldn't understand it. How could a being of near perfection be so lonely?" he continued. "She would repeatedly go to the marketplace, talk to some people, but somehow, they always vanish. Soon, word spread across the village that she was cursed, that the heavens willed her to be alone for life."

A pair of spirits dressed in thin ribbons wrapped around their bodies gasped softly. Kai-Se hid his triumphant smile. He still had it, after all. "Finally, she snapped. She wanted a friend, someone who would see through her beauty and realize that she's just another girl longing for love," he began pacing as he talked, his fingers stilling in his grip. "She packed her bags and moved out of the village. On her travels, she meets a wise snake who tells her of the magical place where she could find a friend. He didn't tell her about where it was. He just knew it existed."

"She met another sage, this one in the form of a bird," Kai-Se continued. "The bird told her that the reason why people vanish whenever she gets close to them is because they have not been to the magical place and failed to understand the true meaning of friendship. The bird also didn't tell her where the magical place was since he doesn't know as well."

"Finally, the girl reached the foot of a great mountain where a cunning fox awaited her," he said. "It offered to help her get to the top of the mountain so long as they shared the rumored prize waiting for them at the top. At first, the girl refused and continued alone. The fox tagged along, talking to the girl as they went. The girl, too focused on the trek up, paid no attention to the fox. Still, they continued to go up."

Kai-Se matched his actions with his words. Even though he had no magic to make paper fold themselves into various shapes and landscapes, he made do with gestures and modulation. "Then, they are met with an avalanche. The top of the mountain comes crashing down on them. The fox gets caught on the slide, shouting for the girl all this time. The girl can't let go of the notion that she had to get to the top of the mountain. She couldn't stop to help the fox. It should be able to take care of itself if it's going to climb a treacherous mountain such as this."

Some people in the crowd now held their breaths, looking at him intently. He continued. "But, just as the girl was about to reach the top, she rushed down and saved the fox," he said. "When they finally got to the top, they found out there was nothing there. The avalanche has washed it all away, leaving no trace of what has been there. Saddened, the girl and the fox begin to head down. Little did they know that the mountain wasn't the magical place where people find friends."

Kai-Se smiled and faced Amatesu. "It's us—our kindness, empathy, and willingness to help others. These are the places where we can find friendship," he said. Then, he bowed at the crowd before turning to the Spirit Empress. "The end."

When he drew up, that's when he noticed the flash of a mortified expression on her face. As fast as it came, it was replaced with a passive stare. "That's it?" Amatesu blew a breath. "Underwhelming. I expected more of you, piper."

Before Kai-Se could argue his case, an armored being with four arms appeared beside him. All four arms lashed towards him, gripping his arms, his neck, and the back of his head. His eyes widened. "What—"

Amatesu's smile was menacing. "Do you know what the cost of displeasing me is?" she said. "You'd find out soon enough."

Nodding to the being holding Kai-Se, she waved her hand in the air. "Take him away," she said. "Make sure you make his first night something he'd remember for the rest of his...pathetic life."

She snickered to herself as the being began dragging Kai-Se towards a dark doorway at the forgotten corner of the throne hall. "Wait, what are you doing?" he shouted but attention wasn't on him anymore. A different entertainer was summoned, a creature with eight, spindly legs and a human face, and had been requested to play in the twisted string instrument it brought with it.

"Where are you taking me?" he squirmed against the hands gripping his arms but they only clamped harder until it hurt. "Amatesu!"

The sound of the Empress' name reverberated across the hall, shocking the entire crowd into silence. Even the creature stopped playing. Amatesu slowly turned to where Kai-Se and the armored being were. "Such impertinence," she clicked her tongue and rose from her throne. "Give him twenty, no, thirty lashes. If he doesn't last, I'll have your head instead."

Lashes? What lashes? Kai-Se lunged forward but the armored being yanked him away from the throne. He glanced back to find some form of weak spot to hit in order to disable the creature. He found none. The creature was simply a wall of metal and arms.

Before the rest of the brightness of the throne hall became part of the never-ending darkness that's about to swallow him, he caught Amatesu looking in his direction one last time. The glint in her eyes seemed to say, Welcome to Shaoryeong, little blossom.

Then, the nightmare began.