Viper Ning

Yushan refers to far more than the mountain ranges of the same name. Viper Ning was born and raised in Yushan, and had never left the area.
Not, that is, until she became the Maiden of the Yushan Whisperers.
From that time on, a most fearful woman known only as the Crimson Night left rivers of blood in her wake as she swept through Eternia.
There was but one thing that Viper Ning, Blind Blademaster of West Yushan, wished to do...
Nobody ever leaves Yushan. The traitor of twenty-three years prior couldn't and neither can Viper Ning.

"A little exercise whets up the appetite." She threw the lamb the only softness in Viper's jagged world - across the dark chamber. "Fetch."

Viper shot straight into the thick darkness, chasing the sound of her pet's distress. Her eyes adjusted in the velveteen dark: she made out the silhouettes of the furniture, the tapestries, and also-

A blue gleam. The shine of some sticky substance. The wiry whiskers twitching to the tune of hunger. She saw its grin, a frame of jagged fangs for a meaty pink tongue, as it purred to the lamb's shrieks.

The lamb waddled and stumbled round and round, her balance broken by the throw, a leg snapped. With every rotation, the tiger carved new wounds across the lamb's delicate skin. Then, as though bored, it tore off the remaining leg. The lamb fell, shrieking. Viper never knew an animal could make such sounds.

Something warm and wet slid down the inside of Viper's leg. The smell of ammonia caught the beast's attention and the blue of its gaze pierced her fear, It prowled towards her then lowered its muzzle only inches away from her. She fixated on the tiny thin hairs jutting out of its velveteen nose, the steam of the creature's breath. So entranced Viper was that she did not notice what came next.

Its strike caught her before she even noticed the swing. She barely registered the pain, only felt the coldness of the floor against her cheek and the throbbing snug inside her skull. Through the mess of her greasy hair, she could see her lamb's little hooves. Still alive, they twitched, tapping to its own funeral dirge.

Viper rolled over, dazed, barely aware of her body. She felt like the audience of a performance, removed from what was happening, and she watched with faint curiosity as the beast leapt. Viper marveled over the beauty of its eyes, and how its pupils contracted, seeming to vanish into satiny blue of its irises.

She heard the Matron click her tongue, wet and sharp, the disappointment worse than anything the beast could nave done to her.

Something inside her broke.

Her arms and hands did not feel attached to her, and she watched in faint bepuzzlement as they reached up for the beast's snout. Her nails gouged into the tiger's pink gums. She pulled, two incisors coming free. Viper felt nothing as warm blood drenched her. She continued to feel nothing even when she raised her hands to dig her thumbs into the tiger's eyebrows, the blue bursting, darkening to red goo.

All she could feel was a strange warmth, enveloping her like a blanket of the finest, softest wool.

And then nothing but a darkness.

When she opened her eyes again, Viper realized she had fallen unconscious. Fresh, crisp linen surrounded her.

"My smart, intelligent little Viper." She felt the Matron's soft hand against her cheek. "You make me so proud,"

Something pleasantly heavy was on top of her. It was wonderfully fuzzy. Viper closed her eyes and pulled it up towards her face. Her chapped lips caught on its threads.

"No, no, no, you must eat before you sleep." Something warm and savory was under her nose. She opened her mouth and something was placed upon tongue, a meaty thing both juicy and tender. Viper slowly opened her eyes.

The Matron was sitting by her bedside, smiling, with a plate of food on her lap. She gracefully cut another piece for her daughter and fed it to her. Viper chewed instinctively, the smell of fat and herbs filling her nostrils. As clarity returned, Viper stopped her chevwing, eyes falling upon the fuzzy blanket laid over her, It was smaller than she thought and not a blanket at all, but sheepskin with its shape still faintly suggestive the size of the animal. The plate held a perfectly browned leg of lamb, speckled with herbs and spices.

She looked at the Matron, whose eyes betrayed nothing but maternal affection.

"Oh" Viper whispered.

The Matron wiped Viper's mouth. "Oh, my dear girl. Your love only kills. At least this murder is delicious"

"My zeal burns me strong
for my enemies have forgotten Your wisdom.
Your word and law are truth
Etched into the seasons and the seas
For only worthy eyes see Your beauty.
Let all who seek You, shiver.
Let all who find You, bloom."

Her sisters' voices tolled, shaking the walls of the hall. Viper had sung this hymn from the balconies countless times while watching the Empty One, blindfolded and alone, attempt to survive the ritual. But today, she was not singing. Today, she was the Empty One.

Viper knew she had reached the end of the hall when they stopped singing. She remembered the pool of obsidian black water. She was probably only inches away. The water, she recalled, would steam crimson at contact with the Empty One. Viper inhaled, took a step forward. She heard a hiss beneath her feet.

Then it hit her.

It wasn't steam that she saw all those times before, but a mist of fine shards.

Viper gasped. The cold dried up her gums, her tongue, turned each breath into razors. Instinctively, she inhaled to get some moisture back inside of her but muscle and sinew shattered. A breathless wail left her body like the north wind across the tundra.

Every joint froze up and she fell straight and rigid into the water. It was destroying her, the frost gnawing into her bones. Her body shook uncontrollably and soon, all Viper could hear was the chattering of her teeth as her body surrendered to the ice.

When every cell in her body finally succumbed to frigid stillness, Viper felt Her. The You in the countless prayers she memorized. The You in the endless hymns she sung.

The god of Yin, the dark, the night. The primordial half of the universe.

Moonbane

Her god swept over her, carving delicate snowflake patterns into her vision and it was so beautiful, Viper wept. She peeled her frozen lips apart and whispered, "Let all who find... You, bloom."

When they freed her from the black ice, Viper's blindfold had turned red from her bloody tears of joy. She held now and forever the vision of Moonbane, frozen and perfect behind her closed eyelids.

"What is your name?" they asked, testing if her sanity survived the endeavor.

Her voice sent shivers to all who listened. "Viper Ning, the Crimson Night."