Once upon a time, long lost in the pages of history was an ancient tree.

It existed in the desolate world where no wind, earth, water, or fire had yet come to.

In nothingness, it existed as the sole something.

It looked vast, way bigger than anything a man could ever hope to see. When the first signs of life started to appear in the world; the emptiness was filled with land, water, fire, and wind. The tree witnessed and withstood all that and stood watch over the birthing world calmly.

It wouldn't budge when the oceans at one part slammed into its humongous branches. It wouldn't flinch when a part of the forest on one side burned atop its roots. Its leaves, big enough to let giants take cover under it, were seen throughout the world.

The first creature to have ever been born looked at the tree in awe. The creature lived under its shade, breathed the air it provided, and drank the water slipping through its majestic leaves like a waterfall. The creature didn't know what the tree was. It wasn't intelligent enough to tell this from that.

Until one day, the tree bore fruit.

The fruit in itself was humongous, way beyond the size of the unknown creature itself. But it climbed the vines, traveled the branches, fought the heinous weather, and slowly reached the fruit up above.

It didn't know how long it took to consume the fruit. Years? Months? Days?

Didn't know, the creature hadn't the concept of time. All it knew was it was wrapped in a comfortably red embrace as it chewed at the insides of his newfound dish.

And in due time, the fruit was entirely consumed. on a good day, the creature saw the shine of light again. But this time, it was no longer the simple, mindless creature that had no mind of its own.

It stood mightily under the shade of the Ancient tree, looking up with tears in its eyes. Below its feet, it could see the waves of the once fearsome ocean slamming hard, in a different direction, there was a desert that stretched long.

It had become a giant. Its legs were deep enough to stretch into the ocean and still stand with its chest above water. What was it? It didn't know. How did it come to be? It didn't know.

But even in its humongous form, it could only look up at the tree, at its massive crown that stretched above the sky itself. Had it had the thoughts of an intelligent man, it would have thought, was the tree the pillar of heavens?

But no, the creature had yet to know himself. Nevertheless, amidst the calmness of the world and naivety of itself, one word came to its mind. Life.

***

Sighing, Han Li gently put down the sword, his red spark of lust vanishing and hiding the unique rust back to its normalcy. Yue Li and Liyue stood to the side with contemplative faces.

"It was said that in ancient times, every living was way bigger than the current humans or beasts. We are all small in comparison," he said, "It was the start of the Seven Demon Era."

The girls nodded with intrigued faces. History that old was always great to follow.

Liyue asked curiously, "Is that creature one of the Seven Sacred Demons?" He gazed intently at the sword, running his fingers along its rusty surface before giving a nod, saying: "That creature is the Sacred Demon of Lust. One of the greatest lifeforms the world had yet seen."

There was more about him in the Rust but Han Li knew it was not yet time to tell them the rest of the story. Lust Demon's legendary tales were famous across the continent and artifacts like these were not rare.

The number of exaggerated stories about him was numerous. So, having a sword like this was not very suspicious. Except for the unique rust that might interest some people.

But this was not one of those ridiculous stories that were merely myth, this was the direct copy of history left behind by the Demon himself.

Yue Li took her cup and gently sipped on some tea. After their training in the morning, Han Li took out the sword and started telling the story. The tea and snacks at the side were her contribution. She asked, "The story says Lust Demon is the first creature to have ever been born, is that true?"

Han Li's eyes twitched as he speechlessly looked at her. She just wanted to sound intelligent by asking at least something from the story. Liyue had asked after all.

"It says he was, so he should be," he speechlessly said and looked at them.

Today, both of them had spent enough time attempting to get their weapons, Knife or Spear, under control. And he already had some ideas of what they could do.

"You are more hard-working than I expected. Your form is good and if you continue to do this for a month or so, you should reach Average proficiency," Han Li said, looking at Liyue who was sitting on the side.

She was startled out of her thoughts and nodded.

Han Li smiled and looked at his mother who was throwing side eyes at him as she enjoyed her own tea. "A knife is a more common tool and you are familiar with it, so it will be easier for you to reach higher proficiency. Mastery will be hard but an Average and High level of proficiency won't be impossible for you to attain in a shorter time."

Yue Li put down the cup and looked at him with squinted eyes. "How long till I reach this Average Proficiency in Knife?"

"One or two more weeks at most and at this pace, you could be called average."

Smiling proudly, Yue Li elegantly took her cup and sipped some more tea.

"But don't be proud, for using it your whole life, today's progress is pitiful. You can barely cut a carrot," Han Li snorted, "I expected more from you."

Yue Li put the cup down and looked at him with a wronged expression. Han Li's heartstrings were touched and he moved next to her and patted her head. "It's good enough since you worked hard."

Sad, Yue Li muttered, "You have been too mean lately."

Smiling, he took the tea from her hands and sipped it. "Nice tea, thank you for the extra cup."

Yue Li looked at him with irritation. "Go away already, it was my tea! At least leave me half."

Putting the empty cup down, Han Li innocently looked at her. She glared at him.

Liyue looked at their interactions with curious eyes. They felt more like siblings rather than a mother-and-son duo to her.

She still didn't feel like a part of this place, but the more she was with them, the more she didn't want to separate.

"Mother Yue, can you come with me to meet Mom?" Liyue suddenly asked.