Long ago, before the Beast World existed, before humans knew fire, there was HEAVEN.
The scene materialized around them, a realm of impossible beauty. Golden palaces that floated among clouds. Gardens filled with flowers that sang. Rivers of liquid starlight.
And in the center of it all.....
Two figures.
One was MASSIVE. Imposing. A man with hair like lightning and eyes like the sun. He wore robes of white and gold, and his presence radiated POWER. Authority. Perfection.
Tiān Zhǔ (天主 - Sky Lord), the Great Sky God.
Creator of Humanity.
Shaper of Civilization.
And beside him, much smaller but no less radiant.....
Mán Shū.
But not the tiny, cute version floating beside Xin Yi now.
This Mán Shū was younger. Eager. Her eyes bright with hope and excitent.
"Brother!" the mory-Mán Shū called out. "Brother, look! I’ve been studying your humans! They’re AMAZING! The way they’ve learned to work together, to build, to create art and music and—"
"Yes, yes." Tiān Zhǔ waved her off dismissively. "That is the nature of my design. Intellect. Spirit. The capacity for growth."
"I want to create too!" Mán Shū’s voice was filled with childlike enthusiasm. "I want to make my own people! But different! I’ve been thinking—what if we combined instinct WITH the capacity for civilization? What if—"
"No."
The word was final.
mory-Mán Shū’s face fell. "But... why?"
"Because humanity is ENOUGH." Tiān Zhǔ turned away from her. "They are perfect. They need no counterpart. No ’alternative.’ Your idea is redundant."
"Redundant?" Her voice was small and hurt.
"Yes. Now stop wasting ti with these silly fantasies and attend to your actual duties."
The mory blurred, shifted.
Showing ti passing.
Showing Mán Shū growing quieter. More withdrawn. Her bright eyes dimming with each dismissal. Each rejection. Each ti her brother called her ideas "cute" or "adorable" but ultimately "unnecessary."
The tiny Mán Shū floating beside Xin Yi sighed. "He was......not a great brother."
"He sounds like an asshole," Xin Yi muttered.
"LANGUAGE!" Mán Shū gasped. Then giggled. "But yes. He was. Very much so."
The mory shifted again.
~
mory-Mán Shū stood at the edge of Heaven, looking down at the worlds below.
At the human world, thriving under her brother’s attention.
And at another empty world, one her brother had created but ultimately abandoned. Wild. Untad. Beautiful.
What would co to be known as the Beast World.
"If he won’t let create," she whispered, "then I’ll do it WITHOUT his permission."
She descended.
Into the Beast World.
Into forests and mountains and rivers.
And there, in secret, hidden from Heaven’s gaze.....
She began to CREATE.
The images showed her working. Pouring her divine essence into the world. Shaping. Molding. CRAFTING.
And from her power ca.....
The Beastn.
Panthers. Tigers. Wolves. Bears. Snakes. Eagles. Every form imaginable.
They were GLORIOUS.
Strong. Fast. Powerful.
But more than that...
They had POTENTIAL.
The capacity for language. For art. For civilization.
All they needed was guidance.
All they needed was TI.
mory-Mán Shū smiled at her creations. Tears streaming down her face.
"You are beautiful," she whispered. "You are PERFECT. And one day.....one day you will build cities that rival the stars. You will create music that makes the heavens weep. You will prove that my vision was NEVER redundant."
She touched the ground, and temples rose. Places where she could be worshipped. Where she could guide her people.
For a ti, it was beautiful.
The Beastn thrived. Learned. Grew.
Then...
~
Tiān Zhǔ appeared in the Beast World like a thunderstorm.
His rage was PALPABLE.
"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!"
mory-Mán Shū stood her ground, her chin raised in a defiant manner.
"I created a people. MY people. Just like you created yours."
"You DEFIED !" His voice shook the mountains. "You were told NO!"
"Because you’re WRONG!" She shouted back. "Your humans are not the only worthy creation! The Beastn have just as much potential! They deserve—"
"They are BEASTS." His voice dripped with contempt. "Animals with delusions of grandeur. This is redundant. Unnecessary. A waste of divine power."
"They are NOT—"
"ENOUGH."
His power surged.
Mán Shū raised her hands to defend herself.
But he did not attack her people.
He attacked HER.
Divine power wrapped around her like chains, dragging her, binding her.
"Brother, PLEASE—"
"You are hereby ERASED from the divine records." His voice was cold. "Your na will be forgotten. Your temples will crumble. You will exist, but only as a WARNING. A cautionary tale of what happens when lesser gods overstep."
"NO!" She struggled. "My people! What about my—"
"They will live." He released her with disgust. "But without your guidance, they will remain what they truly are. Beasts. Nothing more."
He vanished.
Leaving Mán Shū broken. Powerless. Forgotten.
The temples crumbled.
Her na faded.
And the Beastn...
They forgot her too.
~
The mory dissolved.
The whiteness returned.
The tiny Mán Shū floating beside Xin Yi looked...sad.
"He didn’t destroy them," she said quietly. "He left them alive. But without to guide them..." She shook her head. "They stagnated. Beca exactly what he said they were. Just......beasts."
Xin Yi’s throat was tight. "That’s... that’s horrible."
"It was." Mán Shū’s smile was bitter. "For centuries, I watched. Powerless to interfere. Watching humanity build libraries while my Beastn lived in caves. Watching humans develop art and music and philosophy while my people rutted and fought and barely survived."
She spun in the air. Angry and frustrated.
"Humans got EVERYTHING! They got guidance! They got civilization! They got to be PROUD of what they built!" Her voice rose. "While MY people—MY beautiful, perfect people—were reduced to mud huts and mating ceremonies and tribal warfare!"
"That’s not fair," Xin Yi said.
"NO!" Mán Shū’s eyes flashed. "It’s NOT! It’s JEALOUSY and SPITE and—" She took a breath. "But I found a loophole."
"A loophole?"
"Transmigrators." Mán Shū smiled. Sly. Clever. "I can’t directly teach the Beastn anymore. I’m forbidden. But I CAN pull people from other worlds. People who already KNOW about advanced civilization. About soap and architecture and agriculture and CONSENT."
Understanding dawned on Xin Yi’s face. "So you..."
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