User blog:Silver grimalkin/Hukou, the Keeper of Embers

Lore
Deep in the Kumungu jungles legends tell of the ruins of some unknown and once great civilization. Atop the highest of these ruins is an overgrown shrine, within which there is a small, flickering fire that cannot be extinguished. Some legends even say that a phoenix guards this shrine. Though no one has ever found it... except Hukou. As a child, Hukou was fascinated by the impossible. He loved to prove the impossible possible with all his heart, and with time, his thirst for the adventure in search of dangerous and impossible things had toned him into a fine warrior. He traveled the entire world searching for the impossible, until the dreaded day came when Hukou fell ill. On some misshaped expedition Hukou had been exposed to some deadly illness that was slowly killing him, the best healers in the world could do little to slow the process, let alone cure it. He was to die by the hands of a disease deemed impossible to cure, and Hukou would not have that. Though it seemed like this would finally be the one impossible thing to best him, Until one shaman in a far-off land told him the tale of the phoenix that guarded the shrine, and how a phoenix's ashes are known to cure any disease. With no hesitation and his life beginning to quickly wain, he ventured into the kumungu jungles.

As his life was quickly fading, he searched the kumungu jungle for weeks with no sign of any ruins, and was beginning to loose hope. Just as he was ready to begin searching for some other miracle remedy, the found himself at the outskirts of the ruins. Pressing inward, he found his way to the shrine, where he found the shambling fire of embers burning without a hint of weakening. The Phoenix that guarded the shine had been watching Hukou, and the moment he entered the shrine he confronted him, demanding to know his intentions. Hukou explained to the Phoenix his plight, and begged for the ashes that would cure him. The Phoenix took pity on Hukou, but explained to him that it was not that simple. A Phoenix returns to ash when it dies, yes, but being reborn was a slow process that took eons. He pointed to the cinders, flcikering with tiny flames, and told Hukou that it was the ashes of his dearest friend, still waiting to be reborn. Hukou was dismayed, but he would not relent, he begged for the Phoenix to heal him using his friend's ashes. The phoenix pondered the idea, and accepted, but explained to Hukou that if he was healed by the ashes, he would be forever bound to the pheonix's ashes, never to leave the jungle of kumungu, left alive, but unable to die until the phoenix again rises in a thousand years time, at which point his life will burn away in an instant. Hukou did not hesitate, and he accepted under the condition that the Pheonix traveled the world for him, and gathered stories of the most impossible thing outside his reach as Hukou guarded the ashes, so he might someday come and visit them. The phoenix said it was impossible, he could not leave until his friend was reborn, but Hukou smiled and said he was also told it was impossible for him to survive another year. They struck their deal.

Three hundred years passed with this agreement, until the fateful day that the Phoenix returned and regaled Hukou on the stories of the institute of war, and the impossible magic of the summoners. Hukou, enthralled by the idea, requested the Phoenix go to the institute of war for him, and challenge the summoner's magic, saying that he would gladly fight on the fields of justice if they were strong enough to bring him from the jungle. His answer came not even a day later, when he was summoned to the institute of war, the powerful summoner magic giving him a chance to leave the kumungu, if only to do battle. Hukou is firm in his belief that someday he will find a way to beak the bond he has with the ashes, so that both him and the Phoenix may live on.

"Impossible doesn't mean anything to me, It just tells me that I'm going to be the first one to figure out how it's possible." -Hukou