It was so simple, so elegant, and so ironic. These men in suit pants and undershirts, sitting around a table in a tight room of an abandoned factory, controlled our world and that knowledge was now revealed to Long-Nü.

Suddenly, there was a loud sound, as if something fell from the sky: thump! Long-Nü turned around and saw a book on the floor. The book was shivering like a frightened animal. “Now this IS strange…” She reached out her hand to pick it up, but missed it and instead fell into a dark bottomless hole.

When she came to her senses, Long-Nü was underground, figuratively and literally. As if someone invisible was guiding her thoughts, she knew that this was a world beneath the one she just left.

A loud voice was asking her:

“Do you remember the rule? Do not pay attention to anything that happens on your way. Do not talk to anyone or touch anything until you reach your final destination.”

Long-Nü came near the men in the tight stuffy room and almost grabbed the shivering book, all before she reached her destination. Now she was to be punished for this disobedience by staying in this underground world forever.

Long-Nü was not sure what to say to this cruel sentence. To her own surprise, she started singing a song in a coarse voice and a strange language that she has never heard before. But she understood it!

The song went something like this:

“Dark ages, tumultuous ages!

Birds are flying away,

And even vultures are leaving this world behind…”

This song scared her, but its absurdness somehow soothed her. Anyone less brave than her would have lost all their marbles by now, but not Long-Nü.

Attracted to the song, a tall man approached her. He was taller than humanly possible, and darker than the darkest night. He placed his hand on her forehead and uttered in the same strange language:

“Many years I have waited for you to come. My life has been stolen from me: another man is living my destiny and there is nothing I can do about it. But finally my three sons from above have sent me the messenger. You will help me get it all back.”

…

;

;

And then she woke up.