2. Birth
13 chimeras- Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Cat, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig- were all that was left of humanity and animal. Reborn with divine abilities, they were capable of anything but avoiding age and death. Meeting one by one as each wandered the renewed planet, the 13 lived in an uneasy stillness on the islands of Asia, now known as T'en.
On a quiet morning, The Rat, the youngest and most curious, dug his teeth into the Cat's throat and drank the golden ichor that flowed from it. Suddenly rejuvenated, the Rat realises his body is much younger. He calls his lover, the Rabbit, and they feast off the Cat's flesh.
The golden core of the Cat, a mass of glimmering ambre, was too hard to bite into. The youthful Rat and Rabbit powdered the golden core and moulded it into bite sized pieces. But when wrapped in the Cat's flesh, the glimmering ambrenite began to blink, wriggle, and wail.
Delighted, the Rat and Rabbit relay their discovery to the other chimeras and ask for their flesh to populate T'en, and their blood to attain immortality. Horrified, the others announce war against the lovers.
But the Ox was too naive, the Tiger too brash, the Dragon too merciful to the little Rat and Rabbit. The Snake was too carefree, the Horse too foolish, while the Goat was too slow for the youthful lovers. Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig; each were no match for the nimble Rat and the swift Rabbit.
One by one the chimeras fell, and the Rat and Rabbit celebrated in the name of a new year and new peace. But the venom of the Snake had stilled in the Rabbit's veins.
Every golden fibre of their companions' flesh brought an ephemeral youth, fleeting, and never eternal. Death is unavoidable. Cradling her young, cold body, the Rat promises his lover a rebirth.