Jade coughed a few times as she walked around the village with her three followers. She was a little less than 150 cm at 12 years old, so the other girls were almost a head taller than her on average. They looked around and smiled at the little kids who were hanging out or playing in front of their yards. Those young children and teenagers also smiled back at them.

 

Jade wasn’t smiling though. Every time she saw their faces, she could hear their screams of agony, crying and begging… Now they all looked so peaceful and happy. She came to the small grocery store and noticed that the shelves were empty.

“What happened? Don’t the shipments usually come in on Thursdays?” She turned and asked the shopkeeper.

 

“It’s useless.” The middle-aged man with a shaggy white beard and bald head puffed on a long glowing green pipe, “There’s a famine in the countryside. Everybody’s hoarding food now. You can try buying it from them, but it’ll cost you a fortune.”

“Why didn’t I hear about this until now?”

 

“Otherwise?” He spread his hands helplessly, “People were afraid you’d buy up everything and hoard it all to yourselves.”

 

“I wouldn’t do that!”

 

“Heh~! Who knows?”

 

“You!”

 

“I what?” The shopkeeper laughed, coughing a bit along with all the smoke, “If you wanna buy some from my private stash, it ain’t impossible.”

Jade was so angry that she just stormed out of the store and went home. When she got close, the doors were opened from the inside by Beryl very familiarly. However, she was surprised to see her father standing in the living room. He looked as young and handsome as she remembered, but his hair was blonde and he had light-green eyes now. His skin was also a lot paler.

 

“Papa? What’s wrong? What are you looking at?”

 

“Garbage… Trash… Useless wasted materials! I can’t do it anymore! No matter how hard I try, I can’t fix it! I can’t… I need more materials! Better materials! Perfect materials!”

 

“Papa? What are you talking about?” Jade trembled and walked over to the side, so that she could see what her father was looking at more clearly… It was a little boy with brown eyes and black hair. An immaculate sculpture created by her father after a lot of hard work, but he still wasn’t satisfied.

 

Marble walked over with a blank expression on her face, “We have exhausted the materials in Zelena Village. That was the last one.”

 

“No, Mama, where’s Lily?!”

 

Jade widened her eyes in horror as she looked at the small statue on the white pedestal, “Papa! You promised! You promised me you wouldn’t hurt Lily!”

 

“Lily? Who’s that?” Celadon looked over at the little girl in confusion, “Who are you? How did you get in here?”

 

“Papa…”

 

“She’s the new material we bought for you at the store, Master, hehehe~!”

 

“Yeah! Master, she’s the ‘perfect’ material you’ve always been waiting for!”

 

“Isn’t that right, Marble? Isn’t she perfect?”

 

“Correct. Jade is the perfect material for Celadon to complete his final masterpiece.”

 

“No! No, Papa, please! Don’t listen to them! I’m your daughter! Papa, I love you!”

 

Jade was caught by the three girls at the same time, even Beryl and Marble rushed forward to hold her down! Then Celadon walked forward and frowned, looking the teenage girl up and down a few times.

 

“Hmmm… I’m not sure. Is she really good enough to become a masterpiece? I refuse to accept another disappointment.”

 

“Papa…” The little girl looked into those unfamiliar green eyes and grit her teeth. When his hand was about to touch her face, he stopped suddenly and looked down at the chisel stuck through his chest.

 

“I’m sorry, Papa… I love you.”

 

She pulled out the bloody chisel and shoved it into his chest five more times. With an elbow, one of those girls had her entire head shattered into countless pieces of white stone. Another was kicked back into the wall and broke into a few big chunks. The last one let go and tried to escape, but she slowed down and eventually fell to the ground, breaking apart. Beryl rolled across the ground a few times after being thrown away, but when she stood up again, her whole body turned to light-green jade within a few seconds.

 

“No!” Marble screamed as she reached out and tried to strangle her own daughter, “What have you done?!”

 

“Mama, please, stop! It’s enough! Just stop!”

 

“No, I can’t die…” Celadon pulled the chisel out of his chest and green shirt as blood spurted all over Jade’s face. Then he reached out with his left hand, “Fix it! I have to-to-to fix it!”

 

“No, Papa! You can’t fix it! No matter how many pieces you replace, you can’t fix what’s wrong anymore!”

 

“Liar! I am… Celadon! The greatest, Legendary Sculptor! I can sculpt anything! I am-I am a Gah-”

 

His words were cut off by another chisel in his chest, then another and another. A dozen chisels completely destroyed his lungs and heart. As he fell to his knees, she conjured a hammer and slammed it down onto the top of his head with all her strength. When she looked down into his cracked open skull, she saw that his brain was covered in glowing green veins. Not only that but it was also extremely shrunken and small compared to the size of his skull.

“I Curse you!”

 

“Mama… You can’t. Just… Go to sleep now. It’s all over.”

Jade gently laid her father’s body down onto the ground and looked up at her mother with tears in her eyes, “I love you. And… I’m sorry. I’m sorry you had to do such horrible things for so long. I’m sorry I wasn’t strong enough to save you sooner.”

 

“I Curse you, my daughter, Jade!” As the woman’s body started turning into white stone, she pointed and shouted with the last of her strength: “My only blood! I Curse you for the rest of your life! To be a Stone Statue!”

 

“I’m sorry, Mama… But I’m already a Sculptor. I can’t inherit your Curse.”