Once upon a time, there was a little boy. That little boy was an orphan, and an evil man snatched him from his brother and claimed his brother had abandoned him. Thus the little boy grew in a nest of lies until he had forgotten even his name.
However, the little boy – by now called Ye Zun – was of Dixing. And like all the people of Dixing, he had a special power ready to awaken. As he had grown up hungry, he acquired the power of eating.
Ye Zun, by now a tall youth, ate the evil man who had tortured and abused him, then lamented his fate. He had once dreamed he might live in a better world; instead, the world made a mockery of him. His power was only to consume, not to fix.
For three days and three nights Ye Zun cried. On the fourth day, the Sun rose. Then a second Sun rose. Then a third one.
As Ye Zun watched, ten Suns rose to the sky and danced. They charred the ground and baked the earth so no crops would grow and the rivers and lakes dried around the fish.
"We'll never set!" the Suns proudly declared for the whole world to hear.
The humans ran to the shade of their shelters and lamented their lack of ability to do anything. The Suns continued their dance.
Ye Zun, who had always wanted to live in a better world, realized that he could almost reach the Suns. He climbed up the mountain, his hands slipping off the parched dust, until he reached the peak.
One Sun flew so close to him that he could feel it burn his skin. He reached out with his power and ate the Sun.
As they were so numerous, the other Suns didn't notice the loss of one of their number and continued their dance. Ye Zun ignored the burning sensation in his stomach and ate another Sun, and another, and another.
The Suns only noticed when Ye Zun was eating the third-last one. "Who are you?" one of them asked.
"I am Ye Zun, and there are too many of you on the daytime sky!" Ye Zun declared.
The Suns scoffed. "We will burn you for your crimes!" one said and prepared to attack Ye Zun.
Ye Zun's stomach burned from the eight Suns within it, but he still had one more to eat. He channeled his powers and sucked and swallowed, and before the Sun could burn him, he had eaten it. For the first time in his life, his stomach was full to bursting.
However, the mountaintop had been dried to dust by the Suns, and the ground collapsed beneath Ye Zun. He fell and fell and fell down the mountain and rolled along the hills below until he was at the lowest point of the surface realm.
The lowest point of the surface realm was the entrance to Dixing, dark and poor. And at the entrance to Dixing was Ye Zun's brother Shen Wei, who had searched for his brother without pause after their ways had parted.
"Didi!" Shen Wei shouted at the unconscious Ye Zun who had fallen from the skies. Shen Wei's power was that he could replicate any power he'd ever seen. He had used this opportunity wisely and learned healing.
For three days and three nights, Shen Wei healed his brother without sleep. Charred flesh healed and bones knit themselves back together. On the morning of the fourth day, Ye Zun opened his eyes.
"Didi!" Shen Wei exclaimed, and sobbed out how ever since the evil man had stolen Ye Zun, he'd searched tirelessly for his brother.
Ye Zun saw that he'd been lied to all his life. His stomach still burned, and he was too weak to walk on his own, so he cried on his brother's shoulder.
Suddenly, he was struck by an idea. Dixing was dark and thus poor, but Ye Zun had shards of Suns inside him. "Gege, let's go to Dixing; I want to bring it light."
Shen Wei was hesitant, but he carried his brother down to the hole in the ground. They fell to Dixing.
Dixing was darker than the night and the air stiller than a grave's. Nothing grew.
Ye Zun felt the rocks beneath his palms and coughed. He squeezed his stomach that wanted to keep down this paltry meal.
For three days and three nights Ye Zun gagged on his hopes as Dixing remained in the darkness. On the fourth day, the half-digested remnants of the ninth Sun came out.
There wasn't enough for it to rise and light up Dixing's sky. Instead, it sank into the rock and melted it, creating glowing veins of searing-hot liquid stone.
It was a paltry light, but it was enough to make things grow in Dixing. The brothers lived a long and happy life in Dixing, and they figured out how to make the lava power things like water powers things on the surface realm.
Occasionally, the lava erupts from a volcano on the surface and causes destruction. But remember that what is death for one can be the basis of life for another, and no matter what you may be skilled at, there will be a way to use it for good.