At six, I awakened my Dao Seed, and had nothing at all. The Qin family hadn't seen a piece of trash like me in three hundred years.
My father sold our house, my mother pawned her dowry, and they begged someone to get me a job sweeping the ancestral tombs. At nine, someone beat me so badly I developed a delusion. I spent nine years insane. At my coming-of-age ceremony, the Awakening Stele showed no response. I smashed it, and an elder struck me in the heart with his palm.
Then I heard someone call out, “We respectfully welcome Your Majesty back to the palace.”
A palace appeared in my mind. The Nine Offices and all the officials knelt before the throne. The Ministry of Rites taught me the heart of the Dao, the Ministry of War taught me the bones of a warrior, and the Shadow Bureau taught me how to conceal myself.
I was eighteen, but my mind was only nine. I didn't understand the art of ruling, and I didn't want to be the Human Emperor. I only wanted to protect the few people by my side.
But they said the question wasn't whether I wanted to take that seat. It had chosen me.
And every time I borrowed their power, my body grew a little more sluggish. Every time I distinguished myself, someone left.
Only at the very end did I realize I had never had a choice.
