When the Astronomical Bureau wrote down the words “short-lived,” the only true-dragon fate in the land had already landed on someone else’s head. The bells of Yaojing rang three times, and a list twelve feet long was lowered onto the platform. Vermilion ink ran from “He Clan of the Imperial House” all the way to “Stripped of Rank and Removed from the Register.” Years later, every court official remembered the laughter that rang out that year. No one remembered the boy kneeling on the ninth step of blue stone, or the life he should have had.
But fate can bind those who have a destiny. It cannot bind those who have none.
He cannot be predicted, imprisoned, or killed. He can see the cracks in every fate in this land, including those of the regent’s father-in-law and even Heaven itself.
The sword in his hand is like him: a piece of scrap metal stripped of its name and removed from the register. Two things struck from the records found each other amid the rust of the scrap-metal yard.
From the borderlands to the capital, from the mortal realm to the heavens, he will collect this debt, one piece at a time.
If he cannot get it back, he will tear up the register that assigns people their fates.
Theme: Man and sword are both struck from the register. A discarded man is paired with scrap metal, and both grow stronger together.
