1699 Choose
1699 Choose
Long Huan was gone from the continent somehow, and the woman he was with was gone with him. It was only later that the Dragon Emperor remembered that his son had said something about wanting to make a marriage official.
Had he married the girl then? He hadn't been in the right mind to care about that stuff back then. He still didn't.
The cook was gone too, running away. That bastard had lived right under his nose all this time, always hiding how strong he was.
The Dragon Emperor immediately put a stop to searching for the White Cat in the Eastern Continent and instead sent the people to search for them in the other continent.
On top of that, he made a small group of them search for his son and bring him back. If not, they were to at least the Ivory Sword and the Ebony Sword.
Another group of his soldiers, a larger but weaker portion, had left the army once again after he had forced them to an oath of secrecy after what had happened with the fight.
They had gone and were most likely going to go into hiding. He wondered if they would let him be in peace.
Time passed and the Dragon Emperor hid himself from the Empire. He had no desire to rule the empire, but this status of his was what gave him power over it, so he kept it.
However, with it came more problems.
With the lack of Empress, the court officials started pestering him to get another wife. An Emperor without an Empress was not a good thing for the Empire.
The Emperor fought back against those who pestered him for it, ignoring every advice. But the pestering continued whenever he came out of his secluded cultivation.
The Dragon Emperor did not care for this. All he wanted to do now was get as strong as he could in Alchemy, get the Azure Dragon's treasures, and then leave this world.
Years later, while busy practicing Alchemy, the Dragon Emperor gained a very strange piece of news.
In the Northern Continent, Xue Kuangren had died.
The man who was supposed to have been alive all those years ago had turned out to become a false immortal who terrorized the Northern Continent in secret for all of these years.
When the Dragon Emperor learned that it was an Alchemist named Yu Ming who had killed him in the end, he felt as if everything he knew to be true around him changed once again.
The entire reason he had believed that prophecies could be broken in the first place had been because this man had done it. However, that information had turned out to be false all along.
Prophecies could not be defeated at all. If something was fated to be, it would be.
The Dragon Emperor felt a strange sense of peace learning that. If everything was meant to be, then why bother? He would try to avoid dying however he could, but that was all that he would do.
He came out of his closed cultivation and this time didn't bother to ignore the pestering voices that called for him to have an Empress.
He chose one at random from his guard and married her in a small ceremony. The marriage was made public through the Newsboards that were now all over the continent.
That night was the only night he ever spent with the woman he had now made the empress. The only reason he even spent the night with her was because he had to consummate the marriage.
And somehow that one night had given him another child.
Long Hanjue, a son.
He now had three sons and the prophecy was fulfilled. He really couldn't stop it, could he?
The Emperor did not want to take care of this new son and left it for the new empress to handle that task. What even was the point now? The prophecy did tell him that one of his sons would be left behind.
This one was most certainly going to be it.
The other prophecy had come true as well.
By his hands kingdoms and continents fell. And from that had risen other kingdoms and empires.
5 new kingdoms came from what he had done in the Eastern Continent. And it was only as of late that he had found out what he had done in the Western Continent.
Two Empires had formed there, out of the chaos he had left behind. The Crimson Empire and the Luminance Empire.
Two more Colorful lights.
7 in total. Just as the prophecy had said it would.
All prophecies had been completed, all but the final one. The one regarding his death. Was he really just going to let it end that way?
Was he really going to let himself die after all that he had done?
He had destroyed kingdoms and led a continent to ruin. He had killed the one ruler he had always respected and looked up to. His wife had given up her life because of this.
No, he couldn't give up now. Not after all that had happened. Stopping the fight now would mean everything he had done, everything he had lost until now would be for naught.
He couldn't stop now. He shouldn't stop now.
The Dragon Emperor was determined to not let the prophecy come true anymore, even if it meant he had to fight it every single time.
And then he heard that the Phoenix in the Southern Continent had returned, and she had anointed a human to her throne, a young man by the name of Alex.
And he, to his surprise, was an Alchemist who could create pill clouds. And he the phoenix had named a king.
Fate was messing with the Dragon Emperor again.
'Whatever,' he thought. 'I'll just have to deal with it.'
It was time to call this new king and see what he could get out of him. And if by the end he couldn't get him to leave the title 'king', he would just kill him.
* * * * * * *
Long Fangyu's mouth gaped open the entire time his father told him his life's story. What surprised him more was that his father did not try in any way to make his side of the story sound good.
If he had, it was because he believed it to be so.
The truth had left the Crown Prince's mind reeling. All those new information, all the facts re-contextualized was too much for him to take in all at once.
All those kings that had been executed, the beast leader that had to die, his own mother. This was just too much for him.
"Choose whose side you are on now," the Dragon Emperor said.
"What?" the Crown Prince looked up, confused. "What do you mean?"
"Choose, whether you will help me from here on forward, or stand in my way. You will do one or the other and I would rather you tell me right now," the Dragon Emperor said. "This is why I told you everything without hiding. I want you to make the decision right now."
"I… I can't do that. I… I need time," the Crown Prince said. This was truly too much for him. He didn't even know how to feel about the man sitting in front of him. Was this really his loving father?
"Your instinct tells you to do something already, so choose based on that. Instinct can get you to do something that your logic usually tells you is a bad idea. I want to know what your instinct is," the Dragon Emperor said. "Now, answer me."
The Crown Prince gulped. His instinct was simple. His brother was right, and his father was a madman who had not just killed the Azure Dragon and his family but also brought the death of his mother.
How could he ever forgive him for such a thing?
But then… this was the man that his mother had given up her life for. This was who she loved, and this was who she could give her life for again.
No matter how much he despised him right now, he could not find a way to let his mother's sacrifice be in vain right now.
"I'll help you," he said in what felt quick to him. "I'll help you with whatever you need."
The Dragon Emperor nodded. "Good," he said and brought out something. It was a small talisman of some sort with he looked into.
"He is hiding the Dragon Medallion somehow. I can't seem to track it at all," the Dragon Emperor said. "Have them find him as quickly as they can. Search the continent and then move out into the ocean."
The Dragon Emperor stood and left the room after giving the order.
The Crown Prince remained in the room for a long time afterward. What had he just done? How could he have agreed?
This was a horrible mistake, just like all the other ones he had made today. Could he not make a good decision today at all?
His father no longer cared about him, he knew that. But every time he thought about his mother, tears filled his eyes. Her loss still lay heavy on his chest, and she had given up her life for this monster.
He clutched his head in shame.
'I'm not strong enough, mother,' he said softly. 'What should I do?'
Yet no answer would come for him. No help would come. In this place that should have been his home, he was all alone.
And alone he left the room to go see to what his father had ordered him to do. For his mother's sake, he would help the monster today.
