"Year 4894 of the Xihuang Calendar
— 6th Epoch, Jade Dragon Cycle."
The clouds over Xuanyuan darkened unnaturally on the day the heirs were born.
Above the Imperial Palace, a jade comet split the sky — not once, but twice — carving brilliant arcs of emerald fire across the heavens. Thunder rumbled from the distant Celestial Divide Mountains, and spirit beasts across the empire howled in agitation.
Priests panicked.
Scribes dropped their brushes.
The Imperial Astrologer, upon reading the celestial signs, fell to his knees and trembled.
"Twin dragons born under Heaven's breath…" he whispered.
"The stars realign. This is no ordinary destiny."
Within the Inner Lotus Pavilion, drenched in sweat and tears, Empress Lingyue gave birth to two sons.
They cried together.
One's voice pierced the heavens like thunder — sharp, clear, filled with unyielding life.
The other's cry was silent, but a storm of Qi bloomed from his lips, so intense that the palace lanterns exploded in unison. The walls shook with power not yet cultivated.
"Heaven and Earth acknowledge them," murmured the Imperial Preceptor, eyes narrowed in silent calculation, his long sleeves still soaked in incense and divine talismans.
From the temples of the western desert to the snowy shrines in the northern peaks, oracles and mystics awoke in sweat, uttering the same words:
"The Mandate has stirred."
"Two stars are born..."
The royal court erupted in celebration.
"Heaven blesses Xuanyuan with twin dragons!"
"The Xuanyuan kingdom shall rise again!"
"The Heavenly Mandate stirs!"
Music echoed from the Vermilion Gates. Plum wine was poured. A thousand fire lotuses bloomed in the capital skies.
But deep in the jade-roofed halls of the Vermilion Palace, King Xuan Taixing sat alone.
He said nothing for hours.
Though his face remained calm, a servant swore they saw a single tear fall onto his wine. The King never spoke of that day again.
No one understood why.
But the Imperial Preceptor, watching the heavens from his tower that night, whispered a single word as the third jade streak — invisible to most — briefly shimmered in the sky behind the others:
"...Forgive me."