The summons came at sunrise.
A scroll sealed not with the mark of General Li…
…but with the imperial dragon itself.
Shen opened it calmly.
It read only five words:
"The Emperor will see you."
No reason.No title.No honorifics.
Just a command.
And yet, in those five words, a kingdom held its breath.
Servants whispered as Shen passed.
"He's going alone?""The throne room?""No one enters unannounced unless…"
Unless what?
Unless they were family.
The Imperial Hall of Eternity stood quiet.
No ministers.
No guards.
Just the Emperor on his golden throne, flanked by two dragon pillars carved centuries ago — watching, silent, eternal.
Shen entered with steady steps. No armor. No sword.
Only his name.
"You are Shen," the Emperor said."Disciple of General Li."
"Yes."
"You intercepted an assassin meant for my general.""You uncovered a treasonous plot.""You returned alive from a mission that should've buried you."
A pause.
Then, coldly:
"Who trained you?"
"No one."
The Emperor narrowed his gaze.
"Do not lie in my presence."
Shen held his gaze.Did not bow.Did not flinch.
"I trained myself."
Another pause.
Longer this time.
"You look like someone I once knew," the Emperor said, almost to himself. "Long ago. A shadow behind a stronger sun."
Then:
"Who are your parents?"
Shen smiled slightly.
"I was told I had none."
The Emperor's fingers twitched once.
Then went still.
He rose from the throne and descended the golden steps.
Face to face with Shen.
Closer than any emperor had stood to a servant, a soldier, or a ghost.
"I've seen ambition. I've seen madness. You… I don't know yet."
He raised one hand.
Not to strike.
To offer.
"I give you a choice."
"You may return to the army. Earn rank. Gold. Fame. You may die gloriously.""Or… I will elevate you.""I will name you my personal agent — a shadow of the court. You'll go where my generals cannot. Speak where my princes dare not."
"And in return?" Shen asked.
The Emperor's eyes darkened.
"You serve me."
Shen didn't speak right away.
But he knew:
This was not a favor.
This was containment.
A leash — or a sword's sheath.
But he also knew something else:
"He suspects," Shen thought. "He doesn't know. But he suspects."
And that meant the game had changed.
So he knelt.For the first time.
Not out of respect.
But to step into the fire.
"I accept."
The Emperor said only:
"Then rise… Shadow Fang of the Throne."
Later, in the scroll vault, the Emperor opened a sealed drawer.
Inside: an old red cloth.
He unwrapped it slowly.
Within… a child's blanket.Faintly embroidered with a symbol long scratched away.
But not completely.
Two dragons.
One dark.One bright.
Twisting.Equal.
"I buried you once," the Emperor whispered."And yet you return."