He had delved deep to uncover the secrets of his newfound body, maybe.... too deep...
floating around the depths of his subconscious, he was searching for anything, anything in this lonely darkness, seemingly lost.. until he saw it, the glimmer of a mirror reflecting moonlight, drawn to it like a moth to a flame.
He stood before a shattered mirror. Each jagged piece glinted with someone else's life, smiles he never smiled, bruises he never earned, voices he didn't recognize.
And yet, as he reached out, the fragments cut deep, as if demanding he remember what was never his to begin with.
Darkness settled behind his eyes like dust on forgotten scrolls.
A sunlit courtyard. He ran barefoot across warm stone, chasing a butterfly with two younger pages from the inner quarters. For a moment, the world felt light, he had smiled, genuinely.
"Begin the form."
His fingers fumbled. The sword dragged slightly behind the motion. A dull clatter echoed as it tapped the ground. No one corrected him. They just looked away.
"A shard turned."
The Empress' fingers combed through his hair as he leaned against her lap.There was warmth in her voice—"You don't have to shine, my little moon. You just have to survive."
He held that moment tightly. It slipped like smoke between his fingers.
"Glass shifted."
He stood in the training yard, wooden sword gripped too tightly."Second Prince, please step aside."A guard bowed stiffly, respectfully, but with the kind of tone one used with a shadow on the wall.
He stepped back. No one noticed.
"The mirror pulsed."
The Crown Prince was radiant, confident, sparring before an audience of officials.Cheers followed every strike.The second prince sat quietly at the side, trying to mimic the footwork alone, his shoes scuffing in silence.
"The void stirred."
A festival.
The second prince sneaking out during the Lantern Festival. A masked dancer twirled near the riverbank. A simple vendor had given him a candied fruit. They didn't know he was a prince.They had smiled at him without expectations. It was the freest he'd ever felt.
"One memory fell, another rose."
The throne room. He stood just behind the Emperor's chair, unseen, unheard, like an ornament in a grand hall. When he spoke, a eunuch cleared his throat and moved on as though nothing had been said.
Then darkness.
And finally, a voice, his own, older now.
"Was I always this forgettable, or did I just learn to disappear?"
Countless shards spiraled through the dark, each one a jagged sliver of memory, sharp, foreign, and not his own. They tore through his mind like wind-blown glass, slicing through thought and self with merciless precision. Faces he didn't know, names he never spoke, emotions that didn't belong to him, yet.... they echoed.
Sadness.
Inferiority.
Resentment.
Again, and again, over and OVER and OVER AND OVER AND O—
Crack.
His breath hitched. A whisper that wasn't his curled through the void.
"Not enough."
More fragments came... laughter twisted into mockery, warmth rotted into guilt. His knees buckled under the weight of lives he never lived, pain he never earned. And yet… it clung to him. Sank into his very bones.
He clawed at his temples as if he could scrape the noise out, but the shards only dug deeper.
Crack.
Another image. Another him. Crying. Smiling. Bleeding.
He laughed—a sharp, splintered sound. It didn't feel like his, but it escaped anyway.
"So much noise in someone else's silence…"
The mirror pulsed.
Crack.
Two souls, one foreign, one dying, twisted together in a storm of pain, regret, and buried truths. They spiraled, clawing toward unity, a new being slowly forming in the pitch-dark void of the mind.
A sick and twisted persona… or perhaps a more complete one. The true self, unmasked.
Two lives, two wills… fused into one, rebor—
Creak.
Clink.
Porcelain touched lacquered wood with a soft knock. The scent of congee drifted through the air.
"Your Highness… I've brought your meal," a voice said gently.
CRACK.
Like shattering glass, the moment split.
The convergence was halted. The swirling fusion screeched to a halt, interrupted by the smallest act of care.
His eyes flinched open, wide, unfocused, frantic. The dim room came into view, painted in flickering candlelight. His body trembled. His mouth tasted of iron and bitterness. Sweat ran down his back.
Who… am I?
A whisper. A question. A plea.
For a few unbearable moments, he didn't know. Not which memories were his, not which voice belonged to him. His hands felt too large. His bones were unfamiliar, as if a stranger was inhabiting his skin, each twist and turn felt as if a thousand bugs were crawling within him.
Was he the timid second prince?
Or the outsider who'd taken his place?
Something unfinished churned inside him, a presence not fully settled, not fully formed.
Then... a voice again.
"Your Highness?" the servant asked, peering at him with worry.
The words anchored him. Pulled him back.
"Oh right....."
At this very moment, something had slipped from Nathan's mind, or should I say Jin Xianyi, something important, something he would never get back.....
The fusion had been interrupted.
And now… something incomplete looked back at the world.
"Xu Xian, can you pass me the soup? Oh, while you're at it, can you tell me the current state of the court while I eat?"
"Yes, your Highness."
As he said this, he carefully passed the nourishing soup to the Prince, It was laid on top of a bed tray so the prince could eat without having to spend energy getting out of bed.
A lavish bowl lay in front of the prince, Gilded with gold made of silver, its outer rims were encrusted with valuable gems. A Golden spoon, Encrusted with a singular gorgeous jade in the middle of its handle.
The soup itself was made of invaluable herbs and medicine, something mere commoners couldn't even dream of tasting after centuries of hard work, saving every penny, skipping meals, and refraining from even water.
As Jin Xianyi started eating, he couldnt help but feel a wave of ecstasy, although the soup itself didn't taste good, in fact, it tasted bitter, completely unpallatable for a Prince such as himself.
No, it was the energy he felt from the soup, the rushing force circulating around his body, it was something he had never felt before, the warmness of the energy, the feeling of comfort, and the subtle security it had radiated.
This... This was the legendary Life Force, only heard of in fictional novels and obscure chinese martial arts movies. This was entirely new to him, feeling as if he was taken by angels to enjoy a sweet tour of heaven.
There was only one word he could say to summarize this entire experience
"addicting"
Now he had sincerely understood how the Main Characters in such stories could cultivate in seclusion for multiple years scarcely affecting them mentally. If for every second he had trained, he felt this level of ecstasy, he wouldn't be able to stop training too...
"–hness, –or Highness, Your Highness? Are you listening to me? i was in the middle of explaining to you the state of affairs at the court, but it seemed to me that you were lost in thought."
Xu Xian was still concerned for the well being of Jin Xianyi, and had asked him if everything was alright, although the prince was showing signs of resurging vitality it still dint change the fact that he was in a comatose state for so long, unknown to him or anyone else, the prince could still face some oddities.
"I was lost in thought for a few moments. Xu Xian, please continue."
Although still slightly concerned, the ever dutiful servant Xu Xian followed his master's orders and continued.
"As I was saying, Your Highness, in the wake of your father's assassination, the court has fractured."
"One faction stands firmly behind you, fully supporting your ascension to the throne."
"The other... questions your legitimacy. They claim your lack of martial talent and absence of proven leadership disqualify you from wearing the crown."
"There are other minor voices, yes but these two factions are the most prominent. They shape the court's tides and hold the greatest influence."
"And..." he hesitates briefly, "there are whispers in the dark.... rumors that the Hollow Dagger Sect has begun making subtle moves. No one knows their true aim, but their knives rarely stir without intent."
The prince's gaze sharpened, shadows of confusion clearing from his expression. He rose slowly, each movement deliberate, like someone adjusting to a new weight on their shoulders.
"That's enough," he said, his voice low, calm, yet carrying a gravity it hadn't before. "Let them know I've awakened."
He turned his eyes toward the window, where dawn struggled to pierce through the gray clouds.
"If they doubt my claim, they can watch me seize it. I'll attend the next court assembly."
Xu Xian's eyes widened in alarm. "Your Highness, with all due respect, your body has only just stabilized. Your pulse is still weak, and we aren't sure if you've already recov—"
The prince raised a hand, cutting him off. His tone was soft, but unwavering. "Xu Xian, I am grateful. But we both know the court will not wait for me to heal."
Xu Xian lowered his gaze, fists clenched in hesitation. "Still… if something were to happen—"
"Then let it happen with my eyes open and my feet in the hall," the prince replied, rising to his feet despite the tremble in his limbs. "I refuse to rot away in this room, while others plot my downfall."
A pause.
"Inform the court. I shall attend."