1690 Prince and Kings
Nearly 6000 years ago.
The Empire celebrated the birth of Prince Fangyu. The celebrations lasted for weeks, with many people from outside the Continent coming to give their congratulations to the Emperor.
The Dragon Emperor revealed the prince on his first birthday a year later, and he gave him one of the most important treasures that someone from the Imperial Royal family could hold.
The Ebony Sword.
Nobody really knew what it meant to have that sword. To them, it was just a symbol of the Empire, a heirloom to keep. Still, they celebrated the occasion.
The Emperor was happy with his first son, and the Empress was even happier. With the birth of the prince, they were both relieved from the stresses that had plagued them for ages.
Now, the Dragon Emperor wouldn't be suggested to find himself a concubine every time he met someone important.
As the new prince grew, it gave the Emperor and Empress the time they needed to sort out the other problems that they had been ignoring for a while.
Having learned that one could change their fates if they wanted to, the Dragon Emperor and Empress had begun making plans to protect themselves from whatever was to come.
There were no other concerns for the two than the final prophecy; the one that claimed the Dragon Emperor would die at the hand of a King, a son of a King, and what they figured was the White Tiger.
Whether the prophecy referred to a single being or a group of 3, neither of the pair could tell. What they could tell, they became aware of.
The Dragon Emperor didn't know exactly what to do with the information. If a King or his child was to be trouble for him, then how was he to tell which one it was? He couldn't just get rid of every King… could he?
The preparations were made early by the two as they planted seeds in all of the existing 6 Kingdoms of the Continent. For the Azure Kingdom, he simply manipulated the political situation there to put someone else on the throne.
For the other 5, however, subtle maneuvers weren't going to be of much help. He couldn't get the 5 kingdoms to face a downfall either as someone else would take their place and he would have to worry about them once again.
No, he had to do something forceful, and he did.
Making claims that there was a rebellion being planned and showing proof of it through the seeds he planted, the Dragon Emperor destroyed the royal families of all 5 Kingdoms at once.
The 5 Kings and Queens made their appeals, saying that they weren't planning any such thing; but with the proof in hand, no one could take their side at all. The Kings and Queens were executed, and anyone who could be considered an heir to the throne was killed along with them.
The thorough extermination of so many people was the most extreme thing the Dragon Emperor could have ever imagined doing, and the success of it made him bolder.
The Azure Dragon heard of the event and was very angry with the Dragon Emperor for doing what he did, but after hearing the story that the Dragon Emperor had formulated, he let the situation be.
Still, the Dragon Emperor was now forced to calm an Empire that he had sent into turmoil. He knew the perfect way to do it.
The Kingdoms were changed, and their names were different from before. Instead of being named for their Kings, they were now named after colors.
"5 colors," the Dragon Emperor said softly. "The prophecy mentioned something about 7 colorful lights. We are changing the future." He was very much happier as a person despite knowing what atrocity he had committed.
Now, he was willing to do even more to keep it going.
Nothing eventful happened in the time it took for the Empire to settle from the changes and go back to being how it used to be. Everything was calm now, but one thing did continue to bother the Dragon Emperor.
He had made changes to the Kings and Queens so they wouldn't be a threat. They weren't allowed to marry or have kids, and they weren't allowed to cultivate past the Saint Soul realm. If they wanted to do either, they had to abdicate from the throne and lose their status.
The Dragon Emperor believed it to be the perfect way to deal with the prophecy, but the problem came when he remembered the other Kings that existed.
The Southern Continent would never be without a King with the Phoenix there, and the Northern Continent was governed through sects and had no King either.
So, the only King that did remain was in the Western Continent. The Western Continent was a mixture of many kingdoms, separated by a large expanse of forest.
If his prophecy could ever come true, it would be from those kingdoms. He had to deal with them somehow.
And then, there was the damn White Tiger. What could he even do about an Immortal beast? He knew that the White Tiger couldn't harm anyone in this world, but did he dare take that risk?
Years went by with the Dragon Emperor worrying about it but being able to do nothing. The only thing he could do was hope that he had made enough changes so that the prophecies would have changed by now.
What else was he to do? Kill the White Tiger?
To his surprise, he didn't have to.
Reports reached him soon, but sooner than that the Azure Dragon had already left the continent. When he came back, there were only two pieces of information the Dragon Emperor was handed.
First, the Azure Dragon was wounded and would have to rest to get better for a long time now.
Second, the White Tiger had died in a clash with the other Heavenly beasts in the Central continent.
The Dragon Emperor was stunned. The White Tiger had died? Just like that?
He refused to believe it, but then he had seen how wounded the Azure Dragon was. He would need a lot of time to heal from those wounds.
"The White Tiger is dead," he thought. "He's dead."
Which meant, he now had one of the obstacles in his prophecy gone from it. As for the other Kings, he decided to become bold.
The Dragon Emperor visited the Southern Continent where he met the council of 10 who had formed in the absence of the Phoenix. Whether the Phoenix was dead or not didn't matter to the Dragon Emperor. As long as he could get these people to agree, that would be enough.
He exploited their sudden lack of ruler and strength to make them accept the proposal he made.
Then, the Dragon Emperor visited the Northern Continent, where he met the leaders of the 5 great sects and made the same proposal. These ones accepted it more easily than the council did.
With both continents accepting his proposal, the Dragon Emperor went back to the Eastern Empire and prepared his legions to move along with them.
They were going to attack the Western Continent that was ruled by the late White Tiger, the one who he claimed was responsible for trying and failing to take over the entire world with his evil schemes.
They were going to war.
