Page 98 of Elemasters

“What do you think I meant when I told you not to lose yourself?” Mr. Liu telepathically snickered, “you were temporarily consumed by Qin Shi Huang's regret. Reliving it as though you were the man himself,”

“THAT’S A THING THAT CAN HAPPEN?!” Dustin knew he shouldn’t have been surprised, but he couldn’t take another curve ball, like Jesus fuck.

“I think you’re most sensitive to it, maybe because you’re his descendant?” James theorized, holding onto Chris’s back and yelling over his shoulder, “I mean, Chris is too but he’s not as empathetic!”

“I could be! But yeah, I’m not,” Chris immediately folded, shrugging, “just try to keep it under control. I am NOT losing you to this asshole!”

“That might be easier said than done. Steel yourself!” Mr. Liu commanded, another thundercloud rolling into them. Dustin grit his teeth and braced for it, but it just wasn’t enough…

Getting through the defenses of the Qi Kingdom’s capital city was perhaps the easiest thing Ying Zheng had ever accomplished.

The other kingdoms had fallen before his newfound might; entire armies smote in seconds by his command of the skies, as if they were little more than ants beneath his boot. Now only Qi and Qin remained, and while he and King Jian once had an alliance, a promise to share the conquered territory… Zheng no longer had need of such a farce.

Qin soldiers flooded through the streets at his back as Ying Zheng approached the palace. Citizens were pulled from their homes, cowering on the pavement as they anticipated the gruesome deaths they were sure awaited them.

Zheng had to stifle a scoff.

Sure, he’d personally seen to it that those who mistreated him during his childhood in Zhao were buried alive, screaming for mercy he had no capacity to give them… but they’d deserved such a fate. So long as the people of Qi cooperated with their new king, nothing so horrid would befall them.

King Jian rushed down the palace stairs, officials hot on his heels as his beaded crown nearly toppled off his head.

“Ying Zheng, what is the meaning of this?!” he demanded, “y-you promised that so long as Qi didn’t interfere with your conquest, you would spare us!”

Zheng grit his teeth at the blubbering sack of manure standing before him. This man had the gall to call himself a king? Just the idea that he and Zheng shared a title was enough to sour his stomach.

“Compose yourself Tian Jian,” Zheng sneered, “act with the dignity befitting your station!”

King Jian’s jaw just hung open, unable to even form a reply. Two Qin soldiers approached from behind Ying Zheng, escorting a young man bearing striking resemblance to the king, wearing expertly crafted black silk robes, and a hair pin made of solid gold.

“Look upon this man, my son,” Ying Zheng commanded, “is this someone you see as a king? As MY equal?”

The prince’s trembling eyes were locked on King Jian, but he didn’t say a word.

“How pitiful. Even Prince Fusu sees how far the mighty line of Qi kings has fallen,” Zheng shook his head, raising his hand to the sky, “you have brought such shame to your own name, to the very title of king, that perhaps it is time to abandon it altogether. I shall not be conflated with the likes of you, the likes of any who stood against me and failed. Only I had the will to do what was necessary for the good of the realm, only I had the strength!”

Screams erupted from every direction as a single bolt of lightning shot down from the clouds, striking King Jian down where he stood, and leaving nothing but a blackened corpse behind.

“Let this be known across the plains. King Zheng of Qin was slain at the Battle of Linzi. As the Fenghuang rises from the ashes of her nest, an emperor rises from a king’s failures. Qin Shi Huangdi, the first and only Emperor of Qin now stands before you!”

One by one, the Qin soldiers dropped to their knees and kowtowed, followed by the terror-stricken citizens of Qi… well, citizens of Qin now. Only Prince Fusu remained standing for a long moment, eyeing his father as if he was someone wholly unfamiliar.

In time, he bowed too.

But Dustin knew that one day he’d rise. The very ring on his finger was proof of how he’d resist Qin Shi Huang’s divine tyranny.

“Pulled yourself out of it that time, huh?” Chris said with a bloodstained grin, “you all good?”

Dustin nodded, sickened from Qin Shi Huang’s display of cruelty.

“Yeah… there was no losing myself in that shit,”

“Glad you’re still with us! But the final hurdle lies ahead. We’re nearing the core of Qin Shi Huang’s being, where you all will have to confront him and give me the opening to end this! Are we ready, or do I need to do another lap to give you time to process?” Mr. Liu’s tone was flippant and teasing, but an undercurrent of urgency thrummed beneath his words.

Dustin turned back, seeing Chris, James, Bailey, and Chloe, clinging onto each other in a chain as rain pounded them all. No one had another word to say; they just maintained eye contact with him as he made the call himself.

“We’re ready. Get us in there Ruanyu,”

The next thing Dustin knew, he was standing in a luxuriously decorated throne room; golden pillars with dragons curled around them held up the high ceiling, and the floor was a marble map of China, complete with rivers of liquid mercury running through it. In front of him was the seat of power itself, a giant golden chair with those very familiar antlers branching off from each side.