The emperor had not come here for a long time. The young prince Ethan Foster fell into deep thought—it had probably been more than three months. The last time he came, it was just passing by, and he left after sitting for the time it takes to drink a cup of tea. It was no wonder; who would want to spend time in the quarters of a sickly prince? Even his mother consort was the same. Ever since his younger brother grew up and was predicted by a certain fortune-teller to have an extremely noble fate, she, who used to occasionally visit Fenghua Palace, rarely came anymore. Even if she did, her expression was always indifferent, as if he were not her son. Born into the imperial family—if this was what it meant to be of royal blood, he would rather not have it. He only wished for loving parents and family. Unfortunately, he could not achieve this, and no one could help him do so. No one...

Jason Clark braced himself and stepped into his home. Every time he returned, seeing his mother force a smile made his heart feel as heavy as iron. “I’m back,” he called softly, but no one answered from inside the house. This had never happened before. Ever since his father broke his leg, his mother had never left his side, afraid that he might do something foolish. A hunter who could no longer walk had lost his ability to make a living, and the young Jason was in no position to take his father’s place and support the family. This already struggling household had now fallen into dire straits.

“Father, Mother, where are you?” The terrified Jason shouted loudly, a flood of dreadful thoughts rushing into his mind, making him tremble with fear.

He rushed into the inner room and found a small note. The handwriting was even more childish than a child’s, but in a small village like this, it was already rare. This was thanks to Jason often sneaking to the private school of the village’s wealthy family to listen in, then teaching his father how to write during his free time. “Son, Mother has taken your father to Zhao Village outside the village. I heard there’s someone there who can treat his leg.” The hastily written words made his eyes sting with tears. Zhao Village was more than ten li away, and the poor Lian family could not afford a donkey. Walking all that way, the person who could treat his father’s leg might have already left by the time they arrived.

Leaning alone against the wall, though he had nothing to eat, he gradually drifted into sleep. For as long as he could remember, he had always had such dreams. In them, he was no longer a poor child; he dreamed of himself wearing splendid clothes, surrounded by many beautiful girls, living in a huge house. He had even seen, more than once, a woman as beautiful as a fairy, and an old man more dignified than any county official... Every day he dreamed of such scenes. Sometimes, he even had the illusion that his suffering was fake, that he was meant to live in that grand house. Yet every time he woke up, all he saw was the empty house and his weather-beaten parents.

Leaning on the railing in front of the door, Ethan Foster gazed at the clouds in the sky, and in a daze, he entered that familiar dream again. There were no silks and satins, no grand houses or fine food—only bare walls and a shabby house, his aged parents, and himself. Though life was unimaginably hard, there was always a chance to laugh freely. How he wished he would never wake up, to forever enjoy this rare moment of happiness. Nothing broke his heart more than the lack of his parents’ care. He did not want to wake up each time to face the cold palace, the insincere eunuchs and maids, and those parents who always seemed to forget him. Perhaps, it would be better if he had never appeared in this world at all. In his dream, two lines of tears slid down his face.

Everything seemed to return to calm, but no one knew what kind of great storm was brewing beneath this calm. In the blink of an eye, lightning and thunder filled the sky. In their dreams, the two boys saw a thick bolt of lightning strike straight toward them. In that moment between life and death, all they felt was endless regret. The sudden lightning caused a stir in two distant places: the villagers in the small village hurriedly shut their windows in fear, while those in Fenghua Palace were busy searching for the absent Ethan Foster. As for Jason Clark and Ethan Foster, their consciousness was already fading. They only felt themselves being drawn into an unimaginably dark abyss, sinking deeper and deeper...

Everything would change because of this moment. This year was the nineteenth year of Wanlie. Ethan Foster was thirteen years old, and Jason Clark was thirteen years old.

Prologue

On the third day of the seventh month in the nineteenth year of Wanlie, the Grand Astronomer Ryan Foster gazed at the heavens in terror. Having studied under William’s predecessor, the former Grand Astronomer David Foster, he had observed the stars for over forty years, yet had never seen such a strange phenomenon. Near the Ziwei star in the northern sky, a star that had always been dim suddenly fell, turning into a shooting star that streaked across the sky and fell straight toward the east. Just as he was calculating the reason for this, he was shocked to discover that a brilliant new star had appeared in the original spot. This sudden change caught him completely off guard. Yet it was not over. In the once chaotic eastern sky, a similarly bright star appeared. The two stars reflected each other, making the night sky look extremely eerie.

The entire sky was shrouded in a silvery white glow. The stars that had once shone brightly beside the imperial Ziwei star seemed completely suppressed, and the twenty-eight constellations representing the emperor’s ministers had lost their former brilliance. In this moment, the vast, boundless night sky belonged only to those two strange, dazzling stars that had appeared out of nowhere.