Shadows of the Sunless Sky

The air in the council room was thick with the weight of unspoken words. Outside, the artificial suns glowed faintly, casting their weak, cold light over the city below. But in the room, the real darkness was the silence, heavy and suffocating, as if the very walls held the secrets that the Lords refused to reveal.

Jian Liang stood in the center of the room, his expression impassive, his mind racing with questions he hadn't dared to ask before. Lord Zhen, his father, had called him here for a private conversation—one that Jian Liang sensed would finally answer the questions that had plagued him for years. Questions about the Lords. About their strange power. About why there was only one heir, and why that heir had to carry the weight of their curse.

But he wasn't prepared for what Lord Zhen was about to reveal.

"Jian Liang," Lord Zhen's voice was low, but it carried a weight of authority. "You've wondered, haven't you, why there are no others among us? Why we—the Lords—are so powerful, and yet we are incapable of producing heirs?"

Jian Liang stood still, his gaze fixed on his father. It wasn't a question that he hadn't thought of before, but hearing it spoken aloud gave it a new depth, a gravity that he hadn't fully realized until now.

"Yes, Father," Jian Liang replied, his voice steady but betraying a hint of curiosity. "I've wondered about it."

Lord Zhen's lips curled into a small, almost imperceptible smile. He turned, looking out at the faint glimmer of the sun in the distance, as though contemplating something far beyond the walls of the council room.

"We were chosen," Lord Zhen began, his voice distant, as if recalling ancient memories. "Each of us—chosen by the suns. Our power didn't come from the heavens, as many believe. It was taken—from a price no one dared to question."

Jian Liang's brow furrowed. Taken? What could possibly be taken to grant them such immense power?

"The truth is," Lord Zhen continued, his voice softening, "our power wasn't given to us—it was stolen."

Jian Liang's heart skipped a beat, but he didn't let his confusion show. Stolen? This was a truth he had never been told before. A power like the Lords' couldn't possibly have come from anything less than divine origin.

Lord Zhen slowly turned back to face his son, his eyes sharp and calculating. "The power we wield comes from the blood of our own people—the very bloodline of those who once ruled this world, before the suns vanished. Before everything was cast into darkness."

Jian Liang's mind raced as he tried to digest the implications. The sun had disappeared long ago, plunging the world into perpetual twilight. But this... this was a revelation he wasn't prepared for. How could their power be connected to the ancient rulers?

"The old bloodlines," Lord Zhen continued, "were once far more powerful than anyone could imagine. They ruled with such force that the sun itself bent to their will. But they abused it. They took more than they were given, until they drained the earth dry. The suns, in all their brilliance, began to die."

Jian Liang couldn't help but feel a pang of unease. The power of the Lords was tied to something ancient—something lost. But he still didn't understand why this left them without heirs.

"You're not asking the right question, Jian Liang," Lord Zhen said, as if reading his son's mind. "The question isn't why we can't produce heirs. The question is—why only you?"

Jian Liang blinked, caught off guard. "What do you mean?"

Lord Zhen's eyes darkened, and for a moment, Jian Liang thought he saw something flicker in them—something dangerous, something that spoke of forbidden knowledge. But it was gone as quickly as it came.

"Because you," Lord Zhen said quietly, "are the only one who can carry the burden. You are the last of the old bloodline. The only one left who can bear the power."

Jian Liang froze, confusion and disbelief battling in his chest. "But why?" he asked, his voice laced with frustration. "Why am I the only one?"

Lord Zhen's lips curled into a smile, but there was no warmth in it. "Because you were born to it. And because—" He paused, letting the words hang in the air. "The rest of us made a sacrifice. A sacrifice to bind ourselves to this power."

Jian Liang's thoughts spun faster, but Lord Zhen wasn't finished. He took a step closer, his voice barely above a whisper.

"We sacrificed everything," he said, his tone colder now. "Our ability to create life, to give birth to new blood. The power we wield comes at the cost of our humanity. We took the essence of the old bloodline, the true heirs to this world, and we consumed it. But there was a price for such power. We became gods, yes. But we became something less than human."

Jian Liang's chest tightened as his father's words began to sink in. His mind raced. The Lords were gods, but their divinity came at the cost of their ability to pass on their legacy. There would be no children to carry their name, no heirs to follow in their footsteps.

"Why tell me this now?" Jian Liang asked, his voice steady but carrying the weight of unspoken questions. "Why is it me who must bear the weight of this?"

Lord Zhen's expression darkened, and for a brief moment, Jian Liang saw something in his eyes that sent a chill through his spine. The old man knew something he wasn't sharing. There was something more to this—something more dangerous.

"You're the heir because you are the only one who can be," Lord Zhen replied, his voice low. "And when the time comes, you will understand why. But you are not ready for that truth. Not yet."

The room fell silent. Jian Liang's mind was a whirl of confusion, of half-formed thoughts. He knew his father was hiding something from him—something he wasn't ready to know. But what? And why?

Lord Zhen took a step back, his posture once again composed and regal. "You are the heir, Jian Liang. That is all you need to know for now. The rest will come in time."

Jian Liang opened his mouth to ask more questions, but Lord Zhen's cold gaze silenced him. There would be no more answers tonight.

As the Lords quietly filed out of the room, leaving Jian Liang alone with his thoughts, the weight of his father's words hung heavily in the air. The Lords' power had come at a terrible cost. And somewhere in the dark recesses of his mind, Jian Liang felt the cold stirrings of a truth he wasn't yet ready to face.

But he knew one thing for certain: his fate, and the fate of the Lords, was far more complicated than he could have ever imagined.

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