Every eye that was allowed to look was looking.
Every person waited to see if I would make it, if I would prove worthy.
The final step.
I turned, slowly, carefully, and faced my people.
The Empire spread before me.
Thousands of faces, thousands of lives, thousands of hopes and fears and desperate prayers. They needed me to be strong.
Needed me to be divine.
Needed me to save them from the darkness that threatened to swallow everything.
I settled onto the Imperial seat.
The wood was exactly as uncomfortable as Father had promised. Still, I sat straight, ignoring the splinters, ignoring the pain, and let them see their emperor enthroned.
My escort flowed into position, spreading out in perfect lines on either side. The moment stretched, silent and sacred, as the Empire held its breath.
Then Goro, the Minister of Rites, shuffled forward. He was ancient with a face like leather and hands that shook as he lowered himself to his knees. An escort placed a gilded box in his trembling hands, and Goro raised his head just enough to speak.
“GreatTenno”—his voice carried across the silent gardens—“we beseech you, raise The Eye of the Gods, that you may see clearly the needs of your people.”
He opened the box.
Inside, nestled on a scarlet pillow, lay a shimmering stone the size of a fist. It caught the light and threw it back in colors that had no names—purples and greens and golds all at once, shifting and alive.
This was The Eye, one of the three sacred treasures, the first gift of the gods.
I raised my hands, and the crowd leaned forward.
“Amaterasu, Lady of Light,” I recited. My voice was steady and strong and not my own. “Grant your son vision that he may lead your people well.”
I lifted the gem from its case and held it aloft.
Light exploded from it.
Not metaphorically—actual light, blazing out in waves that washed over the crowd.
People gasped.
Some cried out.
The gem felt alive in my hands, warm and pulsing like a beating heart.
And Icouldsee.
Gods, I couldsee.
Not with my eyes but with something deeper.
I saw the threads connecting me to everyone present, saw their hopes like golden light and their fears like shadows. I saw the Empire spread out before me, vast and broken and desperately holding on.
I lowered the gem slowly and placed it back in the box.
My hands trembled.
