If Murmur still lived, if his reach still lingered in the unseen corners of the world, surely he would not stay silent while his own son toyed with beings so closely tied to the Origin Gods. Murmur's obsession with the divine was something Chen had witnessed all his life. To risk the ire of such beings and have their attentio turned to this side of the world would be madness and Murmur was not a man who allowed madness to go unpunished.
So Chen waited.
The nobles complained. The officials fretted. The godlings grew unpredictable and strange, wandering into cities, upending the empire's fragile order with their whims and curiosity. But Chen only smiled.
"Let them do as they please," he had told his council. "A little chaos never hurt an empire."
In truth, he welcomed it. Every disruption, every act of godling mischief, blurred the lines of control across the empire, making it easier for him to move unseen.
