Alexander
"He kidnapped you?"
The boy shook his head slowly, "I wish, that way I could blame him for all of it."
"He...tricked you?"
"Yes, with half-truths. He told me about the 'Divine Illness' that plagues every offspring of the Gods. After reaching maturity their bloodline blooms and if it is too pure or too strong then the powers consume the individual, destroying them from the inside out."
"That part was true but he deceived me by saying that if I stayed with my mother it would only create more problems for her or even endanger her life...and that he had a way to 'make things right' before it was too late."
"So I abandoned my sickly mother, left her alone to fend for herself in hopes that she would still be around by the time I was done with this quest of mine. It...did not end that way."
Hao Xuan had some mixed feelings about this. On one hand he empathized with him, even relieved that he wasn't the only one fooled by the Emperor.