A Scene From The Spring Palace

The servants strained their limbs and heaved while the mayor of the palace berated them with all the bitter obloquy he knew he deserved himself. The great table had arrived months ago, and the message the Emperor sent along with it was quite clear that he preferred it to the old furniture. But the Emperor was not in residence at the spring palace, and there was always some other business that needed doing. Something more urgent and less heavy. Now the Emperor was on his way, making the matter as urgent as could be but not at all lighter.
"Put your backs into it! Are you men?"
"Perhaps men aren't enough." The far door swung open and Emperor Parevo strode in, shaking the ground and stirring the wind with every step. His golden mane, for you could not call it hair as if it were something any man might grow, and his starlike eyes presented all the wonders of the sky found in both day and night so that you would think you sported alongside the gods above if you saw him in person. "Step back, men." He grabbed the table with one hand and swung it while the servants scattered to all corners. Without measuring he set it down in the middle of the room, not an inch closer to one wall than another.
"Amazing! How can you be so strong?" one of the attendants blurted out.
"I'll tell you while the mayor fetches our lunch, little page. I expect him to be slow with it as usual." The Emperor picked up one chair lined up against the wall after another and tossed them over to the table, evenly spaced and ready for use. "Sit down and listen.
"It was after we won past the Unyielding Guardian God, my companions and I. Ammael who is now a bishop, Ronilo who is known as the Spice King for the way he won more wealth than any other man, and Vasas they call the Sybarite because his hedonism is unrivaled. We defeated the Guardian God and penetrated the Ethereal Veil where we found a road that split into four.
"The Unknown Guide that appears when and where he will, his motives known not even to me, met us there and told us the branches before us were the Path of Pleasure, the Path of Wealth, the Path of Power, and the Path of Hardship. My companions took the other three while I alone trod the fourth."
The listeners marveled and asked why he chose the Path of Hardship and how it led him to the sovereignty and excellence he had.
"You think you ask two questions, but there is only one answer: Because it gave the most XP."