I'm trying to boot a VM without using firmware. I'm not getting my login prompt.

So I'm trying to boot a VM I build by running qemu
without using bootloaders or firmware,
because I've been told it's possible and that's what I want now.

This is the command I use to start my VM machine.
Code:sudo qemu-system-x86_64 \
-name SE_bastille_installer-box \
-machine q35 \
-m 1024 \
-drive file=/var/lib/libvirt/images/SE_bastille-installer-box.qcow2,if=virtio,media=disk \
-nic user,model=virtio-net-pci \
-kernel ./bzImage \
-initrd ./initramfs.linux_amd64.cpio \
-append 'root=/dev/sda1 ro console=ttyS0' \
-serial mon:stdio \
-nographic \
-nodefaultsinitramfs.linux_amd64.cpio is an initramfs I compiled using u-root, which I've never done before.
bzImage is a Linux kernel I compiled, which I've also never done before.

When I enter the qemu command my terminal boots to the u-root filesystem
in which I can enter the command 'boot'.
This start a LinuxBoot menu appears in which I can choose
my Alpine Linux boot entry I created.

My entry seems to work,
but after a few programs it just stops.
I'm not getting my login prompt.
It ends with
Code:Starting sshd ... [ ok ]I tried shutting off sshd in my VM and
the booting process then ends with the log message before it,
so I don't think sshd is my issue.

I'm guessing the next step is my login prompt and somehow that fails?