Darkness surrounds me.
For a moment, I assume I have returned to the Reaper's realm.
There is no ground beneath my feet, no sky above me, and no light beyond the faint purple glow coming from the Mark in my palm.
But the Reaper is not here.
Instead, I hear people screaming.
The darkness changes.
Wren's Hollow forms around me.
The village is still burning. Flames spread across every house, and ash covers the streets. Villagers run toward the quarry while the Ash Saint floats above them like a second sun.
I stand in the center of the square.
No one can see me.
A woman trips while carrying a child.
A soldier turns back to help her.
White fire falls from the sky and consumes them both.
The scene resets.
The village appears again.
This time, the people reach the quarry.
Aurelius descends.
His flames pass through Elara's barrier and reduce everyone inside to ash.
The scene resets again.
Every version ends the same way.
Wren's Hollow burns.
Elara dies.
The silver banner falls.
I remain standing among the ashes.
A message appears in front of me.
Evolution initiated.
Dreadborn represents fear given form.
A Dread Knight conquers through fear.
A Dread Warden protects a claim through fear.
What do you protect?
The burning village freezes around me.
I look toward Elara's banner above the square.
It is not mine.
The village is not mine.
The people hiding in the quarry have no reason to trust me.
Most of them are terrified of me.
"I don't own any of this," I say.
The message changes.
Ownership is not required.
What do you protect?
Elara stands beneath the banner.
Malrec is beside her, holding the remains of Nightfall.
Commander Soren and his soldiers form a line in front of the quarry.
Behind them are hundreds of villagers who chose to remain beneath Elara's claim.
I think about the execution chamber.
Three officers watched me die because following orders was easier than questioning them.
No one stood between me and the needle.
No one risked anything.
"I protect the people behind me."
Dark chains erupt from the Mark.
They spread across the village, passing through homes, streets, and walls.
Unlike the chains connected to fear, these do not pull energy toward me.
They surround the village.
A boundary forms.
The flames strike it and turn black.
A second message appears.
What do they fear?
The people fear the Ash Saint.
They fear Lucien.
They fear losing their homes.
Some fear Elara's rebellion will make their lives worse.
Many fear me.
"All of it."
Will you consume their fear?
The Mark opens.
The fear of the entire village flows toward me.
I feel the familiar hunger.
The power waiting inside every terrified breath.
I could take it.
The Reaper would expect me to.
The system was built for it.
But these people are not enemies.
They stood beneath Elara's banner because they believed someone might protect them.
Taking their fear while offering nothing in return would make me no different from the royal network beneath the palace.
"No."
The chains around the village shake.
Fear must go somewhere.
"Then give it back."
Clarify.
"Turn it against whatever threatens them."
The eye in my palm opens completely.
The dark chains surrounding Wren's Hollow become covered in purple symbols.
The fear flowing from the villagers moves through them.
Instead of entering my soul, it gathers around the village's boundary.
A wall built from the terror of the people standing behind it.
The Ash Saint releases his fire.
The wall responds.
Every frightened person inside the village becomes part of the defense.
The white flames stop.
A final message fills the darkness.
Evolution path confirmed.
Dreadborn → Dread Warden
Pain spreads through my body.
Not the violent tearing I felt when the Mark first awakened.
This is slower.
Deeper.
The Mark is rewriting something.
Black lines travel from my palm to my chest.
The crack splitting the purple eye begins closing.
The fear I gathered in Wren's Hollow surrounds my soul, but it does not enter.
It becomes armor.
A boundary.
A promise that anything trying to reach the people behind me must pass through me first.
The burning village disappears.
I fall through the darkness.
Before everything fades, I hear a voice.
Not the Reaper.
Kael.
His words come from the contained memory fragment.
"A Warden."
There is surprise in his voice.
Then something resembling amusement.
"He will hate that."
I open my eyes.
A stone ceiling is above me.
For several seconds, I do not remember where I am.
Then pain returns.
My chest hurts.
My arms feel heavy.
Every muscle in my legs burns from using Dread Step.
I try to sit up.
A hand pushes me back down.
"Don't."
Elara is sitting beside the bed.
Her silver hair is tied behind her head, and dark circles surround her eyes. Ash stains the side of her face.
"You look terrible," I say.
Her expression becomes flat.
"You were unconscious for nine hours, and that is the first thing you say?"
"I've said worse."
"You stopped breathing twice."
"That seems concerning."
"It was."
I examine the room.
I am inside a stone building, probably near the quarry. A lantern rests on a small table beside the bed.
My damaged coat has been removed.
Bandages cover most of my chest, both arms, and one leg.
The signal stone Elara gave me rests beside the lantern.
A crack runs through its center.
"I didn't break it," I say.
"It cracked when your Mark did."
She reaches for my right hand.
The purple eye remains in the center of my palm.
The black crack that split it during the fight has disappeared.
A thin silver circle now surrounds the Mark.
Elara touches the edge carefully.
The eye turns toward her finger.
She immediately pulls away.
"That is still disturbing."
"It likes you."
"That does not make it better."
I open my status.
World Raider
Name: Shin Sasaki
Race: Dreadborn Human
Rank: Dread Warden
Dread: 2,291
Worlds Raided: 1
Title: The World Raider
Secondary Title: Warden of the Broken Chain
Affiliation: The Free Asterian Claim
Position: Founding Threat
Soul Weapon: Oathbreaker
Abilities:
Death Energy — Level 3
Soul Weapon Summoning — Level 4
World Translation — Level 1
Dread Collection — Level 4
Fear Sense — Level 3
Dread Aura — Level 2
Terror Mark — Level 2
Warden's Claim — Level 1
Dread Refuge — Level 1
Techniques:
Death Arc — Level 1
Dread Severance — Level 2
Dread Step — Level 1
Objectives:
Learn the truth of the World Raiders — Active
Survive the Asterian Succession War — Active
Expand the Free Asterian Claim — New
I stare at the soul weapon's name.
"Oathbreaker."
Elara looks toward me.
"What?"
"My scythe earned a name."
"You named it while unconscious?"
"Apparently, it named itself."
"That sounds worse."
"It fits."
The weapon has broken royal oaths, Malrec's connection to Lucien, Elara's binding seal, and the Ash Saint's connection to his spell.
Oathbreaker is accurate.
I focus on the new abilities.
Warden's Claim
Create a bond with territory claimed by an allied ruler or faction. Within the claimed boundary, the Warden can sense hostile supernatural connections, direct Dread toward defensive effects, and identify those accepted beneath the claim.
Only one territory may be designated at the current level.
Dread Refuge
Those accepted beneath the Warden's Claim gain increased resistance to fear, mental control, forced obedience, and hostile soul effects.
The Warden may absorb part of an accepted person's supernatural burden. Damage transferred in this way cannot be avoided.
I read the final line again.
The ability allows me to protect people from control.
It also allows their damage to become mine.
That sounds dangerous.
Which probably means I will end up using it often.
"What happened after I lost consciousness?" I ask.
Elara looks toward the door.
"Aurelius left."
"I remember that part."
"The remaining fires were extinguished before sunrise. Most of the village survived."
"Most?"
She becomes quiet.
The answer is already visible in her expression.
"How many?"
"Six villagers died during the evacuation. Three soldiers were killed when the first fires reached the western road."
Nine.
We protected hundreds.
Nine still died.
I look toward the stone ceiling.
Elara watches me.
"You stopped him."
"Not before they died."
"You could not have known where every person was."
"I could sense their fear."
"You were fighting someone who nearly destroyed a city."
"That doesn't change the number."
"No."
Her voice becomes softer.
"It doesn't."
We remain silent for several seconds.
In my old life, nine deaths would have been numbers on a screen.
Here, I felt some of them disappear.
Fear Sense registered the moment their terror ended.
I had been too focused on Aurelius to understand what it meant.
Elara picks up the cracked signal stone.
"Four of the villagers died helping others reach the quarry. Two soldiers refused to leave the western road until the last family passed."
"They knew they would die?"
"Probably."
I look toward the Mark.
They were afraid.
They acted anyway.
Fear does not always control people.
Sometimes, it shows what they are willing to overcome.
"Where are we?" I ask.
"The quarry's storage house. Most of the roof is stone, so it survived the ash."
"And the village?"
"Half the western district burned. The square and eastern homes are mostly intact."
"What about Malrec?"
"Outside."
"He recovered?"
"Enough to argue with everyone."
"That sounds normal."
Elara stands.
"You should rest."
"I've been resting for nine hours."
"You were evolving."
"That sounds productive."
"It did not look productive."
I push myself upright again.
This time, she does not stop me.
The bandages pull against my skin, but most of the injuries beneath them have closed. Evolution accelerated my healing.
My right hand feels stronger.
I call Oathbreaker.
Black smoke gathers around my palm.
The weapon forms slowly.
The handle is longer than before, covered in purple lines that resemble chains. The curved blade has repaired itself completely.
A smaller backward-facing edge remains behind the main blade.
Silver symbols run between them.
The name enters my mind the moment I touch it.
Oathbreaker.
Not spoken.
Known.
Elara steps away from the weapon.
"It changed."
"It does that often."
"The blade looks more dangerous."
"That is normally the point."
I dismiss it before she complains further.
Black smoke returns to my palm.
When I place my feet on the floor, my legs almost collapse.
Elara catches my arm.
"You were saying something about being rested?"
"I need a minute."
"You need several days."
"We don't have several days."
That silences her.
Lucien knows Wren's Hollow survived.
Aurelius knows the same.
Caelan warned us, but he still refused to join Elara.
The village is now the first territory openly supporting her claim.
That makes it a target.
I walk toward the door with Elara supporting part of my weight.
Outside, morning light fills the quarry.
Hundreds of people have gathered between the stone walls.
Temporary tents and blankets cover the ground. Cooking fires burn near the eastern side.
The injured lie beneath a covered area where Aldric and several villagers move between them.
Mara organizes food near a line of carts.
Commander Soren's soldiers guard the quarry entrances.
They are exhausted.
Their armor is covered in ash.
But they are still here.
The moment I step outside, conversations begin stopping.
People turn toward me.
Fear Sense activates.
I expect hundreds of gray threads.
Instead, I see something different.
Silver-black lines connect many of the villagers to the Mark.
They are afraid of me.
But the fear does not flow directly into my soul.
It passes through the thin boundary surrounding Wren's Hollow.
The new claim.
The energy gathers there, waiting to be used defensively.
A message appears.
You have entered Warden's Claim territory.
Territory: Wren's Hollow
Claimed ruler: Elara Selene Asteria
Warden status: Active
Accepted population: 427
Hostile presences detected: 1
I stop walking.
Elara notices.
"What is it?"
"Something hostile is still inside the village."
Her hand begins glowing silver.
"Where?"
I close my eyes.
Warden's Claim changes the way I sense the territory.
The village becomes an outline inside my mind.
Every accepted person appears as a faint point of light.
The soldiers at the quarry entrance.
The villagers beneath the tents.
Mara.
Aldric.
Malrec.
One red point pulses near the center of the quarry.
It is not a person.
It is inside the ground.
"Below us."
Elara looks down.
"What is?"
"I don't know."
Aldric raises his head from the wounded soldier he is treating.
His eyes settle on my marked hand.
"You completed the evolution."
"Apparently."
"What did you become?"
"A Dread Warden."
The old man becomes still.
He looks toward the boundary surrounding the village, although I doubt he can see it clearly.
"That path should not exist."
"I hear that often."
"World Raiders are created to spread instability, not defend territory."
"Maybe the system was flexible."
"Systems created by beings beyond worlds are rarely flexible without a reason."
Elara crosses her arms.
"He just woke up."
"And the first thing he discovered was a hostile presence beneath four hundred people."
Aldric stands.
"Where exactly?"
I follow the red connection.
It leads toward the western quarry wall.
Several children are sitting nearby, eating bread beside a supply wagon.
"Move everyone away from that wall."
Soren does not ask why.
He begins shouting orders.
Soldiers clear the area while villagers move deeper into the quarry.
Malrec emerges from behind one of the tents.
His armor has been removed, leaving him in a torn black shirt. Bandages cover his shoulder and chest.
Nightfall hangs from his waist.
Only half of the blade remains.
"You can stand," he says.
"Barely."
"That is still more than I expected."
"Something is beneath the quarry."
His hand moves toward Nightfall.
"Aurelius?"
"Connected to him, perhaps."
We approach the wall.
Warden's Claim reveals the hostile connection clearly.
A red thread runs from somewhere inside the stone toward the western horizon.
It resembles the threads connecting Aurelius to his ash.
Malrec studies the rock.
"I sense nothing."
"I do."
I place my hand against the wall.
Heat burns beneath the surface.
A small heartbeat pulses inside it.
Aldric joins us.
"Step away."
He places his staff against the stone.
Blue symbols spread across the wall.
The surface becomes transparent.
A red crystal is buried several feet inside.
Flames move inside it.
Aldric's expression darkens.
"A cinder seed."
"What does it do?" Elara asks.
"Waits."
"For what?"
"For everyone to return to the village."
Malrec grips the remains of Nightfall.
"When enough living mana surrounded it, the seed would ignite."
"How much damage?" Soren asks.
Aldric looks around the quarry.
"All of it."
The Ash Saint retreated because he had already placed another weapon among us.
If the villagers had returned home after the fires ended, the cinder seed would have destroyed the quarry and possibly the eastern half of Wren's Hollow.
Elara's face becomes pale.
"He expected us to believe we won."
"No," I say.
The red thread continues stretching west.
"He expected us to celebrate."
Aurelius is far away.
But the connection remains.
He may be able to see through it.
I open my marked palm.
The eye turns toward the crystal.
Aurelius's presence reacts.
The flames inside the seed become brighter.
"It knows we found it."
Aldric raises several barriers around the wall.
"Do not damage the crystal."
"That makes removing it difficult."
"If it breaks while connected to Aurelius, it will release everything stored inside."
"Then I sever the connection first."
Malrec looks toward my hand.
"Your Mark nearly broke the last time."
"It repaired itself."
"That does not mean you should damage it again on your first morning awake."
"I don't see another option."
Aldric examines the connection.
"Neither do I."
That is not reassuring.
I summon Oathbreaker.
The newly named weapon appears instantly.
The purple chains along its handle glow when the blade approaches the cinder seed.
I can feel every connection attached to the crystal.
Aurelius's mana.
The Flame Beyond.
The heat stored inside.
The trigger waiting for enough people to surround it.
Four separate bonds.
Destroying the wrong one may activate the others.
I focus on the thread leading west.
It is stronger than the ash connections I severed before.
But far weaker than the bond supporting Aurelius's halo.
"Everyone move back."
Elara does not.
"Everyone includes you."
"This is my territory."
"That is why I'm protecting it."
"And if it explodes?"
"Then standing beside me won't help."
She remains where she is.
Malrec looks between us.
"She will not move."
"I noticed."
I rest Oathbreaker's smaller blade against the red thread.
Dread Severance gathers around the edge.
The cinder seed begins pulsing faster.
Aurelius feels me.
His voice enters the stone.
Faint.
Distorted.
"Warden."
He knows what I became.
"You left something behind," I say.
"I leave ash everywhere."
"You should clean up after yourself."
The flames inside the crystal surge.
Aldric's barriers shake.
"You think defending them changes what you are?" Aurelius asks.
"No."
"You still feed on their fear."
"Not this fear."
The boundary surrounding Wren's Hollow responds.
Energy flows from the terrified people inside the quarry.
It enters Oathbreaker.
Not as power stolen from them.
As pressure against the threat beneath their home.
The purple edge becomes brighter.
Aurelius senses the difference.
His voice becomes quieter.
"What did you become?"
I swing.
"Sever."
The red connection splits.
The fire inside the crystal disappears.
For one second, the cinder seed becomes clear.
Then a second connection activates.
The Flame Beyond reaches through it.
A red eye opens inside the crystal.
The quarry fills with heat.
Aldric shouts.
"Shin!"
I see the remaining connection.
It does not lead to Aurelius.
It travels beyond him.
Outside Elaris.
The Flame Beyond is attempting to detonate the seed itself.
I turn Oathbreaker before the first cut finishes.
The second blade hooks around the new bond.
Pain runs through my soul weapon.
The connection is much stronger.
The same level of authority that protected Aurelius and Lucien from Terror Mark.
I cannot destroy it directly.
But Dread Severance does not need to overpower the entire being.
Only the point where it touches the crystal.
The people inside Wren's Hollow are afraid.
The Warden's Claim gathers that fear.
The boundary tightens around the red eye.
For the first time, my power does not face the foreign authority alone.
Four hundred people stand behind it.
I pull.
The connection tears free.
The red eye closes.
The crystal turns black.
Cracks spread across its surface, but no fire escapes.
A message appears.
Hostile supernatural connection removed from Warden's Claim.
Warden's Claim proficiency increased.
Dread Refuge activated successfully.
The red point disappears from my awareness.
The territory is clear.
Aldric lowers the barriers.
Malrec uses the remains of Nightfall to cut the crystal from the wall.
It falls into his hand.
Cold black stone.
Nothing more.
Elara releases a breath.
"He planned to kill everyone after leaving."
"Yes," Malrec says.
"He will try again."
"Yes."
Her expression changes.
Not fear.
Resolve.
"Then Wren's Hollow needs defenses before the villagers return."
Soren steps forward.
"We have fewer than forty soldiers capable of fighting."
"Thirty-seven," Malrec corrects.
"Most of the village walls are wood," Soren continues. "The western road is exposed, and we have no functioning communication crystal."
Aldric taps his staff against the ground.
"The quarry can be reinforced. The stone will resist ordinary fire and siege magic."
"The people cannot live inside a quarry forever," Elara says.
"No," I say. "But they can return once the village becomes part of the claim."
Elara looks toward me.
"Isn't it already?"
"Only the quarry and central village are inside the boundary."
"How do you know?"
"I can feel the edge."
The Warden's Claim currently follows the area where people accepted Elara's banner.
The territory is not determined by maps.
It is determined by belief.
Wren's Hollow belongs to Elara only where the people recognize her protection.
To expand it, they need to choose her openly.
That creates another problem.
Some villagers may not want to.
They lost family and homes because Lucien responded to Elara's challenge.
They have every reason to blame her.
Elara seems to understand.
"I need to speak to them."
"You need to rest," Mara says as she approaches.
"So does Shin."
"I agree with half of that," Elara says.
Mara looks toward me.
"So do I."
The villagers begin gathering near the center of the quarry.
News of the cinder seed spreads quickly.
Fear turns into anger.
People realize the Ash Saint intended to kill them even after retreating.
Elara climbs onto a stone ledge.
She does not use magic to amplify her voice.
She waits until the crowd becomes quiet.
"Aurelius left a weapon beneath this quarry."
Murmurs spread.
A mother pulls her children closer.
Elara continues.
"It was meant to kill everyone after we believed the danger had passed."
A man near the front shouts.
"This happened because you came here!"
Several people agree.
Soren's soldiers become tense.
Elara raises one hand before they can intervene.
"Yes."
The quarry becomes quieter.
The man who shouted looks surprised.
"Lucien targeted Wren's Hollow because you chose not to condemn me," Elara says. "He believed destroying one village would frighten every other village into obedience."
"You claimed us," another woman says. "Then half our homes burned."
"I did."
"And now we have nowhere to go."
Elara looks toward the smoke rising beyond the quarry.
"I cannot restore what was lost today."
Her voice remains steady.
"I cannot promise no one else will die. Anyone who offers you that promise is lying."
The crowd listens.
"But I can promise that I will not hide what my family has done. I will not place chains inside your souls. I will not burn your homes because you refuse to kneel."
She looks toward the soldiers.
"Anyone who wants to leave Wren's Hollow will be given food, protection, and an escort."
Soren glances toward her but does not object.
"Anyone who stays will help decide what this village becomes."
The woman who questioned the royal family in the square steps forward.
Her name appears faintly through Warden's Claim.
Mira Halden.
"What happens if we stay?" she asks.
Elara looks toward the broken-chain banner planted at the quarry entrance.
"We rebuild."
"With what money?"
"The royal treasury in this region belongs to Lucien," Soren says.
Malrec walks toward the crowd.
"The Ninth Battalion's supply fortress is twelve miles south."
Soren looks at him.
"That fortress contains royal weapons and taxes."
"Taxes collected from these villages," Malrec says.
A faint smile appears on Mira's face.
"You're suggesting we steal them back?"
"I am suggesting the rightful heir reclaim royal property."
"That sounds like stealing with better wording," I say.
Malrec looks toward me.
"That is how politics works."
Elara considers the fortress.
"How many soldiers?"
"Nearly two hundred," Soren says.
"More if Lucien has reinforced it."
I feel the villagers' fear shift.
Two hundred soldiers.
Another impossible threat.
Exactly the kind of place that would create influence if it fell.
I smile.
Elara notices immediately.
"No."
"I didn't say anything."
"You were about to."
"The fortress solves several problems."
"It creates more."
"That is normally what solutions do."
Mara crosses her arms.
"You can barely stand."
"I'm standing now."
"You're leaning against your scythe."
"Oathbreaker."
"What?"
"It has a name."
Mara stares at me.
"I do not care what the weapon is called."
"That seemed unnecessarily rude."
Aldric examines the southern wall.
"The fortress also controls the nearest communication network."
Elara looks toward him.
"If we capture it, we can speak to the surrounding villages."
"And Lucien will hear you," Malrec says.
"He already knows where I am."
"He does not know whether Wren's Hollow will remain loyal after the Ash Saint's attack."
Elara looks toward the crowd.
Neither do we.
Mira turns toward the villagers.
"My home is gone."
She points toward the smoke above the village.
"My husband built it. My children were born there."
The people around her become quiet.
"I can leave and hope Lucien forgets my name. Or I can stay and make sure he remembers it."
She walks toward the broken-chain banner.
Mira places one hand against the pole.
"I stay."
The Warden's Claim responds.
The silver-black boundary expands slightly.
More villagers step forward.
Not everyone.
Some gather their belongings and remain near the eastern exit.
Elara promised they could leave.
Soren sends six soldiers to prepare an escort.
There is no anger toward those people.
Only sadness.
One by one, others touch the banner.
Each choice strengthens the territory.
The boundary spreads through my awareness.
Across the quarry.
Down the eastern road.
Into the central square.
Through the surviving homes.
When the final person steps away, Warden's Claim updates.
Wren's Hollow allegiance: Supportive → Declared
Accepted population: 361
Territory boundary expanded.
Faction influence increased.
Sixty-six people chose to leave.
I do not blame them.
The people remaining look toward Elara.
Not as a princess waiting to be rescued.
As the person they chose to follow.
She stands beneath the banner.
For the first time, she appears like someone who might actually become queen.
Commander Soren kneels beside the stone ledge.
"My princess, the Ninth Battalion will defend Wren's Hollow."
His soldiers follow.
Malrec does not kneel.
He lowers his head slightly.
"For now, I will do the same."
Elara looks toward me.
I remain standing.
"You aren't going to kneel?" she asks.
"No."
Several villagers become nervous.
Elara almost smiles.
"I didn't think so."
"I'm not one of your soldiers."
"What are you?"
A system title appears in the corner of my vision.
Founding Threat.
I decide not to use it.
"Your Warden, apparently."
The banner moves above us.
There is no wind inside the quarry.
A notification appears.
Formal relationship established.
Elara Selene Asteria has accepted Shin Sasaki as Warden of the Broken Chain.
Warden's Claim stabilized.
The silver circle around my Mark glows.
A matching symbol appears briefly around Elara's wrist.
She looks down at it.
"What did you do?"
"I didn't do anything."
"That is rarely true."
Aldric examines the symbol.
"A mutual claim."
Elara looks toward him.
"Meaning?"
"He protects the territory recognized beneath your authority."
Aldric turns toward me.
"And your power recognizes her as the source of that authority."
"What happens if she dies?" I ask.
Elara gives me an irritated look.
Aldric answers anyway.
"The claim collapses."
"And if I die?"
"The boundary loses its Warden."
"Then neither of us should die."
"That was already the plan," Elara says.
A horn sounds from the southern entrance.
Soldiers raise their weapons.
A scout runs into the quarry.
He is covered in dust and breathing heavily.
"Commander!"
Soren approaches.
"What happened?"
"Riders on the southern road."
"How many?"
"Five."
"Royal colors?"
"No."
The scout looks toward Elara.
"They're carrying white cloth and broken chains painted on their shields."
Whispers spread through the villagers.
Soren turns toward the entrance.
"Which village?"
"Three villages."
The scout catches his breath.
"Millford, Greybank, and Eastmere sent representatives."
Elara becomes still.
"Why?"
"They heard the Ash Saint retreated."
Fear Sense reveals uncertainty from everyone nearby.
The story has already traveled.
The World Raider drove away one of Lucien's strongest weapons.
Elara claimed territory and survived.
That is enough to make neighboring villages consider choosing a side.
The scout continues.
"They're asking whether the princess's protection extends beyond Wren's Hollow."
The Warden's Claim pulses.
A new objective appears.
Expand the Free Asterian Claim
Three settlements seek negotiation.
Warning: Increased territory will increase threats, responsibilities, and Dread exposure.
Elara looks toward the smoke above her damaged village.
Then toward the people who chose to remain.
"We cannot promise to protect everyone."
"No," I say.
"But if we refuse them, Lucien will punish them for asking."
Malrec rests his hand against the damaged hilt of Nightfall.
"The moment they raised broken chains, they chose a side."
Soren looks toward the south.
"Two hundred soldiers remain inside the supply fortress between us and those villages."
Elara turns toward me.
"You're smiling again."
"The fortress was already becoming necessary."
"You just woke up."
"I'll recover on the way."
"That is not how recovery works."
"It has worked before."
She closes her eyes for a moment.
Then she looks toward Soren.
"Bring the representatives here."
Soren nods and gives the order.
Elara turns toward Aldric.
"Begin strengthening the quarry."
Then toward Mara.
"Find out what food and supplies remain."
Mara bows slightly.
Finally, Elara looks at Malrec and me.
"We are not attacking a fortress today."
"Tomorrow?" I ask.
"No."
"The day after?"
"Shin."
"Fine."
She points toward the storage house.
"You are going back to bed."
I look toward the southern road.
The representatives are approaching.
Beyond them stands a fortress filled with supplies, soldiers, and the communication system Lucien uses to control the region.
Capturing it would give Elara weapons.
Food.
A defensible position.
A way to speak to the kingdom.
It would also prove Wren's Hollow was not a temporary rebellion waiting to be crushed.
I look toward Oathbreaker.
The weapon's purple lines pulse in response.
The Mark has evolved.
The territory has chosen Elara.
Neighboring villages are already raising her symbol.
Lucien sent the Ash Saint to erase the rebellion before it could begin.
Instead, he gave it a story.
The first banner survived the flames.
Now people want to stand beneath it.
"I'll go back to bed," I say.
Elara looks suspicious.
"You agreed too easily."
"I'm learning."
"No, you're planning something."
"Both can be true."
She takes Oathbreaker from my weakened hand.
The scythe immediately dissolves into smoke and returns to my Mark.
Elara stares at her empty fingers.
"That was rude."
"It likes me more."
"It is your soul weapon."
"Exactly."
She guides me back toward the storage house.
Behind us, the banner of the broken chain rises above Wren's Hollow.
Three groups of riders enter the valley beneath white flags.
Far to the south, the Ninth Battalion's fortress blocks the road between Elara and the settlements asking for her protection.
For now, I allow Elara to lead me back to the bed.
But the objective remains in front of me.
Expand the Free Asterian Claim.
And I already know where we need to begin.
END OF CHAPTER 15