A week after gaining his second soul core, Konrad walked through the vast halls of the Bright Castle, his footsteps steady, deliberate, as if he had already claimed the place as his own. The castle stood in silence, the chaos outside its walls unable to penetrate its ancient stone. He passed through corridors and empty chambers until he reached the throne room.
The throne room of the Bright Castle had been silent for months. Dust lay like a thin shroud on the stone floor. It was massive, lined with old banners of the second bright lord, remnants of a time when there was still a lord to rule. Now, the throne stood empty—tall, dark, and untouched.
That morning, however, footsteps echoed once more across the throne hall—Konrad's boots striking with confidence and purpose.
He did not hesitate.
He walked straight to the dais, ascended the steps without looking back, and sat upon the empty throne of the Bright Castle.
The cold stone met his back, but he felt no discomfort. He sat down on the throne of bright castle, his back straight, his eyes sharp, the weight of his new responsibility settling within him like a storm held in a bottle.
Soon, word spread. People began to gather. Within minutes, footsteps echoed through the hallways. One by one, the people of the Bright Castle began to arrive. A crowd started to gather.
First came the ambitious—those who had tasted blood in the power vacuum left by the Second Bright Lord's death. Men and women who had dreamed of sitting on that same throne. They entered the hall with suspicion in their eyes, muttering among themselves, brimming with sharp questions and subtle threats.
"What are you doing there, Konrad?" one of them sneered. "That's no place for a scavenger."
Konrad didn't even glance at him. "Shut up and wait. This isn't just for you. We wait until everyone has arrived."
Surprisingly, they obeyed. Well, not surprising. The [Grinning Trophy] was grandly displayed on his chest plate of [Mantle of the Night]. It's passive intimidation aura enchantment was working.
Within minutes, the leaders of the four factions of the bright castle arrived, expressions ranging from guarded curiosity to outright alarm.
Tessai, a giant of a man, captain of the castle guard, marched in with his armor half-buckled, his hand resting near his weapon, his eyes bloodshot from sleepless nights trying to keep order. He looked at Konrad, then at the throne, but said nothing yet.
Gemma, the new charismatic leader of the Pathfinders and Hunters, came soon after, eyes cold with suspicion. He stood with her arms crossed, glancing warily around the room.
Faust, a sharp-eyed sleeper and leader of the artisans, followed. A nameless sleeper lost to the hostile realm of Forgotten Shore, who wasn't mentioned in the story like countless others. He stood alongside Tessai, a calculation gleam in his eyes.
Even Ling, with his tired eyes and wounded soul, appeared, anxiety carved into the lines of his face. He stood pale and anxious at the rear of the room.
Whispers stirred. No one dared speak above them. They all knew Konrad. He had fought beside them, scavenged, bled, survived. But none expected him to do this.
"What are you doing? You should know the conciquences. Get down from there before it is too late." Gemma was the first to speak.
Konrad raised his arm, stopping Gemma and spoke,
"I will only face the conciquences if I am not strong enough."
When the last of the known leaders and elites entered, Konrad stood up. His voice rang out, sharp and clear. He declared,
"Listen well," he said. His voice was calm, clear, and cold. "We can no longer afford indecision. The Bright Castle is rulerless. The Dark City festers. Every day that passes, more and more sleepers dies in the hands of their brothers, more monsters breach the walls, and more factions tear each other apart. The position of humans in the food chain weakens. Bright Castle can't stay lordless anymore. Today we must choose the next lord of the bright castle."
Konrad continued in a strong voice.
"I, Konrad of Night, declare sovereignty over the Bright Castle. From this moment forward, I claim the mantle of ruler. Not as Bright Lord... but as the first and only Night Lord."
A ripple passed through the room. Gasps. Murmurs. Disbelieve. Konrad raised a hand, and silence fell again.
"For two months, you've all waited. Some of you hoped to claim the throne. Others hoped someone else would. But the truth is that we don't need another Bright Lord."
He looked each faction leader in the eye.
"We need something new. Something that thrives in the darkness of the starless nights, not just shines in the storm and die out. Only leaving despair and darkness at it's wake."
Konrad's presence deepened. His aura unfurled like a dark tide. People flinched.
"I am not a Bright Lord," he continued. "I am not beholden to their legacy. I am the first of something else. I am the Night Lord. I have bled in the Forgotten Shore, fought through the cursed depths of the Underworld, and braved the sea that devours light. I killed what others feared to name. I carved my strength from dread."
Faust stepped forward, his expression unreadable. "You have no claim. This throne belongs to the Bright Lords."
He pointed to the floor.
"I sit here because I earned it. I sit here because I am strong."
Tessei frowned. "We respect strength, Konrad. But the throne isn't claimed by just force. It needs legitimacy. It needs unity."
Konrad stepped down from the throne, his eyes burning.
"Then let's make it simple. If any of you believe there's another more worthy of this mantle—step forward. Challenge me."
Gemma's brow furrowed. "Are you threatening us all, Konrad?"
"No," he said. "I'm inviting those who believe they are strong enough to rule to step forward. If they can take the throne from me, it's theirs."
Three stepped forward—young, cocky, confident sleepers with burning ambition in their eyes. They had grown in power, maybe even fully saturated their dormant soul cores. But none of them had tasted the abyss Konrad had. None had survived the Hollow Mountains, the Forgotten Shore, the Dark Sea. None of them had faced death so many times that it had become a familiar whisper.
Konrad stood from the throne. He raised both hands, and twin blades shimmered into being—his ascended memory. It pulsed with the cold light of the morning light.
"Let's begin."
The first sleeper charged, eager to make a name. Konrad didn't even move his feet. He let the sword meet the attacker's weapon and twisted, stepping inside the man's guard, driving a blade into his gut. One down.
The second came at him with more skill, weaving through feints and jabs. Konrad's eyes flickered. His clairvoyance flared—flashes of the next second, the arc of the blade, the foot about to slip. He moved with precise economy, catching the sleeper's wrist mid-swing and driving an elbow into his face. The man collapsed.
The third hesitated. Too late. Konrad lunged like a shadow. The fight ended with the edge of a blade pressing to the challenger's throat.
Within moments, the challengers lay sprawled across the hall. Not dead—he was no butcher—but broken, bleeding, and stripped of pride.
He stepped back, his breath steady.
"Anyone else?"
Silence. Total, absolute silence.
Konrad returned to the throne.
Gemma spoke, his voice steady. "And if we follow you, Night Lord, what comes next?"
"We stop hiding," Konrad said. "We stop bleeding ourselves dry. We become one with the darkness of the night. We reclaim the city. We push back the horrors. We remember who we are. We are humans. And Humanity will never lose to anything."
"I will make sure nobody will be mistreated. As long as you have value, I promise you that you will never go hungry. Everyone will contribute to the survival of humanity in the Forgotten Shore. Each person will have their own role and they must fulfill them."
"But those who doesn't want to contribute, those who wants leach off of others will be exiled to the outer settlement. If you contribute, this is your home. If you can't bright castle doesn't need leaches."
"I will lead you, I will lead the sleepers to survive in the dark city. I assure one day, one day we will go back to civilization. So, follow my lead. Survive! Survive until you die! Even if you die make sure your brothers survive."
"We are no rats surviving in the mercy of others. We are humans. We live as such. United we stand, separated we die. So, follow me! I will make sure we stand together. Even if we fall, we will fall together."
"We will live! We will survive!"
"Follow me for yourself! Follow me for your brothers! FOR HUMANITY!"
At this moment, the echo of the monsterous armor clad otter appeared behind the throne and let out roar at the crowd.
At first the crowd panicked, then they became excited with some kind of furrber as they saw the echo coiled around the throne. They started shouting with furrber,
"For humanity!"
"For humanity!"
Faust bowed his head first. Then Gemma. Then Tessai. The crowd followed. Even Ling lowered his eyes.
Few moments later, they straightened up and came stand beside Konrad's throne as his generals. They watched the crowd with interest, then slowly smiled.
Ling exhaled, shaking his head. "You're insane," he muttered. "But maybe that's what we need."
Konrad leaned back on the throne of the Bright Castle, the weight of respony around him is not a burden, but a mantle.
"The age of the Bright Lords is over," he said. "The night is long. And I will lead us through it."
The throne room stood quiet, reverent.
Outside the castle walls, the chaos of the dark city continued, but within the heart of the Bright Castle, a new order was being born.