The storm over Stormgrave hadn't let up in three days.
Black thunder rolled down the mountain pass, shaking the stone hallways of the fortress. Rain lashed against the skyglass dome above the High Seat, yet within the throne chamber, it was quiet.
Duke Arcturus Vaelstrom stood before a map that had no true north—only coordinates the Empire no longer tracked. His eyes were fixed on a pulsing mark near the Vaults.
"He lives," he said softly.
Behind him, Ser Kellen bowed his head. "And the Codex answered."
Arcturus didn't move. "More than answered. It woke."
A line of lightning cracked across the dome, bathing the room in white for a heartbeat.
---
Across the stone table, the captains of House Vaelstrom's legions waited in tense silence. Battle-hardened men and women, each sworn by oath and scar. Yet none of them dared speak while the Duke read the storm.
Finally, Arcturus turned.
"The Vault opened. The Codex flared. I felt it from the Black Spire. So did others."
Ser Kellen nodded grimly. "The southern scrying mirror flickered. And your blood called. He touched something deeper than memory."
The Duke's voice lowered. "He's beginning to awaken. Not just as heir. As a knight trueborn to the Codex."
He stepped toward the map, fingers tracing the faint red pulse near the southern border of the Solaran Imperium. The mark was old. Faint. But it should have stayed cold.
"It wasn't just the Codex that woke," Arcturus said. "An old seal stirred with it. A fragment near the border. Faint, but active."
One of the captains frowned. "Silken Fiefdoms?"
"No," Arcturus said. "Beyond them."
He looked past the map—past the borders of the Empire.
"There are things older than bloodlines. Older than thrones. This empire has forgotten much. My son may not have that luxury."
Kellen's voice was low. "What do you plan?"
Arcturus didn't answer immediately. Instead, he lifted a scroll and pressed his signet into it. The wax hissed with cold flame.
"Send word to the Emperor. The heir has entered the Vault. The Codex has accepted him. The rite has begun."
He handed the scroll to a waiting courier.
"And alert the Forge Circle. He'll need storm-iron within the day."
---
As the storm thickened outside, Duke Arcturus turned back to the map.
The Codex had opened.
His son had been seen.
And something ancient had turned its gaze toward Aetheria once more.
> Let the old oaths remember,he thought.
> Let the blood awaken.
---