The music swelled. Servants ushered the guests into the grand dining chamber. The real games were about to begin.
"Come," Velrosa said, touching Ian's arm briefly.
"We've danced with snakes. Now let's dine with them."
———
Before there was Esgard, there was war.
Over a century and a half ago, when the Ivorian Empire threatened to devour the southern reaches of the realm, the tides of battle were forever altered by one man—General Aizar.
A man of unrivaled strength.
A tactician without peer, a warrior crowned in blood, Aizar seized the city of Ivory from the heart of the Ivorian Empire and, standing amid the ash and ruin, declared a new capital.
He named it New Esrad—a defiant echo of the true Imperial City that had fallen into chaos and retreat.
Stone by stone, bastion by bastion, he built a city worthy of kings but refused to wear a crown himself. His banner did not rise as emperor, but as shield-bearer of civilization.
