The ambassador had barely left when the fortress exploded into activity.
Regis had spoken.
And the world would soon tremble.
A Kingdom Forged in Shadow
The great hall remained dark, the torches flickering with a red flame. Elyndra, Kaelen, and Varian stood rigid at attention as Regis loomed above them, his black robes flowing like liquid night.
"We do not wait for war. We dictate its terms." His voice was firm, unshakeable.
Varian, ever the tactician, nodded. "Then we go first."
Regis's eyes twinkled. "No. We prepare. And when we attack, it shall be with certainty."
Kaelen crossed his arms. "Then what do we do next?"
Regis strode over to the grand war table, where the huge map of the continent lay untouched since the arrival of the envoy.
"We extend our reach. We rally forces. And we make the Crimson Reavers feel the weight of inevitability."
His finger tracked across the minor groups wedged between his authority and the Reavers.
Weak, divided warbands. Warlords seeking direction. Rambling mercenaries. Loose villages.
"They will join us, or they will vanish."
Elyndra smiled, a knife revolving between her fingers. "And if they resist?"
Regis's red eyes flared.
"Then they are an example."
The Conquest Begins
The Ashen Dominion never slept.
Within hours, Regis's troops marched out in neat formation. Dark banners flew in the face of the wind, bearing his sigil—an eclipse above a red field.
Kaelen led the vanguard, a hundred handpicked warriors honed in merciless effectiveness. Their armor, once looted and ill-matched, now bore obsidian plating, forged deep within Regis's growing empire.
Elyndra and her killers stalked in the shadows, eliminating key targets before a war even began.
Varian worked behind the scenes, dispatching ambassadors and spies into neutral territory, dropping subtle hints of the inevitable rise of the Ashen Sovereign.
Regis orchestrated it all.
From the high balcony of his fortress, he observed as the first forts fell, one by one.
There were no grand battles. No protracted wars.
Only surrender… or devastation.
The Fall of Red Hollow
Red Hollow fell first, a garrison town that had for a long time given loose allegiance to the Crimson Reavers.
Its commander, Warlord Darnic, attempted to stand in their path when Regis's forces arrived.
It lasted less than a day.
Kaelen's warriors burst through the gates, slaughtering the defenders with efficient cruelty.
Elyndra infiltrated in the darkness, killing key commanders before the battle even began.
And then Regis himself arrived.
The moment he stepped inside the ruined stronghold, a hush fell over the battlefield.
The other defenders knelt, trembling.
Darnic, defeated and bruised, was brought before the Ashen Sovereign. His eyes scoured back and forth for a way out—but there was none.
Regis towered over him, his presence suffocating.
"Swear yourself to me. Or be erased from the annals of history."
Darnic panted, his breathing coming in ragged gulps. He paused.
And Regis did not pardon pause.
A flick of his fingers. A dark energy coiled around Darnic's throat, hoisting him into the air. His body twitched, his eyes wide with terror.
"You have already chosen." Regis breathed.
With a mere twist of his hand—Darnic's neck broke.
His body fell to the ground, dead.
The other warriors dropped their arms.
And thus, Red Hollow was Regis'.
The Crimson Reavers React
News of the Ashen Dominion's growth spread like wildfire.
In a few days, three more settlements were brought into submission without resistance.
A dark shadow started to loom over the land, one that even the Crimson Reavers could not refute.
Lord Vael of the Reavers sat on his war-throne in his fortress high in the mountains, his expression unreadable.
Behind him, his generals whispered among themselves of Regis's rise to power, their voices tense.
"He is coming."
"His forces march like specters. They fight not. They consume.".
"We must strike first—before he strikes us."
But Vael stood alone, his scarlet cloak still in the cold wind.
Finally, he spoke.
"Send word to the others. If we are to end it, we do not battle alone."
The room was quiet.
A wave had been created—alignments being rearranged, powers redistributed.
And far away, atop his fortress, Regis smiled.
"Let them attempt it."
The Sovereign's Will
That night, Regis stood once more on his balcony, looking down over the land that was now his to command.
His army doubled. His men stronger than ever.
And the Crimson Reavers had taken the bait.
Varian arrived, his face subdued. "They are moving. As you had prophesied."
Regis took a slow breath. "Then forward we go."
Kaelen and Elyndra arrived to stand with them, the three lieutenants standing with their sovereign.
Regis's voice rode on the night wind.
"They believe they're preparing for war."
His fingers curled, darkness twisting in the air.
"But they don't know… it's already begun."