The war council chamber in Dreadhold pulsed with a quiet, foreboding tension. Torchlight danced across the obsidian walls, casting eerie shadows that flickered like ghosts of past wars. The Twelve Thorns sat in grim silence, circling the map table like wolves ready to strike. At the head, Kael's throne stood tall—still empty.
Until now.
With a gust of shadow and wind, Kael entered, his cloak of living thorns trailing behind him. Luna and Eclipse flanked him like dusk and dawn.
He sat, and the room stilled.
"Eldaria moves," Kael began, voice cold as steel. "They've named me the next calamity. And now, they've summoned their gods' chosen—Sword Saints, Holy Champions… and the so-called Heroes of the Flame."
A murmur passed through the Thorns.
"I say we meet them in the field," growled Verrik, his jagged blade scraping the table. "Let the world witness what happens when false light meets true fire."
But it was Eclipse who spoke calmly, "This isn't another border skirmish. If we move our army now, the entire continent will unite against us."
Kael stood, walking slowly around the table.
"Then we don't move the army," he said.
All eyes turned to him.
"We go alone."
The silence was shattered.
"You mean—just us?" Luna asked, her voice low but sparking with anticipation.
Kael nodded. "Thirteen shadows against a nation. Thirteen flames against a dying light."
A smile curled at Verrik's lips. "Finally."
Eclipse stepped forward, uncertain. "And the army?"
"Positioned," Kael said. "Ready to be summoned through rift gates the moment their faith breaks. We strike the heart. We show the world that we don't need numbers to win—only purpose."
Just then, the chamber shuddered. The heavy iron doors opened to reveal a bloodied scout stumbling in—Thorne.
"They burned a demi-human village…" he rasped. "Children. Left the Sword Saint's crest nailed to a corpse."
Kael's eyes darkened to black.
"They want a war of symbols?" he whispered. "Let's give them one to remember."
He turned to the Thorns. "Ready yourselves. No banners. No mercy. We move at dawn."
"And Lyra?" Eclipse asked.
Kael looked toward the window, where night was slowly giving way to morning.
"She will watch. And she will see what kind of 'heroes' her father breeds."
As dawn breaks, thirteen shadows ride toward war—led not by vengeance, but by the memory of pain and the promise of justice. Thirteen thorns, one crown, and a world that has no idea what's coming.