The Heartland buzzed with energy unlike anything Kaelen had ever felt before.
Not the chaotic rush of armies.
Not the frantic survival of desperate refugees.
This was something rarer.
Something precious.
Hope.
And Kaelen intended to forge it into something immortal.
The City Plan
Inside the central war hall — a chamber rebuilt from the old Nexus ruins —
Kaelen stood over a massive carved stone table.
Maps sprawled across it — old trade routes, mountain passes, river systems.
At his side stood Mira, Eren, Selina, Damon, Lyra — the five pillars of his growing nation.
His family watched quietly from the side of the room, still adjusting to their new role.
Kaelen placed his hand against the cold stone.
The Nexus Core hummed in response.
Sovereign Architect power flooded him —
a vision of walls rising, towers climbing, fields stretching golden and alive.
He spoke, voice firm:
"We build not just for defense."
"We build for generations."
"We build so no king, no tyrant, no god dares call us forgotten again."
Mira nodded sharply.
"What's first?"
Kaelen pointed at the heart of the map.
A mark burned into the stone:
Heartland Citadel.
Around it, he began to sketch with Sovereign light:
The Sovereign Academy — a grand institution where Awakeners of all talents could train, regardless of bloodline or wealth.
The Pathbreaker Market — a free marketplace immune to guild taxes and noble corruption.
The Vanguard Barracks — where the next generation of Sovereign Defenders would rise.
The Hearthstone Square — a public place where oaths of loyalty would be sworn freely, not demanded.
The Sovereign Gardens — a sanctuary where future generations would remember where they came from.
Every stone would bear Will.
Every wall would carry memory.
Every tower would sing with Sovereign fire.
Construction Begins
The following morning, Kaelen stood atop the Citadel's walls.
He raised his hand.
[Sovereign Architect Talent Activated.]
Golden lines flared across the earth, marking future roads, building foundations, defensive rings.
Masons and settlers moved in sync with the Sovereign's guidance —
walls rose faster, straighter, stronger.
What would take kingdoms decades
would take Heartland mere months.
And every brick, every nail,
was a defiance hurled at the old world.
The Academy's Foundation
At the eastern edge of the Citadel, Kaelen led the ceremonial laying of the first stone for the Sovereign Academy.
Riven helped carve the flame sigil into the entrance gates.
Lyanna etched runes of wisdom along the archways.
Alen, eyes wide with awe, poured Nexus-forged liquid stone into the foundation, binding it with Sovereign Will.
Kaelen placed the last stone himself.
It glowed faintly under his hand —
a pulse that would echo for centuries.
A Warning on the Horizon
That night, as Kaelen stood watch from the Citadel's highest tower,
Mira approached quietly.
"Scouts report movement," she said.
"North and east. Armies gathering. Guilds whispering. Nobles scheming."
Kaelen said nothing for a long time.
The world was waking up.
It smelled blood in the air.
It saw a Sovereign rising.
And it feared.
Good.
Kaelen's Reflection
He gazed out across the Heartland —
at the unfinished roads, the half-built walls, the sparks of future homes.
It was fragile.
Vulnerable.
A dream still soft at the edges.
But it would not remain so.
He would hammer it into something eternal.
Not a kingdom of gold and lies.
A nation of will and steel.
A Sovereign's Nation.
"Let them come," Kaelen murmured to the wind.
"Let them bring their crowns, their armies, their gods.
We will carve our place from the bones of their arrogance."
And the cracked-crown banners rippled high over the Citadel —
bright against the coming storm.