Four months had passed since Konrad took the throne of the Bright Castle and proclaimed himself the Night Lord—the king of all humans on the Forgotten Shore. In those months, everything changed. The halls once ruled by anarchy and despair were now filled with purpose, discipline, and fear.
Konrad's first decree had been to dissolve the fragmented forces that once tried to defend the castle. The castle guards, the hunters, the pathfinders—they had once worked as separate entities, often at odds with each other, prone to confusion and infighting.
Under his rule, they were united into a single, formidable force. He integrated them into a new force: the Night Lords Legion.
Two hundred Sleepers now marched under his banner. The Night Lord Legion is divided into ten companies, each company made up of four cohorts. The command structure was clear, disciplined, and tight. The banner of the Night Lord is a white skull with a pair crimson bat wings.
Seven of the companies were drawn from the remnants of the castle guard. The remaining three companies were made from members of the hunters and pathfinders.
Tessai, once the weary leader of a failing watch, now commanded first company as the First Captain. At first he didn't accept this arrangement, but he was forced to. Then Konrad slowly earned his loyalty. His loyalty was iron, forged through blood and necessity.
Tessai's discipline, strength and integrity had earned him Konrad's trust, and his soldiers followed his orders with machine-like precision.
The seventh company, however, was different. It was led by Harus. The silent butcher, commanded the seventh company—the most loyal, the most feared. The seventh company answered only to the Night Lord.
Harus the unseen butcher. Harus the bloody handed. Harus who never spoke unless necessary, who executed orders with a terrifying efficiency. His company was Konrad's shadow—enforcers of the Night Lord's will, maintainers of law and order within the Bright Castle. They were feared, and rightly so.
Konrad often accompanied them.
Gemma, once the head of the pathfinders, now led the second company. His people had adapted well to the new structure, evolving from scattered scouts into tight-knit, deadly units.
Sam and Kali, both former elite pathfinders, had been given command of the fourth and fifth companies, respectively. Their knowledge of the Dark City proved invaluable.
These three companies—second, fourth, and fifth—were responsible for the daily hunts within the haunted ruins. They were the castle's eyes and blades.
And Konrad often walked with them.
With his clairvoyance guiding their steps, their hunts became more efficient, less deadly. Death still claimed lives—but no longer at random. The Night Lord saw the future, and the monsters that lurked in the dark city began to learn that the prey had changed.
Konrad was a seer. His clairvoyance had already saved countless lives.
In the past, hunter parties returned bloodied and broken. But now, under Konrad's guidance, casualties had dropped drastically. With his foresight, they avoided traps, evaded ambushes, and found monsters before monsters found them.
Even the infamous Gunlaug, the mad diver who once braved the dark sea alone, had been brought into the fold. He came to the castle with a golden transcendent echo at his side and challenged Konrad for the throne.
Konrad beat him.
The duel was short, brutal, and definitive. But instead of killing him, Konrad offered Gunlaug command of the third company. It was a gamble—and it worked. Gunlaug accepted with a grin, and now his wild courage served the Night Lord.
Konrad also invited Ling to become a captain. But he declined.
But power invites resistance. Reform demands blood.
One week after Konrad had taken the throne, he gathered his commanders and laid out the full scope of his plans. Not everyone was pleased. He saw it in their eyes. He felt it in their hesitation and doubt. But he said nothing.
That night, seven Sleepers came for him.
They were strong. Veteran fighters, equipped by multiple awakened echoes, united by fear and ambition. They struck deep within the castle, in the silence of the early hours. Konrad was alone. But he had seen it coming.
But Konrad was not a man easily surprised. His clairvoyance had warned him hours before. He walked into the ambush willingly, alone.
The battle was savage. Konrad fought like a storm of steel and shadow. His twin blades danced with precision, his clairvoyance reading every twitch of movement. Yet the ambush had been well-planned. Even with his foresight, the odds nearly overwhelmed him.
Blood soaked the stone floors. The echo of a slain horror roared behind him, summoned in desperation. He was wounded, his body pushed past its limits.
He called for guards. But No one came.
He understood the message. This was a test of strength as well as defiance of some people.
He fought like a demon. He destroyed the echoes with his talons while brutally incapacitated the seven sleepers. But Konrad was shaking with rage and wrath.
He thought these people would resist his reforms which natural and acceptable, but they would trust him and in time he would show them results. They didn't trust him yet. They directly sent assassins to kill him.
The castle had not accepted his rule. Not truly.
The next day, the Bright Castle learned what it meant to betray the Night Lord. Why none should cross the bottom line of the Night Haunter.
He dragged the seven would-be assassins into the courtyard, their bodies broken but alive. But he did not bury them alive. He did not execut them with a simple sword swing. He had something else in mind.
He had them skinned alive.
He made blood eagles of them, a gruesome ritual from an old, forgotten age. Their backs split open, ribs broken and splayed outward, lungs exposed to the air. Their dying screams echoed through the halls of the castle. None who heard it would forget.
And when they finally died, he took their skulls and mounted them on iron spikes above the castle gates. A warning to all.
When they finally died, Konrad took their skulls and mounted them on iron spikes above the castle gates.
But that was only the beginning.
The purge had begun.
Over the next week, the Bright Castle turned crimson. Konrad moved like a shadow through its halls, hunting the ones who had stood idle, the ones who had betrayed their oaths. The hunters followed his order, dragging traitors into the light. There were trials. There were executions. There were no second chances. The only justice is death.
The purge ended only when the blood stopped flowing. Even Faust the leader of the artisans was executed. The ambitious ones also died. The chaotic elements also died.
At the evening of the last day of the purge, Harus the infamous killer came to Konrad's throne hall.
"What do you want, Harus?" Konrad asked Harus knelt before him.
"Night Lord, I offer my loyalty to you!" Harus said.
"Why?"
"Because I believe you are the only person who can lead us through this darkness." Harus said.
Konrad silently observed Harus, his expression unreadable. He finally said,
"Fine! I accept your loyalty."
From that moment onwards, Harus became Konrad's most loyal blade.
Later that night, Konrad gathered the remaining influence holders in the bright castle.
"Did you think I am too naive? Do you think I am too benevolent?"
"You are wrong! I am Konrad of Night. My true name is Night Haunter! I am the Night Lord!"
"Do you know why you are alive, Tessai?"
"I know my lord! But from now I will wholeheartedly follow you. Because you are the strongest and you can keep us alive in the Forgotten Shore." Tessai said as he knelt, his head lowered to the ground.
Konrad's intense gaze bore into him. Few tense moments of silence follow. Konrad finally decided to speak,
"I accept your loyalty. But you must punishment for your insubordination. You will relinquish your control over the castle guards and only lead your company."
"I accept your arrangement, your majesty." Tessai said.
Konrad spoke again, "I have also decided. I will rule through fear. It is better by far to be an object of fear than of respect, for one is a truth of the soul and the other an illusion of the mind."
Afterward, none questioned the Night Lord's rule. The Night Lord isn't a benevolent saint, he is a iron handed, bloody fisted tyrant. The Night Lord started to rule through fear.
When the purge ended, something strange happened.
The chaos stopped.
No more whispers of rebellion. No more hidden knives.
The people of the Bright Castle finally understood. Konrad was not a usurper. He was not a pretender. He was the ruler they needed in a place like the Forgotten Shore.
Where darkness reigned, only the strongest could guide the lost.
Those who remained—Tessai, Gemma—they stood beside him, not out of fear alone, but because they saw what he had created. Order from chaos. Strength from despair. The reform flowed smoothly and the Night Lord Legion was born.
And Konrad ruled as the Night Lord. The first. The only.
The human stood taller. The fighters trained harder. The people, once fearful and scattered, began to move with purpose. They knew that under the Night Lord, their lives had value again.
And Konrad watched from the throne, his eyes never resting, his vision always looking forward.
***
Today, Konrad wasn't in the throne room of the bright castle, nor the monster infested ruins of the dark city. He was in the crimson labyrinth...