The dungeon was built in the old style of Grimward's time.
Wet walls, ashen chains, stone masks guarding the runes of silence and pain.
Alesia was held in the center of a circle of magical signs etched in blood.
Shadows were all around. Thirk was crouched on the ceiling, watching.
Ward stood next to Kallen, his sword drawn.
Alessia was breathing heavily. Her hair was disheveled, and her face was pale.
But his eyes were still full of pride.
"How long will you play lord, Kalen?" she hissed. "Do you think they are truly loyal to you?"
"I know who is loyal. And who is rotting from the inside," he replied. "Let's get started. Name your allies."
"Even if I wanted to... you wouldn't understand. It's bigger than you."
He came closer.
"I've grown up. I've seen death. I've lost Norea. If you think fear works... you're ten years behind."
He touched her forehead with his fingers.
Darkness poured out of him, penetrating the woman's mind like a poisonous smoke.
"No!" She shivered. "Kalen... you don't..."
But he was already drawing out images.
Conversations in the shadows.
Letters written in another country.
Monarchs whose eyes burned with a greedy light.
And... something more.
Kallen staggered. An image appeared before him: a man wearing a horn mask, whose blood dripped onto a map of the continent.
"Who is it?" he asked. "Who is "Dick"?
Alessia just grinned.
— My ally. And your destiny.
Kalen took a step back.
"This... he's not human.
"Of course. He is older than the empire. Older than our blood. He promised me the throne if I gave him... you."
He froze.
- what?
"You are not just an heir. You are the key. And if you fall... the doors will open. And the world will... collapse."
Shadows stirred. Ward gripped the hilt of his sword.
"Sir, this name... it is not in any of the chronicles. It is something else."
It's... over the edge.
Kalen looked at his mother. There was no fear in her eyes. Only madness.
"You made an alliance with an ancient monster just to gain power?"
"No, Kalen. I made it so that you would become king. But not of this world."
He turned around.
— Take her away. Seal her up. Tirk — not a whisper must leave the dungeon
"Yes, my lord," the spiders whispered.
Alessia was taken away. But her last words, whispered into the darkness, remained with him:
"When he comes... remember my words... you'll ask me to come back.
Later, in his room, Kalen looked at the map.
Shadows, his shadows, sat in silence.
Reyna knocked and went in.
"You look like you've seen death."
"I've seen worse. I've seen the truth."
And now I know that my mother was just the beginning.
He pulled out a piece of parchment. It had a single symbol burned into it:
A horn that breaks through the sun.
"We're going to face something that has never slept."
And I have to be ready.
Not just as an heir…
It's like a shadow lord.