The first thing Jade did was breathe.
In. Out.
The air was different. Heavy with incense, yes, but also with pollen, dust, the faint, distant smell of baking bread and horse manure. It was real. The silk under his fingers was real, the weight of the blankets, the dull ache in his muscles from a sleep he hadn't actually had—all real.
His mind, the core of the Void Sovereign, was a fortress of ice, but panic was a heat-seeking missile. He quashed it. Data. I need data.
A man in armor was kneeling by his bed, head bowed. "Your Majesty? The war council awaits your word."
Your Majesty. The title landed not as a honor, but as a brand. A glitching, void-black text seared itself into his vision, unseen by the kneeling man:
He was in the Tower. He had to be. But this was a layer he'd never seen. A pocket dimension? A sealed floor? The System was here, but it felt... distant. Muffled.
He couldn't just start giving commands. He was a stranger in a king's skin. He had to learn the script before he could rewrite it.
Jade brought a hand to his temple, allowing a faint tremor to enter his fingers. He let his gaze, usually sharp as a blade, become slightly unfocused, drifting around the opulent room as if seeing it for the first time.
"General..." he began, his voice raspy, feigning a dryness of throat. He used the title he'd read on the man's insignia.
The man—Valerius—looked up, his stern face etched with immediate concern. "Your Majesty! Are you unwell?"
"The... the night," Jade murmured, squeezing his eyes shut as if in pain. "It was... fitful. My thoughts feel... tangled. The details... the barbarians... remind me." It was a gamble, a vague claim of a faulty memory, a king disoriented after a bad night.
Valerius's concern deepened. "Sire, should I summon the Royal Physicker?"
"No," Jade said, a bit more firmly, waving a dismissive hand. He needed to control the flow of information. "Just... talk to me, Valerius. Speak plainly. Our situation. The enemy. It helps to ground my thoughts in the facts." He offered a weary, kingly smile. "Indulge your old king."
It was a masterful play. It presented vulnerability to elicit protectiveness and information. It was a command disguised as a request.
Valerius, clearly thrown but devoted, nodded. "Of course, Sire." He began to speak, his voice a low, steady rumble. He spoke of the "Barbarian King, kogarth," who had united the savage tribes of the Ironwood. He spoke of burned villages on the border. He named the city they were in—"Realmshold." He mentioned the "Solar Legion," their pride.
Jade listened, his mind cataloging everything.korgath. Ironwood. Realmshold. Solar Legion. Each name a piece of the puzzle. He was not just gathering military intel; he was learning the vocabulary of this world, the key actors, the geography.
The glitched text flickered again.
Jade ignored it, his focus entirely on Valerius. He was a scientist studying his new environment, a predator learning the lay of the land. The conquest would come, but first, he had to understand the cage. And the first step to understanding was to make its jailers believe he belonged in it.
Valerius's voice was a steady stream of crucial data. "...and the scouts confirm, Sire. The self-styled 'Skull-King', Korgath, has gathered the tribes under his banner. They no longer raid for simple plunder. They seek to desecrate the Sun Altar itself."
Korgath. A stronger, more guttural name. Skull-King. A title that spoke of brutality and intimidation. Sun Altar. A religious or magical focal point. The pieces were slowly fitting together. This was not a simple border dispute; it was a holy war.
Jade nodded slowly, as if the information was slowly filtering back into place. "Korgath..." he repeated, tasting the name. "And the Ironwood protects him."
"It is a fortress of thorns and shadows, Your Majesty," Valerius confirmed, his voice grim. "Our men get lost within an hour. The very trees seem to move."
A magical forest. A fanatical enemy. A city reliant on faith in a "Sun Altar." The variables were complex.
Just then, the chamber doors opened and a young woman swept in, her face a mask of serene authority. She was dressed in robes of gold and white, a circlet of polished amber resting on her brow. "My Lord King," she said, her voice melodious but firm. "The Dawn Priests are assembled. The Sun's blessing must be received before any military action can be sanctified."
Valerius stiffened slightly, a clear tension between the military and the religious arm of this kingdom.
Perfect, Jade thought. Another faction.
A flicker of surprise crossed her face, then softened into pity. "You are unwell, my husband. It is Liana. Your Queen."
The glitched text flashed, a silent, mocking laugh in his mind:
His wife. The variable had just become infinitely more complicated. He was not just a king; he was a husband. The depth of this prison was staggering.
Jade gave a slow, deliberate nod, as if remembering. "Liana. Forgive me. My mind... it plays tricks this morning." He looked between her and Valerius. "The blessing is important. But so is the security of our people. General Valerius has just informed me of the dire situation in the Ironwood."
He paused, letting the tension between the two advisors hang in the air. He was no longer just gathering information; he was learning the power dynamics.
"Here is my command," Jade said, his voice gaining a sliver of its natural steel. He was weaving his own objectives into their expectations. "Liana, you and your Priests shall have your blessing at the Altar at noon. Pray for the Sun's guidance in this conflict."
He turned to Valerius. "General, you will assemble a small, fast company of your best rangers. No legion. After the blessing, you and I will ride for the Ironwood. Not to engage. To observe. I would look upon this 'fortress of thorns' with my own eyes before I send a single man to die in it."
It was a compromise that gave both factions something, while serving his true goal: to see the edges of this world for himself, to find its seams.
Valerius looked shocked but intrigued. Liana looked concerned but acquiescent. They both bowed. "Your will, My King."
As they left, Jade was alone again. The charade was exhausting, but it was working. He had a name—Korgath. A location—the Ironwood. A political landscape to navigate. And a wife.
The ride to the Ironwood was a sensory overload. The cheers of the citizens lining the streets of Realmshold were a physical pressure. The smell of horse and leather and sun-baked stone was overwhelming in its reality. Jade sat tall in the saddle, his kingly disguise a perfect mask, but his Observer's Eye was working relentlessly, cataloging every face, every building, every possible escape route.
The land outside the city was lush and vibrant, but as they neared the forest, the air changed. It grew cold and still. The very light seemed to dim. The Ironwood wasn't just a forest; it was a wall of twisted, black-barked trees so dense they formed a near-solid barrier of gnarled wood and thorns. An unnatural silence hung over it, broken only by the uneasy shifting of the horses.
"This is the place, Your Majesty," Valerius murmured, his hand resting on his sword hilt. "The scouts... they vanish beyond that first line of trees."
Jade dismounted, ignoring the protests of his guards. He walked to the very edge of the treeline. He could feel it now—a faint, familiar energy. Not the System, but something else. Something old and wild and deeply intertwined with the Tower's fundamental structure. This was a place of power. A keystone.
The glitched text appeared, pulsing with a slow, patient throb.
He reached out, his fingers hovering just inches from the gnarled, black bark. He could feel a low thrum of energy, a vibration that resonated with the core of his own Obsidian Core. This forest wasn't just an obstacle; it was the source. Conquering it wouldn't just mean defeating Korgath; it would mean seizing the very power that sustained this pocket dimension.
He let his hand fall without touching it. He had seen enough. Turning his back on the oppressive silence of the woods, he remounted.
"Back to the city," he commanded Valerius.
The General looked surprised. "Sire? We are not going to scout further?"
"The scout is done," Jade said, his gaze sweeping over the terrified faces of his soldiers. "I have seen what I needed to see. The war will not be won here today."
As they rode back towards Realmshold, the glitched text flickered once more, its message cryptic.
The city. That was the true battlefield for now. Not with sword and spell, but with influence and information. He had a Queen to understand, a priesthood to navigate, and the hearts of thousands of people who saw him as their Sun-King.
The enemy was not a figure in the woods. The enemy was the gilded throne waiting for him back in the palace, and the invisible Warden who watched his every move from the shadows of the code. The real conquest began now.