A year slipped by in steady
Chu Feng stood atop a training platform. Snowflakes shattered against the swirling qi around him.
His consciousness spread naturally, reaching farther than before, layering the world in sharper detail.
It's strange, he thought suddenly. There hasn't been any major beast activity in months.
Their patrols traced the same frozen paths day after day, past ridges etched by wind, caves rimmed with frost, rivers sealed beneath sheets of pale blue ice. They crossed glacial cracks that groaned softly under shifting pressure and wound through stone spires sculpted by centuries of blizzards.
These were places where, months earlier, Ironhide Burrowers would erupt from beneath the snow, where packs of Frostfang Wolves would stalk the shadows, where danger waited behind every drift.
Now there was only silence.
At first, the recruits joked about their good fortune. An easy patrol was a blessing in the northern frostlands.
The veterans brushed it off with explanations: Maybe the beasts had migrated deeper into the ice fields, maybe they were seeking new hunting grounds, maybe they had tunnelled down to sleep through a long winter.
But as the weeks stretched into months, the laughter faded. Even the seasoned soldiers began scanning the horizon a little more often, fingers resting closer to weapon hilts.
Too many quiet patrols. Far too many.
This isn't right, he thought.
He sheathed his weapon.
At the stronghold, life continued outwardly as normal.
Forces rotated shifts on the walls. Beast tamers drilled their charges. Alchemy smoke drifted lazily from chimneys. Formation wardens walked the battlements, checking runes for damage.
But there was a subtle tightness in the atmosphere.
Commanders spoke in hushed tones. Messengers ran more frequently between towers. Scout squads left earlier and returned later.
One night,
BWOOOOOOO!
The horn that tore through the night was nothing like the drills that marked each day.
It sounded deeper than anything used for training. It stretched across the sky in a long, steady call. Its weight pressed into the chest with a force that felt almost physical. It was the Emergency War Horn.
The sound seemed to vibrate inside every rib and spine.
For a brief instant, the entire stronghold went still.
Then everything erupted into motion.
Soldiers vaulted out of their beds. Armour buckles snapped shut with quick, practised movements. Weapons lifted from racks with metallic clatter.
Chu Feng was already moving before he could think, his body reacting on instinct shaped by months of discipline.
He charged down the barracks stairway with the others, boots striking the stone in a steady thunder.
Outside, Northwatch Stronghold had already shifted into its wartime state.
Torches flared along the parapets. Runic formations lit up one after another, shimmering sheets of protection climbing the walls. Banners rose high, marking each division as they prepared to mobilise.
Streams of soldiers surged toward the central assembly yard from every path, filling it with disciplined order despite the urgency.
Within moments, thousands stood aligned in silent ranks.
The only sounds were the wind howling overhead and the distant grind of gears as heavy anti-beast weapons rotated into position along the walls.
Then the commanders arrived.
A row of armoured officers stepped onto the raised platform, and at their centre stood a man in silver-grey plate and a cloak trimmed with northern fur. His eyes were cold and sharp, like polished ice.
His presence alone pressed against every soldier present.
Chu Feng felt it immediately.
This man stood far above Captain Jiao. A pillar of Northwatch.
He raised a single hand.
The fortress fell completely silent.
When he spoke, his voice carried across the yard without effort.
"Scouts sent into the deep Frozen Plains have returned reports."
The tension that followed was palpable.
"The beasts are gathering."
The words landed like iron weights in the chests of everyone listening.
And the commander continued.
"This is not a small movement."
A thin wave of spiritual pressure rippled from his body, as if reinforcing the gravity of his message.
"Multiple scouting parties have reported diverse beast species moving toward the same regions. Hunting grounds that used to be separate are overlapping."
Chu Feng felt a chill that had nothing to do with the snow.
Beasts did not act like this unless something drove them. Something powerful... something dangerous enough to unify creatures that normally killed each other on sight.
The commander's gaze swept across soldiers from every division: wall guards, beast tamers, alchemists, formation users, patrol squads.
"At least three scout teams have gone missing."
A quiet shock rippled through the ranks.
"The survivors reported one thing. Something is pushing the beast tides inward... toward this stronghold."
What followed was not fear.
Instead, there was a heavy, simmering heat beneath the silence.
The soldiers of the northern border were known as abnormal, almost feral individuals. Anyone who survived long enough to stand in that assembly yard had already crossed blades with death more times than they could remember. Fear had been burned out of them long ago.
Where ordinary men would tremble, their blood began to boil.
This was what the northern border existed for.
To face these waves.To hold the line when the rest of the world did not even realise where the true danger gathered.
"From this moment," the commander said, "Northwatch Stronghold enters High Alert State."
Runic lights flared brighter along the battlements, forming a shifting veil of pale blue radiance.
"Patrol units will be reassigned. Defensive lines will be reinforced. Reserve forces will be deployed. All support divisions will switch to wartime production levels."
He did not need to raise his voice. Every word fell with the weight of an approaching storm, each syllable carrying the quiet promise of blood yet to be shed.
Three days later, scouts returned at full speed, bloodied and frostbitten. They collapsed the moment they crossed the outer watch lines. Their reports were broken and rushed, but the message was unmistakable.
The beast tide had begun its advance in full force.
Northwatch Stronghold responded at once. Messengers ran through corridors and along the battlements. Orders flowed outward from the command hall in controlled waves, assigning defensive sectors, positioning reserve forces, and reinforcing every known weak point.
Chu Feng stood with the defenders stationed along the Eastern Wall. The wind sliced across the battlements, carrying with it a faint, unsettling vibration.
Before any shadow appeared on the horizon, the stone beneath his feet began to tremble.