2nd of Zun’s Rest, year 990:

On a calm winter night, two men, and another several dozen, were busy drinking themselves to rest in the local tavern in Ice Garden, city of the Rosekeepers’ Barony, as they had been demoted from their higher position. They still maintained their fairness and honourability, having gracefully accepted their new position. And, against all hope, the Snowflake Dynasty had conserved their right to the Duchy of the North, even after Duchess Larra had been judged guilty for High Treason.

“...and I repeat, the Empress doesn’t know what she is doing. Accepting this heresy, the corruption of our beloved church?” Slurred one of the two as the door of the tavern opened and three sapients, clothed with long black robes, entered. “The next thing we will know is that her successor will be a goblin, I tell ya.”

“Shut your mouth, you cretin. The only thing you liked about the old one was that you could buy your way in. Losing your job made you that grumpy?” As the three robed figures started to walk towards an occupied table, the woman there hastily dropped her fork as she started to get out of the chair.

“Who are you calling a cretin, Anto! I also gave you plenty of…!” The sounds of blades being unsheathed made both of them look to the growing commotion, as the woman’s blade parried a sword before being stabbed by a dagger. Her body dropping down, the third sapient, an orc, double tapped her with his hammer, splattering flesh and bones all over the ground.

Amid chaos and screams, the first figure, an elf, showed the barkeeper a badger, a phoenix holding two swords, and, gesturing to their two companions, got out of the building.

“...still want to talk shit about the Empress, Hil?”

A very pale Hil just sip from his drink and returned to look at his table. After almost six years, the Shadow War, the civil war of the Imperial Inquisition, ran as bloody as in the beginning. Hidden blades that partook in an information gathering duel. Not even with the growing reforms in the county could this battle be settled in the courts.

‘At least the food’s cheaper.’ Anto thought, not willing to present his reservations about the whole ordeal. The poor waiter cleaning the blood off the ground did wonders to help him bite down his complaints.

…….

“And now, the Third Courthouse of Bonfire’s Six Ring decrees you guilty of High Treason, Sedition and the murder of five loyal members of the Inquisition.” Decreed the “minor” noble, only beholder to the land on which the courthouse was built. The hit of the gavel resounded on the hearing chamber, the jury present maintaining their collected looks. “The adjudicators condemn you to twenty years of forced labour to better the Astar County, under the watchful gaze of our Lady, Countess Soral of the Ashen Household.”

“T-twenty years?!” Screamed the accused from its own podium. They glared at the banner of the Ashen, mandated to always be present on a courthouse. “That’s a life sentence on too many words!”

“You could always reach out to a higher authority, like the courthouse of the Duchy of the North.” The barely visible smirk on the noble acting as a judge grew as the traitor paled.

Taking their new silence as acceptance, the courthouse asked for the next criminal.

…

“Good work, mine vassals.”

“Likewise, Adjudicator Gabe.”

Nodding, she left the building. Even after four years of work, she still hadn’t gotten used to the treatment the nobility received, even one as fake as the Adjudicators, as it was a loophole for a, mostly, independent judicial branch. As only noblewomen were the only ones capable of judging and maintaining security, Countess Soral had decreed the formation of a new kind of nobility, the Adjudicators, owners of the courthouses and the land those were settled in. As Imperial Law didn’t specify how much land was necessary for the privilege of overseeing law, it had worked, and these courthouses had spread through the county. However, there were rules that accompanied the title, to never have an heir and to always return the land to the County.

After a two hour walk, he left the last ring of Bonfire and headed towards the Druid’s Guild, still finding unbelievable how fast it had grown. Turning around, and taking in the nine ringed metropolis that shone as a beacon of civilization in the far north, he stopped to breathe again. It had been either the biggest stroke of luck, worthy of a legend, of the biggest feat of intrigue known to sapientkind.

New urbanisation plans, together with sanitary conditions and several groundbreaking inventions, had been able to take all the non-human refugees from the new southern duchy of the Empire, turning humanity into a minority, made possible by the new Imperial Portal Devices. All that free labour that only wanted a roof above their heads and a meal had stretched their resources, yes, but they had allowed all of Countess Soral most ambitious projects.

Remembering the hundreds of new villages and the third city on construction, Gave shook her head and resumed her walk. She thanked her luck again, as she had been a literate commoner lucky enough to be able to study the new law code made by the Ashens.

Arriving at the guild’s door, she knocked, only for the door to be opened the next second. She had to lower her gaze to see the guild member, a goblin.

“What business brings you here, Adjudicator?” They asked, noticing her emblem, a book on top of the embers of a bonfire.

“I am on a mission from the Countess. Is High Mage Albestus in his office?”

The goblin nodded, letting her pass. They didn’t follow, not wanting to intrude on the important looking job.

Taking half an hour more to reach the study wing of the Druid’s Guild, more an academy than its dated name could imply, she knocked on the gaudiest office of them all.

“Go ahead.” An old but energetic voice answered her.

Entering, Gabe looked at the study, filled with bookshelves, expensive couches and elaborate tables and chairs. In front of an immense window, Albestus was relaxing with a glass.

“Adjudicator Gabe, it's been long since your last visit. What did you need?” Albestus’ smile was contagious, causing Gabe to smirk before she could stop herself. Their friendship could wait, work was not allowed that privilege.

“High Mage Albestus.” Answered with a curtsy, causing Albestus to straighten his sitting position. “I was asked to take your report.”

Albestus snorted, all tension evaporating as if it had never been there. “I have said the same for half a year. Forestry business is booming. All the edge of the forest is being harvested and reforested continually. Our production is enough for the whole north. Tell the young lady to stop with this pointless bureaucracy.”

After a curt nod, “Are the dryads still gone?”

“And I am thanking Apex for that. Gods realms, those things were the creepiest monster of the whole Empire.”

“The elven villages…”

“Are still fine and paying taxes, yes, yes.” Albestus started to wave with his hand, as if trying to move the boredom away. ”Something more important than the same endless questioning of always or are you up for a drink?”

Gave, now smiling, continued. “Only one. Any news on the grey necromancer?”

Now it was the easygoingness of Albestus' turn to banish. “Nothing. Not that it mattered after the first month. Grey mana is fickle and does not last. The only thing that could have given a lead was the tracks, and those were gone after a rainy day.”

“Well, work is over. Up for that drink?” She shouldn’t have bothered to ask, for Albestus was pouring another glass for her. She let out a chuckle. ‘I wish High Commander Samil was as easy to talk to.’ She thought, already dreading her next duty.

……….

“You can still surrender.” Mercenary commander Lantraz exhaled, his breath forming small white clouds. His voice boomed inside the church. His body armour, full of grime and blood, reflected the extensive fighting that he and his company had needed to break through the zombies and skeletons. Sweat and exhaustion weighed him down, a thing he did not notice, used as he was to his new body.

“Why should I? It is you that should see reason, Secondborn.” Her red pupils never left him. Her fingers turned into claws, her back grew and contorted, soon growing bat-like winds. “Nonetheless, and it saddens me, your betrayal is past redemption. Your hands have been dipped in too much of our, no, of mine sisters. Still, I want to ask, why side with these pests?”

Lantraz raised his worn out mace and shield, his feet bettering his stance as yellow fires started to bath his shield and weapon, ending the conversation.

The vampire hissed and launched herself into the air. Blood flew from the grounds, forming spell circles in mid air as she flew to the highest point inside the church. The remaining windows shattered and the shards followed her wishes, raining upon Lantraz as her wings stopped flapping, welcoming the fall.

Lantraz’s armour met the glass storm, shield protecting his visor, and he focused on the falling vampire. The ground shifted below him and, realising her ploy, he jumped to the side, throwing the molten glass tainting his shield towards her. A scream of pain later, the ground he had been bursted out in stone stakes, stopping the flow of his mace as the vampire fell next to them. Her flesh sizzling and melting, she moved her hand ignoring the stone bits that fell on her. Following her movement, as the hand had a spell circle engraved on it, the spell circles flowed to form blood spears. Propelled with magic, they bombarded Lantraz with unexpected speed and weight.

Amidst the ruckus of breaking stones and the explosions of the fast travelling spears, three silver bolts shooted from the door found the vampire's head. A fire started from them, feeding on the corrupted mana and, soon, the whole body. The remaining flying spears were dismissed, falling instead as a rain of blood as the vampire was turned to ash.

“Are you alright, commander?!” Paladin asked, the last skeleton of their company, the Yellow Fire, waving through the dust. “Our apologies for not providing earlier support, the undead outside were tougher than we prayed for.”

“No pain that I know of. And no apology needed.” Glancing at the ashes, he grimaced under the helmet. “How many casualties?”

“None, for now.”

“Then let those still energetic accompany me. There are a lot of graves to dig.”

Paladin hailed and left to follow his commands. Lantraz breathed out, his gaze still fixed to the ashes. ‘Of the twenty vampires we hunted this month, she was the only one I knew. What are you plotting on the western duchy, Eve?’ His hands clenched, causing the gauntlets to add their metallic sounds to the now tranquil night. ‘And how many more shall die by your orders before you realise the monstrosity of your actions?’

“No matter. I will stop it, that I swear.”

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“Yes, commander?” Asked one of the paladins now near him, as Lantraz had been too lost in thought to notice their arrival.

“Follow me,” Answered Lantraz as he grabbed the ashes, “There’s more work to do.”

…

“Your reputation was not given justice, Commander Lantraz, for your deeds have been downplayed. Ending the scourge of two hundred undead and a mature vampire with twenty men? Not even the Inquisitors could have managed without deaths on their side!” Complimented Baroness Shik as she handed Lantraz a bag of coins.

“We share the honour of this victory. Your ample information and quickness to trust us granted us the opportunity to craft an excellent plan.” Nodded Lantraz, not bothering to count the money.

Smiling, Shik nodded. It wasn’t long before a shadow was cast in her eyes, freezing her joy. “I must add a request from a friend of mine, Baroness Mina. Another vampire sighting.”

“I will see to it.” Not willing to waste time, he hasted himself out of the room to prepare the company for the new danger.

After Lantraz left, Shik returned to her chair. ‘Who could have expected that the Inquisition really did their jobs? Was forbidding them from entering our lands a wise move? We were spared a conflict, only to be thrown onto another.’ Her gaze searched for her desk. On top of it, a letter that she should have destroyed already. The invitation to a masquerade ball from her old friend Lamiz from before she had been burned at the stake when she was revealed as a vampire by her heiress. ‘A root is invading the west, and the Empire is either too busy or too uncaring. Elenia’s church is also useless, fighting between themselves and forsaking their duties.’

The door opening away shook her awake. Turning to the door, she saw her heiress, each day more dashing and taller as she neared her eighteen birthday.

“Emil! Did you need something?” Her smile grew stale as she gazed at her child’s eyes, a vibrant red.

“Beloved mother,” Smirking, she made a reverence. “Have you made your decision?”

“What decision, my child?” She instinctively retreated a step, a frozen smile plastered on her face.

“The letter is still on your table, I thought you wanted none of it.” Her daughter slowly closed the distance.

“...what did you do, Emil?” Her tone grew cold, curt. The illusion of a smile remained no more.

“The times are changing, mom. We have protected these illiterate masses forever and how have they repaid us? Bringing a war of faith to our lands. One we can’t finish nor deal with!” Boundless energy invaded her daughter as she started to prance back and forth. “Cities burnt, villages turned against each other, and the Empire happily endorses these barbarians! It is not enough that we send thousands of our countrymen to die so that our Empress could have her perfect husband, but we have to watch as the peasants run wild!” Her slightly mad gaze nailed Shik in her silence.

‘I see. I was not a very good mother, was I?’ “We are powerless! But…the servants of the Moon can give us power. Freely, no strings attached. Power to protect our lands as it is our duty! Power to prevent more harm, more destruction! Power to return nobility to what it was!”

“You just want power equal to your pride. Do not hide behind a pretence of care and worry.” Her daughter was gone. Shik pressed her hand against her desk, casting the spell circle that would call her guards and spell doom for her daughter.

As the seconds passed, her daughter grew more confident. “You have spent too much time away from our men at arms, mother. They are loyal to me, for I have led them to mend the brokenness that is faith! I have marched and fought with them.”

“...for how long have you planned this?” The whisper would have gone unheard if not for the better hearing that came with the gift of vampirism.

“Since my beloved friend finished Lamiz, her mother. But I can be more forgiving.” She offered her hand. “Join me and we can propel the Empire into the prosperity it should have! Grab my hand and we can restore the old Empire!”

Gulping down her fears, she stood with as much nobility she could muster. “No.”

Her daughter’s hand slowly lowered as she, visibly sadeneed, nodded. “A shame, mom. You leave me no choice then…or I would want to say as your heiress.” The mask of bravado disappearing, and doing her best to not cry, she continued. “Please, do not make me do this. I do not want to lose you over something I know to be right, to be necessary!”

Closing her eyes for a few seconds, “…you made your choice. And I made mine. Only one of us can leave.”

Sniffling, her daughter nodded. “...I will say you died in your sleep and I promise to not vilify you.”

“I am ashamed to say that I could not have done the same”

………..

Dirt and rocks fell from the ceiling as it came undone. A figure jumped through the hole, feet first, reaching terminal velocity before impacting against the crafted floor below, three hundred metres below, causing a small explosion of stone fragments. Not having even been moved by her landing nor her broken legs, she climbed out of the new hole and started to walk towards her goal as they regenerated.

The screeching of nails on stained glass resounded on a long forgotten castle. In the complete darkness that could exist only underground, where no light could reach, shards of a long forgotten mural fell onto the ground. Eve, not caring about destroying an invaluable antique, continued lazily trailing her nails on a wall of the throne room. The greys of her night vision showed an enormous chamber, enough for ten thousand attendees, filled to the brim with benches and sculptures of a long forgotten era. Earlier than both Empires, earlier than necromance even. A sea of stone furniture, debris and bones surrounded in jewellery and ashes.

A simple stone rock with two skulls as armrests stood at the end of the room. To its west, a growling could be heard. Crushing bones with each step, Eve strolled towards the sounds, her claws and muscles flexing and relaxing, eager to continue testing her new reinforcement magic spell circles, trailing as invisible tattoos all over her body.

A kick to the rotten door disintegrated it into a cloud of smoke and splinters. To her surprise, the cloud was dispersed by three poisoned tails that tried to embed themselves onto her stomach. Two stingers broke when they made contact and the third slided through her steel like skin. A small leap after her hand found the head of the creature, smashing it into the ground, breaking it into hundreds of small pieces. A small wave of her hand and all of its blackish blood was extracted from its body, killing it. Not giving it a look, and not waiting for the cloud to disperse, she pressed onwards.

Dozens of rooms. For entertainment, ballrooms, guest rooms, forges, servant rooms, she lost count, never stopping the carving of the wall with her nails. All of the corridors were adorned with statues of several forms, knights, skeletons and common people. Tones of dust from paintings and furniture long gone. Five chimaeras and five hundred rooms later, she arrived at the royal chambers. A kick wasn’t enough to break the enchanted wood, so she tried with two, three. At the fifth it finally broke, the broken door crashing onto the ground, and revealing a rather empty bedroom. With a simple bed, a chair, a table and a bookshelf.

The sight of it stopped Eve for half a second before she darted to the books. Some already dust, others half decomposed, others intact. All of them went flying by the air as they proved useless. Forgotten knowledge, bygone history and folklore, maps of other continents, all would be forgotten again as it slept on the ground, waiting to be dust as the room had been opened to the passage of time.

Keeping only a map with important cathedrals and castles Eve punched the bookshelf, revealing to her vision an uneven wall. Another punch broke through the wall, letting her grab parts of it and pull them towards her, slowly tearing chunks of it apart. Once the dust settled, she wanted to scream. It was a safe, only containing a simple wooden staff and an alabard of onyx. Both magical, but neither what she wanted. Debating between leaving them behind, she decided to take them, even if to only lie to herself about the usefulness of this trip. Once she left the room, all of the statues of knights woke up, the emerald eyes shining with violent intent, giving a green light that was not enough to see around. But Eve needed no light..

Not doubting, she swung her new weapon, its black shadow only as terrifying as the sharpness of its edge, cutting in half the possessed rock. A kick destroyed the midsection of another, not bothering to defend from the other two, letting a hammer and a spear break against her skin. Cleaving around with the alabard, cutting deeply into the walls, she halved those two. The next second, another six statues presented themselves to be slaughtered. Behind, countless more.

Two thousand golems later, she managed to locate the hole she had descended from. A quick and dry movement from her hand later, light started to shine again on the forgotten throne chamber. Giving colour to the hundreds of beautiful and sacred murals, to the granite walls and benches, to the white throne. The light grew brighter as it expanded to form a small spell circle in mid air, then another, and another one, as if to form a staircase. Once she entered the hole, the light banished, cursing with loneliness the illusion of the past.

…

“Welcome back, Eve.”

“Did you just wait there, Vamir?” Not that gleeful from the expedition, Eve retorted with a frown.

“I see you recovered invaluable artefacts.” Used to her grumpiness, not that she cared, Vamir pointed at the alabard, almost as tall as her.

“At least it was sharp. It would have been Nethers fighting in the corridors if it got stuck in the rock.” Not willing to voice her agreement, she diverted to the map. “I got more ruins. Dismantle the campment.”

“At once, Eve.” Contrary to her words, she stood still.

After stubbornly waiting for a minute, both still on a winter night, Eve folded first. “Out with it.”

“Shouldn’t we ask for reinforcements or some kind of help? We have been only us two for two and a half years.”

“I have no need for neither traitors nor meatbags.”

“Not even undead of our own making?”

“No!” She blurted out, louder than she expected. Unrelenting, she hissed, “The campment. You have an hour before I leave.”

A simple nod and Vamir banished in the shadows.

“I am close, I feel it. Only a bit more time.” She whispered to the black sky.

……….

The chirp of birds, the sounds of dancing leaves, a refreshing wind, the light of the sun. Kal sat with his legs and arms crossed on one of the crystal domes they had created on the north. Green vegetation all around him, a small fox, whose curiosity was winning after two hours of his motionless state, crawled near him, smelling this backpack. A woman’s voice startled neither of them.

“Our Light, what is it that you ponder.” A dryad asked, coming out of the tree in its wooden form.

“That I should command our architects to build another dome. This one for only crops, the recent influx of more dwarf refugees is pushing our food supplies.” That startled the fox, who ran away as fast as its little legs could manage.

“Your job is hard. We never expected to bloom so far away from warmth.” It looked to the sky. “This false sky does wonders in keeping water and heat. How many more will you make?”

“As many as it takes to turn the End into a garden. A home for all.” Kal got up and started to vanish. “I thank you for the talk. It helped.”

With no more responses, both vanished, travelling back to their new homes.

…

“Skelly, where have you been?” Started to nag Likos, elected leader of the dwarfs.

Kal turned to look at the dwarf. With one eye less, he still had his warhammer strapped to his back, dressed with his usual working clothes.

“Why do I even ask…If you were working with the fungi instead of brooding we would have the best drinks in all of the continent. Talking about the drinks, make some fungi we can distil into alcohol, will ya?”

“...are luxuries that necessary?”

“Oh, don’t get me wrong. Mining and building all day to then sleep and repeat is dreamlike.” Likos said in a deadpan tone. “But you ought to add some diversity. Alter mining with mining drunk and all that.” His tone recovered its early energy. “You can make a damned billiard out of sheer heat and you can not manage to get us drunk?! Some reality altering powers you got there, huh?”

“...it's been harder than I thought, yes.”

“Not that fun to stall the answer now, huh?” A smug dwarf grin. Stopping making fun of Kal he returned to the problem at hand as they traversed the underground fortress. A weird mixture between undead and dwarf architecture, brightly illuminated by all the lampposts with magic crystals. The main road was a mix of, again, undead and dwarfs as they hurried around their new lives. “The food could turn into a problem if you are still thinking about helping the clan Steel Axe.”

“All that are to lose their homes will be helped. I was working on the solution.” A small wind of energy loudened Kal’s words.

“...I am going to regret this but, what is the big idea?”

“Contact the glass crafters. We will need about forty tons of it by next week. Tell them to aim for a thousand.”

Likos pinched his nose. “Why am I your messenger… Could you, once, just once, go yourself and be chewed out like I always am?”

Kal handed him a crystal bottle full of a brownish liquid.

“Always happy to follow your commands, my liege!” Hailed Likos as he slipped the bottle inside his coat. “Do not hesitate to order me around more!” Contrary to his words, he rushed out to communicate the second glass madness.

Now alone, Kal vanished again, reappearing in his “royal quarters”, a room on top of one of the mountains in the End mountain range. Tainting the whiteness of the frozen landscape, dozens of glass domes, protecting the greens inside, stood interconnected. Some farming space, some outdoors centres of entertainment, most green reserves for the dryads. He still didn’t understand why they all had followed him nor why the thousands of dwarves had chosen to stay. He would play the part of king, still. He had found and built a new home. How beautiful would it all look if it was a jungle of unstoppable vitality? He ached to know.

……………….