In the heart of the Human Kingdom's grand palace, Empress Beatrice sat upon her obsidian throne, radiating an aura of absolute, unyielding authority. The grand council chamber was filled with the highest echelon of the ruling family, assembled in rigid silence.
Beatrice surveyed the room. Her family members were seated in their designated, opulent chairs. Only Rena (Beatrice's daughter) and William stood stiffly in the corner—a subtle but clear sign of their subordinate status following past transgressions. Beatrice noticed their exclusion. A servant was called immediately and ordered to place chairs beside the others, restoring the superficial order of the family unit.
Edward, Jai's father and the former Crown Prince, broke the silence, his voice sharp with impatience. "Madam Empress, what is the reason for this urgent gathering? Our kingdom's defenses are at risk."
Beatrice's gaze, cold and commanding, swept over them. "The matter is one of blood and succession. For reasons that served the security of this realm, I sanctioned the departure of a grand-child, making him leave the palace and our lives. Now, the time has come to bring him back. I shall present my grandson at the next Great Ceremony."
She then focused her attention on Rena, commanding her to approach. Rena, catching the steel in her mother's eyes, felt the familiar surge of fear, but forced herself to stand tall.
"Tell them, Rena," Beatrice ordered. "Tell them the reason for your two-year absence."
It is happened before jai was born.
Rena's confession was brittle but resolute. "There is a time where you all in the training and i leave the castle for two years :
That day a sound I willfully abandoned the moment I slipped past the castle gates. While my peers sacrificed their days to discipline and steel, I chose the wild lure of the unknown, venturing past the kingdom's boundaries to explore the shadowed depths of the ancient woods.
It was there I found him. A man born of the wilderness, his presence as untamed and grounding as the towering trees. Our meeting was a convergence that felt both accidental and destined, and soon, time lost all meaning in the face of our deepening affection. Within the sheltered sanctuary of that freedom, we fell desperately, irrevocably in love.
In the span of two short years, we built an ephemeral life. Our joy culminated in the arrival of our son, a quiet miracle whose eyes held the same fierce red as the Volcano. But the happiness was fragile. The untamed spirit that had drawn him to me eventually led him away; one cold, quiet morning, he simply vanished, leaving a silence vast and crushing where our life had been.
I was left with the impossible weight of our shared secret and a child who deserved a world I could not provide. The fear of discovery and the agonizing necessity of survival drove me to the most profound betrayal. With a heart splintered by grief and a mind blurred by impossible choices, I carried my son and leave him some where.
A cruel, sharp laugh sliced through the chamber. Mable, Edward's wife, spoke up, her voice laced with malice. "So the rumors were true! You bore a child! Tell us, dear Rena, did you finally succumb to the base desires of the beast? Was the father a Dragon?"
"No," Rena retorted, her voice shaking with defensive anger. "My son's father was a human."
James's father—a prominent duke—stood up, his face set in stone. "We shall not tolerate any ambiguity. Every child born of the forbidden union bears the Dragon's Mark—a dark, scale-like pattern upon their chest. Rena, answer us truthfully: Does your son bear the mark?"\
Rena met his gaze, the terrifying weight of the Dragon Purification Laws pressing down on her. She swallowed hard, her voice coming out a fragile whisper of relief and defiance:
"No! He does not. My son is human."
The chamber did not erupt into chaos, but into a stunned, tense silence. If the child had no mark, the reason for immediate execution was removed, but the stigma of Rena's two-year absence and unauthorized child remained. Whispers of Disgrace and Betrayal replaced cries of Execution.
Beatrice slammed a fist on the throne, the impact silencing the room instantly. "Silence! Whether he is marked or not, the matter of his paternity and his return is mine alone. You will all await the arrival of my grandson. His legitimacy will be decided by the Crown. Now, leave the chamber."
As the family members filed out, leaving behind a wake of shocked whispers and barely concealed fury over the perceived betrayal, Beatrice's rigid composure faltered. She focused on Rena, the plea in her voice almost imperceptible. "Rena, you are certain he bears no mark? Because... I do not wish to kill my grandson with my own hands."
Rena simply nodded, unable to speak, knowing her denial had only bought her son time, not safety.
Beatrice sat motionless for a long moment, before standing, her gaze hard once more, returning to the secret chamber where she continued the complex, high-Tier ritual—the ritual designed to breach the dimensional fabric and bring Rayn back to Aetheleon.
While destiny was being debated in the palace, the heroes in the Dwarf Kingdom sanctuary were enduring their final, brutal month of training.
Deep within the subterranean tunnels, King Winston addressed the four central figures: Jai, James, Zayn, and the Tier 6 veteran Minister Brokk.
"Another month has passed under the shadow of war," King Winston declared. "But your progress is now exponential."
Zayn was a stable Tier 8 elemental master.
Clement(James) was a double Tier 9 Master of Air and Space.
Arthur(Jai), though possessing the strength of a Tier 9, still suffered from a profound lack of speed—a critical weakness when facing quick, high-Tier enemies.
To address this gap, Winston presented a solution: the Swift Artifact.
The Swift Artifact was a Tier 8 Speed Artifact—a wrist bracer crafted from wind-forged metal. Jai immediately set to the task of mastery, refining the artifact with his own blood over the course of the final month. He had finally succeeded.
In Aetheleon, all artifacts possess a life span and require nourishment to replenish their core energy, just as humans must eat to sustain their own Spirit Cores. Overuse leads to death by exhaustion.
The Swift Artifact had a unique and fortunate energy requirement: air. It drew its sustenance directly from the surrounding atmosphere, minimizing the external cost. This was unlike the artifacts given by Mable to Jai and James (which required the user's raw life energy) or the Silver Lyre, which demanded specialized food.
King Winston tapped the glowing, crystalline map detailing Linston. "The training is over. We have no more time for ascension."
"The intelligence gathered by Brokk confirms that Lenard, the Tier 5 Master, remains in control, using the Town Hall as his base. Zeron, the resurrected prince, is nowhere to be found, which suggests he is either hiding in another town or is secretly entrenched within Linston."
Winston's voice took on the iron tone of command. "We cannot wait until i reach Tier 4. The Death Law energy residue from Zeron's ritual is spreading, making the region permanently toxic. We strike now."
He pointed sharply to the Linston Town Hall. "Our mission is twofold, and it must be executed within the next 24 hours, while Lenard is occupied near the borders. This is our window."
Our main objective is to Cure the maximum number of Linston's population and secure intelligence for the final strike.
"The priority is not brute force; it is Silence," Winston emphasized, holding up the Silver Lyre. "You know the cost: severe mental acuity degradation. But this artifact breaks the Obsidian Heart's influence."
"We have prepared for the Lyre's unique consumption requirements," Winston added, gesturing to a bag. "The Glazed Dreamfruit—it draws nourishment directly from mental energy and pure dreams, storing it as sugar. Feeding the Lyre this item immediately replenishes the psychic energy consumed during its severe severing wave. It is the only way to minimize the sacrifice."
He showed the bag, filled with the glistening, almost transparent fruits. "Yes, the food is ready."
Then jai asked what we four had to do Then Winston explain the plan :"You four—Jai, James, Zayn, and Minister Brokk (the Tier 6 veteran)—will go directly to Lenard's palace. You must create an overwhelming distraction, engaging and neutralizing the guards that stand in your way. This will draw Lenard's attention to the palace."
"While the core of their defense focuses on the palace, I will remain cloaked. I will use the distraction you create to move through the town's quieter districts, curing as many key individuals as possible with the Silver Lyre."
Jai, James, and Zayn nodded, the tension and determination etched onto their faces. The fate of the Dwarf Kingdom, and potentially the entire realm, rested on the success of this high-stakes, two-pronged mission.
"Go," Winston commanded. "The time for planning is over. The time for action is now."