The fortress was quiet in the late hours, lanterns burning like isolated stars along the battlements. Yet beneath the calm surface, every soldier felt the shift—an unease that had settled like frost on the spine.
The Whispering Sect had warned them.
And warnings from shadows were never idle.
Jeng Minh spent the entire night in the war room, standing before the table as Bai Ye, Gao Ren, and Yuan Shan waited in tense silence.
The Silver Divide.
A splinter faction.
A force operating unseen, unbound by restraint or tradition.
Bai Ye finally spoke, his voice low. "They've declared intent. What do we expect next?"
Jeng Minh's eyes remained on the western region of the map.
"A test," he said.
"They will not attack openly. They will probe—our defenses, our loyalties, our minds. The Silver Divide thrives on creating fractures."
Yuan Shan clenched a fist. "Let them try. If they strike, we strike harder."
Jeng Minh shook his head.
"No. If we react with brute force, we reveal our hand. They want us disoriented, reckless, predictable. We must remain the opposite."
A soldier burst into the war room, face ashen.
"Commander—urgent news from the northern watchtower. A patrol has vanished."
Bai Ye turned sharply. "Vanished? How many?"
"Six men, my lord. Led by Captain Heiman. They were scheduled to check the western ridge route. They missed both scheduled signal calls."
Jeng Minh's gaze sharpened.
"Send scouts to the ridge. Move quietly—no torches."
The soldier saluted and rushed off.
Bai Ye swallowed hard. "The messenger said the Silver Divide consumes minds. Commander… what if this was the beginning?"
"It is," Jeng Minh replied. "But not their true goal. This is misdirection."
Hours later, the scouts returned—breathless and pale.
"We found no bodies," their leader reported. "No tracks. But…"
He held out a strip of cloth.
Silver-threaded.
The same design described by the villagers.
The emblem of the Silver Divide.
Gao Ren's voice trembled with restrained fear. "They want us to know they were here."
"They want a reaction," Jeng Minh agreed, taking the cloth gently between his fingers. "They took six trained soldiers from an elevated ridge without leaving a sound. That alone is a message."
Yuan Shan stepped forward, voice rough with fury. "Commander. Let me lead a search party—"
"No."Jeng Minh's tone was iron.
"They left this strip intentionally. Search parties are traps waiting to be sprung. They will not lure us into the dark so easily."
Yuan Shan lowered his head, jaw tight.
A second soldier rushed in—the same one who had delivered the first report earlier.
"Commander—another emergency. The southern granaries—"
"What of them?" Bai Ye demanded.
"They're on fire."
The room fell silent.
Gao Ren's eyes widened. "The Silver Divide struck north to distract us… while sabotaging the south."
"Exactly."Jeng Minh's mind moved faster than his words.
"Six men taken from the ridge—nothing more than bait. If we had sent forces after them immediately, our southern supplies would have been undefended."
Bai Ye cursed. "Their timing… is perfect. They predicted our instinct to protect our own."
Jeng Minh's voice turned cold.
"They've studied us."
Within minutes, Jeng Minh and Bai Ye were on horseback, racing toward the southern granaries. Bright flames licked at the night sky long before they arrived—smoke billowing, sparks scattering across the cold wind.
But something was wrong.
The fire was too controlled.
Perfectly positioned.
Strategic.
Not an act of destruction—an act of warning.
Jeng Minh dismounted, eyes narrowing as he approached the burning structure. Soldiers formed frantic lines with buckets of water, but the flames behaved unnaturally—directed, almost sculpted.
Bai Ye spluttered, "This isn't random—this was set with alchemical oil. These flames were designed to burn bright and fast… but not spread."
"Correct," Jeng Minh said. "They set this fire not to cripple us, but to show power."
At the edge of the granary, he found it:
Another silver-threaded cloth.
This one pinned to a charred pillar.
Bai Ye read the inked characters aloud.
"Observe the flame.
Next time, it will consume."
A threat.
Elegant and lethal.
Jeng Minh watched the flames die under the relentless buckets of his soldiers. Once the last ember winked out, he turned to Bai Ye.
"Send messengers to every northern outpost. New protocols: rotating patrols, unpredictable schedules, false signal lines."
"Yes, Commander."
"Yuan Shan will reinforce the granaries with doubled guard."
"Understood."
"And Gao Ren," Jeng Minh added, "begin a full analysis. Their movements, their timing, their strategy. We will not chase shadows—we will corner them."
Bai Ye looked at him, worry hidden behind respect.
"Commander… is this war?"
Jeng Minh replied without hesitation.
"No.
This is the opening move before war."
As he turned back toward the fortress, the night seemed colder—sharper. The stars above were obscured by the last remnants of smoke. The Silver Divide had acted.
Not to kill.
Not to conquer.
But to announce themselves.
They had moved.
And in doing so, they had challenged the new power rising in the north.
Jeng Minh's voice was barely above a whisper, but it carried like steel.
"They wish to reshape the continent.
But first… they intend to reshape me."
His eyes glinted with a predator's calm.
"Let them come.
We will reshape them instead."