The night was thick and wet.
Fog drifted across the battlefield like a living thing—drawn to the tension in the air, to the pulsing wards and glowing sigils that floated along sharpened stakes and trenches of the outer valley.
Above them, under the shadow of a cliffside under construction, rose the rising Twilight Arbiters' Fortress—its skeletal towers ringed by stone barriers and AI-reinforced automation glyphs.
It was half-complete. Vulnerable. Yet already dangerous.
From the high ridge overlooking the valley, Jaecar, commander of Ashen's kingdom forces, crouched beside a three-legged recon device.
His beast-like eyes scanned the structure, tail swishing with anticipation.
Behind him stood Heqet, wrapped in ceremonial priestess garb that pulsed with swamp-born Force energy, and Klayne, the Swamp Kingdom's engineering prodigy, wearing a reinforced battlesuit built from salvaged Vault tech.
Jaecar gave a low growl.
