The Bastard's End, The Emperor's Dawn

"Death, they say, is the great equalizer—a final curtain call that silences even the most thunderous applause. But death, like life, is a tapestry woven with infinite possibilities, a threshold to realms unseen. I believed my story was over, that the shadows had finally consumed the light within me. Yet, as my lifeblood seeped into the cold earth, a new chapter began, a journey not of ending but of transformation. What they thought was the bastard's end was merely the dawn of an emperor."*

---

**Descent into the Abyss**

The cold stone floor of the palace catacombs was the final canvas upon which Nathaniel Pendragon's life was painted. The agony of Alfred's blade, the insidious creep of *Soulshade*, and the crushing weight of betrayal converged to extinguish the flame that had burned so brightly within him. He fought with every fiber of his being, but the poison had robbed him of his strength, leaving him vulnerable to the machinations of his enemies.