Chapter 175: The War Before the Kingdom

The world around Damien split apart, the underground chamber fading into nothing as a new reality crashed into place.

He wasn't in Black Hollow anymore.

He wasn't in Winter's Crown.

He was somewhere else.

Somewhere older.

The Forgotten Battlefield

The sky above him was blackened, not from night, but from the thick clouds of smoke and ash, curling over a battlefield that stretched as far as the eye could see. The air was thick with the scent of blood, of something burned, something unnatural.

And in the distance, silhouetted by a glow that was not the sun—

A great city burned.

Not like Eldermere.

Not like Winter's Crown.

A city that did not exist on any map.

But he knew it.

Not from books. Not from ruins.

From memory.

Because he had been here before.

And the worst part?

He hadn't been standing where he was now.

He had been standing there.