Echoes of the Throne

Location: Black Citadel Ruins, Eastern Tavara

Smoke curled through the shattered remains of the Black Citadel. Fires danced in the rubble, flickering light on Damien's silhouette as he stood alone in the heart of what had once been a symbol of twisted ambition.

Lucien Vale's body lay motionless on the blackened floor, half-buried under fallen steel beams and fragments of the Citadel's shattered throne.

Damien exhaled slowly.

He pressed two fingers to his earpiece. "Black Citadel neutralized."

Static buzzed.

Then Raven's voice, strained but alive, came through. "Good. But we've got wounded. The Dominion had spies in the bunker. They struck just as we launched."

Damien's jaw clenched. "Casualties?"

"Minimal. But they were aiming to disable command altogether."

"I'll return to Skye."

"No," Nora's voice cut in. "Go to Site 17. The Dominion's last encrypted uplink is still active. If they had a backup leadership protocol, it'll be there."

Damien hesitated. Site 17 was buried deep in the jungles of southern Tavara—uncharted and treacherous.

"Understood," he said after a pause. "Send coordinates. I'll finish this."

He turned toward the northern exit as flames consumed the throne behind him. The past was burning. What mattered now—was what would rise from its ashes.

---

Location: Skye Bunker, War Room

Nora stitched Raven's arm herself, her hands steady despite the chaos.

"Lucien's gone," Raven whispered. "So why do I feel like we're not done?"

"Because we're not," Nora murmured. "The Dominion wasn't built around one man. Lucien was just the mouthpiece."

She finished the suture and stood, wiping blood on a cloth. "The real architect… hid in shadows even Damien couldn't see."

General Hector entered, holding a decrypted file.

"You need to see this," he said grimly. "Lucien was working under a code name. Project Kingsfall. But the file names someone else as the overseer."

He tossed the paper down.

The name scrawled in the decrypted header chilled them both.

Ezekiel Voss.

Nora's breath caught. "That's impossible. He's been dead for ten years."

"Or so we thought," Hector muttered.

---

Location: Dominion Uplink Facility, Site 17 – Midnight

The facility rose like a rusted crown from the dense jungle. Vines crawled along its metallic ribs, and the air buzzed with ancient tech and decay.

Damien crouched by a control panel, decrypting the uplink. His blade rested beside him, its edge still stained with Lucien's blood.

Suddenly, the screen glowed with a flickering image.

A face.

One he had seen only once—on a classified Kane family scroll. Cold eyes. A silver ring on the left iris. Scar through the brow.

Ezekiel Voss.

The recording spoke.

> "If you're seeing this, then Lucien is dead. Good. That means you're worthy. But you're too late, Damien Kane. I'm not rebuilding the Dominion… I'm evolving it."

> "And when I return, there won't be kingdoms left to save."

The screen went dark.

Damien stared in silence.

The real war hadn't even begun.