The gates of Coldwind stood silent, its streets a ghostly emptiness.
Most had fled days before, leaving only the poor and desperate clinging to shadows within the walls.
Above the barren cityscape, Fang Yuan descended slowly from the sky, hands clasped calmly behind his back.
The dawn sun bled slowly over the horizon, casting Coldwind City in shades of gold and ash. Its streets were eerily silent, a ghost city where most had already fled.
Only the desperate remained, those with nowhere else to go watching from shuttered windows as tension coiled at the gates.
High above the wall, Fang Yuan descended with hands clasped neatly behind his back.
His presence alone pressed against the army below, like a storm waiting to break.
His voice cut through the night air, cold and measured.
"Turn back here, and I will spare all of your lives."
At the head of the royal host, clad in regal armor, stood Crown Prince Qin Hai.
