They crossed into blood-soaked land by dawn.
What had once been the Verdenthor Vale—lush, ancient jungle—was now a blighted sprawl of red vines, coiling like veins over cracked earth. Crimson mist rolled across the low canopy. Trees bled from their bark. Flowers opened and whispered names no mortal should know.
Lucien pulled his cloak tighter.
"This place smells like copper and rot," Velka said, walking beside him, frost halo flickering faintly in the humid air. "This is where she died?"
"No," Ardana answered from ahead, her voice low. "This is where she became."
Lucien stepped over a root that pulsed faintly beneath his boot.
Thal'Zira, the Blood Empress, had ruled this jungle for ninety years before the gods labeled her a heretic. Her magic wasn't death or life—it was the string between them. The essence of blood. Control. Obsession.
She'd been crucified on a living tree. And the tree had wept blood for ten years after.
🩸 The Crimson Choir
They entered the temple just past midday.
It rose from the jungle like a bleeding heart—built from bone, sinew, and red-stained stone. The walls pulsed faintly. No doors. Just an open throat of an entrance.
"They're still here," Ardana murmured.
"The cult?" Lucien asked.
She nodded.
And then they came.
Figures in red robes—barefoot, skin covered in tattoos shaped like veins. They whispered and danced, some crying, some smiling. Their eyes were gone, replaced by smooth skin stitched with red thread.
The Crimson Choir.
The high priest, draped in crimson cords, stepped forward.
"You wear the Crown," he hissed. "Do you come to awaken the Lady of Strings?"
Lucien nodded. "I need her."
The priest smiled too wide. "Then bleed for her."
⚔️ Trial of the Flesh Strings
Lucien stood in a circle of thorns, stripped to the waist. Around him, five cultists began to chant, pressing ritual daggers to their own skin.
The trial wasn't combat.
It was sacrifice.
"You must surrender your veins," the priest said, "and let her see your heart."
Velka and Ardana both stepped forward—but the priest blocked them. "Only the bearer of the Crown may enter the pool."
Lucien took a breath—and sliced his palm open.
Blood dripped into the stone basin at his feet. The Crown lit. The pool turned from black to red.
And something moved beneath the surface.
🩸 The Awakening of Thal'Zira
She rose slowly, drenched in blood.
Naked. Pale. Glorious.
Her body shimmered with veins of crimson light, glowing like tattoos beneath her skin. Her long hair flowed like ink. Her lips were black. Her eyes opened, revealing irises of pure red.
Lucien fell to one knee, drained.
She stepped toward him, barefoot on the blood-slick stone.
"So," she whispered, her voice silken. "You want a queen. Or a puppet?"
Lucien met her gaze, sweat on his brow.
"I want an empire."
She grinned. "And what will you give me, little necromancer?"
He stood, shaky but defiant. "Freedom. Purpose. Revenge."
Thal'Zira walked a slow circle around him, trailing one long nail along his collarbone. "Your blood sings. Loud and hungry."
He said nothing.
"Fine," she purred. "I accept."
She turned—facing the choir—and snapped her fingers.
All the cultists' veins exploded outward in ribbons of blood.
Their bodies collapsed.
Thal'Zira turned back to Lucien. "They were a bore. I want new toys."
Ardana blinked. "She's… worse than I remember."
Velka stared in cool silence.
Lucien swallowed. "Then let's bind it."
🩸 The Soul Oath of Blood
Blood and magic wrapped around their hands as Lucien and Thal'Zira touched.
Her voice echoed with unnatural harmony as she spoke the oath:
"I am thread, and you are the needle. Sew me into your soul, and I will stain the world crimson for you."
Lucien responded, the Crown burning:
"I bind you, Blood Empress. Thal'Zira the Unstrung. Let the veins of the world answer to our will."
The ritual completed.
She gasped—and laughed.
The third queen was his.
But at what cost?
⚠️ Harem Tension: Sparks and Fractures
That night, as they camped at the edge of the jungle, Lucien sat alone—until Ardana approached him.
"You keep collecting chaos," she said.
"She's powerful," he said.
"She's unstable," Ardana snapped. "She killed her own cult, Lucien."
Velka arrived moments later, her presence cool and unreadable. "She also saw your blood and didn't flinch. That matters."
"She sees too much," Ardana muttered.
"And you feel too much," Velka shot back.
Ardana rounded on her. "Say that again, ice witch."
"Enough," Lucien growled.
The two empresses glared at each other, but backed down.
In the trees behind them, Thal'Zira watched… and smiled.
👁️ Meanwhile: The Empress of Blades Hunts
Far from the jungle, in a city choked by fog and war, the Empress of Blades stood atop a corpse-ridden tower, sharpening her swords.
She watched the stars shift.
"They're waking," she whispered.
And then she smiled.
"I can't wait to kill them again."
🖋️ End of Chapter 4
📣 CTA (Call-to-Action)
Thal'Zira, the Blood Empress, joins the Undying Court—but her games have just begun.
With three queens bound, Lucien's empire begins to take shape… but his soul begins to fracture.
💀 Drop a comment:
Which Empress do you trust the least… and why?
✅ Next Chapter: "Steel in Her Smile"
Lucien travels to the warlands to awaken the Empress of Blades—a merciless assassin-queen who may not want to be saved.
Expect: deadly duels, betrayal, and a kiss with a knife behind it.
Also: tensions erupt between Ardana and Thal'Zira.