The morning mist clung to Hallowford like a veil, but unease hung heavier still. The villagers repaired the walls, buried their dead, and spoke in hushed tones about the outsider who had turned the tide. Elder felt their stares everywhere he went—half reverence, half fear.
He needed air. He needed answers.
At Mara's urging, he joined a scouting party traveling beyond the village. "You've proven yourself," she said, tightening the straps of her armor. "But you've only seen beasts and raiders. The world outside Hallowford is far crueler. Best you learn that now."
The road stretched through rolling hills, scarred by old battles. Blackened soil, broken weapons half-buried in the dirt, and the bones of the forgotten. Elder walked in silence, his hand brushing the haft of his new spear.
"Whose war was this?" he asked finally.
Mara's face hardened. "Whose? Everyone's. The frontier is contested ground. The Crimson Dominion to the east, the High Empire to the west… both claim these lands. Neither protects them. Villages like Hallowford are left to fend for themselves."
Her words chilled him. He thought of Earth, of wars he'd only read about. Here, conflict wasn't distant—it was etched into every stone and every grave.
The Covenant whispered:
[Conflict feeds destiny. War is the crucible where vessels are forged.]
By midday, they reached a ridge overlooking a vast plain. Elder's breath caught.
Below lay a battlefield, fresh and raw. Hundreds of corpses sprawled across churned mud. Broken banners fluttered weakly in the wind—red with a dragon emblem, blue with a golden sun.
The crows had already gathered. The air reeked of iron and rot.
Elder's stomach tightened. "So many… wasted."
Mara's jaw clenched. "This is what the empires bring. They fight for thrones while villages like ours starve."
As they descended to investigate, Elder felt the Covenant stir violently. The corpses glowed faintly to his eyes, as though some lingering essence clung to them.
[New Quest: Witness the Shadows of War.]
[Objective: Claim the remnants of fallen will.]
He staggered, clutching his chest. A stream of ghostly whispers filled his ears, voices of the dead crying out in rage, despair, and hunger.
"Elder?" Mara's hand steadied him. "What is it?"
"Nothing," he lied quickly, though sweat poured down his brow.
They picked through the battlefield cautiously. Mara's men searched for survivors, but found only broken bodies. Yet Elder felt something pulling him—toward a fallen knight clad in crimson armor.
The knight's chest was split open, but his hand still gripped a sword etched with runes. As Elder drew near, the Covenant surged.
[Memory Fragment Detected.]
[Absorb fragment? Y/N]
Before he could think, his hand touched the hilt. A flood of visions tore through him—
Flames. A burning city. A crimson banner unfurled above a throne of skulls. The knight kneeling before a warlord, swearing blood oath. Then his final moments, struck down in mud and fire.
Elder tore his hand back, gasping. The sword lay silent once more, but the knowledge remained inside him.
[Fragment absorbed. New Path Unlocked: Dominion.]
A cold shiver coursed through him. Dominion. The power to command, to bend wills as the knight once bent his.
But was it power… or corruption?
Sudden shouts broke his thoughts. Mara's scouts rushed toward them, blades drawn.
"Movement!" one cried. "Survivors—no, not survivors, scavengers!"
From the edges of the battlefield, figures emerged. Not villagers, not soldiers, but carrion men draped in chains and rags. Their eyes gleamed with feral hunger. Bandits who preyed on the dead.
Mara cursed. "Grave-scavengers. They strip corpses for coin and butcher the wounded. Hold your ground!"
The scavengers charged, howling like wolves.
Elder's grip tightened on his spear. The Covenant's voice was merciless.
[Kill, Vessel. Claim their strength. Feed the Seed.]
The battle erupted. Steel clashed, blood sprayed, the crows scattered into the sky. Elder moved with deadly precision, his strikes fueled by the Covenant's cold guidance. Every life he took sent another whisper into his mind.
One scavenger lunged with a rusted dagger. Elder caught his wrist, twisted, and drove his spear through the man's chest. Another leapt from behind; Elder spun, the spear's shaft cracking across his skull.
[Enemies slain: +3. Resilience increased (Blood Oath).]
But as the last scavenger fell, Elder realized his hands were drenched not only in blood… but in shadow. The Dominion branch pulsed faintly in his mind, tempting him with its dark promise.
Mara's voice broke the silence. "Elder…" She stared at him, eyes narrowed. "What are you becoming?"
He had no answer. Only the Covenant's whisper remained.
"War shapes all. And in shadows of war, you shall find your true self—or lose it."
Elder looked out across the battlefield of the dead, the wind carrying the stench of endless conflict. He knew then: Hallowford was only the beginning. The world itself was at war, and he was already entangled in its bloody web.