The fortress hummed.
Light rippled across its reborn walls, cold and divine. What had once been a forgotten ruin now stood like the skeleton of a god, alive under Elias's command. He stepped through the great hall — vast and empty, echoing with the whispers of digital ghosts.
The system's voice murmured through the marble.
[TERRITORY CORE: ARDENVALE FRAGMENT]
[STATUS: RESTORED]
[OWNER: ELIAS WARD — LEGACY CLAIMANT]
[GUILD RANK: UNDEFINED]
[DOMINION LEVEL: 1]
Veyra materialized beside him in a soft shimmer of gold. Her presence filled the silence like music.
[Your command has reshaped an abandoned node. Most players cannot even perceive these fragments, much less bind them.]
"Because most players follow the rules," Elias said, running a hand along the crystalline throne that had begun to rise from the floor. "And I don't."
[You are rewriting them.]
Elias sat, and the world responded. Data streams converged toward him, spiraling like ribbons of light, embedding themselves into his neural feed.
[Dominion Path Initialized.]
[Welcome to the Throne Interface.]
[Options: Construct | Summon | Govern | Observe]
He selected Observe.
The hall vanished into a panoramic field of holographic projections — cities, trade routes, strongholds, and data traces of hundreds of thousands of players. Every major guild appeared as pulsating sigils of color and code.
"Ardenvale, Mythra, Velyra, Thandor, Eclipsera…" he murmured, each name a continent, each glowing symbol a rival. "Civilizations run by corporations. AI-guided economies. Puppet kings."
Veyra's eyes shimmered.
[And you, my lord, stand outside their design. The Legacy Code is not bound by the Five Thrones' laws.]
[They will notice soon enough.]
Elias smiled faintly. "Let them. I want them to."
He opened the Construct menu. Within seconds, he was reshaping the fortress — stone turning into steel, corridors bending under his command. A sigil appeared over the main gate, glowing with crimson and gold:
[HOUSE DOMINION ESTABLISHED]
[TERRITORY CLASS: F]
[INFLUENCE: 1]
[RECOGNITION: 0]
[ACTIVE MEMBERS: 1]
The words Active Members: 1 flickered for a moment — then, another spark appeared.
Someone had entered his domain.
[Intrusion detected.]
[Player: Unregistered Entity — Class: Scout (Bronze)]
[Approach vector: West Gate.]
Veyra turned toward the holographic display.
[A test, perhaps.]
"Or a messenger," Elias said. "Either way, it's my first opportunity."
The world shifted again as he rose from the throne. His footsteps echoed with authority that hadn't existed minutes ago.
He glanced toward Veyra — her gaze steady, a faint smile playing at her lips.
[You sound… alive again.]
He paused at the gate, the wind howling beyond. "Alive? No, Veyra. I'm becoming what they feared I'd become."
[And what is that?]
"The one they can't control."