The Crown Names Its Enemy - Chapter 4
The trek back to Ebonreach was silent, but not with peace — with tension.
Every shadow seemed thicker. Every breath tasted of static, as though the air itself was bracing for something. The trees watched them, and the fog slithered behind like a curious predator.
Seren kept stealing glances at Lorian.
She'd seen him perform unbelievable feats, but what happened in the Ashen Wood was… different.
Not practiced illusion.Not prepared theatrics.Not even skill.
Something else.Something deeper.Something ancient.
Lorian walked calmly, hands behind his back, analyzing the night as if he were reading a book.
"Seren," he said finally.
"Yes, Master?"
"You've been quiet."
She swallowed. "Master, earlier… when the envoy attacked… your shadow moved."
"Did it?" he asked, as if hearing it for the first time.
"Yes," Seren whispered. "It protected you."
Lorian hummed. "Convenient."
Seren stared at him, unable to understand how someone could respond to impossible, otherworldly power with the same tone used for discussing weather.
But that was Lorian.That was the Umbral Sovereign.
He didn't follow rules.
He rewrote them.
Obsidian Hall — The Gathering
The Duskwalkers were already assembled when Lorian and Seren returned. Their masks turned sharply toward him, each sensing the shift in the air around the Sovereign.
Duskwalker Three stepped forward. "Master, we felt… a surge. Darkness pulsed across the city nine minutes ago."
"Ah," Lorian said, removing his coat. "That was me."
The room went still.
Duskwalker Five raised a shaky hand. "M-Master Sovereign, respectfully… how?"
Lorian sat on the obsidian seat at the center, crossing one leg over the other.
"The Crown decided to test me," he said. "I returned the favor."
Gasps whispered through the chamber like startled birds.
Seren stepped beside him. "A Crown envoy confronted him. It bowed first… then attacked."
Duskwalker Two nearly dropped their dagger. "It bowed? A being of the Crown bowed?"
"Yes," Seren said. "And Master Sovereign destroyed it."
That caused outright shock.
Duskwalker Six fell to one knee. "Master, this means you are now recognized as an enemy of the Crown."
Lorian's cloak rippled.
"Good," he said. "It will make the plot more compelling."
The Midnight Echo Stirs
Suddenly, the relic on the table—the Heartshard Sigil—shook violently.
Cracks of light etched themselves across its surface.
Duskwalker Four gasped. "Master, the Sigil is—"
A massive pulse of violet energy burst outward.
The candles blew out.The walls trembled.Every shadow in the room recoiled as if sucked inward.
Seren grabbed Lorian's shoulder. "Master—!"
The Sigil floated above the table, spinning rapidly, releasing waves of ancient power that rattled the stone.
Lorian stood, cloak swirling around him.
"So you awaken at last," he said.
The Sigil cracked open.
Inside it was not a gem — not a heart — but a fragment of pure shadow, shaped like a shard of living night.
Duskwalker Two knelt instinctively. "This is… impossible."
Seren whispered, "Master… it's the Echo."
The shard pulsed like a heartbeat.
BOOM.
A blast of black light filled the chamber.
And then a voice, layered and distant, echoed through the hall:
"THE CROWN HAS CHOSEN ITS ENEMY."
Candles relit one by one.
The shard floated down into Lorian's hand, humming with power.
Seren stared. "Master… it bonded to you."
"Yes," Lorian said. "It seems the story has decided to escalate."
The Crown Responds
The ground trembled again — but this time, not from the Sigil.
Above them, faint but unmistakable, a bell tolled.
Not a church bell.Not a city bell.
A void bell.
Duskwalker Five collapsed to their knees. "No… no… that sound… Master, that's the toll of the Crown's Judgment!"
Duskwalker Three trembled. "A Death Herald is coming. An elite envoy. Stronger than the one you defeated."
Seren's eyes widened. "Master, we must prepare the entire Hall. Barriers—defenses—everything."
Lorian lifted a hand.
"No."
The Duskwalkers froze.
Lorian stood slowly, shadow rippling behind him like living smoke.
"We will not cower behind walls."
Seren stepped forward, voice urgent. "Master—!"
"We confront it," Lorian said. "Directly."
The room felt colder.
Duskwalker Six swallowed. "Master Sovereign… this being will be stronger than the last one. Its entire purpose is to eliminate threats to the Crown."
"Then it should find its task… educational," Lorian replied.
Seren stared at him with awe and fear."You're not afraid at all, are you?"
Fear?Fear was for mortals.
The Umbral Sovereign dealt only in theatrics.
"I do not fear opponents," he said softly. "I welcome them."
Ebonreach Rooftops — The Judgment Bell
Lorian and Seren stood atop the tallest tower, the night wind cutting through the air like glass. The Duskwalkers surrounded the base of the tower, forming a protective perimeter.
Fog rolled across the rooftops.Shadows twisted unnaturally.And the void bell tolled again.
BOOM.BOOM.BOOM.
Then the air tore open.
A vertical gash ripped across the sky, leaking ink-black tendrils. Violet lightning arced through the tear.
Seren whispered, "It's here."
A figure emerged, descending slowly like a fallen star.
Tall.Armored.Crowned with jagged horns.But different from the last envoy — sharper, more defined, radiating malice.
Its cloak writhed like flayed souls.Its eyes blazed with cold silver fire.
It landed before Lorian, cracking the rooftop stone.
The being knelt.
Even Seren gasped.
Then it spoke:
"Umbral Sovereign.By decree of the Obsidian Crown…you are condemned."
Lorian folded his arms.
"Excellent. Condemnation is the first step toward relevance."
The envoy rose. "You have altered the fate-script. The Crown did not write your existence. Therefore… it will erase you."
Lorian tilted his head."An ambitious goal."
The envoy drew a massive blade of pure darkness, taller than a man.
Seren stepped forward. "You will not touch him."
The envoy ignored her.
"The Crown offers one last mercy," it growled. "Submit. Kneel. Surrender the Echo Shard."
Lorian raised the Shard, letting it pulse in his palm.
"Unfortunately," he said, "I do not kneel."
The creature's aura exploded outward, shattering stone and sending waves of shadow spiraling in every direction.
Seren staggered back.The Duskwalkers at the tower base braced themselves.
The envoy pointed its blade.
"So be it."
The Sovereign's Ascension
The envoy lunged, moving faster than sound — black lightning tearing across the rooftop.
Seren screamed, "Master!"
The blade struck—
But Lorian didn't move.
His shadow moved for him.
A towering wall of darkness surged upward, blocking the strike with a resounding BOOM. Lightning split. The rooftop trembled.
The envoy recoiled. "What—?!"
Lorian walked forward through the swirling smoke.
"My turn."
He flicked his fingers.
The shadow wall shattered into a hundred tendrils, each one striking the envoy like a whip of pure night.
The Crown's Herald staggered.
"You wield forbidden power!" it roared.
"Forbidden?" Lorian asked, amused. "Perfect."
The Herald summoned a dome of silver fire, disintegrating the tendrils.
Then it launched forward again.
Lorian stepped aside, cloak trailing gracefully — and the Herald's blade passed through nothing but illusion.
It spun around.Too slow.
Lorian appeared behind it, hand raised.
"Down."
A wave of crushing shadow slammed the Herald to its knees, cracking the stone beneath.
Seren stared, breathless.He wasn't fighting.
He was commanding the battlefield.
The envoy rose trembling. "Impossible… your power—"
"—is inconvenient for you," Lorian finished.
The Herald roared and unleashed its full aura — a swirling tornado of shadow-fire that swallowed the rooftop.
The Duskwalkers cried out below.Seren shielded her face.The storm raged—
And Lorian walked through it untouched.
The shadows bent away from him.The fire dimmed near him.The storm parted like curtains on a stage.
He approached the Herald.
"You threatened my story," Lorian said quietly. "And more importantly—"
His shadow rose behind him like a colossal titan, eyes glowing violet.
"—you interrupted my dramatic pacing."
The Herald tried to flee.
Too late.
Lorian crushed his hand into a fist.
His shadow titan mirrored the motion.
The shadow titan's fist struck the Herald with catastrophic force — shattering it into particles of dark dust.
The void crackled.The dust disintegrated.The Crown's Herald was gone.
Silence fell.
Seren dropped to her knees, overwhelmed.The Duskwalkers stared from the tower base.
Lorian lowered his hand.
"Annoying," he said calmly. "But educational."
The Crown's Acknowledgment
The sky tore open again.
A massive eye — vast, swirling, crowned with jagged obsidian — opened within the rift.
Seren froze in terror.
Duskwalker Three whispered, "The Crown itself…"
The eye stared at Lorian.
Unblinking.Ancient.Enraged.
Then a voice thundered across the city:
"UMBRAL SOVEREIGN.YOU HAVE BEEN NAMED."
Lorian smiled beneath his hood.
Finally.
A proper antagonist.
The Crown continued:
"YOU ARE NO LONGER AN ERROR.""YOU ARE NOW OUR ENEMY."
The eye vanished.The rift closed.Darkness fell still.
Seren rose slowly. "Master… what have you done?"
Lorian turned to her.
"Exactly what the story required."
He looked at the fading sky.
"And now the Crown knows me."
He turned away, cloak sweeping behind him like a curtain closing on a stage.
"Let us begin the next act."
End of Chapter 4
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