Two years had passed since the fall of the Empire.
Two years since the Battle of Solmere.
Two years since the world changed forever.
And somehow—
Against all odds—
Peace had actually worked.
The former Empire no longer called itself the Empire.
That name had been abandoned quietly at first, then officially removed entirely after Alexandria formally joined the United Kingdoms.
The banners changed.
The laws changed.
The people changed.
And perhaps most importantly—
Hope changed things.
The transformation of Alexandria stunned even the harshest skeptics.
The city that once symbolized oppression had become the second great hub of the United Kingdoms, rivaled only by Solmere itself.
Massive portal gates now connected Alexandria to dozens of major cities.
Trade exploded.
Tourism flourished.
Beastkin, humans, elves, fairies, dwarves, demonkin, and races previously hunted or segregated now walked the same streets openly.
Not perfectly.
There were still arguments.
Still tensions.
Still old hatred lingering in corners.
But it was getting better.
And that mattered.
Slave Guild operations were nearly extinct across the continent.
Chaos God worship had been driven underground.
Education systems had spread throughout the United Kingdoms.
Hospitals.
Universities.
Public sanitation.
Modernized roads.
Communication networks.
Trade systems.
Jax Darquebane had dragged an entire continent forward kicking and screaming into a new age.
And somehow—
People loved him for it.
Statues of Jax and the Vixens existed in nearly every major city now.
Much to his annoyance.
Some were elegant.
Some heroic.
Some absurdly inaccurate.
One statue in Alexandria somehow portrayed Jax with a jawline sharp enough to cut steel and shoulders broader than a carriage.
Bunny had laughed for almost twenty straight minutes when she saw it.
Nyxian thought it was "acceptable."
Llandra claimed it captured his "heroic essence."
Jax thought it looked like someone fused him with a mountain.
Coins were even worse.
Every kingdom minted currency with different interpretations of his face.
Some looked handsome.
Some looked terrifying.
One Fairy Kingdom coin accidentally made him look bald.
That particular mint mysteriously "closed for renovations" shortly afterward.
The United Kingdoms themselves had evolved.
Originally little more than an alliance of desperate nations, the U.K. had slowly transformed into something real.
Not one kingdom.
Not one ruler.
But a coalition.
Independent rulers still governed their own lands, but now under shared agreements, protections, trade laws, and defense systems.
A united continent.
Exactly what Jax had hoped for.
Even if he refused to call himself its king.
That did not stop everyone else.
Especially the fairies.
Technically, Jax was still considered the King of the Fairy Kingdom through marriage and political adoption.
In practice, he almost never ruled directly.
Instead, he appointed trusted magistrates and advisors to oversee operations while he focused on expansion, infrastructure, and what he called "future proofing."
The fairies simply interpreted every suggestion he made as divine law anyway.
At this point, resistance was pointless.
Solmere had transformed beyond recognition.
The muddy little town Jax first arrived in no longer existed.
Stone roads had become fully paved streets.
Sanitation systems kept the city clean.
Magical lighting lined the roads at night.
Music stones played softly in public plazas.
Restaurants from dozens of cultures filled the streets.
Parks and fountains spread throughout the districts.
Schools taught engineering, magic theory, economics, and history.
Some citizens jokingly called Solmere "The City of Tomorrow."
Others simply called it home.
Alexandria followed closely behind in development.
Kensington, capital of the Elven Kingdom, became the third major modernization center after reluctantly adopting many of Jax's ideas once they realized how profitable they were.
Even the frozen northern region of Frostveil had transformed.
What had once been an isolated survival town buried beneath snow had become one of the wealthiest tourist locations on the continent.
Jax had introduced skiing.
At first, the locals thought he was insane.
Then Bunny accidentally launched herself down a mountain at terrifying speeds while laughing hysterically.
Tourists followed shortly afterward.
Now Frostveil hosted winter festivals, snow competitions, luxury inns, heated bathhouses, and enough tourists to make local merchants rich beyond imagination.
But perhaps the greatest transformation of all lay south of Frostveil.
The wasteland.
The barren desert the Vixens once crossed during their early adventures.
Jax had planted the World Tree Seed there.
At first, many thought nothing would happen.
Then the ground changed.
Water surfaced.
Grass spread.
Trees erupted across the landscape.
Entire lakes formed where there had once only been cracked earth.
New fruits, vegetables, herbs, and magical plants appeared almost overnight.
The land became fertile.
Alive.
Beautiful.
And in the center of that miracle, a new city was born.
Vixena.
Named by Jax after the women who changed his life.
The city quickly became one of the most luxurious vacation destinations in the United Kingdoms.
Jax even built a private vacation home there for the Vixens.
Naturally, it included a portal gate.
Naturally, Nyxian was caught walking around topless, creating the first rules about nudity, even before other laws were established.
Naturally, Bunny destroyed part of the dock within the first week.
Life for the Vixens themselves had settled into something dangerously close to happiness.
Which somehow made Jax more restless than ever.
The Vixens noticed it.
All of them did.
He still smiled.
Still joked.
Still spent time with them.
Still participated enthusiastically in their nightly "iPoint farming."
As Bunny once loudly declared:
"If at least one Vixen can still walk, then training continues!"
Those words had somehow become unofficial household law.
But even during peaceful moments—
Jax's eyes drifted elsewhere.
Toward books.
Toward maps.
Toward history.
Toward the ocean.
Late at night, the Vixens often found him reading alone. He was a regular at the Library of Alexandria, even allowed to check out the oldest and most valuable of books in it's libraries.
Histories of forgotten kingdoms.
Accounts of the Dark Continent.
Ancient records involving the first Summoned Hero.
Alex Lightbringer.
The legendary figure who had once crossed oceans no modern civilization dared approach.
A man whose name still survived in fragments of myth.
Jax read everything he could about him.
The Vixens noticed the pattern immediately.
He was searching for something.
Or perhaps preparing for something.
One evening, Nyxian found him reading alone on the balcony of their home.
The moonlight illuminated stacks of books surrounding him.
Maps covered the table.
Notes scribbled in margins.
Trade routes.
Ancient kingdoms.
Monster sightings.
Dark Continent legends.
Nyxian wrapped her arms around his shoulders from behind.
"You're thinking again."
Jax smiled faintly.
"Dangerous habit, I know."
"You get impatient when you're planning something."
He leaned back slightly into her embrace.
"The world got bigger."
Nyxian looked toward the horizon.
Far beyond the ocean.
Beyond the known lands.
Beyond the safety of the United Kingdoms.
The Dark Continent waited there.
Untamed.
Mysterious.
Ancient.
And somehow—
Calling to him.
Nyxian sighed dramatically.
"You know… most husbands would be satisfied after conquering one continent."
Jax chuckled.
"Yeah, but that sounds boring."
Nyxian smiled despite herself.
That was the problem with Jax Darquebane.
No matter how much he accomplished—
No matter how impossible the dream—
He always looked toward the next horizon.
And somehow…
The Vixens always loved to follow him there.