They came at dawn.
Not marching oozing. A tide of darkness that rolled across the Rust Sea's barren plains, swallowing everything in its path. Demons with too many limbs. Soul drained puppets with empty eyes. And at the center of the tide, a figure wrapped in chains of shadow, dragging a coffin behind it.
The Hollow King's first general.
Lee stood on the fortress walls, watching the darkness approach. Beside him stood his friends, the emissaries, and every able bodied fighter the Great Nations could spare.
"How many?" Kira asked, her voice steady despite the terror in her eyes.
"Too many to count," Ren said. "But that's not the problem."
"What's the problem?"
Ren pointed at the figure in chains. "That."
The figure stopped a mile from the fortress walls. It raised one hand a hand made of bone and shadow, fingers too long, joints too many and the tide of darkness halted.
"I am Malachar," the figure announced. Its voice was the grinding of tectonic plates, the collapse of mountains. "First Blade of the Hollow King. I have come to offer terms."
Lee stepped forward, onto the parapet, visible to all. "What terms?"
Malachar's face if it could be called a face twisted into something like a smile. "Surrender the Light Bringer and the Shadow Weaver. Deliver them to my master. In exchange, the rest of you may live. Your cities will be spared. Your children will grow old. Your world will continue to turn."
"And if we refuse?"
Malachar's smile widened. "Then I will kill everyone you love. I will burn your cities to ash. I will salt the earth so that nothing grows for a thousand years. And then then I will take the Light Bringer and the Shadow Weaver anyway."
Lee looked at Inyocha. Inyocha looked at Lee.
"What do you think?" Lee asked.
"I think," Inyocha said slowly, "that he's lying. The Hollow King doesn't make deals. He takes what he wants. If we surrender, he'll kill us all anyway."
"That's what I thought too."
Lee turned back to Malachar.
"No," he said.
Malachar's smile vanished. "No?"
"No. We won't surrender. We won't give you anything. If you want us, come and get us."
The darkness roared.
And the siege began.