The dawn light glistened across the surface of the Swamp Kingdom, refracted through mist that now shimmered with faint golden hues. Birds chirped unnaturally—a sign the territory's ambient mana was reacting to something powerful returning.
At the peak of the Nexus Citadel, the sky rift split in half.
A rift gate, designed by the system itself, tore open in pure silence.
Then, from its radiant core, Ashen descended.
Not teleported.
Not summoned.
He walked.
Jaecar, standing watch on the obsidian ramparts, dropped to one knee instinctively. Behind him, hundreds of soldiers and elite swampborne NPCs did the same. Even the monsters, tamed or otherwise, growled low in respectful silence.
Heqet's voice cracked slightly through the communication crystal.
"Confirmed. High Lord Ashen has returned from the Mythcrafter's Sanctuary."
Ashen's appearance had changed.
