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Five Days Earlier. Eastern Forest, Royal Court of the Scarlet Ant Kingdom (Princess Mia / Thea Kingdom).
The eastern sun had barely crested the obsidian trees when the vast, vaulted chambers of the Scarlet royal court stirred awake. Twin pillars of ironwood framed the main hall, their surfaces etched with generations of triumphs and tragedies. Crimson torches of fireflies burned along every column, feeding slow streams of scented smoke toward a ceiling lost in shadows. Golden banners depicting the crest of the Crown. It was a stylized mandible flanked by twin spears. It hung motionless in the hush.
