While everyone celebrated, Revena slipped into the city's dark alleys.
She wandered the streets, studying every small detail.
Her mind churned feverishly.
She couldn't make sense of it…
What is happening here?
The city looked like countless others she'd seen.
And yet it was anything but ordinary.
There was no chaos here, not like in most shanty towns of drifters and sellswords.
There was no fear, though the people had clearly weathered more than a few battles.
And most of all…
There were High Orcs here.
Not many, but unmistakably present.
Creatures that had always bent the knee only to the strongest were living here under the rule of a boy whose magic was nowhere near the highest tier.
It defied everything she knew.
Revena kept telling herself:
"This simply can't be…"
She had seen the orcs honor Kano, seen them bow their heads to him.
This wasn't some ordinary alliance.
It was something more.
What exactly?
She had to find out.
And when she did…
This world would never be the same.
In his dream, Kano couldn't breathe.
Not because his body was shattered or weak.
Simply…
He couldn't feel himself at all.
Darkness wrapped around him like a thick miasma dragging him into an abyss.
And then—light.
Red.
Like blood congealing in a heart, it throbbed, forcing his own heart to hammer.
He saw it again.
The same amulet.
A vast blood-red stone shaped like a heart hung in the air, as if staring straight at him.
And inside…
Something moved.
Red and black…
Two liquids that never mix, yet ceaselessly coil through one another.
Life and death.
Kano reached out.
His fingers brushed the amulet.
And the world shattered.
Kano suddenly stood in the middle of a city.
It wasn't a city of humans.
Nor a city of demons.
It was a prison stretched across an entire civilization.
Beastfolk.
They were being hunted, thrown into iron cages.
Men in heavy armor, mercenaries, soldiers, even other beastfolk—all of them took part in the atrocity.
Kano saw a young beastfolk girl with fox ears pleading:
—"Please, don't take my sister!"
The answer was a spear driven into her belly.
Blood spattered the stone paving.
The man in the black helmet seized her sister—a small child trembling as she clutched a toy wolf.
—"Good. This one goes to the pleasure house."
—"The others—to the arena."
Kano couldn't move.
His gaze jumped farther.
And there…
Beastfolk already broken into slaves were forced to fight each other.
Civil wars.
They were driven to wage war against their own kind.
Brothers cutting down brothers.
Sisters loosing arrows into their mothers.
Their eyes were not filled with hatred.
They were empty.
As if their souls had been pulled out.
Kano fought to hold his emotions in check.
His hands curled into fists.
He wanted to scream, to stop it.
But he couldn't move.
And then he saw it again.
The amulet.
It hung at the center of this nightmare world.
Its glow was unearthly.
It wasn't just light.
It was the very essence of power.
It didn't merely shine.
It pulsed.
As if it were the heart of this brutal world.
And then Kano heard a voice.
Deep.
Dark.
Ancient.
—"Look."
Kano didn't want to.
But his eyes would not obey.
Another cage swung open.
An old beastfolk stepped out.
His fur was white, his body mapped with countless scars.
His eyes were dull.
—"Fight," ordered the man in the black helmet.
The old one looked back at the children in the cage behind him.
He took up a weapon.
And hurled himself at one of his own.
Kano gritted his teeth.
His heart erupted with fury.
He reached for the amulet again.
—"Stop!"
But the instant his fingers touched the stone…
The world fell apart.
Darkness wrapped him once more.
And the voice said:
—"You are not ready yet."
Kano ground his teeth.
—"Who are you?!"
—"The one who waits."
—"Waiting for what?"
Silence.
And then:
—"For your choice."
The light scattered.
Kano opened his eyes.
He lay on his bed.
His body was heavy.
His head thrummed.
But his fingers…
They still remembered the warmth of that amulet.
Kano felt his consciousness tearing free from some deep abyss. He seemed to be flying through a void where there was no time and no light. At first he couldn't remember who he was, where he was, what had happened. Then—pain.
A sharp, lancing pain that had ripped his body to ruins. The last thing he remembers… What does he remember?
The amulet.
A vision of some strange amulet. It was the next thing he had to find.
Kano opened his eyes.
At first he saw only blurred silhouettes slowly taking shape. The ceiling above him was adorned with intricate carvings—not wood and not stone. It didn't look like dwarven halls, and it didn't look like human castles.
"Where am I?.."
He drew a long breath—and caught a faint scent of iron and smoke. Something familiar… and at the same time foreign.
His body didn't hurt. On the contrary—it felt too light, too restored. He slowly ran a hand over his abdomen where there should have been a wound, but… nothing. No scar, no pain.
Kano rubbed his forehead with his hand and sat up. His fingers brushed a silky fabric—the blanket covering him was so costly it could have been sold for a fortune.
He looked around the room.
"Is this… royal chambers?"
A huge bed draped in exquisite dark fabrics. Walls traced with delicate ornaments he had never seen before. A few figurines on the table—beast heads carved from bone, and… human skulls lined up in a neat row.
His heart skipped.
These weren't dwarven royal chambers. This wasn't a dwarven place at all.
His clothes were torn and shredded, and ash still clung to his skin.
"I need to get out of here."
Kano wrapped himself in the blanket and, his bare feet touching the cold floor, slowly walked to the door.
Darkness lay beyond.
Magical lamps burned along the walls, casting a ghostly blue glow. But the corridor felt… empty.
No one. Not a single guard.
Something was very wrong.
Kano took his first step into the unknown.
Step…
The sound of his bare feet echoed far too loudly in the dark corridor.
He held his breath and glanced back again. Silence.
The corridor was long and unusually wide, with high ceilings as if made for giants. Charms hung on the walls—wrought from bone, skulls, and dried wood. Some bore strange runes that seemed familiar to him, yet filled him with unease.
Kano stopped by one of the charms and touched it with his fingers.
Warm.
It didn't just hang there as decoration. It was magic.
"Where am I?.."
Kano kept moving, pressed to the wall. The corridor led deeper into the building, and the farther he went, the more he understood this place was built for far more than a single person.
Doors everywhere.
But not a sound.
It felt like a deserted ghost-castle, and only the phantom blue flames of the magical lights gave him bearings in the dark.
Suddenly something made him freeze.
Kano caught a scent.
Smoke. Blood. Sweat.
Gooseflesh rippled across his skin. That was the scent of orcs.
Far ahead, at the end of the corridor, loomed massive doors.
They looked old but strong—adorned with forged symbols that resembled totemic signs. Something about those marks was… familiar?
Kano stepped forward.
His hands reached toward the doors.
He held his breath and, fingers tightening on the heavy ring of the handle, pulled them toward him.
Shrrrk…
The heavy wood groaned, and night opened before Kano.
At first he couldn't make sense of it. His eyes, used to the corridor's darkness, slowly began to pick out details.
Fire.
The sky was black yet lit by hundreds of bonfires.
A tent city.
His eyes widened.
The valley before him was crowded with pavilions, massive forges, and magical towers rising in the dark like the teeth of a giant beast.
"This… isn't just a camp. It's a real city."
Kano could hardly believe what he saw.
There were thousands of orcs.
They celebrated, sang, hammered their fists on tables, feasted under the open sky. Some traded friendly blows, laughing and grabbing each other by the collar.
He might have thought it was some military revel. But this wasn't just a celebration.
They lived here.
This wasn't a temporary camp. This was a true orcish city.
His heart pounded.
It was supposed to be nothing more than building a city for the orcs. He'd been told the orcs would claim a section of the land and make a settlement of their own.
But this…
This had already become all their territory.
"How?!"
"How long was I unconscious?!"
Kano drew a deep breath to steady his nerves.
A dull sound cut through his thoughts—the kind of sound he would never forget.
The guard standing by the doors dropped to one knee.
Kano flinched.
Their heads were bowed to him.
The warrior said:
—"The Chieftain has returned!!!!"