"You can prepare for war. You can train. You can plan. But nothing prepares you for fire when it has no master."
—Choir Scribe Orlen, Siege Records, Day Three
Location: Inner Bastion Defense Line – Midnight, Day Two of the Siege
The air was poison.
Smoke filled every breath. The stench of burning oil, rotting meat, and glyph-charred bone blanketed Stormwatch like a cursed fog. Atop the narrow wall of the Inner Bastion, Jag stood unmoving—his clothes singed, his blade chipped, his skin blistered across his jawline where a fire spirit had kissed him and nearly burned off half his helm.
His lips were cracked. His eyes, red with exhaustion, stared down at a maelstrom of chaos below.
And still… the drums beat.
BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.
Like the heartbeat of the world slowly dying.
The siege was now on its third day without pause.
No sun. No moon. Just fire.
Scene: Strategic Overview – Inner Bastion Now a Maze
Stormwatch was no longer a fortress.
It was a labyrinth of slaughter.
Following Jag's earlier commands, the entire city's streets were transformed overnight into a winding maze of kill zones, spike alleys, fuel trenches, and rotating glyph traps—mapped only in the minds of key generals and encoded into runes known as Blood Maps.
"We don't just hold," Jag had said.
"We make them fear every step they take."
And it worked—for a while.
Orcs entering the city found no straight paths. Only dead ends, falling stones, and traps that sliced them from ankle to eye.
But fear, as Jag would soon learn, cuts both ways.
Scene: The People Break
Inside the keep's lower tunnels, hundreds of civilians—once firm in morale—began to fracture.
Children sobbed through dust-caked bandages.
A former baker vomited repeatedly after seeing his son's headless body carried past him.
Whispers spread.
"We'll burn before the orcs even reach us."
"We're just food for fire now…"
One man attempted to escape through a broken tunnel—only to be dragged back, kicking and screaming.
Commander Rain confronted Jag inside the candle-lit command room.
Her armor was cracked. A piece of orc claw embedded in her thigh.
"We need a morale push," she said bluntly.
"If they think the fires are the end, we've already lost."
Jag nodded, but his voice was flat.
"Bring the Choir. Tell them to ready the bell."
Scene: The Bell of Stormwatch Rings
The Bell of Stormwatch, a relic forged during the Old Kingdom's founding, hadn't rung since the last Demon Siege—more than two centuries ago.
Forged of mythmetal and engraved with the names of Stormwatch's original 108 defenders, its sound was said to awaken the courage of even the dead.
Jag climbed the stairs himself, supported by Ashra and a young squire named Cael.
At the top of the bell tower, black smoke swirled.
Jag turned to the boy.
"If I fall, you ring it."
The boy nodded. "I won't let you."
Jag stepped forward and struck the bell.
DOOOOOOM.
It rang across the valley. A sound deeper than thunder. Sharper than sorrow.
Civilians paused.
Soldiers wept.
And in the orc camp below, General Kravaa flinched for the first time.
Scene: Enemy Retaliation – Flame-Flood Assault
Enraged by the bell, Kravaa the Flame-Mother unleashed a new tactic:
A deluge of fire, channeled through ancient volcanic glyphs buried beneath Stormwatch's southern flank.
Lava erupted in thick streams. Fire spirits screamed through cracks in the cobblestone, setting entire storehouses and infirmaries ablaze.
Jag sprinted through the inner courtyard, calling mages and engineers to redirect the fire-breaks. They pulled glyph ropes, rotated crystal pylons, and prayed to anything listening.
But fire listens to no one.
Jag turned to Ashra. "Activate the Gutter Gates."
"They haven't been tested—"
"Neither have we."
The Gutter Gates, ancient metal floodgates below the city, were opened.
Dozens of alchemical coolant tanks poured into the sewers.
Smoke turned to steam.
Flame turned to fog.
And in the chaos, hundreds of civilians escaped burning buildings, coughing and alive.
Scene: Rukk's Bone-Reavers Invade the Eastern Hold
At the same time, General Rukk unleashed his personal elite—the Bone-Reavers—skeletal warriors made from human bones, fused with glyph-iron and blackblood resin.
They crashed into the Eastern Hold, where Rain was still recovering.
She limped into battle, spear in hand, no time for healing.
A young choir mage shouted: "They're using the bones of our dead!"
Rain roared, "Then we break them again!"
The Bone-Reavers moved with eerie grace—no screams, no fear, only function.
Rain pivoted past the first spear, swept her own upward, and decapitated a fused corpse wearing the sigil of a fallen comrade.
She hesitated—just a moment.
The Bone-Reaver's hand reached up, clutched her face.
Then Ashra arrived, glaive spinning.
"You freeze. You die."
Together, they fought like rhythm and counter-rhythm. Two flames dancing in blood.
Scene: Jag's Decision – The Baited Corridor
Jag, studying the Blood Map, made a grim choice.
A corridor—Line Theta—was a narrow path leading deep into the core of Stormwatch. Lined with collapsed buildings and half-dead soldiers, it looked like a gap.
It wasn't.
It was a death trap.
"Send a false retreat," Jag ordered.
"Draw them in."
Rain stared. "There are civilians still sheltering near Theta."
"I know."
Ashra's voice dropped cold. "Jag…"
"I'll evacuate them myself."
Scene: Evacuation and Ambush
Jag ran through fire-slick alleys, calling to the civilians:
"Get up! Follow me now! MOVE!"
Children, elders, bleeding refugees rose at his command.
They followed his voice, his presence.
Behind them, dozens of orcs entered Line Theta, laughing at their "easy prey."
But as the last civilian crossed the checkpoint—
Glyphlocks snapped.
Iron seals slammed shut.
And alchemical bombs lined in the stones detonated.
The corridor became a crematorium.
Silence followed.
Jag stood, bloodied and burned, carrying a boy on his back.
Scene: Final Exchange – Rain and Jag
Later that night, as the fires dimmed slightly, Rain found Jag alone in the western tower.
She sat beside him.
"You saved over a hundred."
He nodded.
"And killed at least fifty."
Rain looked at him.
"They'll remember the saves."
"You'll remember the cost."
Jag didn't speak.
She added, voice softer:
"You're not the prince they wanted, Jag."
"You're the one they need now."