CHAPTER 15: THE ACCELERATED SCRIPT
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The sight of Stonecrest from the air should have been a comfort. The new western wall was already half its intended height, the grey alchemical concrete a stark, modern line against the older, rougher stone. The field inside the walls was a vibrant, impossible green. But the System's warning echoed in my mind, poisoning the view.
The Chosen One's path is accelerating.
Draco was no longer a distant problem for the future. He was a present and gathering storm.
Nyx landed softly in the courtyard, and I was immediately surrounded by my council. My father's face was etched with concern, Cassian's with restless energy, and Luna's with quiet observation.
"Well?" Cassian demanded, his hand never far from his sword. "Do we march on Riverbend?"
"There will be no marching," I said, dismounting. "There is a truce. In three weeks, she sends her stewards to verify our 'claims.'"
My father let out a breath I hadn't realized he was holding. "A truce? You secured a truce? How?"
"I convinced her that we are more valuable as a strange ally than a costly enemy." I didn't mention the hovering dragon, though the implication hung in the air. "But we have a bigger problem. The world is moving faster than we anticipated."
I led them into the great hall, which was slowly transforming back from a hospital into a command center. I decided on a version of the truth. "My... sources... indicate that the one the demons call 'Chosen One' is gaining power at an alarming rate. He has the backing of the Church of the Sacred Flame and is heading to the Royal Academy. His rise will draw the demon's greater focus, and we are in the path of that storm."
Cassian's eyes lit with a warrior's gleam. "A true enemy. A champion. Let him come."
"He is not our champion, you fool," my father snapped, his fear making him sharp. "He is a lightning rod that will attract a hurricane! If the stories are true, his battles will lay waste to kingdoms as mere collateral damage!"
"Father is right," I said, cutting off Cassian's retort. "We are not his allies. We are set dressing in his story, meant to be swept aside. Our only hope is to become too solid, too real, to be swept."
I accessed the Kingdom Management interface. The three week deadline until Katarina's inspection was a brutal deadline. We needed to look not just functional, but formidable.
[Construction Queue:]
[New Western Curtain Wall: 42% Complete. Estimated Time: 4 Days.]
[Agriculture: Winter Wheat - 32% Complete. Estimated Harvest: 12 Days.]
We were ahead of schedule, but it wasn't enough. We needed to project an image of unassailable, nascent power.
I had 800 Plot Points. It was time for another calculated leap.
[System, filter the Bazaar for 'Aesthetics & Infrastructure.' Low-to-Mid Cost. High Visual Impact.]
The list shifted. I saw fountains, decorative banners, paved road blueprints. Then I found it.
[Luminous Pathway Blueprint: 400 Plot Points]
[Creates walkways and roads that absorb sunlight and emit a soft, guiding glow at night. Requires: [Clear Quartz Dust] as an aggregate in the concrete mixture.]
We had quartz in the mountains. It would be labor intensive to crush, but the effect... a keep with glowing pathways? It screamed of deep, subtle magic. It was an intimidation tactic and a quality of life improvement rolled into one.
[Purchase Confirmed.]
[Remaining Points: 400]
Next, defense. The wall was good, but it was passive. We needed a visible deterrent.
[Atmospheric Ward Node (Basic): 350 Plot Points]
[Creates a visible, shimmering dome over a small area during times of high alert. Serves as a potent psychological deterrent and minor physical barrier.]
It was almost all my remaining Points, but the value was undeniable. A shield that could be seen for miles.
[Purchase Confirmed.]
[Remaining Points: 50]
I turned to the waiting council. "Hemmel! The wall is not enough. I have a new formula for the pathways within the keep. We mix crushed clear quartz into the concrete. It will... improve traction."
Hemmel blinked. "Quartz, my lord? That's for trinkets, not roads!"
"Just do it," Cassian said, surprising me. He was looking at me with a new, unsettling intensity. He had seen me face down Katarina and return with a truce. His skepticism was rapidly transforming into fanatical belief. "If the Dragon Baron says it will improve traction, then it will."
"Luna," I continued. "The growth stimulant is working. I need you to prepare for the harvest. We'll need every hand. And I want the grain stored in new, sealed silos. I'll provide the design." I didn't have the Points for a silo blueprint, but my knowledge of modern grain storage from my past life would have to suffice.
"And me?" Cassian asked, eager for a command.
"You," I said, meeting his gaze. "Are now the commander of our aerial corps."
He stared at me, baffled. "We have no aerial corps."
"We have one dragon. And you are the only other person I would trust at my back in the sky. You will learn to ride with me. You will be my lieutenant in the air."
The offer was a masterstroke, appealing to his pride, his warrior spirit, and binding him to me more firmly than any command. His eyes widened, and for a moment, the restless, jealous heir was gone, replaced by a knight being offered a sacred quest.
"I... I would be honored, brother."
The next twelve days were a blur of even more frantic activity. The new wall was completed, a sleek, intimidating curve of grey stone. Teams worked through the night, crushing quartz and mixing it into the concrete for the pathways. The effect, when the first section dried and began to glow with a soft, moon-like radiance after sunset, was breathtaking. It transformed the keep from a gritty fortress into something out of a myth.
The wheat grew at a terrifying rate, stalks thickening and heads heavy with grain. The harvest began on the thirteenth day, a festival of scythes and baskets that filled our newly built, vermin proof silos to bursting.
And I trained with Cassian. The first time he climbed onto Nyx's back behind me, his grip was vise like with terror and exhilaration. But he was a natural warrior, with excellent balance and a quick mind. Nyx, sensing my trust in him, tolerated his presence. Soon, we were executing simple flight patterns, diving and banking in unison. The bond between brothers, strained for years, was being reforged in the skies above our home.
On the eve of the stewards' arrival, I stood with my family on the completed battlements. Below, the luminous pathways cast a soft, ethereal light over the bustling, orderly courtyard. The new wall stood strong and tall. The air hummed with the active, barely visible shimmer of the Atmospheric Ward I had activated for the night, a dome of faintly rippling energy that declared our domain protected.
We were no longer a besieged, bleeding keep. We were a jewel of order and power carved from the wilderness.
[Kingdom Management: Stonecrest Barony - Prosperity: Rising. Stability: High. Military Readiness: Medium.]
[Regional Reputation: +50 (Rumors of the 'Starlit Keep' are spreading.)]
My father looked out over it all, his face a complex map of pride, fear, and awe. "I do not recognize this place," he whispered. "I do not recognize my own son."
"Perhaps that is what it means to build a legacy, Father," I said softly.
The next morning, the stewards from Riverbend arrived. They were three severe looking men in practical robes, their eyes sharp and dismissive, until they passed through the main gate.
Their steps faltered as they saw the glowing pathways in the daylight, still holding a faint luminescence. Their eyes widened at the sheer, seamless scale of the new wall. When Luna led them to the overflowing silos and they saw the plump, perfect grain, one of them actually reached out to touch it, as if unable to believe it was real.
Their report to Katarina would not speak of a desperate, monstrous upstart. It would speak of a mysterious, powerful, and terrifyingly efficient new power on her border.
I had bought us time. I had secured our position.
But as I watched them leave, a new, chilling notification appeared, this one from the Bond Network.
Nyx, perched on her tower, let out a low, uneasy rumble. The message was a single, psychic image, sharp with alarm.
It was a vision of a young man with golden hair and piercing blue eyes, dressed in the pristine white and gold of the Church of the Sacred Flame, receiving a blessing from a high priest. And superimposed over the image was a feeling, a scent on the cosmic wind carried down the bond from Nyx's primordial senses.
The scent of destiny. And it was heading our way.
Draco was coming.
CHAPTER 15 COMPLETE
Next: The calm before the storm. Leo enjoys the fruits of his labor but must prepare for the arrival of the accelerated "Chosen One," whose path is now on a direct collision course with Stonecrest.
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