The war chamber of Clover Palace buzzed with low murmurs. The council had barely recovered from the last session when a fresh ripple of tension arrived—an entire village in the eastern wildlands had gone silent.
Sion stood at the center of the chamber, facing Katherine, Sara, and Rebecca. A newly unrolled map marked the location of the disturbance with a red sigil. "We don't send armies for whispers," Sion said. "But we can't ignore this either."
"I agree," Queen Katherine replied, her voice firm. "How do you propose we proceed?"
Sion snapped his fingers, and with a flicker of light, three small magical orbs hovered above the table. "We send a reconnaissance team—experienced scouts and spellblades. But they won't go alone."
He gestured, and an arcane circle appeared in the air, projecting an image of a hovering silver orb with rotating crystal rings.
"This is the Magical Surveillance Drone—fast, silent, resistant to detection magic. It will scan the area for arcane traces and record everything in real time."
The next projection showed a lumbering mechanical beast—an armored, rune-etched Magical Combat Tank, capable of traversing any terrain and channeling high-grade elemental strikes.
"And this," Sion continued, "will support them from behind. It can shield the team, provide magical bombardment if things go south, and serve as a mobile fortress."
He paused and then, with a grin that seemed both proud and secretive, summoned a small cube glowing with fluctuating energy.
"This is my newest project—a Reality-Modifying Device. Pulled from knowledge of Allen's world and enhanced by my own research. It can shrink or enlarge anything—tools, walls, supplies, even structures—for both offense and defense. Use it carefully; it's powerful… and unpredictable."
Sara looked at him with a mix of admiration and mild exasperation. "You really don't know how to do anything halfway, do you?"
Sion chuckled. "Only when lives are on the line."
Meanwhile: Rebecca, Katherine, and Sara Take the Lead
As the operation launched, Rebecca, Katherine, and Sara convened in a private study chamber. Scrolls, ledgers, and envoy dispatch logs were spread across the table.
"We need to ensure panic doesn't spread," Rebecca said, eyes sharp. "I'll draft a public message: general unrest in the borderlands, nothing more."
Katherine nodded. "Keep it vague, but firm. I'll have our palace scribes mirror it across the territories."
Sara added, "And I'll increase healing stations on the roads nearby—just in case. I don't like this silence."
For the first time, the three women were functioning as a tight leadership unit. While Sion's shadow was long, they were proving they could hold their own in his absence.
Into the Wildlands
Three days later, the reconnaissance team reached the outskirts of the silent village. Trees loomed high and unnaturally still. Birds no longer sang. The wind carried a metallic tang—like blood and lightning.
The drone floated silently overhead, scanning the ruins. The Magical Tank rolled behind the team, keeping its cannon-arm ready.
"It looks abandoned," one scout whispered. "But not destroyed."
Buildings stood eerily intact. Meals still sat on long-cooled stoves. The people had fled—or vanished—in fear. Strange, spiral-shaped etchings scorched the ground in perfect precision. Something intelligent had been here.
That night, the soldiers camped inside a ruined hall. A muffled scream broke the silence near dawn.
One scout was gone.
Back at Clover Palace
The report arrived via magical relay. Katherine read the parchment aloud in the council chamber, voice taut.
"No bodies. No signs of struggle. One man missing. The drone found an underground channel beneath the village—sealed with arcane energy."
"We need to move carefully," Rebecca warned. "If it's demonic, brute force won't be enough."
"This isn't like the cult," Sion said, pacing. "This is cleaner. Older. I suspect… an ancient ward has broken."
Katherine frowned. "You think something was sealed there?"
"Possibly. I'll investigate it myself once the first team returns. For now, we say nothing to the public."
Final Scene – The Whisperer
Far from the reach of light, high on a cliff above the ruined village, a cloaked figure watched the magical drone pass silently beneath him.
His robes fluttered in the unnatural wind. His hand, bony and clawed, reached toward the sky.
"The seal cracks," he murmured, his voice echoing with an otherworldly resonance. "The Watcher stirs. The false king shall kneel."
His eyes, glowing with a sickly violet light, narrowed as he whispered something in an unknown tongue. The forest around him responded—leaves shriveling, air thickening with dread.
Then, as silently as he appeared, he vanished into the mist.