The biting winds of the northern frontier howled like spirits denied rest. In the distance, the snow-peaked ranges of the Trans-Himalayas glittered under a ghostly moon, and at the foot of those silent mountains, a gathering of steel, men, and ancient will awaited its call to war.
Arjun stood atop the battlement of Fort Vasu, the last Indian stronghold before the disputed border with western Tibet. His cloak snapped in the wind, a storm of emotions swirling behind his eyes. This wasn't a symbolic front—it was where blood would fall first.
Behind him, Ayaka arrived quietly. She didn't speak at first. Her presence was enough—like an anchor that reminded him he was more than a strategist, more than a ruler in the making.
"The scouts say the Sunfire Monks are already a league into our soil," she finally said."Led by whom?" Arjun asked."The Iron-Keeper of Lhasa. Jin Yue."
His jaw tightened. Jin Yue—the child prodigy of the Crimson Lotus Sect. In Arjun's past life as Kaaldev, Yue had once stood as a brother-in-arms before turning his blade for a rival empire.
"He won't stop until he breaks our spirit and our land," Arjun muttered."Then let's break his expectations," Ayaka replied.
Council of Flame
The war table inside the fort's command room was surrounded by his growing cadre.
Tharaka, shirtless despite the cold, had fresh prayer scars drawn in blood down his chest.
Liu Fen, ever silent, stared at the map with sharp, glassy eyes.
Miren adjusted a copper-and-obsidian armguard, her prototype invention capable of storing ambient flame-energy to fire compressed blasts.
"If Yue's heading through the river pass," Liu said, tracing a line, "he's counting on speed and deception. We should cut him off here.""No," Arjun countered, tapping the base of Mount Ritha. "We let him believe the path is open. He'll think we're spread too thin. Then we collapse the gorge. Trap his elite beneath the mountain's wrath."
Liu's eyes gleamed. "You're gambling lives.""Only if I don't act," Arjun said. "We're not running anymore. We're planting the flag."
Ayaka stepped forward and unfurled a freshly dyed banner—a tiger with wings made of fire, roaring above mountains.
"The first banner of the Phoenix Dominion," she said. "Let them remember who we are."
Whispers in the Ice
But as battle plans solidified, secrets boiled beneath the surface.
Kavi, hooded and breathless, returned from a solo mission inside Tibet's border zone. The spy looked graver than usual.
"There's more than monks with flaming staves," he whispered. "They've allied with… Russian remnants."
That caught everyone off-guard.
"Which faction?" Arjun asked."The Black Sun Brigade. The ones exiled after the fall of Vladynov's regime."
The air grew thick. The Black Sun Brigade were merciless—their generals trained in cybernetic warfare, flame-tech hacking, and mind-control via the Old Siberian Scripts.
"So Yue is bringing monsters to a holy war," Ayaka said bitterly."Not monsters," Kavi corrected. "A bride."
The room fell silent.
"He's marrying one of their top generals. A woman known as 'The Ice Lily.' Her full name: Captain Milena Rostov."
The Past That Never Dies
Arjun staggered.
He remembered her—Milena. A woman who once saved his life when he was still Kaaldev, during a failed negotiation between old Russia and the Southern Flame Lords. She had held his bleeding body and whispered,
"If ever we meet again, may it be on the same side."
Now she was riding under Yue's banner.
"Do we kill her?" Tharaka asked bluntly.
Arjun shook his head. "No. Not unless we must."
Lines in the Snow
The following dawn, Arjun led the first vanguard.
Flame-tech chariots carved new trails through the ice. Their soldiers wore hybrid armor—medieval aesthetics fused with modern polymers and solar-threaded cloaks. Overhead, eagle-drones soared, and below, runes glowed on steel.
The world had changed. And they were at the frontier of its rebirth.
As they marched, soldiers began chanting—their voices raw, proud:
"For the flame that binds, for the blood that roars,The Phoenix rises, to settle old scores!"
The sound carried across frozen canyons.
By midday, the scouts returned. Yue's troops were seen moving swiftly—exactly as predicted.
Arjun nodded.
"Then we begin the collapse at dusk," he said. "We make the mountain bleed."
Nightfall of Fire
As the sun dipped behind the ranges, thunder shook the snow.
Ayaka, atop the mountain ridge, whispered an old chant. Her katana, sheathed in divine flame, struck the support pillars carved by ancient hands. Beneath, Liu's demolition runes detonated in sequence.
Boulders fell like divine punishment.
Yue's elites, caught in the pass, screamed.
Some turned to retreat. Others burned. Only a few escaped.
From atop, Arjun raised the banner of the Phoenix Dominion.
The flame of the new empire had lit its first war—and the world would not forget it.