THE LOST FORTRESS

Chapter 57

The Lost Fortress

The cry of a hawk echoed across the northern mountains.

Captain Rowan tightened the fur cloak around his shoulders as icy wind swept across the cliff. Below him stretched the Northern Frontier, where the kingdom's largest watchtower had stood for more than three hundred years.

Now...

There was nothing.

No broken stones.

No scorched earth.

No bodies.

No signs of battle.

Only an empty circle of perfectly smooth black ground, nearly half a mile wide, as if the fortress had been lifted out of the earth by an invisible hand.

Rowan slowly knelt and pressed his palm against the black soil.

It was warm.

Far too warm for snow-covered mountains.

He frowned.

"This isn't possible."

One of his soldiers swallowed nervously.

"Captain... what could erase an entire fortress?"

Before Rowan could answer, a strange whisper drifted across the wind.

"Come closer..."

His head snapped up.

"Did anyone hear that?"

The soldiers exchanged confused glances.

"Hear what, sir?"

The whisper came again.

"Find me..."

Rowan drew his sword.

"Spread out. Search the area."

The soldiers obeyed.

Minutes later, one of them shouted.

"Captain! Over here!"

Hidden beneath a thin layer of snow lay a single object.

A child's wooden toy wolf.

Fresh.

Untouched.

As though it had been dropped only moments ago.

Rowan picked it up.

Carved into the bottom were three unfamiliar symbols glowing faintly crimson.

The moment his fingers touched them...

A vision exploded inside his mind.

He saw a city swallowed by darkness.

A black moon hanging over the sky.

Countless shadow creatures marching across the earth.

And standing at the center of it all...

A hooded man holding a staff crowned with a crimson crystal.

The stranger slowly turned.

Though Rowan could not see his face beneath the hood, he felt the man's gaze.

Then the figure spoke.

"Tell your king..."

"The First Shadow King has returned."

Rowan gasped and dropped the toy.

The vision vanished.

His soldiers rushed toward him.

"Captain!"

"Are you alright?"

He looked down.

The toy had turned into black ash.

Carried away by the wind.

---

Back in the capital...

Kael stood inside the royal training grounds, sparring with three knights at once.

Although months had passed since the final battle, he refused to let peace make him complacent.

Steel clashed.

One knight attacked from the left.

Kael sidestepped effortlessly.

A second lunged from behind.

Without looking, Kael blocked the strike with the flat of his blade.

The third aimed directly for his chest.

Kael spun once and gently knocked the man's sword into the air.

The weapon landed harmlessly in the sand.

The knights laughed, lowering their weapons.

"We still can't beat you, Your Majesty."

Kael smiled.

"One day you will."

A familiar voice interrupted him.

"You've said that every morning."

Lyra walked across the training yard carrying Lucian.

The little boy was now nearly four months old and had already become the favorite of everyone in the palace.

The moment Lucian saw Kael, he laughed happily and reached toward him.

Kael immediately took him into his arms.

"Someone's getting heavier."

"He definitely inherited your appetite," Lyra teased.

Lucian grabbed Kael's finger with surprising strength.

Kael laughed.

"Strong already?"

Selene entered the courtyard before anyone could answer.

Her face was unusually serious.

"Your Majesty."

Kael instantly noticed the expression on her face.

"What happened?"

"The northern scouts have returned."

"They've confirmed it."

"The fortress truly disappeared."

"And..."

She hesitated.

"They brought back something else."

---

Inside the council chamber, Rowan carefully described everything he had witnessed.

The empty ground.

The wooden wolf.

The vision.

The hooded man.

No one interrupted.

When he finished, silence filled the room.

General Marcus finally spoke.

"A trick."

"It has to be."

Selene slowly shook her head.

"No."

She walked toward one of the oldest shelves in the royal library.

Pulling out a dust-covered book, she opened it carefully.

Its pages were so old they threatened to crumble.

She stopped at an illustration.

Kael leaned closer.

The picture showed a man wearing the same hood Rowan had described.

In his hand rested the same crimson staff.

Below the drawing were faded words written in the ancient language.

Selene translated them aloud.

"Before the Shadow Devourer..."

"...there was its master."

The room became deathly quiet.

Kael stared at the page.

"I thought the Devourer was the greatest evil."

Selene closed the book slowly.

"So did I."

She looked toward the window where the moon was beginning to rise.

"But according to this..."

"The Devourer was only a servant."

---

That night...

Far beneath the palace...

The tiny crystal shard hidden inside the ancient ruins pulsed brighter than before.

A drop of black liquid seeped from its surface.

Then another.

The drops merged into the outline of a human hand.

Fingers slowly curled around empty air.

A voice echoed through the darkness.

"Wake..."

Across the kingdom...

Every remaining fragment of black crystal hidden beneath mountains, forests, rivers, and forgotten battlefields answered the call.

One by one...

They began to glow.

High above, Lucian suddenly woke from his sleep.

His silver-and-gold eyes opened wide.

Instead of crying...

He looked toward the northern mountains.

Then he whispered two words that no infant should know.

"He's coming."

Outside the nursery window, the full moon disappeared behind a cloud as a lone raven took flight toward the north.