The morning sun struggled to pierce the dense, soot-stained canopy of smog hanging over Valdor, the capital city of the Western Empire.Unlike the sleek, clean-lined spires of the Sovereign Meridian, Valdor was a colossal fortress of black iron, exposed copper piping, and grinding industrial gears. Towering smokestacks belched black ash into the sky, while massive steam-powered cranes lined the docks like prehistoric iron beasts.The harbor was eerily silent.The surviving Western dreadnoughts—scuffed, waterlogged, and missing their heavy artillery after the disaster at the trench—lay moored helplessly against the stone piers. Through the thick mist, the sleek, silver hull of the Sovereign’s Edge glided smoothly into the central deep-water slipway. Her turbines hummed with a quiet, refined power that made the clanking, sputtering Western engines look like crude relics of a forgotten era.On the flight deck of the flagship, Prince Cassian stood at the head of a fifty-guard honor guard,
Last Updated : 2026-08-17 Read more