A dark green Light Tactical Vehicle bearing the Imperial Army's insignia slowly rolled through the ruined streets of what was once a border city. The streets were so decimated they barely deserved the name; after the last battle with the rebels, the entire area had been leveled.
Here and there, remnants of once-grand high-rises and defense cannons jutted out of the rubble. The city had long been abandoned, standing as the rebels' last stronghold for three years, and a few days ago, even the Imperial Army had withdrawn its last troops.
Now, it was a testament to what happened when you defied the Empire and the Emperor — long live the Emperor.
Marjovic, who was at the wheel, grimly surveyed the scene of devastation. About a week ago, he had fought here as well. It had been a bloody battle, but Major Maddox's company had emerged victorious.
The Emperor had declared a decisive victory over the rebels, yet a few select individuals - mainly high-ranking military generals like Maddox, and somehow Marjovic - knew the truth.
It wasn't over yet.
"How did they manage to escape in all this chaos?" he muttered as they continued through the debris.
Maddox, seated beside Marjovic, stared coolly out the window. One arm rested on the open frame.
"You said it yourself - it was chaos."
Marjovic shook his head.
"That's not what I meant. I received confirmation from several sources that the rebel leaders had fallen. Their bodies were supposedly destroyed in battle, but…" his voice trailed off.
Maddox nodded.
"Traitors in my ranks," he spat bitterly out the window.
They continued driving in silence, neither man inclined to discuss the battle or the city, as it only darkened their mood.
"Stop. It's back there."
Marjovic followed his superior's order, bringing the LTV to a halt as he cast a skeptical look at the pile of ruins.
"Really? This is the place described in the report?" he asked incredulously.
Maddox opened his door and stepped out, scanning the area before exiting completely.
"Yes. This is where the last reliable reports of the leaders' whereabouts originated."
They had reached the former residence of Duke Jradan, head of House Jradan, the Empire's highest servants, the most important and powerful family after the Golden Flame itself.
The House of the Blinking Stars.
The name alone had robbed Marjovic of sleep this past week. He could only pray the report had been false.
Marjovic set the parking brake and climbed out. He cast a wide-range sensor spell but detected no mana signatures other than Maddox's. Still, one could never be too careful; more than once, he and his team had encountered rebels skilled enough to make their mana presence nearly undetectable.
"What exactly are we looking for?" he asked Maddox.
The weathered major looked at the ruins, silent for a long moment. Then he shook his head.
"Anything my victory-drunk soldiers might have overlooked."
Yet even as Maddox said this, the ruins of the old residence were precisely that - ashes and rubble, remains so broken that one would never have guessed they had once been part of a grand estate. Here and there, fragments of elegant furniture still stood, but most were buried under massive blocks of cement or reduced to ashes and dust.
For some reason, Maddox had insisted on investigating the truth of the report himself.
The file on this residence had been highly classified due to House Jradan's importance. If even the faintest connection between the rebels and House Jradan were revealed, the repercussions could be devastating.
But the file clearly stated, that this was the place, the rebel leaders had gathered at during the battle.
According to Maddox, the Emperor had dismissed this as a crude joke by the rebels - a provocation designed to sow seeds of doubt by using the residence of his most loyal statesman as a cover for their headquarters.
Duke Jradan's behavior had given no cause for suspicion, and no one had publicly questioned his loyalty to the Empire. Thus, the file on the old residence had been kept secret, then quickly forgotten.
But Major Maddox was of a different mind. Something had driven the old soldier to see the truth for himself.
'He has doubts…'
The thought crossed Marjovic's mind as he continued to comb through the ruins. Maddox harbored doubts about the Duke's innocence, though Marjovic didn't understand why.
A small seed of doubt had been planted in Marjovic's own heart as well. He was glad to be here, so he could see for himself and extinguish it once and for all.
"There's nothing here," he finally called to Maddox over the rubble.
They had been searching for nearly an hour, but as expected, had found nothing. Maddox climbed over the debris, giving Marjovic a steady look before gazing off into the distance.
"This city now looks exactly how we found Zasartis, remember?" he suddenly asked, his gaze fixed on the ruins.
Marjovic looked around.
"Of course. How could I forget?"
But back then, it had been different. The rebels had destroyed the city of Zasartis after realizing they couldn't hold it any longer. The army, especially Major Maddox's company, had been on the verge of marching in.
The rebels hadn't deliberately targeted civilians, but they hadn't cared about collateral damage either as they razed the city to the ground.
And instead of a hero's welcome, Marjovic had been greeted only by ashes and death.
And a small boy, barely thirteen, weeping over the rubble of his family home.
Maddox looked back at Marjovic.
"If it isn't over, this could happen again. I won't allow our carelessness to be responsible."
Then the steely major turned and resumed his search, whatever he was hoping to find - or not find.
Marjovic sighed. What did it matter? He didn't have much else to do back at headquarters besides paperwork anyway.
He looked down at the ground - and froze.
There was something there. A small, intact patch of ground in the shape of a square, where everything else around it was cracked and broken.
He raised his foot and stamped down.
A metallic sound echoed through the air, scattering dust from the ground.
"Maddox!"
Marjovic dropped to his knees, brushing aside small fragments of debris and dirt.
"I must be going mad," he murmured as a metal plate came into view.
"What have you got there?" Maddox's voice sounded behind him.
"It looks like a trapdoor."
They both fell silent, an ominous feeling settling over Marjovic.
Slowly, he looked up at Maddox, whose face bore an unexpected expression - fear.
Fear, for whatever truth might reveal itself in the next hour.
"We need to take a look," Maddox said slowly.
"Let's hope it's a false alarm."
Marjovic nodded. He searched the plate and found a small indentation, just enough to fit his hand. Then he knelt down and began to pull.
The metal groaned, but the trapdoor didn't budge.
"Help me out here," he panted, doubling his efforts.
Maddox crouched beside him, gripping the plate, and began to pull as well.
Despite being seasoned spellcasters and soldiers, they couldn't move the trapdoor even an inch.
Breathing heavily, they finally let go.
"It's sealed," Maddox said.
Marjovic nodded and cast another sensor spell, focusing solely on the trapdoor to increase the precision.
"There's mana beneath it. Weak but unmistakable. It's definitely some type of rune seal. Step back; I'll break it open."
Maddox complied, visibly prepared to intervene if anything went wrong.
Marjovic took a deep breath, steeling himself for what lay beneath.
"Come, Arachne"
A storm of mana gathered at Marjovic's back until he felt the familiar weight of his Spellweapon.
Maddox grunted.
"After all these years, I still can't get used to the sight of that thing."
Marjovic smiled. His weapon was undoubtedly one of the most unusual in the Empire. Unlike most Spellweapons, his was a custom-made container, one he filled with his own mana each time he summoned it. Though it cost him a significant amount of energy and mana, this unique weapon allowed him to do things others couldn't.
Raising his fist, he slammed it down on the trapdoor with a hammer-like blow, pouring a surge of mana from his weapon into the impact.
With a loud crash, the trapdoor buckled, breaking free and plummeting meters down into a dark abyss. Seconds later, the heavy thud of its landing echoed from below. Marjovic shook his hand, peering down.
Maddox stepped closer and did the same, pulling out a flashlight to illuminate the descent.
There was a ladder descending into the shadows, leading to a corridor that vanished out of sight.
The two men exchanged nods.
Marjovic went first, carefully climbing down the ladder. The air grew damper and colder. When he looked back up, the entrance above had shrunk to a distant pinprick of sunlight.
He climbed lower and lower until finally reaching the ground, landing atop the fallen trapdoor. Before him, a dark corridor stretched into the unknown.
"Cat's Eyes," he murmured, casting a spell to sharpen his night vision.
The corridor was bare metal, without the slightest decoration, a far cry from the once elegance of the villa above. But on contrary, the corridor seemed fully intact.
'A secret passage of Duke Jradan's?'
He could only hope it was nothing more than a forgotten basement, though he knew that was unlikely.
"Clear!" he called, his voice echoing both up the ladder and down the corridor ahead.
Remaining vigilant, Marjovic waited until Maddox had joined him, casting his own night vision spell.
"What do you think we'll find down here?" Marjovic asked.
His old friend didn't answer. With steady, cautious steps, he started down the corridor. Marjovic followed closely.
Doubts gnawed at Marjovic, growing with each step along this seemingly endless hallway.
How was it possible that not a single rebel leader's body had been found?
'The battle had been so intense… No, that's just wishful thinking.'
The rebels had fallen by the hundreds, thousands over the course of the war. They had fought like madmen, leaving terrible losses in their wake, both among civilians and the army.
But the Empire had prevailed, even though the Emperor's own family had suffered a grievous loss.
In a hidden assault, the rebels had breached the Imperial Palace. A disgrace that the Emperor's personal guard would never live down.
Their mission had ultimately failed — the Emperor had survived. But his wife had perished.
They were told that the rebels had disguised themselves as civilians, mingling with the people of the Imperial capital. A single lapse in vigilance had allowed them to slip into the palace undetected. No one had anticipated that the rebels would risk such a bold move in the heart of the Empire - and succeed.
Naturally, there had been doubts about the official account. But the Emperor - long live the Emperor - had confirmed it personally, more than once.
As had Duke Jradan.
Marjovic clenched his teeth.
"How did the rebels manage to enter the palace back then?" he asked.
Maddox remained silent for a moment.
"A lapse in the guard-"
"Maddox," Marjovic interrupted, his gaze sharp.
Maddox had brought him here, and secrets were no longer of any use.
Maddox met Marjovic's gaze briefly before looking forward again.
"One of my close friends led the investigation…"
His tone turned bitter.
"She was brilliant, too brilliant. She suspected one of the Emperor's closest ministers and shared her suspicions with both the Emperor and Duke Jradan."
Maddox fell silent. They had reached a door. Marjovic placed his hand on the handle, finding it unlocked. But before he opened it, he turned to Maddox.
"What happened to her?"
Maddox's face darkened.
"She was sent to the front before she could gather any decisive evidence. Days later, she was killed, along with her entire company."
Marjovic said nothing. Sympathy was unnecessary. He understood what Maddox was implying. His own expression grew somber.
They opened the door.
And froze.
"This…"
Marjovic's heart nearly stopped. A chilling wave of dread washed through his bones.
Maddox exhaled sharply. Marjovic heard his friend's teeth grinding.
This had to be some twisted, sadistic joke.
What lay before them was worse than all the horrors of the war combined. Because it meant the worst was not yet over - and something even more harrowing awaited them.
"The Empire…" Marjovic stammered.
Maddox struck the wall with his fist.
"I need to warn the Emperor. But I don't know if he'll listen."
Before them lay Duke Jradan's very own shattered teleportation rune.