The final mandatory class of my academic career was, predictably, a tedious lecture on post-graduate etiquette. I sat in the glowing crystal amphitheater, my mind already a thousand miles away, mentally cataloging the components I would pack first and rehearsing the exact words of greeting I would give my family. Tomorrow evening, I would be on an airship, heading home. The thought was a warm, steady glow in my chest.
But something felt off. A subtle, discordant note in the symphony of my anticipation. I scanned the room. Nyxia was in her usual place, a statue of cold focus. Then it hit me. Lirael, the elf with the pale gold hair, was absent. She never missed a class, let alone the final one, a session most seniors attended out of pure ceremonial obligation. Her empty seat was a small, unsettling tear in the fabric of my expectations, a silent alarm I couldn't yet decipher.
The professor droned on about the responsibilities of a noble graduate, his voice a monotonous hum that was easy to ignore. I was mapping out the flight path home in my head, imagining Lyra’s squeal of delight, when my world ended.
It didn't start with a bang, but with a silent, sterile notification from Tes, a line of clinical red text flashing in the corner of my vision.
[WARNING: CATASTROPHIC ENERGY SURGE DETECTED AT WIGHT ESTATE]
I sat bolt upright, my blood turning to ice. The professor's voice faded into an irrelevant buzz.
[ANALYSIS: PRIMARY DUNGEON CORE OUTPUT AT 1000% - BEYOND SAFE LIMITS]
[CASTLE SHIELD SYSTEMS AT MAXIMUM CAPACITY - STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY FAILING]
[WARNING. WARNING.]
[QUANTUM PENDANT A - SERAPHINE WIGHT - FULL OUTPUT - SUSTAINING CRITICAL DAMAGE]
[QUANTUM PENDANT B - LYRA WIGHT - FULL OUTPUT - SUSTAINING CRITICAL DAMAGE]
[WARNING. WARNING. WARNING.]
[CONNECTION LOST]
“Tes,” I projected, my voice a strangled whisper in my own mind, my heart hammering against my ribs like a trapped, frantic bird. “What the hell just happened? Reconnect! Now!”
“Master… we have a situation,” her voice was stripped of its usual pristine calm, replaced by a digital static that spoke of processing overload and data corruption. “The quantum-entangled link has been severed. I have lost all connection. I will play the final sensor recording. Duration: 3.11 seconds.”
The crystal classroom, the droning professor, the curious stares of my classmates as they noticed my distress it all dissolved into a meaningless, blurry periphery. My world became a replay of the last three seconds of my family’s life, stretched into an agonizing eternity.
…
The image was from the perspective of a security golem in the garden gazebo. My mother was laughing, a sound I could almost hear through the silent recording, her silver hair catching the golden afternoon sun. She was helping Lyra, my precious five-year-old sister, carefully paint a small wooden lion a welcome-home gift for me. Lyra had a smear of blue paint on her nose, and she was looking at her work with an expression of fierce, adorable concentration.
Suddenly, my father’s head snapped up, his entire body language shifting from relaxed contentment to primal alert. His eyes widened with a terror I had never seen, a look that shattered my perception of him as an invincible pillar of strength. His voice was a roar of pure, desperate command that I felt in my soul even without sound. “CYGNUS! PROTECT THEM!”
The sky tore open. In a flash of azure lightning and roaring thunder, the colossal form of the Azure Tyrant materialized, his hundred-meter frame a living shield of sapphire scales. His wings, vast enough to blot out the sun, spread wide to intercept a beam of blinding, emerald-green light descending from the heavens.
The beam struck him. Even a Dragon King, a force of nature given form, staggered under the assault, a pained grimace twisting his draconic features.
My mother didn't scream. She moved with the fierce, primal instinct of a lioness, snatching Lyra into her arms, her body a fragile, trembling shield. My father’s huge frame moved to cover them both, his own draconic magic flaring to life around them like a stormy grey shroud, a desperate, final fortress of love.
Then, a second beam of golden light, and a third of crimson fire, struck from different angles, bypassing Cygnus’s guard with chilling, tactical precision. They converged on my family.
For a fraction of a second, the last 0.11 seconds of the recording, I saw the sky-blue light of my mother’s pendant and the jet-black light of Lyra’s erupt into blinding spheres of defensive energy, the last gifts I had ever given them, fighting against the inevitable.
Then, a flash of pure, world-ending white that consumed everything.
And then… nothing. The recording ended in a shriek of static and a final, damning data packet: SIGNAL TERMINATED.
…
I shot up from my seat, the crystal bench beneath me cracking and splintering under the unintentional surge of my shock. Every head in the amphitheater turned to stare at me, their expressions shifting from boredom to alarm. I didn't see them. I saw only the white void where my family used to be.
Just as the silence in the room became absolute, the grand doors burst open. The Headmaster’s assistant, Mr. Finch, stood there, his face ashen, his usual harried expression replaced by one of grim, horrified urgency.
“Lord Wight. Lady Black,” he called, his voice cracking. “The Headmaster requires your presence. At once.”
My feet moved on their own, a puppet on broken strings, carrying me out of the classroom. Nyxia rose with a fluid, questioning grace and followed, her crimson eyes narrowed with suspicion. Bob and Patricia, who had been waiting outside, immediately fell into step behind me, their faces etched with a dawning dread.
As we walked through the academy courtyards, Kaelus began to vibrate violently beside me, emitting a low, sorrowful hum that resonated deep in my bones, a physical manifestation of the agony tearing through our shared soul.
Then we heard it. A sound that stole the breath from every living thing on the floating continent. It was not one roar, but thousands, a collective, keening cry of grief and rage that echoed from the heavens.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
A huge swarm, a living storm of scales and wings, passed overhead, blotting out the sun and plunging the world into a sudden, gloomy twilight. Water dragons, their bodies shimmering with condensed moisture that fell as a sad mist. Wind dragons, their forms nearly invisible blurs of howling despair. Ice dragons, leaving trails of frost in the air that glittered like frozen tears. Azure fire and lightning dragons crackling with raw, untamed power. The entire Azure Dragon faction was mobilizing. It wasn't a patrol. It wasn't a drill.
This was war.
…
The Headmaster wasn’t in his hut. He was waiting for us at the base of the Great Banyan, his ancient face carved with lines of profound sorrow, looking a thousand years older than he had the day before.
He addressed Nyxia first, his voice heavy. “Lady Black. A message has arrived from your father. The Arcane Sovereignty of Aerthos… has fallen. It was conquered in a single, devastatingly coordinated strike by a joint force from the Verdant Conclave of Sylvanheim and the Cinderfall Hegemony.”
Nyxia’s cold composure finally cracked, her crimson eyes widening in utter disbelief.
“Your family has been given an ultimatum,” the Headmaster continued, his voice gentle but firm. “House Black can swear fealty to Cinderfall as a vassal state… or you can be wed to Crown Prince Ignis Flavius to seal a new alliance.”
Then, his gaze, full of a pity that felt like a physical blow, settled on me. “Alarion… son. I have terrible news.” He took a deep, shuddering breath. “The great Dragon Knights of the kingdom have been imprisoned by an unknown power. And your home… your home was the epicenter of the attack.”
He let out a deep, ragged sigh. “No one knew the elves possessed a High Elf capable of advanced spatial magic. They teleported an assault force directly into your estate. Three High Elves, and three hundred Phoenix Knights with their bonded phoenixes.”
His voice dropped to a whisper. “The last report I received… Cygnus was enraged. He found only wreckage. He was ambushed by the three High Elves and the full contingent of knights. As a last resort… he encased himself in an unbreakable crystal of frozen time. He is hibernating, a dragon king’s final, desperate defense. The dragons you saw are flying to his side, to protect their king’s slumber.”
He looked me in the eyes, and I saw my own devastation reflected there. “Son… Cinderfall claims guardianship over you now. As a favor to your father, who was my friend, I will offer you another choice. You can stay here, at the academy. Become an instructor. It is the safest option. Here, you will be protected.”
He paused, his voice breaking. “And… and there are no other survivors. No one is left.”
It felt like the sky, the real sky, the one that held this entire continent afloat, had cracked open and fallen directly on me. The world went silent, the colors draining away into a dull, muted grey. A void had opened up where my heart used to be.
As if the heavens themselves felt my pain, the bright afternoon sky darkened in an instant. The wind grew cold. A single drop of rain struck my cheek, followed by another, and another. A cold, steady rain began to fall. Pitter-patter.
“Tes,” I thought, my mind grasping at the last, impossible straw, a desperate prayer to the digital entity in my head. “The blessing. It’s been more than seven years. Use a blessing. Bring them back. Now.”
I am sorry, Master. The resurrection of a terminated data set is beyond the capability of even the World System.
“Then confirm they’re alive! Give me information! Anything!”
Attempting to re-establish quantum link…
ERROR.
ERROR.
ERROR.
QUERY FAILURE: ABOVE CLEARANCE LEVEL.
Master… only the World System itself could answer. But based on the final sensor readings… there is a 99.9% probability that their vital signs ceased before the pendants malfunctioned. They are gone.
Gone.
The strength left my legs. I collapsed to my knees on the wet stone, the rain plastering my silver hair to my face.
Tes… can you end my life?
Does user intend to terminate their life functions?
Before I could form the word ‘yes,’ a surge of warmth and desperate, protective energy flooded my senses. Kaelus, my silent companion for eleven long years, floated directly in front of my face, blocking my view of the world. Through our bond, I felt his rage, his sorrow, his absolute, screaming refusal to let me go.
I looked at him, my brother in an egg, and the tears I had been holding back finally broke free, hot tracks mixing with the cold rain on my cheeks.
As if my sorrow were a catalyst, the egg began to glow. It expanded, growing from the size of a watermelon to a ten-meter sphere, then twenty, then thirty, until it was a colossal, pulsating orb of pure sapphire light that dwarfed the ancient trees around it.
The storm overhead intensified into a raging tempest. A single, cataclysmic bolt of lightning, thicker than the trunk of the Great Banyan, struck the egg from above.
CRACK.
With a sound that shattered the sky, the egg cracked. Not like a normal shell, but like a universe being born. The shell dissolved into a billion motes of crystalline light that swirled and shot back into the form within, fusing with its scales, giving them a divine, ethereal glow.
A majestic dragon, his scales the color of the deepest midnight sky but shimmering with the light of captured nebulae, unfurled his wings. His eyes were not blue, but twin dying stars, burning with ancient power and fresh, unbearable grief. He was a creature of impossible beauty and terrifying sorrow.
He lowered his massive head and enveloped me in the protective shadow of his wing. His voice echoed, not in the air, but in the soul of every living being for a hundred miles. It was not the sound of a newborn, but the rumble of an avalanche, the promise of an apocalypse.
They will all pay. I stand with my brother.
A roar that shook the very foundations of the floating continent erupted from his throat, a declaration of vengeance that sent the heavens themselves fleeing in terror.
Something inside me shifted. The grief was still there, a black hole in my soul, but it was no longer just an empty void. It was coalescing, hardening, sharpening into a single, needle-fine point of purpose.
Yes. If I can't get them back, I'll do the next best thing. But I won't be a sitting duck. I need to get stronger. I need to raise an army.
Tes. My mental voice was no longer that of a grieving boy. It was cold, flat, and devoid of all emotion. Unlock the archive. The one designated: ‘Do Not Bring Into This World.’
Acknowledged.
My mind was flooded with a stream of cold, hard data. Schematics. Blueprints. Names that flashed like omens of a new, terrible age, neatly organized by their function.
Strategic Ballistic Assets:
RS-28 Sarmat Silo System
Trident II D5 Submersible Missile
Avangard Hypersonic Delivery System
Air Superiority & Strike Platforms:
B-23 Cruiser
E-31 Lightning II Strike Fighter
J-20 Mighty Drake
Armored Ground Forces:
N1A2 SEP V3 Abrams Assault Vehicle
Leopard 2C7V Panzer
T-41 Armata Combat Platform
Naval Power Projection:
Queen Mary-class Strike Carrier
UUS Zumwalt Stealth Escort
Area Denial Systems:
S-700 Triumf Air Defense Shield
Patriot PAC-31 Interceptor
If it's war they want, it's war they will get.
They have picked a fight with a person from Earth. A place where war has been perfected into an art form.
…
Well, we made it. If you're reading this, you've just finished the entirety of Volume 0, and I can't thank you enough for sticking with it. This prologue was all about setting the stakes, and now, the true story of "Arcane Steel" can begin.
I wanted to give you a heads-up about the shift in tone. The loss Alarion just experienced is the catalyst that will shape everything to come. We won't be seeing sunshine and bunnies for quite some time. In fact, this will be a grueling journey that keeps getting darker and darker, likely until around Chapter 55. The narrative style is going to get darker and more focused as it mirrors his journey from a protected prodigy to a man forged in grief and vengeance.
Thank you again for joining me on this journey. I hope you're ready for what comes next.
