Wrath of the Emperors - war of the guards-

In a world where blood, magic, and power intertwine, the Northern Continent was born as a vast chessboard upon which the Five Great Empires move like merciless kings. Centuries ago, the Treaty of the Palace of Unity was signed to preserve peace—but it was never more than a fragile truce, hiding embers that have long waited to ignite. Embers not born of men… but inherited from forgotten ages, whose names vanished into the shadows of history. On a harsh winter morning, the empire awoke to a report that shattered its foundations: a sudden collapse along the northern border, and the disappearance of over one thousand four hundred soldiers—without a single trace of blood. Only strange black and white residues remained, corrosive to touch, as if cursed by something not of this world. And from that moment… everything began. General Dwayne, the first to arrive at the site, was accompanied by the young knight Celestia Bank, Guardian of the Imperial Honor. Neither of them knew that what they would witness that night would change the fate of the entire continent. The marks of battle were not human. The claws that tore the earth belonged to no known beast. And the black dust scattered across the ground whispered faintly—as if it were alive. While the northern powerhouse, the Empire of Town Dark, threatened vengeance and accused its neighbors of treachery, a man in the shadows watched everything unfold from afar… A man known only as Frank. No one knew where Frank came from, nor how he ended up in the forgotten village of Kazbona. All that was known was that he lived alone at its edge, burning firewood through the cold nights—and avoiding his own reflection in the water. But when the Northern Gate fell, the winds began to speak his name, as if fate itself had moved an ancient piece that had long been left unfinished. In that same village lived Dagus, the old village seer, and his daughter Diana—a healer with a gentle heart, unaware that her blood carried the mark of a long-lost lineage. One night, Dagus dreamed of a shattered mirror upon a burning throne, reflecting two faces—one belonging to Frank, the other to a king crowned in blood. When he awoke, he knew the world was about to divide once more. Meanwhile, in the capital, the Emperor himself began to suffer the same nightmares. His crown melted upon his head, his throne devoured his sword, and the mirror… the mirror that must never be touched. In his sleep, he muttered: > “The mirror… do not touch it… it sees before it is seen.” Beneath the palace, in corridors known only to a few, a ragged man carrying a green-lit lantern descended into the depths where nothing should exist but death. He reached a vast hall—a stone chessboard mirroring the Emperor’s council chamber, but with one difference: upon the black king’s square coiled a white serpent. The stranger smiled faintly and whispered: > “The real board… lies here.” From that night onward, everything began to accelerate. The Emperor convened an emergency council in the Chamber of the Board—a hall paved in black and white marble squares, where light and shadow intertwined like destiny itself. Among those present were Alex Raftor, commander of the southern army, and Prince Basten Forgoli, an ambitious heir whose charming smile hid plans reaching far beyond the empire’s borders. When the Emperor declared he would host a “Banquet in Honor of the Collapse,” the court thought him mad. But it was no celebration. It was an ancient ritual, abolished centuries ago—one said to awaken the chessboard of fate whenever danger threatened one of its pieces. Back in Kazbona, Diana tended to a mysterious child injured while playing in an abandoned house. He did not scream in pain, nor did his eyes gleam like those of other children. Instead, he looked at her calmly and said: > “He who touches the successor… receives the covenant.” Beside him, an old blind woman smiled and whispered: > “Thank you, healer—who never knew she healed the heir.”