BONUS CHAPTER — THE TRUTH OF BLACK IRON
Before Black Iron became an empire of fear, it was born from defeat.
Kazul — The First Iron
Kazul was the founder of Black Iron, a man whose name was erased from common history but etched into bloodlines.
Two hundred years ago, Kazul challenged Mournveil—and lost.
Not just a loss of battle.
A loss of belief.
Mournveil proved something Kazul could not accept:
that raw ancestral awakening, irregulars, and mimics were not accidents…
they were evolution.
Kazul survived—but survival came at a cost. His body was broken, his power incomplete, and his pride shattered. Instead of seeking balance, Kazul chose control.
That was when the experiments began.
The Twin Experiments
After his defeat, Kazul turned inward—toward blood.
He began experimenting on the twins, including Kendrick, attempting to artificially recreate what Mournveil represented. These experiments were cruel, unstable, and irreversible. Some subjects died screaming. Others lived… wrong.
What Kazul discovered terrified him.
Power could be measured.
Potential could be predicted.
And threats could be eliminated before birth.
From this discovery, Black Iron was reborn—not as an army, but as a system.
The Inheritance of Black Iron
Kazul died 200 years ago.
But Black Iron never ended.
Leadership is passed down through Kazul's bloodline, each successor inheriting not just command, but knowledge—secrets no outsider has ever seen. The armor. The weapons. The stone.
Especially the stone.
The Stone of Judgment
Black Iron possesses an ancient artifact—its true core.
A stone capable of identifying:
Element type
Awakening potential
Stage classification
Irregularity
Mimic traits
And it does this before birth.
When a child is still unborn, the stone is used.
Once identified, judgment is passed.
The Purge Protocol
Black Iron does not kill randomly.
They curate the future.
If the unborn child is:
An irregular
A mimic
Or an ancestral awakened deemed uncontrollable
Then the entire family is erased.
No witnesses.
No survivors.
No revenge.
Not even memory.
But there is an exception.
Nobles vs Commoners
Black Iron is not just a military order—it is a noble institution.
If the family is common, they die.
If the family holds status, wealth, or political influence, the child is spared—but at a price.
They are taken.
Raised by Black Iron.
Stripped of identity.
Forged into weapons.
Loyalty is not taught.
It is beaten in.
Training of Black Iron
Training begins young.
It is brutal.
It is merciless.
It is designed to kill the weak.
There are no medics.
No mercy.
No second chances.
If you die during training, the doctrine is simple:
You were weak.
Survival is proof of worth.
Pain is proof of growth.
Compassion is weakness.
This is the Black Iron motto—unspoken, but absolute.
The Armor of Black Iron
The armor is the greatest mystery.
No one outside Black Iron knows how it is made.
What is known:
It is resistant to most elements
It suppresses uncontrolled awakening
It enhances physical ability beyond human limits
It synchronizes with the wearer's nervous system
The armor does not just protect.
It commands.
The weapons are equally advanced—far beyond modern crafting, bordering on impossible. Some believe the technology is not technological at all… but something older.
Something Kazul stole—or uncovered—after facing Mournveil.
What Black Iron Truly Is
Black Iron claims to protect the world from chaos.
In truth, it is terrified of evolution.
Irregulars.
Mimics.
True ancestral awakenings.
They represent a future Black Iron cannot control.
So Black Iron does not wait for monsters to rise.
They erase them before they are born.
And if one survives?
They hunt.
Relentlessly.