Chapter 43 Gravewind Pass
Snow fell heavily over Gravewind Pass, blanketing the narrow mountain road in pristine white. A long column of royal forces marched through the pass, five hundred soldiers, supply wagons, and inquisitorial carriages moving toward the frontier for the planned purge.
Darius watched from the ridge above, black mist curling around him despite the cold. Ossian stood at his side, Rhen on the other. Vael waited below with the main force.
“They march as if the land still belongs to them,” Ossian murmured. “Arrogant.”
Darius’s glowing green sockets narrowed. “Then we remind them it doesn’t.”
He raised his clawed hand. At his silent command, the snow along both sides of the pass erupted.
Hundreds of undead soldiers buried beneath the drifts rose in eerie silence. Snow cascaded off bone plating and rusted armor as they surged upward, weapons already drawn. The royal column had no warning.
Chaos exploded across the pass.
Vael led the first charge, smashing into the center of the column like a battering ram. His massive axe cleaved through shields and bodies with brutal efficiency. Rhen darted through the ranks, cutting throats and sowing panic. Darius leaped from the ridge, landing in the heart of the enemy formation.
He moved like death itself. Claws tore through armor. Black mist spread fear faster than any blade. Soldiers screamed as undead hands dragged them down into the snow, only for them to rise moments later with glowing green eyes, turning on their former comrades.
“Hold the line!” a royal captain shouted. “It’s an ambush! Fight…”
Darius ripped the captain’s head from his shoulders before he could finish the order.
The battle was merciless and one-sided. The undead fought with cold, perfect discipline. No fatigue. No fear. No mercy. Darius directed them like pieces on a board, cutting off retreat routes and crushing resistance pockets with surgical precision.
Within twenty minutes, the royal column was broken. Surviving soldiers fled into the snow, only to be hunted down by risen thralls. The pass ran red beneath the white.
Rhen approached Darius after the slaughter, breathing hard. “It’s done. We’ve taken the wagons and supplies. Their purge just lost its teeth.”
Darius stood amid the carnage, black mist swirling thickly around him. He looked at the mountain of fresh corpses without emotion. No regret. No hesitation. Just cold calculation.
“Good,” he said flatly. “Raise as many as we can use. Burn the rest. We move on to the next target before they can regroup.”
Rhen studied him carefully. “Commander… you didn’t even flinch this time. You used to hate this part. Now it’s like you barely notice the blood.”
Darius turned his glowing sockets toward his lieutenant. “The man who hated this died under a pile of bodies. The Hollow King does what is necessary.”
Ossian joined them, nodding approvingly. “You are finally learning. Emotion is a weakness. This is how empires are built.”
They moved through the destroyed column, looting weapons, armor, and supplies. Darius stopped near a cluster of overturned wagons at the rear. Something felt different about them, heavily reinforced and marked with Radiant Veil seals.
He tore open the first cage with his claws.
Inside were children. Dozens of them. Some as young as five or six. All were marked with glowing holy symbols branded onto their arms and chests. They huddled together, terrified, eyes wide at the sight of the towering undead king.
Rhen froze beside him. “Gods… they were transporting children.”
Darius stared at the small, trembling forms. One little girl looked up at him with tear-streaked cheeks and whispered, “Are you going to eat us like the soldiers said?”
The words should have stirred something in him. Instead, they only fueled the cold rage burning in his hollow chest. The Holy Crown wasn’t just purging adults. They were taking children for their twisted experiments.
Darius reached into the cage and gently broke the chains on the nearest child. “You are safe now,” he said, his voice surprisingly soft despite its unnatural rasp. “No one will take you again.”
He turned to Rhen and Ossian, eyes burning brighter than ever.
“Send word to every village still standing. The Crown is coming for their children. Tell them the Hollow King offers protection. Tell them if they want to live… they come to Ashfeld Threshold.”
The war had escalated.
And Darius was no longer content with simply surviving.
He would dismantle the kingdom piece by piece, starting with the ones they tried to hide in cages.