The journey beyond Solspire's crumbling borders was treacherous.
Captain Ysrael led the expedition personally, a small company of elite scouts and diplomats selected by Lee Sung himself. Each had sworn the blood-oath. Each carried a fragment of Solspire's fragile hope.
Their destination: the Azure League — a federation of city-states ruled by merchant-lords, most of whom were summoned individuals who had quickly grasped the art of wealth and subtle power.
Lee Sung did not go in person. His wounds from the battles, both physical and political, were still healing. More importantly, he knew better than to expose himself to a foreign court where oaths and loyalty were worth less than a handful of gold.
Instead, he watched and waited from Solspire, his spies sending him daily coded reports.
---
The Azure League – The City of Saphir
The League's largest city was a dazzling sight: marble streets, golden towers, and sprawling marketplaces that pulsed with life. Banners of blue and silver snapped in the breeze, each bearing the sigil of a different merchant house.
Ysrael's company entered under heavy scrutiny. Guards in fine silks and polished armor lined the streets, their spears crossed ominously at every checkpoint.
"This is not a city of warriors," Ysrael muttered to his lieutenant, "but a city of knives in the dark."
Their reception was held in the Grand Hall of Concord — an ancient palace repurposed into a marketplace for politics. Here, power was bought, sold, and assassinated with equal ease.
Waiting for them was Cassian Vale, the most powerful of the merchant-kings — a summoned man from Earth, dressed in deep blue robes embroidered with arcane runes. His smile was polished. His eyes were calculating.
"Welcome, emissaries of Solspire," Cassian said, bowing with deceptive warmth. "It is good to see new blood entering the great game of this world."
Ysrael returned the bow stiffly, presenting the seal of Solspire — a black phoenix rising from ashes — to the court.
"We come to open trade routes," Ysrael announced, "and to seek mutual benefit."
Cassian chuckled, a sound like coins falling into a deep well.
"Of course you do. But here, Captain, everything has a price. Even friendship."
---
Back in Solspire – The Throne Room
Lee Sung paced the cracked marble floors, the latest scroll from Ysrael clenched in his fist.
"Cassian is dangerous," Ysrael's report read. "More dangerous than any Tenebrous noble. He smiles with honeyed words but smells blood in the water."
Lee Sung scowled.
Of course it would be like this.
The summoned ones outside Solspire had not simply survived — they had thrived. Some had become kings, others merchants, others warlords. But none of them had escaped the fundamental truth: this world was built on treachery.
"Send word to Ysrael," Lee Sung ordered his scribe. "Offer limited trade deals. No military alliances. And remind him: trust no one."
The scribe bowed and hurried away.
Lee Sung sat back on the throne, shadows coiling at his feet like patient hounds.
Already, he could see the outlines of future wars forming.
The Azure League would not remain neutral forever. Nor would the Crimson Blades in the north. And Velaria's sorceress-queen... she would not tolerate another magic user rising too high.
Solspire was a spark in a dry forest.
The first winds were coming.
---
Meanwhile – In the Azure League
As Ysrael negotiated, darker currents stirred beneath the marble streets.
Whispers spoke of agents of Tenebrous moving among the merchant houses, spreading coin and poison alike. Spies from Velaria had been seen slipping through the markets, searching for artifacts and lost magics.
And among the summoned individuals, there were rumors of secret alliances forming — pacts between rulers that would decide the fate of entire regions before the first sword was ever drawn.
Ysrael reported back urgently:
"My lord, there are others. Summoned ones who never sought to return home. They have become lords in truth, with ambitions stretching far beyond mere survival."
"Some remember Earth only as a dream. Others speak of it as a prison they have escaped."
"If we are to survive, we must think not as survivors — but as kings."
Lee Sung read the report by candlelight, his face carved from stone.
He understood.
Solspire could no longer be a city clinging to life in the ruins of yesterday. It had to rise. It had to become an empire.
Or it would be devoured.
---
Later – Lee Sung's Private Chamber
He sat alone, Akane's journal open before him, her handwriting a ghost across the page.
"Trust is a double-edged sword," she had written once. "But isolation is slow death. Build wisely, Sung. Build something that will last even if you are gone."
He closed the book gently.
"I will," he whispered to the silent room.
The foundations had been laid.
Now, the world would tremble.