MAN OF CONQUEST
Chapter One: Ashes of the Lion
Word Count Target: 10,000+
(Part 1 below, full chapter continues — will break it into readable sections and continue as you wish.)
🌒 Prologue: A Dagger at Dawn
"Kingdoms do not fall by sword. They fall by silence." – Kaelen Drayce
The old man ran through the corridors of the Elarion High Keep with blood on his hands and dread in his lungs. Bells hadn't rung yet. The guards still slept. But doom was already in the walls — quiet, crawling, and burning from within.
In his arms, he carried a child. Swaddled in cloth, skin marked with strange red sigils — a baby not born of any noble house, yet bearing the curse of kings. Behind him, fire crept through the throne hall, slow and deliberate. As if the castle itself was bleeding flame.
High above the western tower, a dark figure watched from a black-winged wyvern — a man clad in charred armor, his eyes burning like coals.
Kaelen Drayce.
He had returned.
⚔️ Part I – The Trial Pit
Seventeen Years Later
Location: The Scarlet Wastes, Southern Velmora
The sun here never smiled — it only scowled. The Scarlet Wastes were an ocean of rust and sand, where bones decorated the dunes and the wind screamed like widows. No birds. No rivers. Just heat, silence, and the occasional thunder of steel.
And today, the pit would taste blood.
"ZADOK! ZADOK! ZADOK!"
The crowd — prisoners, raiders, exiles — roared the name of their champion. He stood at the edge of the arena, bare-chested, muscles carved like stone, his face scarred by flame and war. Two blades crossed his back — one chipped steel, one obsidian. His dreadlocks hung heavy with sand. Eyes cold.
Across from him stood a mountain of a man — Hrogg the Butcher, undefeated in the pit. His axe was forged from the bones of giants. He smiled through broken teeth.
The horn blew. The sand shifted.
Zadok moved first — no hesitation, no roar, just violence.
Their blades clashed like gods arguing through steel. Sparks lit the sky. Sand flew in spirals. The crowd screamed with every dodge, every blow, every feint.
Then… Zadok slid low, sliced the giant's knee, and drove his obsidian blade through his neck in one clean thrust.
Silence.
Then the crowd erupted.
💠 Part II – Whispers of Bloodlines
That night, as the camp drank to Zadok's victory, an old man approached him. Cloaked, half-blind, voice like gravel.
"You don't belong here, boy. You were born in fire. But not this fire."
Zadok turned, hand already on his blade. But something in the old man's eye stopped him.
"Your name was never just 'Zadok.' You carry a name older than kings. Come to the ruins. Come alone. And I will tell you who you are."
👑 Part III – Princess Amara's Bargain
Far to the north, within the marble halls of Castle Velmoria, Princess Amara Valen stood before the royal council — a den of snakes in robes and crowns.
"I will not marry the Serpent Prince," she said.
The nobles gasped.
Lord Mortayne, the king's adviser, leaned forward. "You will, or your kingdom will fall within the year. He has legions. You have dancers."
Amara's fist tightened beneath her sleeve. She had studied war, read the Art of Dominion, learned the history of conquest. But they only saw her face — not the fire behind it.
Later, that night, a hidden letter arrived by hawk.
"To the Princess of Chains,
If you wish to be free of your golden prison, come to the edge of the Wastes.
A man of blood and blade is rising. You'll want to see this yourself.
— K.D."
Kaelen Drayce had spoken.
🩸 Part IV – Kaelen and the Ghost of Empire
Kaelen sat by the fire beneath the ruins of Taryndor, his sword glowing faintly, the spirit inside whispering in a tongue long dead. Around him, ten men lay dead — soldiers of the Iron Circle. Slain without sound.
His wyvern, Velcrith, curled nearby, eyes scanning the stars.
Kaelen touched the brand on his wrist — the mark of exile — and whispered:
"They will learn what a forgotten prince can become."
He stared into the flame and smiled. Somewhere out in the dunes, Zadok lived. Somewhere in the palace, Amara plotted. And the war to come would make kings kneel and gods weep.
➤ TO BE CONTINUED…