The heavy, armored wheels of the royal transport hummed a low, steady rhythm against the pristine obsidian-paved roads of the Royal Realm. Outside the tinted, bulletproof windows, the dense, untamed wilderness of the outer territories gave way to towering silverwoods and ancient, glowing flora. They

The rain in the lawless outer territories didn’t fall so much as it spat—a cold, relentless drizzle that turned the hard-packed dirt of the rogue settlements into a thick, putrid sludge.

Kaelen Cross grunted, his boots sinking ankle-deep into the mud as he hoisted a massive, rusted crate of scrap