The northern skies churned with ash-gray clouds, and the bite of frost laced every breath. War drums pounded a deep and ominous rhythm across the Northern front.
The Shelb, Imperial, and Valenhart armies advanced like a single monstrous organism, their movements precise, synchronized, and unwavering.
From a distance, it was impossible to tell they were separate legions. Steel clinked, banners flapped, and the snow beneath their boots turned to slush with their relentless march.
At the highest point of the region stood Valenhart Castle—Healian Empire's final bastion before the North gave way to the mountain ranges. Those jagged peaks rose like frozen fangs, separating the Empire from the savage expanse of the Hamoon tribal lands.
The only connection between them was the Phoenix Pass, a natural corridor fortified by a wall that doubled as the Phoenix Fortress.
Beyond Phoenix Pass lay a canyon that was a natural barrier between the Phoenix Pass and the guardians of the North, the Castle of Altona—the Empire's vanguard against the Northern threats.
And in the eastern corner of the castle, well above the ground, stood the Northern Mage Tower.
Within the Northern Mage Tower, tucked behind reinforced stone walls and glowing mana seals, two women watched as dawn struggled to break through the stormy clouds.
The Northern Research Laboratory buzzed with activity, scrolls strewn across tables, crystals humming with containment spells.
Magda Valoria von Shelb stood in the center, her crimson eyes unblinking, poring over arcane diagrams.
Flora, Duchess of Valenhart and Magda's sister-in-law, paced nearby. Her golden hair was pulled into a loose braid, her cheeks flushed from the heated arguments she'd had with herself. Her voice broke the silence.
"How can you be so calm? Fredrick is leading the vanguard. They're out there risking their lives, and you're—you're just reading scrolls!"
Magda didn't look up. "I trust him. I trust Ethan. I trust Calista. And Vivian. They are not reckless."
"But that doesn't mean they're invincible!" Flora's voice cracked, and her eyes brimmed with tears. "You act like none of this touches you because Micheal is safe behind castle walls."
At that, Magda lifted her head, her gaze razor-sharp. "Don't confuse silence with indifference. Micheal may be safe today, but he has marched alongside Ethan. And if I could have stopped him from going, I would have. Just like Fredrick sent you here to keep you from the frontlines."
Flora's lips trembled. "Then why? Why do you always act like you're made of ice?"
Magda softened, stepping closer. She took Flora's hands in hers. "Because one must stay calm if they desire to find solutions. You're worried because it's your first war. That is natural. It doesn't make you weak."
Flora buried her face in Magda's shoulder. Her tears dampened the edge of Magda's robe, but the princess held her steady.
"Fredrick didn't send you here to exile you. He sent you to safety," Magda continued. "And I am glad you are here."
Flora sniffled. "But I'm not helping anyone just sitting here."
Magda guided her toward the central worktable, pointing at a sprawling battle map. "Then listen. Let me tell you what we are planning. Maybe that will soothe you a bit."
Her voice turned crisp, clinical. "The Phoenix Pass is defensible. The wall has been reinforced with wards and artillery. The plan is to hold the fortress as long as possible. But if the beasts breach it, we lure them south into the canyon between the fortress and the castle."
"That canyon with the three bridges?" Flora asked, wiping her eyes.
Magda nodded. "Yes. The goal is to allow them to flood the bridges—and then collapse them. The explosives are already placed beneath the arches."
Flora blinked. "Why not destroy the bridges now? Prevent the crossing altogether?"
"Because," Magda said grimly, "if the high-tier beasts[1] are not caught on the bridges, they will use the corpses of the low-tier ones[2] to form new paths. There are too many of them."
The words settled like frost.
Magda walked to another table and lifted a crystal sphere pulsating with faint blue light. "We believe the beast frenzy is tied to low-frequency mana waves. These waves amplify microbial activity—an effect that we have now traced back to the rebirth cycle of the Ice Phoenix."
Flora tilted her head. "Are you saying that it is possible to reverse all this?"
"I think," Magda said, her voice low, "precisely! If I can isolate the correct resonance and break the wave pattern, we may be able to neutralize the frenzy."
Flora clasped her hands together. "So if we stop the frequency…"
"The beasts will regain their instincts. They will leave the settlements. No beast attacks human settlements when they sense obvious danger."
The Duchess nodded slowly. Then, with eyes glistening anew, she stepped beside Magda and whispered a prayer.
"May the Phoenix guard our kin."
A high-pitched chime echoed from one of the containment crystals. Magda turned abruptly, her heart skipping. A strand of symbols glowed bright violet across the observation matrix.
"What is it?" Flora asked.
Magda stared. "Ah! Finally."
The air thickened with mixed emotions.
Magda, who had been comforting Flora so far, lost interest all of a sudden.
"We finally found it," Magda whispered.
Flora gripped her arm. "What are you talking about? Is something wrong?"
Magda looked up, a victorious look blazing in her crimson eyes.
"We don't fight it. We might have found the answer after two years of experimentation."
"What are you saying?" Flora looked at Magda as if she had started speaking in an alien tongue.
"Magda, answer me."
The first ray of dawn finally broke through the clouds, casting the mage tower in a silver light. Flora followed Magda around as Magda paced the lab like a possessed woman.
Magda moved to a glass case and retrieved a small, healthy stem segment taken from a highland tree known for its resilience. Carefully, she sliced it open to reveal its clean, concentric growth rings.
"Come closer," she said to Flora.
The Duchess stepped in. Magda placed the cross-section of the stem on a mana-inscribed pedestal. At first, the structure remained unmarred—the phloem and xylem pristine and well-defined.
Then, Magda gestured to a sealed vial of concentrated northern mana. As the stem was exposed, fine distortions began to ripple through the sample. The xylem vessels twisted, the phloem shriveled.
"See how the structure reacts," Magda explained. "It mimics the accelerated decay we see in infected flora and fauna."
Flora gasped. "It's like it's dying... from the inside."
Magda then lifted a second crystal—the very one that had chimed moments ago. As she held it close, the tree sample began to pulse faintly with light. The distortions reversed. Vessels re-straightened. Cellular channels reformed.
"This," Magda said, her voice low with awe, "is what I've named the Life Mana Signal. It neutralizes the Death Signal that we believe permeates during the Ice Phoenix's rebirth cycle."
Flora looked between the stem and the crystal. "So... nature itself is polarizing the mana signals and turning them into death signals?"
Magda nodded solemnly. "Exactly. A balance thrown into chaos. Now that I've isolated the life frequency, the next step is finding a means to disperse it across the region. If we can blanket the northern front with this resonance—we might just stop the frenzy before it consumes us."
The crystal in her hand pulsed again, a heartbeat of promise against the encroaching storm.
[1] High-tier beasts are the ones of red, orange and yellow aura or color.
[2] Low-tier beasts are violet, indigo and blue color or aura. The tier is based on the colors of the rainbow.