The throne room was enormous. I stepped inside, and for a moment, my mi quiet, the sheer scale of the pce pressing in like a slow-moving wave.

  This wasn’t just some hall—this was the heart of the fort, a chamber built to and presence. Massive, supp pilrs lihe room. Thick, carved stoanding like silent guardians, their surfaces etched with strange random designs, thought up by various builders on a whim — pyers doing pyer things.

  The pce was mostly bare, but it wasy. There was weight in the cold stone walls, in the way the light from magic braziers and magic torches flickered against the rough-hewn edges, in the way the air felt heavy with something unspoken.

  This ce meant for power. For and. For someone who actually belonged here. And then there was the throne.

  A siform rose at the far end of the chamber, five steps up, pg it just high enough to overlook everything without feeling ridiculous.

  A throne. Not ornate, not draped in gold or velvet, not the kind of seat you’d find in an imperial court, but… imposing in its ht. It was made of dark, solid wood, reinforced with iron ats, its design sharp, practical, meant to st rather than impress. A I was impressed.

  Because it was mine.

  Or, at least, that’s what Lo had just finished expining. “We didn’t have the money for decorations,” she admitted, shifting unfortably, her hands grippiack of papers a little too tightly. “But we issioned a throne for you, Lady Charlie.”

  I exhaled slowly, eyeing the room again, taking in every detail I had glossed over at first ghe banners hanging against the walls—the imperial ones were faded, repurposed, stitched with hasty embroidery, as if they had been rushed to make this pce feel less empty.

  The subtle tension in the few people already gathered, waiting. Waiting for me. Something tightened in my chest.

  I wasn’t sure what it was.

  Pressure? Expectation? The weight of what this meant? I had never cared about thrones before. But this? This wasn’t just some symbolic seat of power.

  This ce made for me. I grinned, slow and sharp, pushing down the unfamiliar twist of emotion.

  “Well,” I said, breaking the silence, my voice just a little too casual. “At least it’s not gaudy.” Lo sighed heavily, muttering something about how I could at least pretend to appreciate it. But I did. I really did. “Good job, Lo.”

  I strolled forward, my steps slow, deliberate, my gaze fixed ohrone as I traced my fingers along its edges. The wood was smooth, worn down by the careful work of craftsmen, but the iron ats were cool to the touch, solid beh my fiips.

  For a moment, I let myself imagi. Myself, an indepe ruler. Not a pawn in someone else’s game. Not a pie a board moved by the empire. But something more.

  And just for a sed, something inside me shifted—like a locked door clig open somewhere deep, deep i wasn’t memories. No images of a past life, no hidden knowledge waiting to be uhed. But a feeling.

  A pull.

  As if I had just stepped into a pce I was always meant to stand. Like how I felt about Irwen—that strange, inexplicable sense of familiarity, the unshakable certainty that she was reted to me, even when I had no memories to prove it.

  Was it magic? Was Riker right? Was this world more real thay? …Even if it was, that didn’t matter.

  I turned, my thoughts slipping away, and lowered myself onto the throne, moving slowly, deliberately, the weight of the moment sinking in as my kilted to the side and I settled into pce. From here, the room stretched before me—wide, waiting.

  It wasy, but there were people missing. Like Alma. I rested my elbow on the armrest, fiapping idly as I goward Lo, who, somehow, had already dragged a wooden table he throne ht side and was stag a t pile of papers onto it.

  I raised an eyebrow. Of course. Even in the ceremony, bureaucracy haunted us. “Are we waiting?” I asked, shifting slightly.

  Lo didn’t even look up as she smoothed out the top dot. “Yes, Lady, they’re te.” Her voice was light, carrying a hint of something suspiciously amused.

  I narrowed my eyes, turning fully toward her, just in time to catch the glint of mirth dang in her gaze. “…Wasn’t this supposed to start in like a quarter hour?” I cocked my head, biting my lip, suddenly w if I had just breached some grand imperial protocol.

  Lo finally met my gaze, her lips twitg upward. “Yes.” She let the word linger, long enough that I knew something was ing. Then, with a pyful tilt of her head, she added, “but, Lady, you are e.” She paused for effect, then delivered the final blow. “It starts when you arrive.” And then she giggled.

  Lo. Giggled.

  I blinked, processing. Then, without thinking, I joined her. It wasn’t very ruler-like of me, but I didn’t care. “Okay, okay, but Lo, where is Lucas?” I finally asked, shifting in my seat. I had sent him a message, but he hadn’t been online all day. Which was weird. Lucas was the one person I could always t on to be h around, meddling in my affairs.

  Lo barely gnced up as she flipped through another dot. “Oh. He didn’t tell you?” she said, like it was the most casual thing in the world. “This m, he said he had to go on a secret mission, whatever that means.”

  I blihen sighed. Typical Lucas. No, we’d never date. We were barely funal as friends, and even that ushing it.

  The universe couldn’t let me have one moment of peace. The imperial attaché had arrived. He moved with that unshakable bureaucratifidehe kind of stride that said, I belong here, as if he weren’t, in fact, a thorn in my side.

  He approached the throne, his steps deliberate, before exeg a polite, formal bow. Then, without hesitatioepped to my left. Of course. Protocol. Always closer to the heart. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes, instead shifting my weight slightly, my fingers lightly tapping against the armrest of my throne.

  The presence of the attaché was an unwele shadow, but I wasn’t about to let it ruin the moment. Instead, my gaze flicked toward the wall behind me, drawn to the banners hanging high above. The imperial standard was dominating, draped directly behind the throne. A symbol of the empire’s preses authority, its cim over everything I stood for.

  A, beside it, were two smaller banners. Mihe realizatioled in my chest, slow and steady.

  Mine.

  They weren’t as grand, as imposing, but they were there, standing alongside the empire’s, g their htful p this room. In this world. A smirk pulled at my lips, something slow, something defiant. Because no matter how small those banners were pared to the empire’s looming presehey were mine. And soon? They wouldn’t be small at all.

  Before I could dwell on that mess, people started trig into the throne room. At first, it was just a few, a handful of officers, couriers, and key figures, taking their pear the edges of the chamber. Then?

  The flow picked up. More people streamed in, fighters, guild leaders, adventurers from Earth, and even locals, their faces curious, uain, or calg. Within mihe room I had thought was enormous felt full. More than a hundred people now stood inside, all waiting.

  For me.

  That was a new experiehe guards had positiohemselves he doors, others posted along the pilrs, some by the windoced strategically. I wasn’t sure who had ordered it, but I was impressed. Everythi official. Serious. Real. Too real.

  Lo’s voie from my spiraling thoughts. “Lady, it’s time. Your speech?” And just like that, I froze.

  Oh. Crap.

  I should have been preparing what to say. I should have been going over my key points, figuring out how to rally people, how to inspire them. But instead? I had done what I always did… Winging it at the st possible sed. I started sweating, and a shiver ran down my spine.

  Too te now. I forced myself to stand, fog on my Right to Rule stat. It wasn’t impressive, yet, but when used sparingly and in situations where the gap between my authority and theirs was wide, it had an effect. I took a deep breath, my pulse steadying, and raised my voice. Loud enough that eve row could hear me.

  “Wele, everyoo East Klippe.” My words echoed ihrone room, boung off the stone pilrs. I let my gaze sweep over the crowd, letting them feel the weight of this moment. “We live in a historic time, and this fort, this stronghold, is a proof of that.”

  I let my voice tighten, just slightly, feeding into the gravity of the moment. “In a single week, we, pyers from Earth, with the help of seasoned builders and architects, proved that we are more than outsiders; we are a force that belongs here.”

  I let my words hang in the vast, magic torch-lit chamber, the weight of them settling over the gathered crowd. The response was immediate.

  Gasps. Murmurs rippling through the room like a wave. A few exged wide-eyed gnces, while others, the more battle-hardehe strategists, the skeptiarrowed their gazes, abs the implications of what I had just said.

  “Don’t ask me the details,” I tinued, raising my voice slightly, so it carried to the back of the room, “but my mother, Queen Irwen, is leading a rebellion against the empire.”

  A fe inhales. Some of the NPC imperial-loyalists in the crowd visibly stiffeheir hands twitg heir sword hilts. I pressed on, ign them. “She gathered the survivors of various elven kingdoms ahem a story—a tale where she alone is the rightful ruler of all elven nds.”

  At that, someone snorted loudly. I didn’t even have to look. NightSwallow. The rogue leaned zily against a nearby pilr, arms crossed, her hood drawn just enough to cast a shadow over her smirking face. “Cssic.” She drawled, clearly unimpressed. “Now we get to join the imperial side in rebellion.” A few chuckles. A few gres.

  I ignored all of them. “But that is not important.” I cut through the growing murmurs, pulling the attention back to where it o be. “What is important,” I said, my voice sharpening, “is that she summoned a demon army and is marg here. And we o stop her. Not for the empire.” I let my gaze sweep over them, my expression turning harder, colder. “For the civilians.”

  That nded.

  A shift in the crowd. Tension deepening, pyers gng at each other, some nodding, others frowning, as if just now realizing that this wasn’t going to be a simple war. Then, because the universe refused to let me have a dramatient…

  “Yes! We’ll get a quest!” Stha yelled excitedly, pumping a fist in the air. That broke the dam. Excited murmurs erupted, some pyers already pulling up their system menus, looking for updates, cheg for the ping of a new mission.

  I sighed, irritated but amused. “Indeed!” I raised my voice, cutting through the excitement before it could fully derail into pyers screaming about loot drops and EXP gains. “But please, let me finish.”

  I waited, arms crossed, as the energy died down. A feard coughs, some sheepish grins, but eventually, silence. I took a breath, then tinued. “Today, I asked you all here for one reason.” My fiightened on the armrests of the throne.

  “To join my side.”

  “To join ht.”

  I let the words settle before driving the point home. “To defend against the horde of undead demons.” They o uand this wasn’t just a numbers game. “For that,” I said, shifting gears, the part of Lo’s pn sliding into pce, “I’ve created a royal pany.”

  More whispers.

  “A in a guild is wele to join.” That got a rea. Some nodding, some quick exges between loners in the crowd, a few calg gnces. I g Lo, but she merely shook her head ever so slightly.

  She had done all the work behind this, and now she wanted me to take the credit. It didn’t sit well with me. But if I mentioned her name, she’d be angry.

  No.

  She’d be very angry.

  And scary.

  I wasn’t ready to test the full extent of that particur threat. So I pressed on. “And for those of you here on behalf of yuilds…” I let my gaze sweep the crowd—catg Luminaria’s quiet, thoughtful expression as she stood he side of the room, her arms crossed, listening ily.

  A tacti. A strategist. A wild card.

  “…I have created a royal alliahat o like a shockwave. The murmurs exploded bato full-blown discussion. Some excited, some wary, others immediately cheg their menus, probably looking for the allianvite notification.

  Luminaria’s lips quirked slightly, but she said nothing while watg me, studying the room, already pnning five steps ahead. A few guild leaders exged gnces.

  Some with excitement. Some with cautious i. Some, like NightSwallow, with quiet amusement, as if waiting to see how far I could actually take this.