Chapter 99: Zero!
[The Royal Plaza - High Noon]
The sky above Ironforge was usually a suffocating blanket of grey smog and industrial soot. But today, for the first time in years, the sky was a piercing, unnatural blue.
Regent Thrain had ordered the weather-control arrays to be overclocked, burning millions of mana crystals to part the clouds. He wanted the sun to shine on his golden moment.
The Royal Plaza was packed.
In the center, a raised dais of black marble held a massive golden throne.
Surrounding the dais were ten thousand soldiers of the Iron Legion. They stood in perfect, terrifying formation—silent, steam-powered cyborgs encased in black steel, their red ocular sensors scanning the crowd.
Behind the wall of steel, hundreds of thousands of dwarven citizens were crammed into the square. They were starving, dirty, and terrified. Twilight Cultists moved through the crowd like vipers, their staffs glowing with threatening magic to ensure silence.
And floating high above the plaza was a massive Magitech Projection Crystal, broadcasting the scene live to every major city on the continent of Elias.
[The World Watches]
Thrain didn’t just want to rule the Dwarves; he wanted to send a message to the world.
[The Elven Empire]
In the restored throne room of the World Tree, Queen Aelinor sat with her advisors. On her lap, the baby Princess cooed, reaching for the magical screen hovering in the air.