Chapter 11: Ashes and Echoes
The snows of March fell black with soot.
In the mining town of Verkhoyansk, a telegraph station blinked out.
Two hours later, half the Trans-Arctic Rail collapsed into a frozen river—sabotaged. Fifty workers dead. A month’s production of coal and iron lost beneath the ice.
Mikhail stared at the reports inside the Imperial War Room, eyes burning like coals.
[System Alert: Internal Threat Level – CRITICAL] [Mission Objective: Suppress the Children of the True Flame]
A note had been left on the wreckage:
"The land is not for machines. Nor for kings. It is for those who remember the fire."
In the wake of his coronation, old enemies had not surrendered—they had gone underground, striking with calculated ferocity.
The Children of the True Flame were no longer just saboteurs. They were an insurgency.