Salem walked with Railia, she shared with him all the happenings while he had slept, they had brought several smaller clans of elves into the fold. They had rescued dwarves and human villages along the way, they had met ambassadors from the dwarves, catfolk, and the elven empire. They had also completed the list of missions within the first year since then they had become the best in the business when it came to the creation of weapons and medicine. They had also finished the foundations for the next step for the fortification of Void City, to make sure there were no unexpected accidents he would need to unify the entire mountain. Both koftas and Idos would need to be vacated of any living being if they were to accomplish this next step.

They arrived at the gates to find the twins in full armor with their mounts beside them, the helh rauku were now the height of large wolves, they could be ridden for hundreds of miles before they tired, he was glad they were thriving but regretted missing the first decade of their growth. He felt his connection to the queen and king of the nest, the queen like always was taking care of the eggs as there had yet to be a replacement born for that role. The little king, on the other hand, felt the call and it raced to its master, as he felt the beast move through the castle ground he also heard a few shouts of surprise. The twins smiled mischievously at the ruckus he had caused, Railia stood beside him but he caught a wisp of a smile before it vanished, he sighed on the inside as he thought of how great the day had started.

Moments later his mount came hurtling through the gates, like the others it had armored plates like a centipede though they had fewer legs now that were much thicker their heads were triangular similar to a shark or lizard. It would seem they had gone through a few changes since their pure insect bodies had mutated, from what he could tell they were going to eventually be similar to the dragons of the immortal world, longer in form than the dragons of myth from his birth world and the current plane he was on now. Though he had not heard of any clans or tribes of dragon kind, they had been mentioned in old texts of the human and elven clans that had been gathered. Thinking to this point he was curious what their wings were going to look like, his mount nuzzled into him letting out growls and clicks from his throat, he chuckled at the affection and pet the demons head to reward him for coming so quickly. He noticed the black saddles attached to the mounts and got acquainted with the firm leather before climbing onto the demons back.

He shifted in the saddle until he was comfortable before leading the others towards the exit of the city, they traveled through the streets at a steady pace. Salem examined his city for the first time in a decade, and he was happy with what he saw, a sea of people went about their day some would bow or salute in their direction as they passed but before they noticed the riders he saw signs of happiness and unity. Salem was wholeheartedly impressed with the way they had ruled the city in his absence with a lightened heart he set out at a faster pace, with their mounts it took half an hour to reach the city gates. A few squads joined them at the gates some rode giant elk and some rode demons, once they fell into rank they made for the fort. Even on mounts, it took a few hours to reach the fort, once they came around the last bend there was a sea of armored shades waiting for them with a path that leads directly to the forts' gate.

Dawn was fast approaching and they needed to make sure their forces were prepared to dig out the pests in one fell swoop. Salem dismounted and led the others inside the fort to the war room, a few of the council members had already arrived and they were only waiting on a few stragglers and any auxiliary troops they had brought. Salem started the meeting not wanting to waste time, "Welcome everyone, from the reports there are roughly one hundred thousand orcs in Koftas' inner city, our goal is to eliminate them. If they choose to run then let them but we will push them all the way out. The first to enter the city will be the shades, once they flood into the city you have permission to do whatever you see fit to destroy them. I am not concerned with the state of the city, except for the walls do what you can to preserve them."

The dwarf captains began giggling and whispering to each other which had Salem wonder what new toy they had, the rest of his forces had slipped in during the briefing to hear the plan, which really wasn't a plan at all other than to roll over the enemy by using overwhelming numbers. Though that was what the shades were for to serve as cannon fodder so none were to upset with the 'plan'. The human ambassadors stood to ready their forces, Salem motioned for them to sit while the rest of the council went their separate ways.

They looked at one another quizzically before speaking, "What need do you have of us our liege?" They had assumed they would be joining the battle and had brought their forces with them as well.

"Don't worry, you have a different mission, but a battle that might be exceedingly more complicated than war. I need you to take your forces to Idos and persuade the city lord and elders to surrender." The ambassadors paled slightly at the thought, luckily their lord hadn't left them with only those orders. "You can use whichever methods you want, two squires are already at the fort on that side with their armies ready to assist you. First approach your contacts and friends, after that you can purchase the greedy ones and threaten the cowardly ones. You have one week to get all of your pawns before we will march on them next. Oh, and if they surrender, have the citizens evacuated to Void city, I want Idos to be empty as fast as possible, go now everything you need has already been taken to the other fort."

Salem did not spare them another thought before he walked through the fort till he reached the wall overlooking Koftas, laid before him was the first city that he had arrived at since coming to this world and though it no longer burned it was still reduced to near ruins from the battles that had been waged within its' walls. As the sun rose over the walls he gave the order for the shades to march upon the land of the living. Large horns were blown and the gates creaked open with the rattling of chains, he could hear the armor of thousands of shades moving as one, Railia and the Twins joined him on the parapets to watch the shades as they became an ocean once they spread into formation beyond the fort.

The ground shook slightly from the sheer number of them, once they reached one hundred meters beyond the gate they broke into a full charge towards Koftas. They made no noise besides that of their boots hitting the ground, Salem smirked as he watched them move to conquer his enemies at command, there was something so satisfying watching your armies move at your command, not wanting to miss out on the battle he leaped from the wall to land directly into the saddle of his demon, it screeched in surprise and bolted after the shades. Salem looked over his shoulder to see Railia shake her head at him only to jump from the walls a moment later and land on her own mount followed shortly after by the Twins.

He laughed aloud and enjoyed their antics, it had been too long since he had truly lived in the moment. He summoned his armor as there was no need to risk assassination on a battlefield, again, he thought to himself. He had caught up to the back of the shades before he got much further he heard the sounds of battle, the loud sound of cracking wood pierced over the sound of roaring orcs. He led his mount to a small hill that would give him a better view, he had just gotten comfortable when the shades had already broken through the defenses.

Railia and the Twins arrived moments later, Sarah pulled up beside him exclaiming at the battle, "Well that was even faster than the last time we conquered the city."

"Wish he would conquer us more often!" came the voice of the other twin, Sasha winked at them as she rode toward the city. Salem thought to himself before agreeing with that statement and rode after her, once they reached the city gates of Koftas, what was left of them, they started to smell the tang of blood in the air. Past the gates were piles of green bodies, the wraiths had piled the bodies high while a few apprentices would pull some aside for the squires or their own to practice their skills at creating shades. Once the apprentices could create their own and had reached a certain level in their training they could now form a group and be assigned missions either during the battle, or on trade routes and the missions would grow in difficulty as the empire expanded.

Salem knew eventually that some of his progeny would perish, as he grew stronger his territory would grow and they would be sent to conquer lands at his behest. They needed to be strong of mind and body, he could not coddle them, those who sought to be warriors would be given the best training and equipment, but only after they had proved themselves.

He would only take to the frontlines when opponents similar to his own strength would be available if he destroyed everything his people would lose an important whetstone to sharpen themselves with. As they traveled through the ruined city a group of dwarves was snickering among one another, curious as to what they were up to they stopped their mounts and watched the show. A short time later a young void elf sprinted around the corner, hot on his heels was a Warband of orcs that would rip him and the dwarves to pieces. Seeing the smiles on the dwarves' faces he knew things were not as serious as they appeared. The young elf in the lead the orcs for another thirty meters before he dived into an open grate that led to the sewers, as soon as he was out of site the dwarves had lit something on fire, the sparks traveled quickly before splitting off into the shops that were around the orcs. After the sparks disappeared a massive explosion rocked the entire street, shrapnel shredded the orc war party into minced meat, the young elf crawled out from a grate next to the dwarves and received cheers from all around the party.

"That was quite impressive, find out who they are and give them the resources they need to create a division in the army, explosives, and traps of various kinds could be very advantageous in future battles!" Salem exclaimed to Railia and the Twins. He hoped to see the inventiveness of this interesting party on a much grander scale. Railia sent one of the apprentices following them to collect the information while they resumed their journey to the front lines.

After getting closer to the front lines they noticed that the fighting had mostly come to an end, their shades massively outnumbered the orcs, forcing them out at this point was a mere formality of ordering the shades to attack.

Strangely enough, there was a group of Squires with their apprentices, a squire noticed them passing by and ran over to report the situation. There was a group of women and children among the orcs, some humans and elves but they were led by an orc woman, she was quite tall with long raven black hair that fell to her waist. She wore a robe made of beast hides that stuck close to her toned body, she only had a ceremonial bone dagger on her waist, so she wasn't a warrior. Curious about the orc and her followers he pushed through the small crowd until he came face to face with her.

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"Who are you and what brings you and your kin to my lands?" she gave no response so he repeated the question in her native tongue. This elicited a look of surprise on her face so he continued in Orcish, "I see, you only speak in your mother tongue, tell me why have you and your tribes invaded my home and for what purpose are you keeping those women and children?"

'I so very much hate Orcish, finding ways to be civil with it is ridiculous, everything could come out as either a threat or a challenge' he thought to himself. Her reply to his question was shocking, she knelt to the ground and averted her eyes and proclaimed her intentions, "Oh God of the Void we have been sent by the Goddess of the Crimson Dawn with a message, one that only you will know the meaning, she has instructed me and my former tribe to come and ally ourselves with you and spread you name to the furthest reaches of the land!"

Salem stood silently, he watched the orc pull a small ornate box from a pouch and held it out to him, waiting for him to accept it. 'I don't know a goddess by that name, strange how did one of the gods even find this tiny realm. There is no way that they tracked the emperor's soul through time and space right? If they did then we have to make preparations to leave, but first, let us see what this goddess has to say.'

He gently took the box from the orc woman and examined it, it was made from gold with red runes beautifully etched onto its surface, the runes were so tightly packed they looked like a bright red sun with brilliant crimson rays shifting along its surface. He opened the box to find a ring within, a delicate gold band inlaid with a stunning red gem, tiny crimson runes gliding across the surface. It was a treasure beyond compare, he felt that it was familiar to him he caressed the side of the ring, as soon as he made contact with it he heard the message begin to play.

"At long last big brother I have finally found you!"