Prologue
A vast stone chamber sealed tight on all sides, without so much as a single skylight. A pitch-black room where not a ray of starlight could seep through. At the center stood a massive stone table, and tucked into one corner was a small oil lamp. The flame flickered quietly, barely illuminating the area around the table.
In the hazy shadows along the four walls, row upon row of bookshelves stretched out, crammed full with books that numbered easily in the tens of thousands.
Atop the enormous central table—spacious enough to seat ten without crowding—lay a profusion of items. One side held towering stacks of documents as tall as a man, alongside unfurled maps and diagrams of faction territories. The other bore charts of formations inscribed with the Eight Trigrams and arcane formulas, medical texts, and writing tools scattered nearby.
From somewhere in the chamber came a faint groan. Beneath the table, beyond the reach of the lamplight's glow, a young man clawed at his chest, writhing like a dying worm. His robes were soaked crimson, as if he had vomited blood again and again.
'Is this... really the end? So fleeting, my life.'
Just then, the chamber door swung open, flooding the space with light from outside. A sturdy middle-aged man with a long beard cast a long shadow as he strode in.
Scanning the room as if searching for someone, the man spotted the youth collapsed under the table and gasped in horror.
"Gasp... Military Strategist!!"
He rushed forward in a heartbeat, scooping up the bloodied figure and cradling him.
"Military Strategist! Military Strategist! Please, pull yourself together!"
At the sound of the man's desperate voice, the young man forced his eyes open. He met the man's gaze with a sorrowful smile and spoke, his words labored.
"The aftermath... I leave the aftermath to you, Clan Leader."
The pale-faced youth known as the Military Strategist managed those final words before his head lolled forward.
"Military Strategist!! Ah... To perish so young... The heavens are truly merciless."
Only the clan leader's anguished, heartbroken cries echoed through the stone chamber.