The dust hanging over Sector 7 of the Jiuzhou Borderlands had begun to settle into a golden haze in the late afternoon light.
Three miles behind the forward outer edge, an armored column of carriages and jade palanquins moved cautiously down the military highway. Surrounding the convoy were two hundred elite royal guards holding iron heater shields, escorted by three dozen senior elders from the Great Sun Valley and the Heavenly Cloud Sect. At the head of the procession was Regional Envoy Wu, seated upon a massive armored war-rhino, his ritual purple silk robes fluttering in the wind.
Wu gripped the jade reins with sweaty palms. “Keep defensive magic charms fully charged!” Envoy Wu hissed to his escort captain, his voice trembling. “The forward sector has gone quiet! That can only mean one thing: the mad youths in blue denim have been wiped out! The deep-sea fiends have devoured them! When we arrive, we shall document their destruction, supply order any leftover supplies, and retreat to the country pass!”
Commander Zhao rode thirty paces ahead, his command saber drawn, his expression tight with dread. In his thirty years of military service, no forward guard post had ever survived such a multi-vector assault.
