Frank smoothed out the final golden fold of the ancient silk scroll across the hood of his supply wagon. Then, the evening sky over the northern borderlands ignited in blazing bright, sky gold.
A huge pillar of royal destiny erupted from the silk, punching straight through the twilight air. High in the clouds, ten thousand feet above the heads of the army, the golden radiance coalesced into a huge, ten-thousand-foot ghostly phantom. The crowned image of the First Conferred Emperor of Great Da-Qi, seated upon a throne of coiled dragons and draped in royal robes of nine-colored sky light.
When the phantom spoke, its voice was not merely loud. It was an omnipotent, realm-spanning decree that rang across the skies of thirty regional kingdoms at the same time:
“BY THE SACRED, Fixed WILL OF THE FOUNDING HEAVENS OF GREAT DA-QI! THE CENTENNIAL TEACHER-Student GREAT WAR IS HEREBY DECREED! AFTER TEN THOUSAND YEARS OF COLD Sleep, THE BLOODLINE OF THE CONFERRED EMPIRE SHALL TEST THE VIGOR OF THE CURRENT EPOCH!”
On the newly paved granite highway, ten thousand veteran royal soldiers, Commander Zhao. Grandmaster Feng fell to their knees. Their foreheads were pressed against the stone. The booming royal decree continued, rolling across the continent like endless thunder:
