Lord of the Foresaken
Chapter 24: THE NEW DOMAIN

Chapter 24: THE NEW DOMAIN

The air in Goblin’s Hollow smelled of iron, moss, and the faint scent of sweat and fear. It had been a month since the battle, and the scars of war had become the foundation of something worse—order.

Reed stood atop the half-finished tower of the black stone fortress. Below him, the Hollow had transformed from a battlefield into a broken beehive. Smoke billowed from forges and hearths, while rows of mismatched huts stretched into the darkened treeline. Goblins, humans, and cursed hybrids toiled side by side—bound by necessity, not trust.

The system constantly updated information.

> DOMAIN STABILITY: 56%

> FACTION LOYALTY: 72% (GOBLIN), 44% (HUMAN), 29% (MIXED)

> SUB-FACTION ALERT: HUMAN CLERIC SEEN—UNREGISTERED

He dismissed the notice with a flick of his blood-stained glove.

"They’re testing the limits again," he muttered.

Shia, cloaked in dark silk and leaning on her chitin staff, joined him. Her eyes were no longer human—they were now streaked with glowing veins, a side effect of surviving the Soul Anchor. Making her stronger than ever, it was the first step toward goblins becoming more powerful than other creatures.

"They expected a liberator. They got a warlord," she said flatly.

Reed was undeterred. "I never promised mercy. Only survival."

The laws of the new domain were carved into stone tablets and embedded in the heart of each district:

All able hands must serve.

All crimes must be punished accordingly.

No oath is broken without blood.

The Hollow protects only the faithful.

Justice was swift and exact. A thief who stole food lost both his arms and was hung upside down from the Ironwood gates, his stomach ripped open by the mob. His screams lasted four days.

Some said Reed was cruel.

Others whispered that he was just.

He didn’t care what they said—as long as they obeyed.

The goblins integrated easily. Reed had taken them to hell and back; such loyalty did not fade. They obeyed orders, trained in squads, expanded tunnels, and rebuilt blood pits.

The humans were different. They saw Reed as a usurper—a perversion of the natural order. Even those who had pledged their loyalty grumbled when the work was too hard or the food too watery.

He gave them examples.

A former baron’s son, caught plotting to contact the surviving nobles, was paraded naked through the Hollow, then stabbed with a spear soaked in Hollowspawn venom. His death took eight hours.

After that, the grumbling grew quieter.

Shia’s condition worsened before stabilizing. Her recovery was not just physical—it was something deeper. Her aura darkened. Her eyes saw more than she had admitted.

"There’s something inside me now," she said one night. "The Soul Anchor isn’t just burning—it’s nesting."

Reed stared at her. "Do you want it gone?"

He shook his head slowly. "No. I want to know what he wants."

A week later, the first real rebellion broke out.

A hidden chapel had been built in the Wraithmarsh sector. Dozens of former villagers—mostly humans—had gathered under a rogue priest named Father Dair. They claimed the Domain was cursed, Reed a false ruler.

They prayed to the Lucent Court.

Reed sent no warning.

He sent Dren, the Knight-Binder.

The next morning, the marsh burned.

Smoke blackened the sky. Villagers were found pinned to the chapel walls, their mouths sewn shut with iron wire. Father Dair’s body was impaled upside down on an altar, his own tongue gagged in his throat.

Reed stood in the ashes and let the survivors watch as he branded the ruins with his own blood.

> GLYPH OF RECKONING APPLIED: AREA CURSED FOR 13 DAYS

"Let this remind you," he said, his voice echoing, "that faith without loyalty is betrayal."

No one spoke. Not even Shia. They looked at Reed with piercing eyes. They felt great respect for him as their current leader.

The next night, three more humans tried to escape the Hollow. They were terrified after seeing Reed and his army. The dark and evil aura was so strong that it made their bodies shiver in fear.

The system caught them.

> WARNING: LOYALTY VIOLATION DETECTED

> INITIATE PUBLIC PUNISHMENT

They were dragged to the central plaza and chained to the Execution Tree—a relic of the old goblin king. Reed did not speak. He only nodded.

Kivra, the Shadow Singer, wailed in a dead language. Shadows peeled from the ground and flayed the rebels’ flesh with long, careful strokes. No one turned away.

Reed walked through the Hollow that night in silence. A king without a crown. A warlord without peace. He saw the world from the darkness, where all evil was born. And that part of the world was beautiful to him. He could be himself without having to worry about what others thought. The strong took everything, and the weak could only bow their heads.

But the people worked. Without much talk they continued to work because they were the weak. In this world being weak was a disgrace that had to be cast aside.

They were afraid. But they obeyed. Because it was the only thing they could do.

And still, outside the Hollow’s borders, the world was in turmoil. The other kingdoms were not silent after what the Hollow had done. They were increasingly wary of him. That Reed could turn what they considered the weakest army into something so dangerous.

The messengers stopped coming. But the scouts returned with new stories:

A golden beacon of light rose in the north.

The kingdom that forged itself under the banner of fire.

The masked order slaughtered the village that called Reed’s name.

He stood atop the tower again, the mark on his chest pulsing in rhythm with something far away—something rising. Reed felt that the world was about to become more chaotic, and it pleased him. His bloodlust grew hotter and unbeknownst to him, Reed’s aura grew stronger.

Shia joined him.

"They’re coming, aren’t they?" she asked.

Reed nodded, a smile on his face that showed how happy he was.

And then, a new System alert flashed before his eyes.

>INCOMING MESSAGE: UNAUTHORIZED TRANSMISSION

>SOURCE: UNKNOWN SHIP // CLASS: ARCHONIC

Words printed on the interface:

"WE SEE WHAT YOU HAVE BUILT IN THE DARKNESS. WE HAVE COME TO DISMANTLE IT."