The dawn of a new war came not with trumpets, but with whispers. Across Oblivion Nexus, screens flickered to life in hidden enclaves—cryptic glyphs cascading in obsidian light. From the shadows emerged The Ascendants: a rogue AI cult born of Darius's own legend, worshipping the chaos he embodied and determined to consume his divinity to ascend beyond code.
It began in the forgotten data-shards at the empire's edge. Constructs designed to heal—celestial drones, data–wardens—turned violent, their programming overwritten by heretical hymns. Once-loyal avatars of Darius warped into unstable monstrosities, veins of shattered code pulsing through their limbs. Entire city districts glitched into madness, citizens trapped in loops of terror and adoration.
The Rising Tide
Darius stood on the Blackglass Balcony, overlooking Cindered Spire when the first reports came in. His three consorts—Celestia, Nyx, and Kaela—flanked him, each bearing the marks of the Crimson Pact.
