Dark omens loomed over the night skies of Sizat. Even in sleep, Emperor Karidia’s mind was restless, tormented by visions of banners burning, of an empire crumbling beneath unseen shadows. A single scream shattered his dreams.

  “Your Majesty! You must wake! The enemy is upon us—the capital burns!”

  Karidia's sleep was interrupted by these words. The sleep-deprived emperor's mind refused to believe what he was hearing. Who would attack the capital of the Sizat Empire? And how could they have crossed the border and reached the capital? All this was impossible. But if the general did not have a death wish, he would not have told such a lie at this time of night. Wanting to see the state of the city, the emperor got out of bed and went to the balcony. The agitated general followed him.

  “Report, Bolar!” said the emperor, alarmed by the screams he heard as he approached the balcony.

  “Who is the enemy and how many are there?”

  “Your Majesty…” Bolar’s voice wavered, his face pale as a ghost. “This… this is no mortal army.” He himself could not believe what he was saying. The emperor's agitated steps suddenly stopped. The general knew the emperor's anger very well, so he started swearing oaths before the emperor even turned his back.

  “I swear to the gods that I am telling the truth, Your Majesty! I know it sounds unbelievable, but it is true! The attackers are not human! I swear to all the gods, Your Majesty! Spare my life!”

  “Enough of this nonsense, Bolar! Speak plainly—what horror dares lay siege to my city?”

  The Emperor was still drowsy and what he was hearing was getting more absurd by the second.

  “Insects, your majesty... Giant insects,” he whispered. “But they are different from insects as we know them. They stand taller than a warhorse, their monstrous forms casting shadows over the streets. As the gods are my witness, I've never seen anything like this before.”

  “Insects? You speak madness, Bolar! No beast of such size could walk upon this earth!”

  The emperor squinted at the general.

  “Bolar, if you are lying, you will pay with your life.”

  A deep, unnatural hum filled the air. It was not the sound of war horns, nor the clash of steel—it was something else. Something wrong. The ground beneath the palace trembled, as if the city itself recoiled in fear. Karidia gripped the balcony railings, his breath catching in his throat. Then he saw them. With each monstrous step, the ground trembled, cobblestones splitting like dry parchment beneath their jagged limbs. Their chitinous bodies gleamed under the pale moonlight, an eerie, unnatural glow radiating from within. People ran around in panic, while soldiers desperately tried to escape the claws piercing their armor.

  Karidia’s fingers clenched the railing, his knuckles turning white. This was not how it was supposed to be. He was meant to rule, to conquer, to shape the world in its image. Yet now, he stood helpless, watching his empire crumble. Not by men. Not by steel. But by creatures unworthy of even a name. “The gods are punishing us...” he whispered to himself.

  At first glance, the Emperor realized that the situation was desperate because there were very few soldiers in the capital. Because of the campaign, the army was stationed near the borders of the target states. The defense of the capital was therefore left in the hands of a few hundred of the emperor's 'Blessed' bodyguards and a few thousand soldiers responsible for keeping order in the city. The nearest troops were several days away. The Emperor turned to his general and said , "Can we win?" Seeing the general's desperation and fear, the emperor already knew the answer, but he wanted to hear what his general had to say. He needed a little hope.

  “If we leave now we can get you safely out of the city, Your Majesty.” the general whispered. He was so scared he didn't realize he was whispering. It was as if he was afraid the insects would hear him.

  The emperor wanted to stay and defend the city he could save, but the situation seemed desperate. The Emperor was debating whether to flee or not when the palace shook violently. He would have fallen from the balcony if his general hadn't held him. A second later, another soldier ran onto the balcony and said, “Mejesty! They are trying to break into the palace!” he shouted. The tremor was not enough to destroy the emperor's palace, but it shattered his conviction that he had to protect his city.

  The emperor had the power of the Lightstones, and though he was old, he had the strength of several grown men, but the tremor was enough to make him realize that his enemy was dozens of times stronger than he was. He turned to his general and said, “Evacuate the palace immediately! We will join up with the troops in the south and return!” He took his bodyguards, his general and his family and set off for his troops in the south.

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  A week later the Sizat Army in all its might was positioned outside the city walls to clear their capital city of 'insects' . The Emperor waited for a report from the scouts. Meanwhile, his generals were discussing how to destroy the monsters with minimum casualties. Soon the scouts returned. The soldier in charge of the scouts saluted the emperor and then took a few steps forward. “In the city... Your Majesty, there are no enemies in the city and...” The emperor jumped to his feet and interrupted the soldier.

  “What do you mean there are no enemies! You mean there are no monsters that I have seen with my own eyes!”

  The soldier who wanted to save his life fell at the emperor's feet and tremblingly repeated his report.

  “We searched every street, every ruin, every hall… and yet, we found no trace of them, Your Majesty. It is as if they vanished into the shadows.”

  The Emperor summoned the other soldiers who had been scouting. All of them confirmed what the soldier, still on his knees, had said.

  “And my people? Are there any survivors?”

  The emperor's question caused all the soldiers' faces to darken. None of the soldiers wanted to answer the question, but the emperor grabbed one of them by the collar. The emperor's anger and the recollection of what he had seen caused the soldier to burst into tears. Not getting an answer, the emperor turned to another soldier and got his answer: Everyone who could not escape the city had been killed.

  It took hours for the Sizat army to enter the city. Every street, every quarter was thoroughly searched. After every corner of the city was checked, the Emperor set foot in the capital. But what he saw left him speechless. Lifeless bodies among the ruins, the once bustling streets now deserted. The Emperor was too shaken to face this terrible reality. For days he did not leave his room or speak to anyone.

  After a few days, the emperor regained consciousness and went to the throne room for reports. There were many things to report to the emperor. Especially economic and political problems, but the emperor did not want to listen to them. All he wanted to know was where the insects were. The soldier who was responsible for gathering information about the insects came forward.

  The soldier bowed to the emperor and began to speak in a shaky voice: “Your Majesty, we have searched the entire empire, but we have not found a single insect. This is all we know: These creatures came from the south of the city.But there is no information about where exactly they came from, where they went after the attack. It's like an army of ghosts, appearing out of nowhere and then disappearing again.”

  Seeing that the Emperor was deep in thought, the soldier interrupted his report. After a few minutes of silence, the Emperor said, “We had a few insect corpses. Did you find out anything from them?” he asked.

  From the moment he appeared before the emperor, the soldier could not hide his excitement. For the last three days he had been busy examining the corpses of two gigantic insects - known among the soldiers as 'demons' - that had been killed by the emperor's guards. Exhaustion was evident in his eyes, but the desire to share his discoveries kept him going.

  The soldier began to speak quickly, out of breath: “Your Majesty, these creatures are of incredible size. They are exactly five and a half meters long. Moreover, the two samples we have are identical. Their exoskeletons are extraordinarily strong, and their thickness is about thirty...”

  The Emperor stormed to his feet.

  “Tell me how to vanquish these accursed beasts! You can tell me your useless information later!”

  The soldier's excitement was quickly replaced by fear at the Emperor's harsh outburst. His voice began to tremble.

  “Your Majesty, their abdomen... or rather the lower part of their body is relatively soft. If a few 'Blessed ' soliders attacked this spot, they could easily eliminate the insects.”

  The Emperor was somewhat satisfied with what he heard. The insects were not invincible, but the 'Blessed' soliders were very valuable. Besides, it was not clear where or how the enemies came from. There were only about thirty thousand soldiers in the empire who could deal with these insects and they formed the core of the imperial army.

  As the Emperor was thinking about all this, he realized that the soldier who had just reported to him about the insects was still standing in front of him. The soldier was obviously scared, but there was something else he wanted to say. The Emperor recognized this desire.

  “Is there anything else you want to say?”

  The soldier began to speak excitedly. This time he knew he had to keep it short.

  “We found a large amount of Lightstone in the bodies of the Demons.”

  The Emperor froze for a moment. Everyone else in the room was in the same state. No one had expected to hear something like this. This was the most important information the emperor had heard that day. The 'Blessed' soliders displayed superior powers, but they could never become as strong as those who directly consumed Lightstones. The Lightstone could even strengthen normal soldiers in a very short time.

  In the following decade, the Sizat Empire was attacked by the Demons three more times. In all three of these attacks, the Empire managed to destroy all the demons. This allowed the Empire to acquire a large amount of Lightstones, which it used to strengthen its soldiers. At first, the Empire tried to keep it a secret that they could get Lightstones from demoncorpses, but the 'demons' were not only attacking the Sizat Empire. Demon attacks were happening all over the continent. The secret was out. Across the continent, rulers and warlords turned their eyes toward the corpses of these creatures, their greed sharpening like a whetted blade.

  But the appearance of demons out of nowhere made things difficult. Kingdoms did not dare to withdraw their soldiers from important cities. For this reason, peace had begun to prevail across much of the continent, but there were also kings who liked to gamble.

  War would not end with steel and fire alone. No, the true war had just begun. One not of swords, but of bloodlines. If the demons brought Lightstone, then Sizat would take every last one of them. And with that power, no throne would stand against them.

  And that’s another chapter done! If you’ve made it this far, thank you so much. The world of “The Fall of Everything!” is vast and full of details, so if there's something you're curious about, I'd love to explain it in more depth. Your thoughts can also influence the story—whether it’s something you’d like to see more of or a question you want answered, feel free to share it in the comments! Your feedback is incredibly important to me and helps shape the story. The next chapter is coming soon, so stay tuned!