Ironhold: A Tale from the Past

In the brief history of Fuguang Island, many small and distinctive countries have been born.

Ironhold is a region rich in metal resources. Under the guidance of the great guardian of the Sacred Spring, Thresh, the people of Ironhold mined various resources and gradually established their own country.

The King of Ironhold was shrewd and capable, and soon led his people to a happy life, and married a queen of unparalleled beauty.

This peaceful and prosperous scene lasted for more than a decade. As surrounding countries were established one after another, Ironhold gradually became a threat. However, under the deterrence of the elite Iron Legion, no one dared to take the initiative to attack Ironhold.

The king had two favorite things: to admire the queen's unparalleled beauty and to watch the Iron Legion train.

The general of the Iron Legion is the king's niece, a young woman Kalista. She is young and capable, with extraordinary martial arts skills, and bears a striking resemblance to the king in his youth.

The king had no sons, only a beautiful daughter who inherited the queen's beauty and became the object of everyone's admiration.

However, beauty alone is not enough to govern a country, especially with so many neighboring countries eyeing the throne. Therefore, the king decided to make Kalista his successor, which would be a fitting tribute to his deceased brother.

At that time, the king often thought that he was perhaps the happiest man in the world: he was a hunter by birth, had built a great career, had a happy family, and had loyal subjects. What could be more perfect than this?

Whoever has this thought will inevitably face misfortune.

He felt his family was happy and fulfilling, but how could they possibly withstand an illness?

He felt that the loyalty of his subjects might just be a facade, a way for some to conceal untold secrets.

First, the queen fell ill. Her health was already poor, so she only gave birth to one daughter for the king.

I had been taking good care of my health after giving birth, but I don't know why I suddenly fell ill, and all the doctors were helpless.

At this point, Hecarim, the Iron Legion, suggested that the king seek help from the Guardian of the Sacred Spring, as the Thresh Archmage surely have a way to heal the queen.

The king heeded this advice and carefully selected lavish gifts to seek help, but was refused.

Because the Queen's illness is very unusual, like a death curse that Thresh cannot break, forcibly using the Sacred Spring to cure her might pollute the Sacred Spring and cause irreversible consequences.

The king was heartbroken, but out of reverence for the Sacred Spring, he did not insist too much. He believed that someone could cure the queen's illness and entrusted the search for a cure to Hecarim.

As the saying goes, you can know a person's face but not their heart. Hecarim was never a loyal subject to the king; he wanted to be king himself!

Taking advantage of his search for medical treatment, he orchestrated numerous malicious incidents to damage the king's reputation. At the same time, he actively engaged with neighboring countries, hoping to gain powerful allies to cooperate with him from the outside.

Hecarim also secretly sent people to leak the movements of the king and royal family members to neighboring countries, so that they would send assassins to kill them. On one occasion, this almost resulted in the Princess being captured, but fortunately a brave boy saved her.

Later, Jadehold, which had always been at odds with Ironhold, sent an envoy with a message saying that it wanted to form a marriage alliance with Ironhold, and the dowry was a gem mine in the border area between the two countries.

Gems are essential for the development of magic. Because gem resources are scarce, the development of magic in Ironhold has always lagged behind. The King of Ironhold also wants to obtain that mine, but he will not agree to it in exchange for his daughter.

Furthermore, it's uncertain whether Jadehold is sincere. What if he has ulterior motives? Wouldn't marrying his daughter to him be like throwing a lamb to the slaughter?

Jadehold noticed Ironhold's worries, so the prince came in person to propose marriage, accompanied by only a dozen or so guards.

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The prince said that he had once infiltrated Ironhold for a period of time to gather intelligence and had been deeply attracted by the Princess's beauty, so he had come to propose marriage with all his heart.

The King of Ironhold was shrewd and could tell that the Prince of Jadehold's words came from the heart, but he did not make a decision and instead gave the choice to his daughter.

So the prince and Princess spent a period of intimate time together in the castle, and at the same time fell deeply in love with each other.

Seeing this, the king had no reason to doubt, so he agreed to the marriage and set a date for the wedding.

On the wedding day, the Princess was kidnapped by an admirer. Kalista led a search party to retrieve the Princess, causing the ceremony to be delayed, which greatly displeased the king.

At this moment, Hecarim brought news: Jadehold had amassed troops on the border, seemingly poised for an attack.

Kalista was skeptical, but she relayed the news to the king.

The king has been anxious about the queen's illness these past few days, and the recent abduction of the Princess has only added to his frustration. He has ordered the imprisonment of Prince Jadehold and is now ready to fight Jadehold!

Kalista felt this was too hasty and requested that the truth be known before making a decision. She felt that Jadehold had no reason to invade at this time, especially since their prince was here; wouldn't fighting now harm him?

The king wouldn't listen at all. In fact, he didn't make the decision to go to war on a whim. Two days earlier, Hecarim had warned him that the Jadehold army was showing signs of approaching.

The Jadehold army came because Hecarim sent someone to tell them that the Ironhold was trying to detain the prince and then threaten the Jadehold into submission.

The King of Jadehold was already anxious when he saw that the prince had not returned. Hearing this news, he could no longer sit still and made preparations at the border.

Therefore, this conflict was merely a conspiracy by Hecarim, who seized the opportunity when the two kings were troubled to sow discord and succeeded in one fell swoop.

Just as Kalista was trying her best to persuade him, Hecarim struck a fatal blow, throwing the wedding hall into chaos. The king was forced to flee, and the prince also left with the Princess.

At this point, the king finally realized that Hecarim was behind it all, but it was too late; he could only leave with the queen.

When the prince and Princess tried to escape, they encountered obstacles. The man who had previously kidnapped the Princess reappeared, killed him, and took the Princess away.

Upon receiving the news, the King of Jadehold believed Hecarim's rumors and joined him in attacking the remaining army of the King of Ironhold to avenge his son.

The King of Ironhold was not afraid of battle. He led his small number of soldiers to fight on both sides and even showed signs of recovering lost territory.

Then something happened that completely shattered the king's mind: the queen passed away.

Despite being engaged in a decisive battle with Hecarim, the king secretly led his men to the Sacred Spring. After being refused entry by the guardian of the Sacred Spring once again, he ordered Thresh to be killed and the Sacred Spring to heal the queen!

Disaster struck just like that; the aura of death instantly enveloped the entire island, leaving even birds no time to escape.

All life turned into the dead, and the beautiful Fuguang Island became a lifeless Shadow Isles. No one noticed that the dead queen had revealed a strange smile...

Now, a powerful undead is occupying the Shadow Isles, attempting to create a world for the dead.

Meanwhile, a group of living beings broke in, attempting to eliminate the undead. If they succeed, the Shadow Isles may return to their former state.

But the Ironhold will never be the same again.