It was a shadow even darker than the battlefield, spreading as far as his eyes could see, left and right, the rigid walls snaking across the horizon. The irony of its resemblance to Lunamere was not lost on him, as the mere mention of the prison moon had once caused his knees to quake. But Valen chuckled to himself now at the thought of that wretched place, where he had spent months weak and shivering, because it was now his greatest memory in life.

It was there where Valen had first tasted power.

Where he had first learned who he was...and who he could be.

He reached the castle doors, towering masterpieces made of obsidinite. A carving of the triangular Solis family crest was spread across the two doors.

Gold, the color of Nor’s eyes.

Valen ran his fingertips across the symbol. He could feel his power purring in response, like a great beast awaiting its master’s return. If Valen listened closely enough, he could hear the murmurs of those beneath his compulsion. Like whispering souls, wandering aimlessly through the black corridors.

He took off his boots as he entered, placing them down gently on the dark stone floors.

“Home,” Valen said.

His voice echoed across the walls. There were no portraits here. No fine decorations. Just dark, endless hallways that stretched on for miles.

Valen set his torch in an empty bracket on the wall. Immediately, the other torches in the corridor flared to life, stretching on forever, as far and as wide as Valen’s mind would allow, illuminating the vast space.

Lining both sides of the halls were doors, nearly identical to those that had once caged him in his cell on Lunamere. But inside these cells, the prisoners were not people.

They were minds.

The very essence of a person. Their hopes, their dreams, their desires. The minds of nearly every man, woman and child across Mirabel resided in this castle. Or rather, Valen’s connections to those minds.

He still shivered every time he felt a new mind join his network. It was like another piece of himself clicking into place, and with each addition, his castle walls had expanded. They’d grown taller. Wider. Until the castle became a fortress that could not be shaken or overtaken.

Valen took a left now, striding down the first hallway. As he walked, he occasionally glanced through the barred windows of each doorway. Eventually, he slowed to a stop before one door and peered inside the cell, pressing his face to the cold bars.

As soon as he made contact, it was as if Valen had suddenly been transported across the stars, soaring through darkness until there was a spark. A jolt. A scene materialized before him, images flickering into existence as Valen saw into his victim’s mind. As he saw the world through their eyes, like they were his own.