Beneath the bustling town market, usually hummed with the quiet efficiency of purpose. Today however it was suffocating under a blanket of dread. The long, polished table in the central hall typically littered with maps and strategic reports was starkly clear reflecting the grim faces of the few high-ranking members gathered. Mr. Evans his weathered features usually a mask of stoicism now bore a deep furrow between his brows his gaze fixed on the young messenger standing before him.
The boy, no older than seventeen swayed slightly on his feet his exhaustion evident in the faint tremors that ran through his lean frame. His dusty cloak still bearing the faint scent of horse and distant lands clung to him a testament to the urgency of his journey. 
He clutched a sealed parchment to his chest like a sacred yet cursed artifact.
"Speak plainly, young one," The Man said. His voice is grave cutting through the heavy silence. 
"What news from the Four Kingdoms?" He asked.
The messenger swallowed hard his throat dry his youthful eyes wide with a terror that seemed to not from the ride but from the very words he was about to utter. 
"Sir, it's… it's the Kings. All of them across the lands." He struggled to steady his voice and a faint tremor betraying his composure. 
"King Elderion of the North, King Cassian of the South, King Rahim of the East, King Arcturus of the West. They're all affected by The Darkness Queen's power."
A sharp intake of breath hissed through the room. Four Kings. 
The pillars of their world, simultaneously struck down? It was an unprecedented catastrophe and a coordinated blow that shook the very foundations of their geopolitical stability. The implications were staggering almost beyond comprehension.
"Symptoms?" 
Mr. Evans pressed his knuckles whitening as his grip tightened on the edge of the table his gaze unblinking, demanding every detail.
"A sickness sir." The messenger inform his voice barely a whisper 
as if speaking too loudly would conjure the very affliction he described.
"The Kingdoms will fall.
New rulers will raise."
The messenger added.
"Their strength their vitality…
it's just draining away. It's like watching a candle melt in a swift wind."  He shivered despite the warmth of the hall. 
"And… and there are marks. Dark, almost black veins sir. It spreads like tiny cracks beneath their skin." He gestured vaguely at his own forearm, as if the phantom marks were already there. 
"Their once vibrant life force, it's… fading. The royal healers, they're baffled. They say it's like nothing they've ever seen in their lifetimes. 
A magical affliction they suspect. Something… unnatural."
A low anxious murmur rippled through the gathered strategists. The word "unnatural" hung in the air, heavy with unspoken dread. 
This was no mere epidemic no chance illness. This was a direct targeted assault planned by Ysabel.
The timing too was terrifyingly precise: immediately following the re-emergence of the Sky-Blue Ring and the palpable resurgence of the Darkness Queen's influence. It felt less like a coincidence and more like a carefully orchestrated overture to a far grander more sinister symphony.
He closed his eyes for a moment a muscle twitching in his jaw. A heavy sigh with the weight of looming conflict, escaped his lips. 
"The Darkness Queen." 
He muttered almost to himself the 
words a bitter taste in his mouth.
"She's making her move. This isn't just an attack on the Kings it's a crippling blow to our leadership a deliberate weakening of our defenses to sow chaos and fear." He opened 
his eyes, now burning with a grim unwavering resolve that hardened his features. 
"This changes everything." He looked directly at the trembling messenger his gaze softening, a flicker of empathy. 
"You've done well, son. Get some rest. You've brought us vital if terrible news." The Man said.
As the young messenger was led away, his footsteps echoing faintly down the stone corridor the man with a cloak  turned slowly to his bewildered team. The silence stretched with unspoken questions and growing fear.
"We must assume this is directly linked to the Ring," He stated his voice now firm and commanding cutting through the tension. 
"And to Thea." 
The words hung in the air 
connecting the seemingly disparate events into a single terrifying narrative. 
"The Darkness Queen's ultimate objective isn't just the Ring it's the unraveling of our world starting with its foundations. By debilitating the Kings she creates a vacuum and fertile ground for her influence to spread unchecked."
He looked around the room meeting each gaze his own resolute. 
"Our priorities have shifted. We need to understand the precise nature of this affliction how it's being and more importantly how it ties into the Darkness Queen's grand design or how she plans everything.
And Thea… Thea is now at the very center of this storm whether she knows it or not. She will be my pawn to my beloved Ysabel.
"We will strike before they know it."
The man in a cloak said.
"Hide your identity son. 
We will reveal and visit them all soon.
Just keep doing what I ask you to do." The Man uttered.
"I will dad. I have to go now."
The young man replied and left.
"Ysabel," The man whispered
His voice a low rumble that barely stirred the dust motes dancing in the faint light. He traced a gloved finger along the cold stone of the ancient crypt. 
"It's time. After all these years in the shadows and I can finally step into the light."
A heavy sigh escaped him with a sorrow that seemed to echo off the walls. 
"But even in the brightest dawn, there's still a part of me that longs for the night. For our night my Darkness Queen." He closed his eyes, a flicker of pain crossing his face. 
"I miss you, Ysabel. Every starless sky, every whispered secret… they all remind me of you. Soon the world will know who I truly am. And then, perhaps I can finally be at peace."