Eleonora's transformation was complete. Her body, once bent by age and suffering, now stood tall with renewed strength. Her skin, once wrinkled and pale, now had a sickly, almost translucent glow, beneath which red veins like rivers of lava could be seen. Her eyes, once dull, now burned with the same crimson light as the fire of her initiation.
The Red Wizards taught her the secrets of Chaos, an ancient and volatile magic that fed on disruption, destruction, and the primordial energy of the universe. Eleonora, with her resentment and thirst for revenge, became an exceptional student, quickly surpassing many of her peers.
For months, Eleonora participated in the Red Wizards' plans, helping them sow chaos in the world, weaken the defenses of the magic schools, and pave the way for their rise to power. But deep inside, Eleonora had her own plans. She wasn't content to be a mere pawn in someone else's game. She wanted absolute power, the power to remake the world in her own image.
One day, while exploring an ancient library hidden deep within the Red Wizards' fortress, Eleonora found a forgotten scroll. The scroll, written in an ancient language that only she, thanks to her years of study in Umbria, could decipher, spoke of an underground world, a hidden kingdom beneath the earth's surface, where magic flowed with unparalleled intensity.
The scroll described fifteen castles, all of equal size and magnificence, ruled by feudal lords who paid tribute to a much larger and more powerful sixteenth castle, the seat of the King of the Underworld. This king, according to the scroll, possessed magical knowledge and power that surpassed anything known on the surface.
Eleonora felt a surge of emotion. If she could find that subterranean world, if she could access that power… she could surpass not only Umbria, but even the Red Wizards.
Determined to find that hidden realm, Eleonora left the Red Wizards' fortress without a word to anyone. She used her newfound knowledge of Chaos to open a portal, a hole in reality that led her to a series of dark, labyrinthine tunnels.
For weeks, Eleonora traveled deep underground, guided by the fragments of information she had found in the scroll and by her own intuition, now amplified by Chaos magic. She faced monstrous subterranean creatures, deadly traps, and the madness that lurked in the perpetual darkness.
Finally, after a journey that seemed to take an eternity, Eleonora arrived at a vast cavern, so large that the ceiling was lost in darkness. And there, before her, rose a sight that took her breath away.
Fifteen castles, built of shiny black stone, rose from the cavern floor, each surrounded by a moat of glowing lava. The castles were identical in size and design, imposing structures with pointed towers and jagged battlements. Drawbridges, made of an unknown metal, spanned the lava moats, connecting the castles to the cavern floor.
But what caught Eleonora's attention most was the sixteenth castle. It stood in the center of the cavern, on an island surrounded by a lava lake much larger than the moats of the other castles. It was a colossal fortress, ten times larger than the others, with walls that seemed to climb to infinity and towers that glowed with a light of their own.
Eleonora knew, instantly, that she had found the kingdom of the King of the Underworld.
A shiver ran down her spine. It wasn't a shiver of fear, but of anticipation. She had come this far, had defied the darkness and madness, and now she was about to face a power beyond anything she had ever imagined.
With a new gleam in her red eyes, Eleonora began walking toward the nearest castle. Her plan was simple, yet audacious: infiltrate the kingdom, gain the king's trust, and then, when the time was right, seize his power.
Revenge against Umbria, the ambition of the Red Wizards—all of that had become secondary. Now, Eleonora had a new goal, a new purpose: to become Queen of the Underworld, the absolute wielder of unimaginable power. And she wouldn't allow anything or anyone to stand in her way. Eleonora's journey had brought her to a place of darkness and great power. Her ambition grew with each step toward the enormous castle.