For the past few chapters of Three Immortals, Kel Chaada has been an explorer, a leader, and a cautious observer of the unknown. But in chapter Desperate Times, all of that changes. The quiet of governance is shattered, the distractions of politics fall away, and he is left with a single, brutal truth: his nation is at war, and he must decide whether to surrender or fight.
This chapter marks a turning point—not just in the story’s pacing but in Kel’s character arc. Until now, he’s been adjusting to his new role as First Councilor of the Nominate of EsChii, trying to navigate bureaucracy while contemplating the meaning of what he and his expedition discovered on the newly acquired planet Prral. But the universe doesn’t wait for answers.
War has arrived, and Kel is not prepared.
A War Without Warning
One of the most chilling aspects of this chapter is how suddenly war is thrust upon Kel. There were no warning signs. No intelligence leaks. No rumors in the diplomatic backchannels. One moment, he’s a head of state attending to the mundane affairs of governance, and the next, a galactic superpower has declared war on his small nation.
This taps into a real-world fear: what do you do when an unstoppable force moves against you, and you have no time to prepare?
The Ancestrate of Aloo Dash is no ordinary enemy. They have won every war for three generations. Their fleets are built for total domination, and their soldiers fight for more than just territory—they fight to erase entire civilizations.
Kel knows what defeat means:
🔹 The Nominate of EsChii will cease to exist.
🔹 Its people will be forced into servitude, stripped of their culture, their freedoms, even their gods.
🔹 The Ancestrate’s Grandslaught Carriers—planetoid-sized warships—will rain destruction on his worlds.
Aloo Dash doesn’t just conquer; it assimilates. It obliterates.
Surrender is an option—but is it really?
Fear, Politics, and Desperate Times
Kel’s advisors are divided.
One faction urges surrender, hoping that the conquerors will be merciful. They point to past wars, where the Ancestrate crushed its enemies yet allowed some semblance of life to continue. They argue that resistance is suicide.
The other faction insists on resistance—but not all for noble reasons. Some believe Aloo Dash is bluffing, that they won’t commit their full might to a costly campaign. They hope for a miracle, a lucky diplomatic outcome where the Nominate stands firm, and the enemy withdraws.
Kel sees through them. He recognizes their fear, their false bravado. Neither side is offering a real solution.
But Kel has made his decision.
He will not surrender.
He will not sit back and hope.
He will fight to win.
The Impossible War—and the Wild Card
This is where the title Desperate Times comes into play. Kel isn’t fighting because he has a grand military strategy or superior firepower. The Nominate is outgunned, outmatched, and alone.
But Kel has something unexpected: a weapon.
The expedition to Prral was supposed to be a discovery mission, a search for knowledge. But in the temple ruins of this mysterious planet, Kel and his team uncovered something else.
And now, he is desperate enough to use it.
This is the first time in Three Immortals that Kel’s role as an explorer and a wartime leader collide. What he found on Prral—something still shrouded in mystery—has suddenly become the only chance his nation has at survival.
A New Phase of the Story Begins
With this chapter, Three Immortals pivots into a full-scale war narrative. The early parts of the book focused on discovery, politics, and world-building, but now the stakes are clear:
🔥 War has begun.
🔥 The Nominate is alone.
🔥 Kel must fight an unbeaten enemy—with an unknown weapon.
Desperation fuels bold choices. Kel is about to make one.
What would you do in his place? Would you surrender and hope for mercy, or take a desperate gamble on an untested weapon? We’ll find out what Kel chooses in the next chapter.
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