đź“– CHAPTER 1
The Blood-Red Battlefield
(Beginning full narrative style)
The war ended at dusk.
The sky burned like torn flesh above the valley of Karthmere, where thousands had fallen beneath steel and fire. Ravens already circled. Smoke drifted in slow spirals toward the darkening heavens.
General Kael Varendor stood alone among the dead.
His armor was drenched in blood — not all of it his enemies'. His sword trembled slightly in his grip, not from fear, but from exhaustion. The rebellion had lasted three years.
And today, it had ended.
Around him, soldiers of Valtheris chanted his name.
"Varendor! Varendor! Varendor!"
But Kael did not feel victory.
He felt… something shifting.
Commander Rhyss approached and removed his helmet.
"It is done, my lord. The traitor king of the North is slain."
Kael nodded once.
"Send word to King Aldric. Tell him his throne is secure."
Secure.
The word echoed strangely in his mind.
As night began to swallow the valley, a cold wind moved across the field — unnatural, sudden, whispering.
The torches flickered.
The chanting stopped.
A thick fog rolled in, swallowing the corpses, swallowing the soldiers, swallowing the world.
From within the mist, three figures appeared.
Veiled in black.
Floating.
Watching.
No soldier moved.
No one breathed.
The tallest of the figures spoke.
"Kael Varendor."
His name did not sound human in their voices.
It sounded like fate being carved into stone.
Kael stepped forward.
"Who addresses me?"
The second figure lifted her veiled face slightly.
"General today."
The third whispered,
"King tomorrow."
Silence shattered the battlefield.
Rhyss drew his sword.
The soldiers stepped back in terror.
Kael's jaw tightened.
"Speak clearly."
The first Oracle raised a pale hand.
"You shall rise beyond your birth."
The second:
"You shall sit upon the Obsidian Throne."
The third:
"But blood will water your crown."
The fog thickened.
Kael's heart pounded violently.
"I serve King Aldric."
A soft laugh echoed from beneath the veils.
"For now."
The wind howled.
The torches died.
And when the flames returned—
The Oracles were gone.
Only fog remained.
Kael stood frozen.
King.
The word lodged inside him like a blade.
Rhyss swallowed hard.
"My lord… what did they mean?"
Kael looked toward the distant lights of Valtheris capital, barely visible beyond the hills.
"I do not know."
But somewhere deep inside him—
He did.
And that knowing terrified him