The Prince of Citadel
In the kingdom of Arian, the world is orderly on the surface and quietly unstable underneath. A coronation approaches, meant to secure the future of the realm and place a young crown prince onto the throne beside a queen who rules with careful precision. Court rituals continue, treaties are reviewed, banners are adjusted, and everything looks exactly as it should. That is what makes it dangerous.
Behind the ceremonial calm, Arian is threaded with unseen forces. Ancient powers stir in forgotten places. Old debts are traded in the underworld. Secrets move faster than armies, carried by courtesans, knights, and people who were never meant to hold that kind of weight. Some protect the realm out of duty. Others do so out of fear, love, or the simple refusal to let the world break.
The story follows multiple lives drawn into this fragile moment. A hesitant prince burdened by responsibility he never asked for. A queen determined to keep the realm from tearing itself apart. A woman whose influence reaches far beyond what anyone suspects. Knights who travel too far, learn too much, and come back changed. Ordinary people who only want to get through the day, unaware that history is already shifting around them.
Magic exists in Arian, but it is not clean or gentle. It leaves scars, drains bodies, and warps the places where it gathers. The land remembers what has been done to it, and sometimes it answers back. As political tensions tighten and unseen threats creep closer, the line between divine protection and human choice begins to blur.
This is not a story about a single hero saving the world. It is about a world that does not wait to be saved. Power is fractured, loyalty is complicated, and every decision has consequences that reach further than anyone intends. Some people fight to preserve what exists. Others believe it must change, no matter the cost.
As the coronation draws nearer, Arian stands at a quiet crossroads. What looks like stability may be nothing more than a pause before something far larger moves. And when it does, everyone will have to decide what they are willing to become in order to survive it.