Chapter 0: The Blood Speaks
The sky was without stars, as if the gods had shut their eyes to the world.
In the ancient temple of Arvan, the first king Eiron Vaith knelt before the stone altar. His trembling fingers were streaked with blood, and his eyes closed not in faith, but in fear of what had been summoned. Around him, the lone flame swayed in an unseen wind, whispering in a language not of men.
A voice rose from the wall, not a voice but a tear in the silence:
"We betrayed the covenant, and the blood shall reclaim the throne."
The king did not speak. He simply drew his blade and cut across his palm, letting the drops fall upon the consecrated stone. The stone drank them... and choked.
The temple shook, the walls cracked, and from the earth rose a hand of bone and fire.
But that was not the greatest thing that happened.
From the womb of darkness, a child emerged. Naked. Warm despite the frost. On his forehead, a glowing mark... and in his eyes, the glint of something not of this world.
The king gasped. The blood on his hand began to evaporate. The sword fell.
The child looked at him, and spoke his first words:
"When does fear end?"
Then silence. And the temple collapsed upon all.
And no one knew if that was the day of the end… or the beginning.