Chapter One: The Eclipse of Arthalon
The night in Arthalon was unlike any other.
The sky shimmered with colors unknown to humankind, and the stars danced in their orbits as if celebrating an event seen only once every thousand years.
On that night, the winds fell silent, and the trees bent as though in prayer. The moon vanished behind a thick black shadow, leaving the heavens in total eclipse—no light, no hope.
In a wooden hut on the edge of the village of Nirval, a woman screamed as she gave birth. She was alone—no midwife, no husband—only the echo of her cries reverberating through the mountains. With her final cry, the child was born… and he too screamed, but his cry was unlike any other.
The earth trembled.
The torches went out.
One of the Seven Pillars of Light in the sky cracked.
From the shadows emerged the old midwife. Her eyes were white, blind to the world, yet she saw more than anyone else. She approached the child, gazed upon him, and whispered:
> "He has returned… the Son of Shadows."
---
The next day, no one spoke of the eclipse. No one dared mention the child. Only the old woman, Elara, carried him to the ancient temple and marked his shoulder with a strange tattoo: a black circle crossed by a single slash.
"You will live among us, but you are not of us…" she said, placing him at the door of a farmer's home before vanishing as mysteriously as she had appeared.
The child was named: Ryn.
---
Years passed, and Ryn grew within a humble family, tilling the soil and gathering firewood. Yet deep inside, he knew he was different. He heard whispers no one else could hear, dreamed of places he had never seen, and felt a strange pulse in his shoulder whenever he neared one of the Pillars of Light.
On his seventeenth birthday, the unexpected happened…
---
The Awakening
At dawn on his seventeenth birthday, Ryn awoke to a strange sound echoing in his ears, as if the wind itself called his name. He opened his eyes to find a faint glow seeping through his window, though the sun had not yet risen. The light was blue, alive, and breathing.
He rose from his bed, bewildered, and followed the glow as it drifted between the trees toward the forbidden forest—the one everyone had warned him never to enter, where shadows were said to dwell for centuries.
Each step he took ignited the mark on his shoulder, as though it were awakening from slumber. At the heart of the forest, he found it…
The Black Mirror.
It stood within a circle of ancient stones, hovering above the ground, surrounded by symbols carved in a language unknown yet strangely familiar.
He approached, reached out his hand…
Suddenly, visions consumed him:
- The Pillars of Light collapsing one by one.
- Cities burning, skies splitting, endless screams.
- His own face, but with eyes of fire, leading armies of shadow.
Terrified, he tried to flee, but the mirror swallowed him whole.
In an instant, he was elsewhere—a boundless realm where time intersected and spirits surged like waves. There, he heard the voice:
> "The time has come, Ryn. You are the Son of Shadows… but you are not its slave. Choose your path."
Before him appeared a colossal being, half light and half darkness, wielding a sword of flame and a chain of ice.
> "Restore the balance… or unleash chaos."
---
Ryn awoke in the forest, drenched in sweat, but something within him had changed. His eyes had become two different colors—one the hue of the sky, the other the shade of night.
From afar, Leora watched him from between the trees, whispering to herself:
> "It has begun… the prophecy unfolds."