Chapter 1: The Ash of Arcanumgard

Arcanumgard, the Ducal Hold of Aetheria's Northern Province.

"Aelis! Where are you?" my mother screamed. I hid behind the door, poised to bolt toward the training fields. "Young lady, this is no longer a game. You come out this instant!"

I rolled my eyes, staying pinned to the wall until her footsteps faded. As I leaned against the frame, a single, stark white lock of hair fell across my vision—a strange contrast to the rest of my dark tresses. I tucked it behind my ear with a smirk; it was a small mark of my lineage I usually forgot about until I was hiding like a thief in my own home.I heard her voice drifting from down the hall: "...no... she is not in her room."

Exhaling, I crept out from my hiding spot. "I hate these 'ladylike' lessons. Ugh," I muttered. I sprinted out of my room, down the stairs, and burst out of the hold. A biting winter breeze cut against my bare skin. I rushed toward the stables, startling the stable boy as I passed.

"Sorry! And don't you dare tell Mother you saw me!" I called over my shoulder. I hurried to my horse. "Nyx, are you ready?" He neighed in response. "Let's move before she finds us."

I saddled him quickly, and we galloped toward the field where the knights trained. I'm going to hear so much nagging later, I thought, but I'll deal with that then. On the way, the castle workers greeted me with knowing smiles.

"The Young Lady is at it again," one woman remarked, grinning. "At fourteen, she's already better than half our knights," a man grunted, straining under the weight of an apple crate.

Upon arriving at the training grounds, I was met with an ironic smile from Captain Dominic, the commander of my father's special guard. Having trained me since I was a child, he knew my tricks well.

"Is there something on my face?" I asked, returning his smirk. He stepped closer, causing Nyx to snort. "You ran away again? The Duchess gave a direct order not to let you step foot on this field."

I dismounted and patted Nyx's neck. "Really? Then just say you're getting old and starting to forget things. Besides, Father is fine with me being here."

Dominic laughed. "And that is the only reason I'm letting you stay."

I grabbed my sword and bow. The knights nearby greeted me with slight bows. "I come here almost every day, yet they keep bowing even when I tell them not to," I whispered to the Captain. "Dom, what do I have to do to make them treat me like everyone else?"

He coughed. "It's a trait of being the Duke's daughter, Aelis. You can't escape it. Now, less talk and more work."

Training lasted until dawn. I held my own with several weapons, but archery remained my favorite; I could feel my skills sharpening with every arrow. After a while, I looked around, but the Captain was nowhere to be seen. I walked over to Sid, his aide.

"Sid, where is the Captain? And why is everyone in such a hurry?" Sid raised his shield, looking distracted. "He was summoned by the Duke." "Why?" I asked, a knot forming in my stomach. "We weren't given details, my lady. You should hurry back; it's getting late. Lord Arion is expected back today. If you need an escort..." "No, no," I waved him off. "I can manage on my own."

Someone brought Nyx to me, and we began the trek back to the hold. I was riding toward the castle, the stone walls already in sight, when the world suddenly ended.

An explosion ripped through the air. Everything seemed to slow down—a massive blast that reduced the proud castle to stones and debris. A tremor shook the earth, startling Nyx and nearly throwing me. Once I regained my composure, I urged him into a gallop, racing toward the ruins.

Chaos swallowed me the moment I reached the walls. My nanny came running toward me, her face pale. "My Lady! My Lady! You must leave this instant!"

I stumbled, disoriented. "What? What happened? Why should I leave? Where is my mother? My father? The twins? I can't leave them!"

"My Lady, please! Your life is at stake!"

Before she could finish, another blast knocked us both off our feet. I felt strong hands grab me, forcing me back onto Nyx's saddle.

"YOU MUST SURVIVE!" a voice screamed.

Chapter 2 : The Ember in the Frost

Five years.

That explosion claimed countless lives, including my entire bloodline. What happened? Who struck the blow? No one knew. The only certainty was that the Arcanum ducal family was no more. A land that was once cold yet prosperous and happy had been forged into a brutal borderland where people struggled merely to draw breath. Now, the striking, supernatural chill seeps into the very marrow of our bones. The ancient legend is repeating itself, whispering through the biting winds that plague the North:

*One day, Umbrals will return, A nightmare that the darkness will adjourn. Through frost and fire, their shadows will turn, To claim the world, as destiny's cold decree will affirm. A kingdom by the darkness torn.*

The Umbrals. They are ethereal beings, the living manifestation of pure shadow. While they maintain a hauntingly human silhouette, their bodies are composed entirely of undulating, dark mist that forms a tattered mantle beneath a deep hood. They move in silence—barefoot, unseen, and inevitable.

Their most striking features are their crimson eyes, glowing fiercely from the void of their hoods, a stark contrast to their pale countenances and jet-black lips. Their fingers terminate in long, ebony claws, capable of rending both flesh and spirit. Legend tells that in an age long past, the Umbrals were defeated by the very breath of dragons. Their fire, pure and potent, was the only force capable of banishing creatures forged from despair.

But the era of dragons is now but a whisper in the dust of history. As the Umbrals rise anew, the fate of Aetheria rests in the hands of the few who still possess a remnant of dwindling draconic magic. Because of this, the kingdoms established the Veritas—venerated halls of discipline located beyond the treacherous Mortis mountain range, a place where ordinary men dare not tread.

To even reach the gates of Veritas, one must survive Vita. It is not a mere test; it is a brutal, multi-day physical marathon through unforgiving, lethal terrain. It demands unparalleled endurance and unwavering solitude. Only those who emerge from the silence of Vita alive earn the right to enter Veritas and begin the grueling path to becoming a Reidar.

"Please, child," a raspy voice broke my thoughts.

I looked at my nanny, the only soul left by my side after five long years of wandering the shadows of Aetheria. Her face was a map of wrinkles and sorrow, her hands trembling as she clutched my threadbare cloak.

"Think of what you are asking," she pleaded, her eyes searching mine. "Vita is not a trial; it is a graveyard. You are the last of the Arcanum name. If you go to the Mortis peaks, you go to your death. Stay. We can find a quiet life in the southern vales."

A single tear escaped, tracing a path through the dirt on my cheek. I wiped it away with a steady palm, my gaze hardening like the ice surrounding us.

"I have spent five years running, leaving my life buried under the stones and ashes of my home," I said, my voice low but iron-clad. "I watched my father, my mother, and my siblings vanish into the dark. If I had the power to turn back time, I would. I would give my soul to see them for just a few seconds. But I cannot look back anymore."

I stepped toward the jagged silhouette of the mountains on the horizon.

"I won't just struggle to survive. I will reclaim Arcanumgard. To do that, I must become a Reidar. I will not only survive Vita—I will conquer it."

The nanny saw the fire in my eyes—a flicker of the old draconic heat that the world had forgotten. She stayed silent, knowing that no wall and no prayer could stop me now.

I turned my back on the only safety I had ever known and faced the towering, obsidian peaks of Mortis. The wind howled, sounding less like a storm and more like a challenge.

I took my first step into the dead zone. The trial had begun.

Chapter 3: The Echoes of Mortis

Fog. Shadows. Darkness.

For the past few hours, the only sounds were the distant, mournful howling of the wind and the rhythmic drumming of Nyx's hooves against the frozen earth. Three days. That was all the time I had to reach Veritas—if I reached it alive.

I had heard countless stories about this place, but the reality was far more sinister. I found myself chuckling, a dry, hollow sound. "I feel like I'm walking inside my own head," I whispered.

Nyx snorted, the sound echoing in the mist.

"What is it, boy? Don't worry. We'll reach Veritas," I mumbled, reaching down to pat his matted mane. I hadn't wanted to bring him at first; I couldn't be sure either of us would survive out here. But in the end, we were here together. I couldn't bear to be apart from him. Not now. Not after everything else was gone.

Suddenly, a sharp rustle came from the thickets. My heart hammered against my ribs as I drew my sword, the steel singing as it left the scabbard. Something—or rather, someone—emerged from the fog.

I narrowed my eyes, my breath catching in my throat. A little boy.

"Eric?" My eyes widened in disbelief. "Oh my God, Eric! You're alive!"

I practically fell off Nyx, sprinting toward him with my arms outstretched. But as I reached for him, his small form dissolved into the gray mist like smoke in the wind.

"What...? Where did he go?"

Nyx trotted up behind me, snuffling against my shoulder as if to pull me back to reality.

"Just a hallucination," I whispered, my voice trembling. I mounted him again, forcing my gaze forward. "People don't die here just from hunger, cold, or beasts. They die because of the visions. They follow the ghosts of their past right off a cliff."

I shook my head, trying to clear the image of my brother from my mind. He would have been older now. Five years had passed. The mountains were playing tricks on my grief.

The temperature continued to plummet. I watched my breath bloom into a white cloud and then vanish. I paused to wipe my blade; the dark, thick blood of the mutated bear I'd killed earlier was already starting to freeze on the steel. I looked down at the carcass. Its fangs were unnaturally long, its body twisted and oversized.

"Mutated," I muttered, squinting at the beast. "Bears shouldn't be this large."

Suddenly, Nyx let out a sharp, warning snort. I whipped around, a dagger already in my hand.

"Who's there?!" I snarled at the treeline.

"Whoah... easy there!" A man stepped out from behind a gnarled trunk, his hands raised in a mock gesture of surrender. "It's just a human. No need for a funeral today."

"I can see you're human," I said, my voice like ice. I didn't lower the dagger. "What do you want? Why are you following me?"

"Not exactly following," he said, taking cautious, slow steps toward the light of my path. "But aren't we all heading to the same hell? I saw you back there when that 'creepy rat' jumped at you. I was going to help, but you handled it before I could even blink. I figured you were another soul just trying to survive the night."

I narrowed my eyes. "And where exactly do you think I'm going?"

"Veritas, isn't it obvious?" He tried to offer a crooked, charming grin. "No sane person comes to the Mortis range for a vacation, right?"

I slowly lowered the dagger, though my muscles remained tense. "You're alone?"

"Well, I'm sure there are others scattered about, but you're the first person I've seen in two days who didn't turn out to be a pile of rocks or a ghost," he said. He extended a hand. "The name's Felix Thorn, by the way."

I hesitated. The name Aelis Arcanum burned on the tip of my tongue, but that girl died in the fire five years ago.

"I'm... Elaine," I stammered for a split second before finding my footing. "Elaine Anacrum."

"Umm... Nice to meet you then? Shall we continue our path full of beastly creatures towards that perfectly hellish paradise together?" Felix asked, his tone mocking the very danger we were in.

I eyed him with a mixture of curiosity and dread. There was something too light about him for a place this dark.

"Brr... Stop staring at me like that," he shivered, though the air was already freezing. "I'm not ready for my grand finale yet. And I'm certainly not planning on killing anyone. Unless, of course, you count the local welcoming committee."

"Are you on foot?" I asked, glancing at the empty space behind him. I hadn't seen any other mounts.

He turned and let out a sharp, melodic whistle. From the oppressive shadows of the trees, a grey horse emerged, its coat the color of storm clouds. "This is Ashbun."

I grimaced. "Ash-Bun? Really? What a... unique name."

"Right?" he squealed with a grin that didn't match the gloom. "I always knew it was a perfectly suitable name for him."

"Right," I muttered, shaking my head. "We only have a few hours left. We should hurry."

"There should be a stone archway ahead," Felix said, mounting his horse with practiced ease. "If we gallop through it, we should make it to the gates on time. It shouldn't be far. Come on!"

We pushed the horses into a gallop, the wind biting at our faces. But as the silhouette of a massive stone archway loomed through the fog, the horses began to snarl and rear back.

"What is it now?" Felix mumbled, his hand flying to his hilt.

Before I could answer, something plummeted from the sky. It was a blur of feathers and filth. Massive talons gripped my shoulders, ripping me from Nyx's back.

"Let go!" I roared. The wind rushed past my ears as I was hauled higher into the freezing air. With a surge of adrenaline, I drew my sword and swung blindly upward. The blade connected with something leathery. The creature shrieked, its grip loosening, and suddenly, I was falling.

"Aaaaa!" The ground rushed up to meet me.

"Hold on! I'm coming!" Felix yelled from somewhere below.

I braced for the impact, but instead of the hard earth, a pair of strong arms caught me mid-air, pulling me onto a thick, sturdy tree branch. I gasped, heart hammering against my ribs.

"Woah... what was that thing?" I wheezed.

"An Airgull," a calm, steady voice answered.

I lifted my head. Standing on the branch beside me was a tall man. His face was partially obscured by a veil, but his piercing green eyes held a strange, unsettling stillness. He didn't look frightened; he looked bored.

"Elaine! You alright?" Felix called out from below. "Shit! There's more of these party favors!"

Two more of the winged beasts dived. Felix drew his sword, slashing through the air with a grunt of effort. "Ugh... Disgusting!"

I scrambled down from the tree, my boots hitting the snow as I drew my own blade. We were surrounded. The Airgulls circled above, preparing for a final strike.

"Close your ears!" a female voice commanded from the shadows.

Before I could ask why, a high-pitched, piercing whistle shattered the silence. It felt like a needle being driven directly into my brain. I groaned, dropping to my knees and pressing my hands to my head. Above us, the Airgulls screeched in agony, their internal navigation shattered by the sound. They scattered, vanishing back into the black peaks.

"That's better," the woman said, stepping into the dim light. She was tall, with a sharp jawline and eyes that looked like they were forged from iron. She held a strange silver instrument in her hand.

"You're fine?" she asked, her gaze sweeping over us with clinical indifference.

"Yes, more or less," Felix panted, leaning on his sword and trying to look much cooler than he actually was. He glanced up at the man in the tree and then at the girl with the whistle. "Though I've got to say, as far as 'first dates' go, being rescued by a tree-ghost and a human siren wasn't exactly what I had on my itinerary. What's next? A dragon to shine my boots?"

He turned to me, his eyes dancing with forced wit. "See, Elaine? I told you this place was a paradise. Free music and everything."

The woman stepped forward, ignoring Felix's chatter. She moved with a predatory grace that made me keep my hand on my dagger. She looked at us—a girl on a horse and a man who couldn't stop talking—and seemed to judge us in a split second.

"I am Tomris," she said, her voice as sharp as a blade. She gestured vaguely toward the man who had caught me, who was now dropping silently from the branch to the frozen ground. "And this is Silas. We crossed paths a few miles back. He doesn't say much, but he's better with a blade than he is with words."

Silas nodded. He adjusted his veil, those unsettling green eyes tracking the movement of the fog.

"Charming," Felix muttered, his sarcasm undeterred. "A mute and a banshee. We're really putting together a dream team for Veritas, aren't we?"

"If you want to reach Veritas," Tomris snapped, her iron-grey eyes locking onto Felix, "you'll stop trying to be funny and start looking at the ground. You see that archway? It means we're close—it's the threshold of the sanctuary—but it's also the most lethal stretch. The mountain doesn't stay still here; the terrain is a labyrinth that shifts to weed out the weak. If you follow the old maps now, you'll be walking off a cliff before you even see the gates."

My blood ran cold. I looked at the massive stone archway we had been galloping toward. It stood like a silent sentinel, a sign that the legendary halls were finally within reach, yet the air around it felt heavy, charged with a strange, ancient pressure.

"The sun is dropping," Tomris continued, her gaze shifting to the horizon where the light was bleeding out of the sky. "And in the Mortis range, the shadows grow teeth at night. There are no Umbrals here—the kingdom's wards see to that—but the mountain itself is more than enough to kill you. If we don't move now, Veritas will remain a dream we died chasing."

We stood there for a heartbeat—four strangers brought together by a slaughter in the sky.

"Well," Felix sighed, mounting Ashbun again and adjusting his grip on the reins. "I've always preferred the company of strangers to the company of mutated birds. Lead the way, oh fearless leader. I'd rather not find out what 'shadows with teeth' look like."

Just as we turned to follow her, a low, guttural vibration shook the ground beneath our feet. It wasn't an enemy, but a warning. From the darkness beyond the archway, a massive, ancient horn echoed through the peaks—the call of Veritas. It was a sound of welcome, yet it sounded like a funeral dirge.

The path ahead was finally visible, but as the mist cleared for a split second, I saw dozens of other silhouettes moving in the distance. We weren't the only ones who had made it this far, and the real competition was only just beginning.