Episode 1~ The thorn and Crown

The rain fell in silver spears against the thatched roofs of Elden Hollow, a forgotten village at the edge of the kingdom of Caerwyn. Lia pressed her shawl tighter around her shoulders, her fingers numb from the cold. The smell of wet earth and smoke clung to the air as she hurried along the muddy path, her bare feet sinking into the muck.

Her mother’s voice still echoed in her mind — “We owe them, Lia. You know what happens when we cannot pay.”

Lia did know. Every family in Elden Hollow knew. When taxes went unpaid, the king’s collectors came with their black horses and cold eyes. Sometimes they took crops. Sometimes they took daughters.

And Lia was the only daughter left in her home.

She reached the edge of the village where the old shrine stood — a ruin of stone and ivy, older than the kingdom itself. They said it was cursed, that the first queen of Caerwyn had bound her soul there after being betrayed by her own blood. But Lia came here often. It was quiet. No one came looking for the poor in cursed places.

She knelt before the crumbling altar and whispered, “Please… I don’t want to lose everything. I’ll do anything.”

Her voice trembled in the rain. She didn’t expect an answer.

But that night, something in the air changed.

The candle she’d brought — her last bit of wax from the market — flickered violently, its flame stretching tall and blue. The wind stopped. The rain seemed to hang frozen in the air. Lia’s breath caught in her throat.

From the shadows of the shrine, a voice spoke — low, smooth, and sharp as silk on steel.

“Anything?”

Lia turned, her heart racing. A figure stood at the edge of the ruined doorway, cloaked in darkness. Only his eyes glowed faintly, like embers under ash.

“Who’s there?” she demanded, though her voice betrayed her fear.

The man stepped closer. His boots made no sound on the wet stones. “Someone who answers prayers others have forgotten.”

“I didn’t pray to you.”

“You prayed to be saved.” He stopped in front of her, the candlelight reflecting off his pale face. “And I can grant that.”

He was young — perhaps not much older than twenty-five — with a face too beautiful to be real, and eyes that burned with something ancient. Lia couldn’t tell if it was cruelty or sorrow.

“Who are you?” she whispered.

The stranger smiled faintly. “Once, they called me Prince Kael.”

“Prince?” Lia frowned. “There is no prince. The king has no sons.”

“Not anymore,” he murmured, looking past her to the altar. “Not since they erased me.”

A chill ran through her. She wanted to flee, but something about him held her still — not fear exactly, but gravity, as though the air around him pulled her closer.

“What do you want from me?” she asked.

Kael tilted his head. “What every curse wants — to be broken.”

Lia’s throat tightened. “I don’t understand.”

“You will,” he said softly, reaching out his hand. “If you’re willing.”

Her eyes dropped to his palm — long fingers, a faint shimmer of light tracing runes across his skin. Magic. Forbidden magic.

“I should go,” she stammered. “If they find me here—”

“They already have.”

Lia froze. From the trees behind the shrine came the echo of hooves. Lantern light flashed through the mist — royal collectors. She could see the sigil of the crown embroidered on their black cloaks.

Kael’s eyes hardened. “They came for you.”

Lia’s heart pounded. “I didn’t pay the taxes. My mother—”

“They won’t care about your mother.” He turned to her sharply. “Take my hand.”

“I—”

“Do it, or you’ll never see dawn again.”

The hooves grew louder. Lia hesitated only a moment before gripping his hand.

A surge of warmth flooded her, followed by blinding light. The world twisted — the rain, the mud, the sound of shouting soldiers — all dissolving into a blur of silver and shadow.

When her vision cleared, she stood on a high cliff overlooking the valley. The storm still raged below, but here the air was unnaturally still. The shrine was gone. The soldiers were gone. Only Kael stood beside her.

“Where are we?” she gasped.

“Between,” he said simply. “The realm of men and the realm of those they banished.”

Lia stared. The sky above them shimmered faintly — not clouds, but shifting veils of light. Below, the valley burned with faint red sparks, as if the world itself were bleeding.

“This is impossible,” she whispered.

“Not impossible,” he said. “Hidden.”

He turned to face her, the wind brushing his cloak aside. Beneath it, she saw an amulet glowing faintly — a black stone carved with the royal crest.

Her eyes widened. “That’s the mark of Caerwyn’s crown.”

“Yes,” Kael said. “And it’s the reason they buried me alive.”

Lia staggered back. “You were the king’s son.”

“I was,” he replied, a faint smile tugging at his lips. “Until I was accused of treason, cursed by the royal seers, and erased from every record. The kingdom you serve is built on lies, Lia.”

She shook her head. “No, that’s not”

“Your village pays tribute to a king who feeds on blood magic,” Kael said, his voice low and cold. “The same magic that condemned me.”

Lia’s stomach twisted. “Then why help me?”

Kael stepped closer. His eyes softened. “Because you called me. And because the curse that binds me to this in-between world can only be undone by blood of the pure heart — one who has nothing, and yet everything to lose.”

She felt his gaze pierce through her. “Me?” she whispered.

“You,” he said simply.

Lia swallowed hard. “And if I refuse?”

He smiled not cruelly, but almost sadly. “Then you’ll wake tomorrow in chains, sold to the king’s mines, and I will remain here for another century. But if you help me…”

He stepped close enough that she could feel his breath. “You’ll never be poor again. You’ll be more than you ever dreamed , queen of both realms.”

Her pulse raced. “Queen?”

“Do you fear it?”

“Yes,” she admitted.

“Good.”

He reached into his cloak and withdrew a dagger ( ancient, silver, its edge shimmering with blue light).

He pressed it into her palm. “Every crown is bought with blood. Will you pay the price?”

Lia stared at the blade. It felt alive, humming faintly against her skin.

The ground beneath them trembled. From the mist below, dark shapes began to rise , shadows with hollow faces, whispering her name.

“Lia…”

She stumbled back. “What are they?”

“Remnants,” Kael said. “Souls the king sacrificed to sustain his throne. They can smell his blood on you , the taxes, the debt, the servitude. You are part of his chain.”

The shadows drew closer, their whispers turning into screams.

Kael’s voice cut through the storm. “Choose now!”

The dagger pulsed. The air around her shimmered with heat and frost at once. Lia’s heart thundered in her chest.

She raised the dagger toward Kael. “How do I know you’re not lying?”

He didn’t flinch. His eyes burned like fire. “Because I am the lie they told you to forget.”

Lightning split the sky, and the cliff shattered beneath her feet. Lia screamed as the world fell away Kael reaching for her hand, the dagger slipping from her grasp and everything went white.

Lia’s fate and whether she’s alive, trapped in another realm, or bound to Kael remains unknown.

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