Chapter 170: Wardens of the Hollow Veil
The Luthaire Barony stood as a sentinel at the northwestern edge of the Orlan Kingdom, its lands carved between the jagged peaks of the Ashenfang Mountains and the churning gray waters of the Northern Maw Sea.
A territory of harsh beauty and harsher purpose—for it shared a border with the Hollowlands, the Fractured Zone where the very flow of Aura had shattered into corruption.
Though merely a barony in title, the Luthaire family’s prestige rivaled that of counts and dukes. They were one of the three Shield Families, tasked with guarding the kingdom from the Hollowlands’ creeping horrors.
House Viremont(County), the strongest, commanded the Iron Throat Pass—the only land route linking the other two Houses to the kingdom’s heart.
House Fenvar, Barons of the Frostbite Coast, faced the relentless tides of the Northern Maw. These waters, along with those bordering a small portion of the Hollowlands, had become thick with the Hollowlands’ creeping taint.
And the Luthaires, wedged between mountain and abyss, faced the worst of the corruption’s bite. Maybe so, they were also called the Wardens of the Hollow Veil.
Their castle—Eclipse Keep—was not grand, but it was unyielding. Built into the bones of the Ashenfang, its obsidian-black walls bore the scars of countless incursions. The only land route in or out snaked through Viremont’s territory, making the Luthaire lands a fortress—and a gilded cage.
Which was why the academy messengers had arrived late.
Even with Aura Portals, the journey had taken days longer than planned. Maybe Hollowlands’ distortion warped spatial frequencies, or Viremont’s border checks were notoriously thorough, inspecting every crate, every horse, every plea for haste.
Now, at last, the messengers stood in Eclipse Keep’s high-ceilinged hall, their boots scuffing against the black-and-silver heraldry of the Luthaire sigil: an ancient oak tree, its gnarled roots burrowing deep into solid stone. The air smelled of cold iron and older stone.
Before them loomed Lord Nusayel Von Luthaire, his posture rigid, his storm-gray eyes unreadable.