Chapter 1: The Cave of Silence
The world was quiet.
Not the peaceful kind of quiet you get after snowfall or under a gentle rain. This silence was thick—ancient, unmoving. A place where time had long stopped bothering to tick.
Deep beneath the surface of a forgotten mountain, buried under centuries of moss and stone, a single egg rested in the shadows. Its shell was dark crimson, faintly translucent, with veins of glowing gold threading like cracks of molten fire beneath its surface.
Inside, I—Darian Flamehart—dreamed.
But not the dreams of a child yet to be born.
These were not sweet or innocent.
They were drenched in flame, betrayal, and the choking scream of divine fire.
They were memories.
Mine.
> "You’re no hero, Darian. You’re a traitor to mankind."
The voice echoed in my skull like a cracked bell—familiar and cruel. Sir Aldric, my old comrade. The one who thrust the holy dagger through my spine before watching me burn with that empty, zealous stare.