Chapter 9: Beyond the wall
The Eastern Wall hadn’t been opened in over two decades.
Built after the Black Siege, it loomed as both monument and warning a barrier of obsidian stone laced with aura-reactive metal, sealed by runes older than the Bastion itself.
Only death had ever come through it.
But today, the gates groaned open once more.
Thalen stood in the chill wind beside Elya and a dozen elite Bastion scouts. His blade, freshly sharpened, rested on his back. Ember aura simmered low in his veins, warm but quiet.
This wasn’t a battle.
Not yet.
This was an expedition.
The Forbidden Wilds
Beyond the wall lay the Scarred Frontier, a stretch of broken plains and shadowed forests that once belonged to the eastern dominions long fallen, long silent.
The air felt...wrong.