Story Recap for Volumes Chapter 1 and 2
The story so far…
Arc One
Our tale begins in the rain battered town of Vinhithe, in the northeastern region of Urn. Alken Hewer, known to many as the Headsman of Seydis, executes the town’s bishop inside his own cathedral. However, when a young acolyte catches Alken in the act and escapes during a moment of hesitation from our protagonist, the alarms are raised and he is forced to cut his way through Vinhithe’s guards. After a brief, intense skirmish against a trio of mercenary knights, Alken is shot by soldiers and swept away by the river.
Wounded and lost within the wilderness some distance downstream, the exhausted Headsman encounters a wicked angel known as Nath. The dark spirit offers to save him, but Alken refuses and is left to die. In a twist of fate, he is saved by a traveling physician known as Olliard of Kell and his apprentice, a former lay sister called Lisette. The trio travel for some time while Alken recovers. During this time Lisette proves herself to be an adept of the Auratic Arts with a healing magic. Even despite her magic, Alken proves to heal quickly and spends much of this time dodging questions by his unlikely traveling companions.
During one night, Lisette is lured into the woods by the disquiet spirits who haunt Alken’s footsteps. In order to save her from these wrathful spirits, remnants of dead elves tied to his past, Alken is forced to reveal his own powers as a paladin to banish the wraiths.
The trio continue on into Caelfall, a sick and isolated land drowned in marsh and dead woods. At the local church, Olliard discovers the man he intended to meet is long dead and that the current priest is fearful of sharing his predecessor’s fate. Dark forces are gathering to the local baron, whose castle lies at the center of the region’s largest lake. It becomes more and more clear that Olliard is no ordinary doctor, but Alken continues to keep his distance.
In the church, Alken performs a rite of communion and contacts one of the Onsolain — holy spirits whose ranks include angels, demigods, and other immortal beings who give the Headsman his orders. This pantheon of beings is collectively known as the Choir of Heaven, or sometimes the Choir of Onsolem. It becomes clear that Alken’s presence in Caelfall is no accident, and he is tasked with delivering a sentence of execution to the local baron, Orson Falconer, who threatens the lands already tenuous peace. After surviving a night attack from deadly chimeric creatures, the Headsman leaves the doctor and apprentice behind to carry out his mission. At the nearby village, he discovers the presence of a company of ghoul soldiers indentured to the baron, who catch him snooping. Before things escalate, a mysterious woman appears and talks the undead soldiers down, revealing that the baron is hosting visitors from outside the domain and arguing that Alken is likely one of these guests. Alken decides to go along with it in order to gain access to the castle.
The woman who saved our hero identifies herself as Catrin, an eccentric and seemingly altruistic character with unclear motives. Alken dodges most of her queries, much to Catrin’s annoyance. At the castle, the two participate in a late night dinner discussion with a group of other guests, all of whom are dangerous characters and enemies of the same order our protagonist is secretly in service to. After some tense discussion and standoff that includes the appearance of a terrifying disembodied presence, the baron reveals himself and speaks of his plans. When Alken derails the talks during an argument with the leader of the Mistwalker mercenary company, the leader of the ghouls, the baron speaks to him privately and offers to host him so long as he proves useful.
In the late night, Catrin appears at Alken’s bedroom under the pretense of checking in on him, but quickly reveals ulterior motives when she almost hypnotizes him for answers to his identity and purposes. Defending himself with his own powers, he strips Catrin’s disguise and reveals her to be a vampire — or more precisely a dhampir, one of myriad types of half breed monsters who inhabit the land. Despite this, Catrin proves herself to be non-hostile and leaves after offering to help Alken with his predicament.
The next day, Alken is given a mission by the baron and meets a number of other dubious characters operating in Caelfall, including the ghoul soldiers Vaughn and Quinn, a young man named William Garou, and a mysterious trio of brothers. They are ordered to infiltrate the nearby church and kill the priest there, finishing the job the baron started. Alken takes this time to question Quinn about Catrin, as the two seem to know one another, and learns she is employed by an information broker who doubles as the proprietor of the Backroad Inn. Because the ghouls cannot walk on holy ground, Alken and William are tasked with going in alone. Inside the church, they discover that the priest, Olliard, and Lisette have already made their escape. Alken attempts to talk William down, but is ultimately forced to kill the youth.
Finding his way out of the church through the crypts following a brief encounter with the ghost of the previous priest, who has a connection to Dr. Olliard and Catrin both, Alken is ambushed by the doctor and his apprentice in the woods, subdued, and questioned. Olliard ends up drugging Alken and leaving him to wake hours later, at which point Catrin makes another appearance. Distrustful and frustrated, Alken is not kind to the dhampir, but his next act is interrupted when he and Catrin are accosted by elves. Catrin is shot with a magicked arrow and the two are taken to the hall of an elven warlord known as Oradyn Irn Bale, who challenges Alken for possession of his faerie axe.
Alken wins this duel, and he and Catrin find themselves guests of the elves. Irn Bale provides more backstory on Orson. Alken and Catrin discuss their plans, theorizing that the evil presence inside Castle Cael is in fact a demon, one of a host of powerful creatures responsible for destroying the elven kingdom a decade prior. This same enchanted realm was where Alken served as a Knight of the Alder Table, an order of famous warriors blessed with faerie magics. The conversation ends on a bitter note when Alken accuses the dhampir of being responsible for the death of Caelfall’s former priest. Irn Bale’s daughter attempts to seduce Alken after this, but fails.