The village of Ravenspire had always been a quiet place. Nestled between the vast Ironwood Forest and the Silverflow River, it was a place where farmers tilled the land, blacksmiths forged iron, and children ran through the cobbled streets without fear of war or monsters. But peace was an illusion, and illusions never lasted long.
Kael wiped the sweat from his brow, his arms aching from a full day of hammering steel. The forge was blazing hot, its embers casting flickering shadows across the walls of his father's smithy.
"You're getting better," his father, Garrick, said, inspecting the blade Kael had just finished. "Still a little rough, but you've got talent."
Kael smiled, pride swelling in his chest. He had spent years watching his father, learning the art of the forge. Though he dreamed of adventure beyond Ravenspire, he knew his place was here—until fate had other plans.
A distant horn blared, shattering the evening calm.
Kael frowned. Horns were only used in times of danger. He barely had time to react before the village bells rang out in alarm. Then, a scream pierced the night.
"Get inside!" Garrick barked, shoving Kael toward the smithy's back door. "Run to the cellar. Don't come out until I say so."
"But—"
"Go, now!"
Kael hesitated, but the look in his father's eyes left no room for argument. He sprinted toward the cellar, just as the first shadows slithered into the village.
The Umbrals had come.
---
Kael crouched in the darkness, his heart hammering in his chest. Through the cracks in the cellar door, he could see eerie black figures moving through the village. They weren't men. Their bodies were shrouded in mist, their eyes glowing like dying embers. Wherever they passed, flames erupted, and the screams of villagers filled the night.
Kael gritted his teeth. He couldn't just sit here. His father was out there—fighting.
Grabbing a rusted dagger from a shelf, he pushed open the cellar door and stepped into the chaos.
Smoke choked the air. Houses burned, and bodies littered the streets. Kael barely had time to register the destruction before a towering Umbral warrior turned toward him.
It rushed forward, a spear of black mist forming in its hand. Kael barely dodged in time, the spear tearing through the air where his chest had been. He slashed with his dagger, but the blade passed through the creature's body like smoke.
He was going to die.
Then, Garrick appeared, wielding a glowing runeblade. With a single strike, he cleaved the Umbral in two, its form vanishing into shadowy wisps.
"Kael, run!" Garrick shouted, but it was too late.
A second Umbral, larger than the rest, emerged from the flames. Unlike the others, this one had armor fused into its body, glowing with ancient runes.
It wasn't here to kill.
It was here to take something.
Garrick stepped between Kael and the monster. "Get out of here, son."
"No, I—"
The Umbral lunged forward, its claws tearing through Garrick's chest. Kael's scream died in his throat as his father fell, blood pooling beneath him.
The monster turned to Kael. Its burning eyes locked onto the pendant around his neck—the one his father had given him just hours ago.
Kael barely had time to think before the pendant flared with golden light, and the world vanished into darkness.