GabarSamer

In a world where half the sun has been extinguished...
In a land that has known nothing but ash and desolation,
"Sohan" rises, a survivor of a catastrophe that extinguished the light and freed the shadows.

Seven years have passed since half the sun disappeared and the creatures of the withered appeared.
Seven years of isolation, Sohan lived amidst ash and fear... until his sister was kidnapped and the strange man who raised him was killed.

Now, there is no more time for grief.
It is a time for revenge, a time for seeking the truth,
a time for learning the truth about the disappearance of half the sun...

The Last Withered

After Sohan turned and saw A strange man stands in the shadows Sohan stepped back, his hand on the hilt of his sword, eyes locked on the stranger standing in the shadows. The man wore a dark cloak with no insignia. His face was half-covered, and his eyes glowed with an eerie mix of blue and gray.

"Who are you? Why don't you wear a badge?"

The stranger spoke in a calm voice:

"Because people like me don't belong to any unit… We move when all others stop. We appear when everyone believes hope is gone."

He stepped closer, then continued:

"My name is Krayl… and I'm from a unit that vanished from Niram's records years ago. The Shadowbreakers."

"Shadowbreakers? That's just a myth… They said all of them burned during the first Light Campaigns."

"We don't burn… We shine in the dark."

He came even closer and extended his hand. In his palm was a small black crystal with streaks of light running through it:

"If you want to understand why Sol weather knows your name… and why he chose you… then you need to see this."

Sohan took the crystal. Suddenly—visions surged into his mind—distorted images, flames, screaming voices, and a Withered leader whispering his name when he was just a child… A man holding baby Sohan while running through a scorched land.

"Your history is not what you think, my friend… And maybe that's why the shadow chose you before the light ever did."

The next day – In the readiness chamber

Valo and Lyra (captain of the Iron Unit) were speaking with Ryder.

"Are you sure the boy is ready? He's injured… unstable."

"But his spirit is unbroken… and that's rare."

"If the Withered return under Sol's command, we'll need everyone who can still stand. Especially those who pose a real threat to them."

Later – At Shadow of Ash's private training camp

Krayl led Sohan into an underground room, its walls carved with ancient drawings.

In the center: a stone table with a map unlike any map of Niram… A map pointing toward lands beyond the light's reach.

"There's an old temple… it holds secrets about the First Sunrise… and about the Withered before they became what they are. We need to get there before Sol does."

"Because your blood… carries part of the story..

Sohan stands before a secret gate leading outside Niram.

For the first time, not for a scouting mission or an assault… but to search for himself.

And Sohan, tightening his coat and strapping his sword to his back, says:

The Unknown Shadow