AshesFallintoLight

In a land fractured by elemental extremes and ancient grudges, five kingdoms stand divided — each shaped by its climate, customs, and uneasy relationship with the monstrous frontier known only as the Wasteland.

For generations, the kingdoms of Solkar, Thal, Nordr, Virellia, and Alzhan have fought among themselves — over borders, trade, and pride — while the Wasteland's creeping horrors press ever closer. From this cursed land come the Oldspawn — beasts of myth and nightmare, whose hearts, when consumed, fuse with one’s own, birthing magic at a terrible cost. Power, after all, is never without sacrifice.

Evelyn — an orphan from a border outpost — is quiet, clever, and far more dangerous than she knows. When she survives a raid on her village and consumes a fractured core-heart, she becomes something new: a bearer of wild magic not bound to any kingdom's laws or customs. Her abilities are raw and unstable, and she draws the attention of those who would shape her into a weapon.
At her side is Torren, her childhood friend — steadfast, brave, and unknowingly the source of her first love. But while Evelyn’s path leads her deeper into the politics and power of the Five Realms, Torren’s takes him elsewhere: to duty, to transformation, and ultimately, to love beyond their bond.

Guiding Evelyn is the enigmatic scholar Vareth, a rogue archivist exiled from Alzhan’s great think-towers. Vareth believes Evelyn’s magic may be the key to ending the Wasteland’s expansion — or the cause of its rebirth. He teaches her the truth of the Oldspawn, of core-magic, and the First Fire, a forgotten power lost to time.

But in the depths of the Wasteland stirs something older than monsters. Once a god-emperor of a fallen sixth kingdom, now corrupted by centuries of core-consumption, the being known as The Hollow King has begun to move again. His twisted children — the Echoed, part-human, part-beast — are spreading across the borderlands.

And he wants Evelyn.

To survive, the kingdoms must unite. But can old enemies find common ground — when power is bonded in blood, bone, and the heartfire of beasts?

Heartfire of the Wastes

The night sky over the Cradle had changed.

Above the forge-chasm, where ash clouds once churned in ceaseless spirals, the stars had begun to reappear—but wrong. They blinked in unnatural colors: amber, violet, smoldering crimson. Some pulsed in tandem with the flame that now resided within Evelyn. Others… did not move at all. Fixed points. Watching.

The Embercallers called them Skybrands. Signs that the Hollow was stirring.

Evelyn stood at the rim of the forge, circlet still in her hand. The white fire within it had gone still, but not cold. It waited. Watched. Even as she did.

"The sky listens," said the lead Embercaller, standing beside her. "When the First Flame awakens, the Hollow responds. They remember what was stolen."

Evelyn's voice was quiet. "And what did we steal?"

Instead, she pointed upward. A thread of fire had begun to arc across the horizon—too slow to be a meteor, too steady to be a storm. It cut across the sky like a scar, glowing brighter with each breath Evelyn took.

Torren came up behind them. "That… isn't natural."

"No," said Evelyn. "It's a summons."

Below, within the forge's depths, the old machines had begun to hum—deep, sonorous, like the throats of giants. Gears long thought fused by rust now turned. And in the canyon's core, veins of molten light bled through the rock.

Sparks flickered upward into the sky like prayers from the earth.

A new sound tore through the silence—high-pitched, distant at first, then closer. Wings. But not feathered. Not organic. Something forged. Something ancient. From the hollows between stars, they came.

Shapes descended. Not fully visible. Not yet.

"They're coming through the Scars," said an Embercaller.

The leader's eyes glowed faintly. "The Hollow's first messengers. They come to test the fire."

The fire within her responded to the approaching presence—not with fear, but hunger. A resonance, like two blades vibrating from the same strike. She knew, instinctively, that whatever approached had waited centuries for this moment.

And it wasn't just coming for her.

It was coming because of her.

As the first of the winged forms broke through the veil of stars—half-armor, half-shadow, eyes like ember-filled wells—Evelyn stepped forward and donned the circlet.

And above them all, the Hollow Sky burned with remembered flame.

Sparks in the Hollow Sky