Nyxshadow

In a world ruled by magic, ancient Seals, and crumbling bloodlines, one boy carries a secret the world tried to erase.

Once the heir to a fallen kingdom, Riven Caelthorn Valenhart was only eight when the crown was shattered and his memories stolen. Now seventeen, he survives on instinct, swordplay, and the voice of a mischievous spirit whispering in his mind. He doesn’t remember who he was—but someone out there remembers him. And they want him dead.

Haunted by a forgotten past and hunted by the monstrous cult known as the Eclipse Order, Riven’s only allies are a cursed pendant, a flicker of flame, and a growing power he barely understands. As he trains to master elemental magic and the ancient Frames of Flame, he uncovers truths buried beneath lies—and discovers that the same power that destroyed his family might be the key to saving the world.

But every Seal he unlocks brings him closer to the truth.

And the truth might burn everything.

Dark fantasy. Elemental battles. Hidden royalty. A slow-burn mystery tangled with fate, sacrifice, and shadows that remember.

Riven : Crown of Shadows

Night fell hard over the Black Spire.

Wind howled through its broken ribs. No stars pierced the clouds above. No birds sang near its ruins.

It was the kind of silence that settled deep into the bones. The kind of stillness that came before something ended… or began.

Riven stood at the altar in the sanctum's heart, his cloak cast aside, bare from the waist up. The scars along his shoulders shimmered in the dim light—old wounds, some from training, others from the day Seris carved his soul.

He held the counter-seal in one hand, open to the final page.

The instructions weren't in words.

They were written in concepts—etched in patterns of fire, spirit, and will.

Liora drew a circle of salt, ash, and flame-chalk around him.

"This isn't just soul magic," she murmured. "It's rewriting the contract that made you who you are."

Lyra stepped closer. "Are you ready for what that means?"

Only Veyron remained inside the circle, his spirit flickering brighter than usual—still unseen by the others, but no longer silent.

> You'll lose the anchor that kept you hidden.

That part… he hadn't said aloud.

But I won't protect you from what comes.

The first words of the unbinding were thought, not spoken.

They echoed inside him like a bell struck underwater. Magic pulled taut across his chest like threads tugging from all directions. The glyphs on the floor ignited—blue, red, silver—then flared black.

Power bled from his skin, seeping into the air like steam.

Kael took a step back. "He's burning mana."

"No," Liora said. "He's burning identity."

Inside the circle, Riven's memories flared to life.

Every moment Seris had marked him. Every word she'd whispered. Every seal she'd buried under his ribs.

He cried out only once—when the seal on his heart ripped like paper—and fell to his knees.

Veyron stood before him now, more solid than ever.

"You always had a choice," the spirit said.

"No," the spirit said softly. "This is freedom."

The final line of the unbinding wasn't a spell.

Magic exploded outward in a silent burst, like the inhaled breath of a god.

The pendant around his neck cracked, then turned to dust.

And with it—every trace of Seris's mark.

Lyra caught him again, holding him tighter this time.

Kael rushed forward. "He's burning cold."

"He's fine," Liora said, her voice shaking. "He did it."

Elen stood back, arms folded. "Then we move. Before something comes to see what died here."

"No," Lyra whispered. "You're finally what you chose to be."

Far away, in the Eclipse sanctum, Seris dropped her glass.

It shattered against the obsidian floor.

She clutched her chest, eyes wide.

The silence that followed wasn't fear.

Back in the spire, Riven stood beneath the open sky.

Riven turned to the east, where the old king's road led to the fractured capital of Aetherra.

The Unbinding