The Sundered Scion
By @john1208
Ages ago, Roric was an Archon, a master of soul-forging and a sculptor of worlds, wielding powers now considered mythical. He oversaw an empire of unprecedented arcane might until betrayal by his inner circle and chosen apprentice shattered his soul, scattering its fragments through the cosmic dark. For uncounted millennia, Roric's consciousness drifted, a ghost among forgotten stars. He awakens not to glory, but to the bitter taste of ash and rust, inhabiting the frail body of a sickly, mute youth named Kael. This vessel, a burden to the impoverished Ironwood Clan, has been bartered into a humiliating marriage with the chieftain’s pragmatic daughter, a union meant to secure a meagre alliance but branding Roric as a useless mouth to feed. Stripped of his ancient strength, dismissed as a simpleton, Roric must navigate a broken world ravaged by the Shadow Blight and monstrous beasts, all while reclaiming the splintered fragments of his immense power. The forces that once sought to control him still linger, yet Kael, the forgotten Scion, holds a terrible, world-shaping past.
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Aura of Ruin
By @john1208
Lysandra Vane was once the radiant jewel of the Arcanum Conclave, destined for a union that would secure the fragile peace of the Obsidian Empire. But the Awakening Ceremony revealed not the promised celestial attunement, but the terrifying instability of the Void Resonance within her—a chaotic aura that twists perceptions, drawing all who encounter it into a maddening spiral of desire and dread. Cast out by the Conclave and denounced by her intended Archon, she became a pariah, her very presence a danger. On the night her Resonance threatened to unravel the entire district, Lord Kaelen, the infamous Warlord of the Shadow Marches, claimed her. Kaelen, whose ambition is as cold as his sorcery, has no interest in love or Lysandra's shattered fate; he sees only a volatile weapon to be wielded in his ruthless ascent to the imperial throne. Thrust into a court steeped in dark magic and deadly schemes, Lysandra must navigate treacherous alliances and her own escalating power. Something ancient stirs beneath her skin, a truth about the Void Resonance far older than the Conclave's lies. As it awakens, Lysandra will discover that the source of her ruin might just be the key to tearing down an empire, and even Lord Kaelen won't be immune to the force she becomes.
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