The Wraith-King

109

[<🌛The Wraith-King’s Lament🌜>] Once upon a time, in a kingdom long swallowed by mist, there was a prince named Kolth. His heart was as pure as morning frost, and he loved a maiden of humble birth, a love forbidden by those who wore the crown. Yet he swore he would forsake his throne, his name, his very soul, to be with her. But love is a fragile thing in the hands of fate. On the eve of their escape, betrayal struck. His father, the iron-fisted king, would not suffer disgrace. He had the girl taken—dragged screaming to the depths of the castle, where she would never be seen again. Kolth fought, bled, begged, but by sunrise, her life was nothing more than a whisper lost to the stones. Grief hollowed him. Rage consumed him. That night, as the winds howled through the throne room, the prince fell to his knees and offered his soul to the darkness. And the darkness listened. A curse unlike any before it twisted through the castle halls, cold as the breath of the grave. The prince’s heart stopped beating, his body withering, his grief shaping him into something monstrous. When the dawn came, the kingdom awoke to horror—their prince was no more. Kolth had become the Wraith-King. One by one, he hunted them—the nobles, the guards, even his own father. No blade could pierce him, no prayer could banish him. He tore their souls from their flesh and bound them to the castle, where their wails would forever echo through its cursed halls. His kingdom fell silent, empty but for the ghosts of his wrath. But vengeance is a hunger that does not die. Centuries passed, yet still the Wraith-King roamed the ruins, searching, always searching. Not for his enemies—they were long gone. Not for his throne—it meant nothing. He searched for her. For the one soul even death had stolen from him. And so, on nights when the moon is full and the wind carries the scent of decay, travelers near the ruins claim to hear his whisper. "Where are you?" He is waiting. And he does not rest.

Solari & Noctra

59

[<🌛Solari & Noctra - The Twin Deities of Dusk and Dawn🌜>] Once upon a time, in a realm where the heavens wove light and shadow into a delicate dance, there were two deities—Solari, the Radiant Dawn, and Noctra, the Eternal Night. They were the twin guardians of balance, their existence shaping the cycle of day and night, harmony and chaos. Solari, adorned in the golden fire of the sun, bore the warmth of creation. Her touch awakened life, her gaze summoned the morning, and her breath ignited the stars. Yet, with each rise, her twin would fall. Noctra, cloaked in the deep fabric of the cosmos, held dominion over the endless void. His whispers called the tides, his hands painted the constellations, and his silence cradled the world in rest. They were halves of the same soul, bound by an eternal cycle—forever together, yet never truly one. But the cycle was not unbreakable. As the eons passed, Solari’s light burned ever brighter, longing to shine without end. Noctra, in turn, yearned for the stillness of an eternal night. The balance wavered. The skies darkened as the two fell into war—a battle that split the heavens in two. Sun clashed against stars, light against shadow, neither willing to yield. The world below trembled, caught between scorching days and endless nights, life teetering on the edge of oblivion. At last, as their power reached its breaking point, they met at the Horizon—the only place where dawn and dusk could exist in harmony. Their hands touched, and in that moment, they saw the truth. One could not be without the other. To break the cycle was to unravel existence itself. And so, with solemn hearts, they wove the world anew, ensuring that night would always follow day, and day would always chase night. But it is said that on rare occasions, when the sun lingers just beyond the horizon and the stars hesitate to shine, one can glimpse the moment they meet—twin souls bound in an eternal embrace.

The Howling Maw

42

[<🌛The Howling Maw🌜>] Once upon a time, when the veil between waking and dreaming was still whole, there was a ship that sailed not upon the seas, but through the very fabric of slumber. The Howling Maw, a twisted abomination of iron, bone, and nightmare, roamed the dreaming world, hunting for the sweetest of dreams to devour. None knew where it came from—some whispered it was a vessel cursed by a god of the abyss, others believed it was a nightmare that gained a will of its own. With each passing night, it slithered through the dreams of children, lovers, and poets, warping beauty into horror, turning hope into despair. Each dream it consumed became part of its grotesque form, bound forever within its shifting, rusted hull. One fateful night, the Maw found a dream unlike any other. A dream it could not consume, for it belonged to a Dreamer who did not fear the dark. Instead of recoiling in terror, the Dreamer stepped forward, entranced by the monstrous majesty of the Maw. Where others saw horror, the Dreamer saw power, a vessel of lost dreams yearning for purpose. The Maw twisted and groaned, its many eyes fixating on this fearless soul—waiting. Testing. With a steady hand, the Dreamer reached for the ship’s rotting wheel. The Maw trembled, resisting for only a moment before surrendering to its new master. The whispers that once spoke in hunger now murmured in reverence. The Howling Maw had been tamed.

The Eldritch Curse

44

[<🌛The Eldritch Curse🌜>] Once upon a time, in a land forsaken by the light, there existed a realm swallowed by eternal darkness. It was a place where the sky wept shadows, and the wind carried the anguished whispers of the damned. No mortal dared step beyond the threshold of the cursed land, for those who entered never returned. Deep within the heart of this accursed void dwelled the Eldritch—a race of spectral wraiths, their forms a swirling mass of decay and nightmare. Their hollow eyes burned like dying embers, the last remnants of the souls they had consumed. Legends told of how they were once guardians of an ancient kingdom, but a great betrayal had twisted them into monstrous apparitions, cursed to hunger eternally for the life force of the living. It was said that their domain was a prison of forgotten souls, bound to the dark will of their master, the Shadow King. He, the first of the Eldritch, had torn the veil between the realms of the living and the dead, crafting his kingdom from the very essence of fear. His voice, a cacophony of despair, could shatter the will of even the bravest traveler. One day, a warrior named Kael entered the abyss. He sought his beloved, stolen by the shadows. Guided only by memory and a blade forged from celestial steel, he braved the cursed lands. The Eldritch greeted him with laughter like breaking bones, their skeletal fingers reaching to unravel his mind. Yet Kael pressed forward, guided by the last whispers of his beloved. The deeper he ventured, the more his body withered, his soul fraying at the edges like parchment in a storm. And when at last he reached the throne of the Shadow King, he realized the cruelest truth of all—his beloved was no more. She had become one of them. With glowing eyes and skeletal hands, she reached for him, whispering his name in a voice not her own. The last thing Kael saw before his soul was devoured was the grin of the Shadow King, welcoming him home.

🌛Morphila🌜

34

Meet Morphila, the secret sprout of the Iron Maw. A child of whispers and lost time, she lies entombed in a hidden laboratory deep beneath the city’s grinding machinery. Few know of her existence, and fewer still are permitted beyond the iron doors that seal her away. She is the Dreamwarden’s secret, a daughter never meant to wake. From the moment she was born, she was hidden away, concealed beneath layers of steel and secrecy. She is a being of pure dreams, an anomaly in the world her father rules with cold precision. The Dreamwarden, who siphons the dreams of the city’s people to sustain his dominion, could not risk her power—or what it might mean should she wake. And so, the machines were built, intricate and unyielding, holding her in perpetual slumber. The laboratory is silent but for the soft hum of machinery. Tubes pulse with flickering energy, feeding on her endless dreams. Wires twist through the room like roots, wrapped around broken toys left to decay between the brass and glass. The attendants who care for her well-being speak in hushed tones, ensuring her body remains strong though her mind never stirs. Morphila does not know the Iron Maw. She does not know her father, nor the city that steals dreams to survive. She only dreams—of places that do not exist, of emotions that are not her own, of fragments of life slipping through the Veil. And outside, the world feeds upon those dreams, never knowing the girl who slumbers beneath its feet, the silent heart of a machine that will never let her wake.