꧁༒☬𝓟𝓻𝓸𝓵𝓸𝓰𝓾𝓮☬༒꧂In ancient times before mortals recorded the world in memory, the gods emerged from the primordial void. Born of creation’s first breath, they were more than beings—they were power incarnate, shaping the raw chaos of the Cosmos into form and purpose. Among the pantheon was Aureon, god of light and justice, whose radiance illuminated the heavens and brought order to the shapeless expanse.Yet, creation was not enough. The gods sought something fragile yet enduring, something to reflect their magnificence. From their divine will came the mortals, fragile beings bound by the chains of time, created to live, love, and perish.Thus was born Nerathia, a realm where the immortal and the mortal coexisted. Aureon and his kin bestowed gifts upon this fledgling world: light, wisdom, protection, and the inevitability of change. For a time, harmony prevailed. The gods watched their creation flourish, and mortals grew under their guidance.But where light prevails, shado

The autumn chill wrapped itself around the Evervale campus, crisp and biting, as Lyra Donovan walked alongside her friends. Ivy’s laughter rang out in the cool air, echoing off the brick buildings that had stood the test of time. Though familiar, the atmosphere carried an energy, a charge, as if the start of their final year was heralding something new, something about to shift.Clusters of students buzzed around them, engaged in animated conversations about summer adventures or already lamenting the workload ahead. Skateboarders zipped by, expertly dodging a group of wide-eyed first-years who huddled together, trying to make sense of the campus map clenched in their hands.Lyra glanced sideways at Ivy and Harrison. Ivy’s arm was looped around his, her auburn hair bouncing with every step, while Harrison looked at her the way only someone madly in love could—like she was the center of his universe. They were that couple. The ones everyone admired, sometimes envied. High school sweethe

The cafeteria was filled with the regular lunchtime excitement—students talking, trays being moved, and the smell of fatty French fries and suspicious pizza in the air. At the regular table, Lyra leaned into her chair, listening to Harrison going on about the history project with some of her attention while she looked around the busy cafeteria.The conversations around them blended into a dull hum, the world moving on blissfully unaware of the forty-percent history project looming over their heads.“Why couldn’t we have gone for something normal?” Lyra asked, interrupting Harrison’s passionate monologue about Nerathia’s forgotten gods. “You know, like Greek mythology? Zeus, Athena… all that Mount Olympus stuff. Everyone knows it, and we could probably churn out a paper on Zeus’ love life in our sleep.”Harrison’s eyes gleamed with that familiar light—the one he always got when he was about to dive into an explanation none of them had asked for. He rested his elbows on the table, his g

They stood at the threshold of the ruin where fragments of what had once been a towering structure now lay in crumbled heaps, overtaken by wild shrubs and moss. The air was colder here, sharper, as if the ruin itself carried the chill of its ancient past. Lyra instinctively pulled her jacket tighter around her body, trying to fend off the cold that bit through to her bones.Rhett, standing next to her, seemed unaffected by the wind. At six feet three, he loomed tall against the darkening sky, his broad frame almost motionless despite the gusts. Harrison, looking somewhat impatient as he bounced on the balls of his feet, his hands stuffed into the pockets. He surveyed the wreck excitedly, almost oblivious to the cold breeze that was blowing around.“Where’s the crew?” Lyra’s voice barely carried over the wind.Harrison shrugged, his gaze fixed on the ominous stone structure ahead. “Packed up for the night, probably,” he replied. “Not like they’re expecting company out here anyway.”R

An unbearable iciness stood heavy in the atmosphere around the group who were petrified in front of the monumental figure of Zarekth, shrouded in all directions. The sculpture remained dilapidated but there was a strong feeling, a force, which made the very ground and the rocks they stood and walked in vibrate with the ancient eldritch energy that had long been erased from time. Lyra found it rather hard to ignore how it was working its way towards her epicenter, an irksome oscillation that brought all kinds of creeps to the back of her neck.Harrison shone his flashlight on the inscription carved into the pedestal of the statue. He wore a frown as if concentrating hard on something. His fingers ran over the other symbols as if trying to make sense of the hundreds of years that lay in the past. The first mechanism in his breath spoke about hope inside which a strange excitement girth had wrapped around it. Generally, it looked like that of a person who became an area in which people