Chapter 1: Ashfall
The sky was not blue.
It was red. Cracked like glass, glowing like fire. A slow rain of black ash drifted down, soft as snow, deadly as poison.
A boy lay in the dirt.
His skin was burned. His clothes torn. His face hidden under layers of dust. He did not move.
Not until his eyes opened.
Golden eyes.
He gasped, choking on the dry air. His fingers clawed at the ground, searching for something. Anything.
Nothing.
No name. No memory. No voice to call for help.
Only silence… and the sound of the wind dragging dust over stone.
He sat up slowly, his body aching with every breath. Around him stretched a dead land—cracked earth, broken trees, burned bones half-buried in black sand.
He blinked.
In the distance, half-buried in ash, stood a sword.
It was huge. Tall as a man. Pitch black, with a blade that pulsed faintly red, like it held fire trapped inside.
The boy didn't know why—but his heart beat faster when he saw it.
He stood, legs shaking. Stumbled. Walked.
The closer he got, the heavier the air became. The sword hummed, as if it felt him coming.
When he reached it, he placed a hand on the hilt.
The ground shook.
A whisper ran through his mind.
> "Call me. Use me. Break the world again."
The boy tried to pull his hand away—but it was stuck.
Pain shot through his arm.
Black veins crawled up his skin. The blade pulsed brighter. The whisper grew louder.
> "You are the last. The ruin remains. Speak my name."
He didn't know the name. But his mouth opened anyway.
And he spoke it.
> "Valteris."
The sword screamed.
Power exploded from it. A shockwave blasted the ash away. The boy was thrown back—yet the sword didn't fall.
It stood, glowing like a burning shadow.
The boy groaned. His eyes burned.
Symbols glowed on his arms—marks that weren't there before.
> "You are chosen," the voice said. "Or cursed."
The boy didn't understand. But deep inside, something had awakened.
Something dark.
Something ancient.
And far away, in a broken tower lost in ice and storm, an old monster opened its eyes.
> "The Ruin Blade has returned."