The Guardian of Light

Prologue: The Awakening of the Old Gods

The stars were still in the black sky. A primordial silence enveloped the lands of Arvalon, broken only by the whisper of the wind weaving through the forgotten ruins of an ancient civilization. The Temple of Karnath, once a sacred place for the ancient peoples, was now a heap of stones consumed by time. Yet that night, a dark energy seemed to flow from the very depths of the earth.

In the heart of the ruined temple lay a stone altar, covered in forgotten and incomprehensible symbols. For centuries, no one had dared approach the altar—until that night.

A figure cloaked in black moved cautiously among the fallen columns, his steps almost imperceptible on the cracked stone floor. His eyes gleamed with an unnatural light, reflecting the pale glow of the moon. In his hands, an ancient artifact—a sphere engraved with runes from a time before men.

With a deep breath, the figure placed the sphere on the altar. For a moment, nothing happened. But then, the earth beneath his feet trembled, and the wind suddenly ceased. The runes on the sphere began to glow with an intense red, and a deep voice, from another dimension, echoed in the traveler’s ears.

“The time has come,” whispered the voice. “The Old Gods shall awaken.”

At that moment, the altar cracked, and a fissure opened in the floor, from which a blinding light erupted. The figure stepped back, but it was too late. An ancient, dark, and overwhelming power had awakened. The lands of Arvalon would never be the same.

The echo of that ancient call spread quickly, crossing mountains, forests, and seas, until it reached the edges of the world. Distant kingdoms, forgotten peoples, and legendary creatures sensed the awakening of evil and prepared for the impending catastrophe.

In the small village of Verdaan, nestled among the eastern mountains, a young shepherd, unaware of his fate, was about to be thrust into a war that would decide the fate of all worlds. But that night, as he gazed at the starry sky above him, he felt something—a sudden chill, a dark omen, as if a shadow had passed over his soul.

His name was Kael, and his destiny was inextricably tied to the awakening of the Old Gods.