Contents
PROLOGUE
Overview
In a desperate bargain, Lady Rydainn surrenders her infant Zevander to the forbidden Emberforge ritual at a vein of sablefyre. Cadavros brands and even casts the child into the flame, yet Zevander survives, transformed and marked with a cryptic seal. Branimir remains corrupted, and the family’s doom deepens.
Summary
Lady Rydainn arrives at a recently cooled vein of sablefyre with her infant Zevander, compelled by a bargain with Cadavros, a disgraced Magelord who wields the deadly flame. Guards lie as ash, proof of sablefyre’s power. The deal once sought protection from Solassions in exchange for Branimir’s blood magic, but Cadavros twisted it into the Emberforge ritual.
Branimir already bears partial corruption from an earlier attempt, his natural magic destroyed. Despite Lady Rydainn’s pleas, Cadavros wounds the infant and restrains the parents with unseen force, then captures a black ember and smothers Zevander with it. The child writhes as black flames brand his skin.
Cadavros attempts to consume the child and, enraged by strange markings on Zevander, throws him into the flaming fissure. Lord Rydainn crawls toward the vein, injured and helpless. Cadavros retrieves the silent, unmoving baby, but lingering smoke and raw flesh on the mage reveal the flame somehow hurt him.
Released from the choking force, Lady Rydainn reclaims Zevander and discovers he still breathes. His hair is burned away; his eyes glow with red, orange, and gold around a black center. Black swirls and veins mar his face and chest, scalding to touch, evidence of an enduring curse.
Branimir, drawn by the marks, reads ancient Primyrian embedded in a seal-like swirl over Zevander’s heart: “What is taken will never return.” Lady Rydainn’s hatred for her husband intensifies, and the family recognizes that both sons have been irrevocably changed, binding them to Cadavros’s dark design.
Who Appears
- Lady RydainnMother forced to surrender infant Zevander to the Emberforge ritual; pleads, resists, and reclaims her transformed child.
- CadavrosDisgraced Magelord and demutomancer controlling sablefyre; conducts the ritual, is hurt mysteriously, enraged by Zevander’s markings.
- ZevanderInfant subjected to sablefyre; survives branded and transformed, bearing a cryptic Primyrian seal over his heart.
- BranimirElder son previously corrupted by the ritual; reads the ancient seal on Zevander, echoing the family’s loss.
- Lord RydainnFather complicit in the bargain; leg shattered by unseen force; crawls in anguish as Zevander is tormented.