Prologue

  The storm over Vaeltharion did not break with rain, but with fire.

  From the towering windows of the royal citadel, lightning forked across a black horizon, jagged white veins splitting the darkness. Beyond the walls, the Shadow Dominion pressed hard, banners of crimson and black moving forward like a tide of night. Inside the throne hall, the air itself seemed to quake beneath the weight of dread.

  King Althric Vaelborne sat upon his throne in full armor, helm resting at his side. Even seated, he towered over the court, his massive frame built by decades of warfare. Scars lined his weathered face, but his voice remained steady. The nobles gathered below whispered among themselves, half scheming, half afraid.

  Archmage Calvessan stepped forward, staff in hand, three pale apprentices trailing behind. Forbidden study had worn him thin, his gaunt frame bent but unbroken. The scorched cuffs of his sleeves still smoldered from earlier trials.

  “The weave speaks of treachery,” he said, his words cutting the silence.

  Althric’s fingers drummed on the throne arm, slow and deliberate, the same rhythm etched into the prophecy carved deep beneath the citadel.

  The stag will fall. The line will burn.

  He had read it too many times to forget.

  “Our armies will not stand,” Calvessan continued. “To hold this kingdom, we must call upon a power beyond this world.”

  The court erupted, cries of heresy clashing with gasps of hope, until Althric raised a gauntleted hand. Silence fell.

  His jaw tightened. “Summon him. I will not be the king whose bloodline ends in ruin.”

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  The war chapel stank of incense and ash. Its altar lay bare. The walls bore carved runes that pulsed faintly with blue fire. Silver dust and chalk formed shifting patterns across the stone floor, lines that bent and crawled when unlooked at.

  Calvessan raised his staff. The crystal at its crown burst into white flame.

  “Witness,” he intoned, “the Summoning of the Champion.”

  The apprentices began to chant, voices rough and strained, the magical syllables not meant for mortal throats. The circle blazed brighter and brighter until sweat streamed down their faces. Sparks hissed along the edges like coiled serpents.

  One noble shrieked that it was blasphemy. Another pounded on the doors in panic. A third fell to his knees in frantic prayer.

  The king watched it all with cold eyes.

  Air thickened, pressing on lungs and bones. The world itself seemed to hold its breath.

  Then came the thundercrack.

  The circle split wide, and light roared forth. Runes flickered wildly, the glow guttering like a dying star. The apprentices strained. Blood began streaming from one apprentice’s ears.

  Something was wrong.

  “Master!” one cried, voice breaking with terror. “The spell will not anchor. It is drifting, gods, it is latching onto peasant stock. A level one mud-born drunk!”

  Calvessan forced his breathing to slow. They had rushed the casting, carving runes into half-cooled stone instead of letting them cure in their season. He had chosen speed over precision, gambling that desperation would forgive the flaw.

  Now the circle shuddered where the lines bled thin. Worse, perhaps the Dominion’s shadow had already reached this far, poisoning the weave before their hands ever touched it. Either way, control was slipping.

  The court gasped, nobles recoiling as if filth had been flung across them.

  “Hold your tongue!” Calvessan roared, staff striking stone. “Do not falter!”

  “But they reek of common blood!” the apprentice cried.

  The circle convulsed, lines unraveling in a storm of light. For an instant, the chamber filled with visions from another world: a tavern’s smoke-haze, the slumped figure of a man with a half-empty bottle.

  Then the vision shattered.

  “Contain it!” the Archmage bellowed.

  The chamber collapsed into darkness.

  When silence finally settled, only one certainty remained.

  Whatever had answered their call was no champion.

  Author’s Note:

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  Burden of Fate approaches its March 10 release, this story will be stubbed on Royal Road. The first 10 chapters will remain available here, and the full novel is currently up for Kindle preorder on Amazon.