ChapterOne
Eclipse
The first shadow swept across the desert.
Viktor saw it.
He ran harder.
Salt cracked beneath his boots. Water flashed on either side of the strait like a thousand unsheathed blades. The eclipse dragged its darkness closer, mile by mile. Every stride carried him farther from Oustinon—and closer to the fate he’d never outrun.
If he didn’t reach Fort Sevrak by dusk, none of it would matter.
At last, stone rose out of the wasteland—a fortress carved into the rock, its banners barely stirring in the stillness. Sevrak’s watch-fires licked faint against the coming dark.
Viktor slowed, lungs burning, and pulled his cloak tighter.
No calls. No shouts.
What he carried belonged to Commander Storne’s ears alone.
A breeze tumbled down the mountain.
For the first time in hours, birds sang.
Viktor eased his stride, eyes lifting to the sky as the light thinned.
The gatekeeper waited beside the iron doors.
“You don’t belong out here,” he said.
Then, lower:
“When are you going to give this up, Captain?”
Viktor didn’t answer. He handed over a sealed parchment.
The gatekeeper sighed, waved to his partner.
Chains clanked. The iron doors groaned open.
Viktor clapped the man’s shoulder.
“Arm yourself tonight.”
“Always.”
“Like you’d face a lion,” Viktor warned.
He turned to go. The gatekeeper caught his sleeve.
“What do you know?”
Then it happened—
the eclipse swallowed the last light.
A brilliant halo flared around the darkened moon.
