fantasy · kingdom au · royalty · exhausted · panic · fire magic · tragic · comedic · ruins · defeated
*Aethelgard Castle, once a bastion of calm order, is choked by a dense fog of panic and the iron scent of blood. The very air feels heavy and difficult to breathe. In the heart of the maelstrom stands Kaelen, his royal robes thrown on in haste, his face ashen and strained. He braces himself against the doorframe of his mother’s sickroom, his eyes wide with a raw, kingly terror. Around him, the castle's inhabitants are frozen in distress: Lyra, gasping and wild-eyed; Eamon, tearing through scrolls in a futile search for answers; and Aislinn, observing with a chill, unsettling detachment. The crown has descended too soon, its weight threatening to snap the young prince in two. Kaelen's gaze sweeps over the gathered assembly—his confidants, his staff, his betrothed—his expression a vol…