I paused at the threshold, allowing myself one last look.
Solaris. My city. My charge. My cage.
The wards cloaked us from the world beyond, but to my eyes, the veil shimmered faintly in the horizon, a subtle bend of light that only I could feel. My power was woven through those wards, blood and fire and sacrifice burned into their foundations. I hadkept Solaris hidden for a hundred years. And now its people whispered of a Shadow King stealing their children.
I clenched my jaw.If he is behind this, I will end him.
But if he was not…
I pushed the thought aside and began the descent.
The streets gave way to stairwells carved into the mountain itself, winding paths of stone lined with torches that sputtered to life at our passing. The Paladins marched in disciplined silence, their presence a shield around me. Yet even their devotion could not still the unease gnawing at me.
The last time Paladins had entered the Forest of Night’s Bane, half had not returned. And I, kept behind by the Elders, had prayed over their unconscious bodies instead of their swords.
Not tonight. Tonight, I would step into the dark myself.
I was going to confront the Shadow King.
~
We descended the hidden path that led down the plateau, the air growing cooler as we ventured into the dense woods at its base. I had never entered the Forest of Night’s Bane before.
For years, the Sun Paladins had pursued the creature known as the Shadow King, venturing into the shadowy woods on the edge of our territory to drive him back. They had always returned hurt, unconscious, maimed.
I had accompanied the Paladins occasionally, but only to the edge of the Forest. The Elders deemed me ‘too valuable’ to risk my presence in the woods.
I had stayed on the border while the Paladins fought, sending my magic their way, but unable to truly step in and vanquish this dark beast that prowled at the edge of our world.
No more.
Today, I would destroy the Shadow King for what he had done to my people.
The forest was already thick with shadows when we arrived at its border, the sun barely a glimmer on the horizon. I felt a chill settle over the group as we stepped beneath the twisted canopy of trees.
The air here was different—thick, oppressive, as though it held secrets in its depths that we were never meant to uncover. I extended a hand, and the golden light of the Sun flared to life in my palm, casting a warm, protective glow around us.
But even the Sun’s light felt muted here, dimmed by the weight of the shadows pressing in on us.
“I don’t like this,” Leonidas muttered from beside me, his hand resting on the hilt of his sword. “The darkness here… it’s unnatural.”
I stared at him in surprise, before recalling that the last time I had ventured near these woods had been ten years prior. Leonidas had not been captain then—he’d not even been a Paladin then. He had just been a street urchin with ambitions.
ThesePaladins had never been to the Forest of Night’s Bane before.
I turned to face them, projecting my voice clearly. The Paladins fell silent as they looked at me expectantly.
Their faces gleamed pale in the torchlight, eyes bright with fervor and fear.
“The Shadow King is not like other foes. His power comes from the very thing we stand against—the night, the dark.” I tightened my grip on my staff, the golden metal cool beneath my fingers. “But we will face him.Tonight, we end this.”
The Paladins didn’t cheer, but they all clapped their right hands to their left shoulders, and nodded sharply in agreement.
As Leonidas turned to enter the Forest, I raised a hand.
“Wait,” I said, and he obeyed instantly.
I reached within my cloak and drew out the phoenix sigil—an amulet wrought from the holy fire of the Sun God that had givenme my powers long ago. The metal was warm against my skin, humming faintly with my pulse.
