Son of Edelia: A Rising Dawn

Prologue

Adam stood on the wall, his gaze fixed on the seemingly endless expanse of snow. Like a relentless adversary, the freezing wind chilled him to the bone as he fought against sleep. His eyes fluttered as fatigue began to wash over him. He yawned languidly, stretching, relishing in the heat the rising sun radiated. Adam turned as the noise of an approaching person grew louder. A taller man dressed head to toe in plate mail approached, a longsword rattled in its sheath as he drew near.

"Anything out there?" He asked through a sudden yawn.

"No signs of movement. Good luck, it's gonna be a cold one today." Adam replied, stifling a yawn of his own.

As the words left his lips, his eyes were passed over the treeline just over half a mile away. A single figure had begun to emerge from the pine forest. The figure's pace was slow and deliberate, and then the person stopped. Adam got to the edge of the wall, squinting his eyes, trying to discern the identity of the mysterious figure in the distance. As he stared down the person, he noticed the trees in the background tremble, their needles shaking, and a sound began to echo through the valley.

"Marching." Adam whispered. The sound was unmistakable, and the tramp of rank upon rank of soldiers marching in order was growing deafeningly loud.

Adam turned to address the other soldier only to see his back as he retreated down the wall, shouting to alert the other stationed guards. Adam turned his gaze back to the lone figure in the clearing. Adam felt his heart skip a beat, and the breath left his lungs as he noticed a second sun forming above the man. A roiling ball of liquid fire, more enormous than the trees behind, was slowly gaining more mass. With a roar, the massive ball of fire erupted into movement, screaming through the air and careening toward the castle's walls. The ball of flames crashed into the wall beneath Adam's feet. A sudden thunderclap followed by an intensifying roar engulfed Adam. A shockwave passed over him, sending his body careening through the morning air. Landing with a sickening crunch and painful thud onto the freshly fallen snow. Adam's sight was blurry. His eyelids felt like they were impossibly heavy. His body screamed in abject agony as he tried to stand. The wall he was standing upon was reduced to rubble, a massive gash torn straight through the stone as if it were paper. With a thundering roar as an endless stream of steel-clad warriors charged through the breach, the attackers fell upon Adam's comrades in a frenzy, taking the unprepared defenders by surprise. The battle quickly devolved into a one-sided slaughter as Adam's allies rapidly fled.

Adam struggled to his feet, every muscle in his body crying in pain. His breathing was shallow and quick as every breath caused a piercing pain to stab into his chest. Finally, as the stream of attackers petered out, a man dressed in a heavy robe and a steel gorget entered; his pace was slow as he examined the chaos with a dispassionate gaze. The strange man sighed as a group of knights charged at him suddenly. Within an instant, a spinning circle of arcane runes appeared above his head, glowing with a purple arcane light, and without another glace, the man sent a lightning bolt screaming from the arcane glyph and into the approaching soldiers, blasting them from their feet and sending them writhing into the afterlife. Adam stood straight as his anger grew uncontrolled; he drew his sword from its scabbard and limped towards the breach in the wall.

"Monster! Leave now, and I will let you live!" Adam bellowed.

The mage looked Adam up and down and smirked. A circle of bright orange glowing symbols materialized above the mage's head, blasting a ray of flame toward Adam without a word. Adam closed his eyes as the bolt of fire screamed toward him. The heat reminded him of home. Just a week ago, he had felt the heat of the forge...