They say nothing exists beyond the Elmeswood. They say memory fades for a reason. They say Great Upping Day is only a tradition. Arthur has lived his whole life believing these things. In a village of crooked houses and gentle forgetfulness, growing up means walking into the forest, sleeping beneath Mt Mighty, and returning by morning changed-but safe. It has always been that way. It is meant to be harmless. But some names do not forget being spoken. Some objects remember their purpose. And some truths wait patiently beneath roots and stone. What begins as a quiet rite of passage becomes the first step into a much larger world-one shaped by hidden histories, broken promises, and powers that should never have been unearthed. As Arthur's understanding of his home begins to fracture, so too does the idea that Elmeswood is all there ever was. This is a fantasy of lost memories and found names, of villages that sleep through their own endings, and of a boy who learns-far too late-that growing up sometimes means becoming something the world was trying very hard to forget. And the forest is only the beginning.

Aldaine dan Grimmwald never asked for this life. A noble heir with duty pressing on his shoulders, he finds himself caught between his family's expectations and the unforgiving world of the Gryphon Army. A simple journey to pledge allegiance under his uncle's guidance quickly spirals into a crucible of discipline, rivalry, and battlefield politics. At Fernandascourt, Aldaine must navigate a new hierarchy, where friends and foes are not easily distinguished, and the line between loyalty and survival is razor-thin. Eidson and Casanova, his fellow cadets, bring both challenge and threat as the young noble learns the true cost of command, honour, and the legacy he cannot escape. Thrown into a world of rigid drills, dangerous camaraderie, and the looming shadow of war, Aldaine must discover what it truly means to serve--before The Baptism of Fire swallows him whole.