The Blood Key

"The crown does not choose kings. It chooses sacrifices."

"If you like dark fantasy stories with politics, forbidden magic, and kings who are not heroes, this story is for you."

History is not written with ink.

It is written with iron.

And it is paid for in blood.

Aethelgard had survived a thousand years believing itself eternal. Its towers pierced the sky, its cathedrals defied the gods, and its crown-the Great Obsidian Crown-had never left the head of a rightful king.

That was the story they told.

That was what they taught.

That... was a lie.

Because before the anointed kings, before faith and sacred oaths, there was another lineage.

A lineage that did not rule with light...
but with power.

They were erased from the books.
Burned from the chronicles.
Turned into warnings for children.

But iron remembers.

And blood... remembers too.

In the Iron Fortress, beneath the roots of the mountain, something remained in chains.

Not dead.
Not asleep.

Waiting.

Upon the altar of the ancestors, the crown awaited its new bearer.

Not as a symbol.

As a trial.

For every king of Aethelgard inherited the same oath:

To protect the realm.
To defend the faith.
To keep the peace.

But none knew the true one.

The one never spoken aloud.

The one sealed in blood.

The one that said:

When the heir is crowned...
the gate will open.

And this time-

there will be no one left to close it.

"The crown does not choose kings. It chooses sacrifices."

*First book of the trilogy*
-Original version in Spanish-