CAIUS: Crown of Threads and Shadows

Caius stood before the dual thrones, his posture straight and unyielding beneath the suffocating pressure of the two absolute rulers. He cleared his mind, letting all ambient noise fade until only the rhythmic pulse of his liquid obsidian core remained steady within his chest.

”My question,” Caius began, his voice echoing clearly across the vast polished floor, ”concerns my blood. Why were my father, Cullum Macrae, and my mother hunted through the Nyx’ari lands by the Moon Palace’s elite assassins?”

A heavy, reverberating silence settled over the dome. High above, the blinding light of the Absolute Sun flared slightly, while the shadows surrounding the Absolute Moon rippled like dark liquid.

The Absolute Sun spoke first, his voice deep and rumbling like grinding stone. ”Your father, Cullum Macrae, possessed no political standing within our subterranean realm, yet he carried terrifying enemies from the human kingdoms of the surface. Powerful lords who sought his complete eradication.”

”Your parents were hiding together in a foreign land far beyond our borders,” the Absolute Moon’s cold whisper chimed directly inside Caius’s mind, her silver veil shifting. ”They thought themselves safe. But your father’s surface enemies conspired with dark elf factions to orchestrate her abduction, dragging her deep into the Nyx’ari domain and imprisoning her in the royal palace vaults as bait to draw Cullum into his grave.”

The Absolute Sun leaned forward, golden mana scorching the air around his throne. ”They expected him to perish at our gates. Instead, your father tracked her here and did what no surface human had ever dared to attempt.”

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”He disguised himself as a common slave,” the Absolute Moon continued, a faint, chilling amusement lacing her raspy tone. ”He infiltrated the deepest vaults of the royal palace, bypassed our ancient warding matrices, and rescued your mother. He did not act alone; he was assisted by a high-ranking traitor within our nobility whose identity we never discovered.”

”Their grand escape disgraced our realm,” the Absolute Sun thundered, making the obsidian pillars thrum with heat. ”A human slave breaking into the royal vaults and stealing back a prisoner of state was an insult the Nyx’ari court could not tolerate. That night birthed the eternal blood feud between House Macrae and our sovereigns.”

The Absolute Moon tilted her silver-masked head, her dark robes pooling around the throne like spilled ink.

”As a bonus for surviving your sixteenth year, child... I shall grant you one final piece of the puzzle,” the Moon whispered, her voice carrying a sharp, taunting edge. ”Your mother was no common refugee. She was the daughter of the Duke of Alban, who was one of the most powerful grand dukes in the western human kingdoms. If you survive what comes next, seek your answers there.”

The Absolute Moon let out a soft, raspy laugh, a sinister sound that echoed off the high vaulted ceiling, mocking his chances of ever leaving the subterranean world alive.

The Absolute Sun raised his massive, golden-armored hand, pointing a single finger toward the grand exit.

”The pact of the ward is concluded, Caius Macrae,” the Sun declared coldly. ”The Great Hunt is now authorized. Choose your route, human child, for all are blocked. The West, the East, and the South are already sealed by our vanguard legion and shadow trackers.”

The Absolute Moon’s smile seemed to gleam through her dark veil as her final words settled over the hall like a death sentence.

”Your blood will stay here... in the Nyx’ari lands.”