The Crown of Embers
You wear a dead prince's ring, and now a burning kingdom thinks you're its lost heir.
You're a desert scavenger who picked a dead prince's signet ring off a corpse. Now a royal war-band believes you're the lost heir to a burning throne, and the real heir wants you dead. To survive, you must impersonate a legend across a scorched wasteland, outrun assassins, and find a mythic forge that can only be opened by the prince's blood—which you don't have. Every step deepens the lie, and the future of a kingdom hangs on your performance.
The story begins
The ash storm hit without warning, a howling wall of grey that turned the world inside out. You threw your scarf over your mouth and pressed your back against the cracked marble pillar, the only shelter on this dead ridge. The signet ring was a cold weight against your chest, hidden beneath your tunic—a prince's ring, a dead man's lie.
Through the swirling grit, you saw them: the Royal War-Band, six riders on skeletal horses, their crimson cloaks snapping like wounds against the storm. The scarred leader reined in before you, his eyes narrowing. He said nothing, only pointed at the ring—visible now, slipped from its hiding place when you'd raised your arm to shield your face.
Your heart hammered. You could run. You could deny. Or you could watch the calculation in his eyes as he dismounted, knelt in the ash, and pressed his fist to his chest.
"My prince," he said. "We thought you dead."
The word hung in the air like a blade. And behind him, the storm parted just enough to reveal the distant glint of the Glass Chasm—and the Forge beyond it, impossible, waiting.
What happens next is up to you.
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