Introduction

For love, I walked away from ancient power, trading immortality for a quiet life with my wife, Seraphina, and our daughter, Willow. We lived simply, off the grid, far from the world I once protected.

Then came the nightmare. A chilling premonition: Willow in agony, Julian Thorne's smirk in the shadows, and Seraphina, my wife, turning away. I knew I had to go back to the world I'd abandoned – to Seraphina' s opulent Sterling Order, to reclaim my lost power, my Heartwood Staff.

But instead of understanding, I found a stranger. Seraphina, cold and distant, dismissed my warnings, believed Julian's lies, and allowed him to frame me. My daughter and I were thrown into a desolate prison, starving, defenseless. My wife, the woman I sacrificed everything for, watched, indifferent.

I thought my heart was broken then. But nothing, absolutely nothing, prepared me for the moment Seraphina, my own wife, raised an arcane device and aimed it at our daughter. Willow' s scream still echoes in my soul. Her eyes... blinded by her own mother' s hand.

In that instant, lying broken and helpless, something awakened within me. Not the man I tried to be, but the ancient Guardian I was always meant to be. The Solstice Gala is tomorrow. I' m coming back for my reckoning. And this time, she won' t turn away.