The Elven Kingdom of Larethian was one of ancient mystery and high magic. Ruled by the Sunblood royal family, they boasted divine lineage, unmatched spellcraft, and lifespans that dwarfed human imagination.
Aelric, once the greatest swordsman of a ruined world, had been reborn as Aelric Larethian, the second prince of this powerful realm.
His father, King Valenor Sunblood, was revered as both archmage and warlord.
His mother, Queen Saelene of the Moonspire Clan, was a high priestess who had once tamed a divine phoenix.
But Aelric was different from his siblings.
From the day he could stand, he refused to walk like a royal.
At age two, he mimicked sword stances using branches.
At age four, he meditated for hours without food, reliving thousands of battles from his past life inside his mind.
Servants whispered. Nobles watched in curiosity and concern.
And the royal tutors?
They hated him.
"Your Highness, magic is the art of focus," one would scold.
Aelric would reply, "And swordsmanship is the art of resolve. I shall master both."
He wasn't just reborn. He was re-tempered.
One morning, the palace shook.
A training dummy had been cleaved in half—cleanly, from thirty feet away. No blade. No motion.
Just intent.
That was the first time Chrono Severance whispered to him.
> The blade is waiting.
> Your soul remembers.
It wasn't physical yet. Not fully. But his connection to it was absolute.
In secret, he meditated in the Moonfall Grove, where time was said to bend beneath moonlight.
There, his soul gear began to take shape.
A shard of obsidian hovered before him, etched with time-runes, vibrating with silent screams.
He reached out—and it bled into his palm.
> Your timeline is no longer singular.
Welcome back, Bladewalker.
The pain was exquisite.
And when it ended, Chrono Severance—in its dormant form—rested as a tattoo of a cracked gear on his forearm, its glow hidden beneath flesh.
He smiled.
Aelric Larethian, Second Prince of the Elves…
…was ready to become more than royalty.
He would become the sword the world could not predict.