Chapter 1: An Iron Cage
The metallic clang against the bars echoed through the gloom. The stench of rot and rusted iron hung heavy in the air.
"Wake up, you bastard!" a voice boomed.
A young boy opened his eyes. It was hard to tell if he belonged to the living or the dead. He didn't answer; he simply stared with lifeless eyes. Here we go again, he thought. How did I end up here?
Before his thoughts could take shape, a massive man, clad in armor reminiscent of ancient knights, grabbed the chain shackled to the boy's leg. He dragged him across the floor like a dog resigned to its fate. As he was pulled through the dirt, the question repeated in his mind: Why am I here? How did it come to this?
To find the answer, we must go back five years... to a nameless village on the Northern Borders. I called it the Village of the Red Stone. It was my home, a place where the cold was a merciless god. It was so freezing that if a man were wounded, he wouldn't even bleed—his wounds would freeze shut instantly. Disease meant a certain death sentence.
"John! Come here, you little brat! Clean the stables!" a voice barked from the distance.
John was small, but he was no child. He lived with the burden of a man, working just to earn a crust of bread and care for his dying mother. At only six years old, abandoned by his father, the weight of the world rested on his shoulders.
He headed to the stables. These weren't stables for horses or cows. They housed the Ice Ghosts—creatures resembling polar bears but with long, prehensile tails and fangs that could shatter bone. They were the only means of transport in this frozen hell.
Every day was a cycle of filth and labor, all for one thing: the "Elixir of Tears," the only medicine that kept his mother alive. After finishing his work, John rushed to her side. She hovered between life and death. As she drank the medicine, she regained a sliver of strength.
"I'm sorry, my son," she whispered, her voice trembling.
John didn't respond. He simply covered her with a blanket and headed back out into the cold to continue his work.
Back then, John believed this frozen patch of earth was the entire world. He had no idea that his perspective was about to be shattered in the blink of an eye.
To be continued...