Five years later...
Quinn--now a toddler in a world that still didn't quite make sense--rubbed his eyes as he was lifted from bed. His mother carried him through the wide corridors of the stronghold, wrapped in a thick ray cloak lined with fur. His sister, Sofia, practically danced beside them, Golden curls bouncing and mismatched socks a blur of motion.
Outside the towering windows, black walls ringed the city like an ancient guardian. Watchtowers glowed with eberlight, their flames holding back the creeping fog that marked the danger beyond the border.
This was Ebonreach-- the Last sanctuary of mankind in a world drowned in rot and ruin.
Generations ago, the dead risen. Aplque turned man into monster and cities into wastelands. Only a handful of places remained untouched. Ebonreach was the strongest among them, a fortress built by survivors and ruled by one man--the Blood-King, Quinn's father.
Here, strength wasn't a choice. It was survival. Every native of this world developed a unique talent by their fifth birthday- A Gift. These abilities, born of spirit or blood, defined power and purpose.
Some could control flame or bone. Others bent blood, manipulated speed, summoned shadows, or twisted metal with their bare hands.
The Blood King himself possessed two devastating Gifts. Blood command allowed to harden or manipulate blood-- his or others-- as a weapon or shield. His second, regeneration, made him nearly impossible to kill, of course there is a limit it. He stood alone in the first Hollow war, body torn and stitched together by sheer will, carving down beasts born of plague and rot. That power built the walls. That power saved what was left of mankind.
And that meant one thing for his son: expectations.
Quinn felt their weight even now. Though his thoughts were still childlike, something inside him rememberer the echoes of another life. And here, in this brutal world, weakness wasn't an option. Not for the son of the king.
The court watched him guards training harder when he passed. Even Sofia, already gifted and talented, seemed more protective of him each day.
Because soon, he would turn five.
And I Ebonreach, by five, child's Gift revealed itself -- or didn't.
And for son of the Blood-king.... Failure wasn't something the world would forgive.