Prologue: Blood-Colored Prophecy
349words
The ancient Castle Wester stood atop the mountain, its spires piercing the night sky as if trying to impale the blood moon. Runic stones embedded in the castle walls emitted a faint blue glow in the darkness, forming a barrier that isolated the castle from the outside world.
In the highest tower of the castle, an ancient tome hovered in mid-air, its pages turning without wind, making eerie rustling sounds as they moved. The words on the pages formed from fresh blood seemed almost alive, flowing slowly across the parchment, creating ever-changing symbols and prophecies.
"The dusk sparrow perches on the blood oak throne, the arrow of divine judgment shatters illusions. The heart of beauty entwines like a venomous snake, doomed to die in the wilderness."
The blood-colored text flowed across the page, then transformed into a crimson raven that flapped its wings and soared off the page, vanishing into the night.
At the other end of the castle, a young woman awakened from her dream, a flash of unnatural red light appearing in her eyes before vanishing. She felt a sharp pain in her chest, as if something within her was awakening.
"That dream again..." Elena Wester whispered, her voice echoing in the empty room.
Outside the window, the light of the blood moon filtered through gaps in the curtains, casting an eerie band of blood-red light across her bedside. Elena reached out to touch it, and a bone-chilling coldness passed through her fingertips, as if she had touched a power from another realm.
"When blood congeals, fate is forged..." she murmured as she drifted back to sleep, an ancient proverb from an unknown source echoing in her mind.
What Elena didn't know was that in this world filled with mysterious powers, her fate had already been recorded in an ancient tome, and she was about to embark on a dangerous path riddled with betrayal and conspiracy.
Under the blood moon, the wheels of fate had already begun to turn.
