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🔹 Intro
Welcome to the beginning of a serialized dark fantasy tale set in the mythic land of Velmorne. Follow Kal — a reluctant wanderer with a shadowed past — as he’s drawn into something far older and darker than he ever intended. New chapters drop weekly. Subscribe to continue the journey.
🔹Ash and Ember: The Stranger with No Coins
Chapter 1: The Stranger with No Coins
There was a saying in Velmorne: “Don’t trust a man with nothing to lose — or worse, nothing to gain.” Which is precisely why the barkeep nearly didn’t serve him.
He stepped into the inn just after dusk — boots mud-cracked, coat reeking of char, and a sword hilt poking just far enough from his hip to signal one thing: trouble.
“You’ve got coin?” the barkeep asked, already wiping down a clean glass with a filthy rag.
The man answered with silence and a slow, tired glance around the room. Three tables. One hearth. A single candle flickering against the cracked window.
“No coin,” he muttered finally, brushing ash from his shoulder. “But I’ve got stories. And a knife.”
“Not a fair trade,” the barkeep said, though he was already pouring the drink.
They called him Kal. No one knew if it was a real name or the kind you borrow when crossing borders in the dead of night. He never stayed long enough for anyone to ask.
Tonight, he planned to break that rule.
Outside, the wind howled like a cursed thing, and every traveler in the inn knew the storm wasn’t natural. Not after what happened in Red Hollow. Not after the shadows came alive.
“You’ll want to move on before dawn,” said an old man by the hearth, voice cracking like firewood. “Velmorne’s no place for drifters. Not anymore.”
Kal took a slow drink. “Not a drifter,” he said. “Just… out of luck.”
“You bring trouble?”
“No,” Kal replied. “Trouble follows me.”
That’s when the girl walked in — soaked, barefoot, clutching a rune-marked satchel and bleeding from her hand.
The room went still. Even the wind seemed to pause.
Kal raised an eyebrow. “Well,” he muttered, pushing his drink away. “There goes my quiet night.”
Then came the second noise. The door — not hers — slamming open again.
Shadows moved just beyond the threshold.
“She ran this way!” a voice hissed from the dark.
Kal sighed. “Of course she did.”
See you for Chapter 2: The Satchel and the Sigil
🔹 Thank you for Reading!
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