The Echo of War and Willow

In the shadowed realm of Haldrith, where ancient trees bind countless worlds in their sprawling branches, the legendary Realm Tree Virelundra withers—its life blood tainted by creeping corruption from beyond the veil. The gods have long been silent, and only whispers remain of the forgotten deity Asvaldir, the Hollow Flame, whose name inspires fear and silence among the few who remember. Rowen Gravenmar, scion of a feared warlike noble house, has spent years fleeing the violent legacy that haunts his bloodline. Now a reluctant hunter in the wild borderlands, he survives by skill and instinct, seeking only to escape the shadow of his name. But when mysterious forces cross the veil and the enigmatic Wardens appear—tasked by the crown to guard the realm against threats from other worlds—Rowen’s fate shifts irrevocably. Drawn into a clandestine world of secret wars and fading magic, Rowen discovers that his true burden is far greater than escaping his past. Within his soul stirs the seed of Ellsyndrith, a new Realm Tree—one that may hold the only hope for preserving existence itself. Yet truths are not what they seem: Asvaldir’s return threatens to reduce the dying Virelundra to ash, and both hunter and god misinterpret each other’s desires in a dance of deception and fate. As realms decay and alliances fracture, Rowen must confront the echoes of war in his blood and the fragile promise of renewal before all that is sacred is consumed by flame.