Prologue of Flame and Frost
The world had quieted, but silence never lasted.
Weeks after the collapse of the Skygrave, the Sovereign Accord saw a bloom of peace. Trade between cities flourished. Academies opened in both Redfall and Aurethiel, teaching harmonic magic. For once, people lived—not just survived.
But Kael felt it before the others. A tension in the horizon. Not dread. Not malice.
Expectation.
The Starforge Signal
It began with a song no one could hear—except Arkaia.
She stopped mid-lesson, eyes wide. Her harmonic anchor pulsed like a heartbeat.
"Something's waking," she said. "Something older than the Vault. Not dark. Not light. A forge. A memory of fire."
SAGE triggered a spatial alert.
[Unidentified Signal Detected: Origin - Celestial Drift / Classification: Celestite Forge Relic | Location: Above Stratosphere]
It was orbiting the world, just barely outside reach. A construct not divine, not abyssal. Something else.
The Gathering
Kael summoned his closest advisors.
Lira, to decode the celestial harmonics.
Zar, for force.
Evea, for stabilizing frostcraft.
Elandriel, as envoy.
Riven, with experience of war constructs.
"We're going into the stars," Kael said simply.
Arkaia stepped forward. "Then you'll need me to guide the path. The forge sings to me."
A new vessel was constructed—The Lucent Spire—fueled by nullus cores, guided by Arkaia's harmonic link, and shielded by frostlight.
Their destination: the orbiting forge-shaped station known only as the Starforge.
Arrival at the Edge
Crossing the upper void was different from sky travel. Time behaved strangely. Thoughts repeated. Zar aged six days in six minutes. Riven experienced memory desync. But Arkaia remained untouched.
"It wants us to come," she whispered.
The Starforge came into view: a rotating prism of metal and crystal, with six rings orbiting its core, each glowing a different elemental hue.
As they approached, the forge opened.
An invitation.
[Access Granted: Arkaia Key Confirmed | Legacy Trigger: Covenant Trial Activated]
Inside the Forge
The Starforge interior resembled a temple and a machine. Gears the size of cities moved without noise. Heat came in pulses, timed like breath.
A being awaited them at the heart.
[Entity: Lucent Custodian | Name: Caevan, Warden of the Six Rings | Type: Celestial Construct | Rank: Unknown]
He was made of light and forged language, and he bowed.
"You are the heirs of resonance. You may forge a covenant. But only if you prove your alignment."
The Covenant Trial
Each ring activated one challenge:
Ring of Flame – Tested will. Zar stepped forward. Battled his past self in a furnace. He won by choosing restraint.
Ring of Ice – Tested clarity. Evea navigated illusions of frozen futures. She succeeded by breaking the illusion of perfection.
Ring of Sound – Tested harmony. Lira played a counter-song against a symphony of chaos. Her notes stilled the discord.
Ring of Shadow – Tested acceptance. Mareth, called mid-journey, faced his fears as shades. He embraced them.
Ring of Light – Tested truth. Elandriel relived her fall from grace. She accepted her flaws, not as shame—but experience.
Ring of Flame and Frost – Tested potential. Kael and Arkaia together faced an echo of what they might become: tyrants, or saviors.
They chose neither. They walked forward as family.
The Forging
The rings merged. Caevan spoke:
"You have chosen not dominance, but direction. You may now forge a covenant—not of rulership, but of potential."
From the core, a star-metal seed rose.
"This is the Lucent Core. Place it where you would birth the new song of this world."
Kael took it.
Arkaia whispered, "Let's plant it not in a city, but between them. A place where no throne exists."
Return
Back on the surface, the Accord declared a new neutral ground—Harmonthal, a city of no king, no army, only creation.
The Lucent Core was planted beneath the center. It pulsed not with power. But possibility.
And above, the rings of the Starforge still turned.
Waiting.
[End of Chapter 29: Starforge Covenant]