The Betrayal of Ikhos
The event that shattered a kingdom
King Aldric ruled Aethelgard with an iron hand and a just heart. For thirty years, peace held. The markets overflowed, the farmlands fed millions, and the great castle stood as a beacon of order in an age of chaos. At his side stood Ikhos — advisor, confidant, and the most brilliant mind in the kingdom.
No one saw the betrayal coming. On the night of the Winter Solstice, as the court feasted in the Great Hall, Ikhos spoke words that had not been uttered in a thousand years. The air split. Reality tore like wet parchment. Where the throne room ceiling had been, a wound opened to somewhere else — a dimension of absolute darkness.
King Aldric fell. The Void Rift spread. And through it, shadow creatures began to bleed into the mortal realm. The farmlands blighted. The dead refused to stay buried in the graveyards. The swamps festered with corruption. And Ikhos vanished into the Rift itself — waiting, patient, convinced that what he did was right.
Now the kingdom crumbles. Three artifacts are needed to seal the Rift: the Blade of the First King, hidden in the deepest Royal Crypts; a prayer lost in the ruins of the old chapel; and a signet ring whose location no one remembers. Your journey begins in the Town Square of Aethelgard, where the fountain is said to weep blood on the anniversary of the Great Betrayal.
