They sat in the low light of the watchtower—Zareena, Seredin, Doren, and Rashid—above the frost-hardened city. A storm curled on the horizon, but no one mentioned it. Their attention was fixed on the ancient warrior, who hadn't spoken in nearly an hour.
Zareena finally asked, "You've seen them before."
Seredin nodded, gaze distant. "Ghulain were not born. They were made. Not by spell. Not by curse. But by war."
He began to speak, voice like cracking leaves.
"Long before your crown cities rose from stone, there were the Orders—those who guarded the Veins of the world. I was one of the Rosebound, a knight-binder sworn to protect the Great Heart buried beneath the hills."
"When the old kingdoms waged war for control of the Veins, they thought they could twist raw magic to their own ends. So they drained the land itself—its memory, its rage."
"But the Vein does not forgive theft. It remembers."
"One by one, the soldiers sent to harvest its power were... turned. Not into beasts. No. They kept their thoughts. Their memories. But something inside hollowed. Their souls frayed like cloth."
"They became ghulain—sleepless, shambling echoes. And when they could no longer feed on the Vein, they fed on us."
Rashid leaned forward, brows knit. "Why now? Why here?"
Seredin looked at Zareena. "Because you opened it. Not recklessly. Not wrongly. But fully. You woke more than magic. You woke the Debt."
Doren whispered, "Then we're cursed?"
"No. Watched. Judged. Tested."
Zareena stood, slow and calm.
"Then let them test me," she said. "Let them crawl from the dirt, wear the faces of the dead, whisper my name in the dark."
She looked out toward the hills.
"I will answer."
Seredin smiled faintly. "That's what the old king said. The last time this happened."
Zareena raised a brow. "And what became of him?"
"…He failed."
Rashid shifted but said nothing. Zareena didn't blink.
"Then it's a good thing I am no king."
Outside, lightning split the hills.
And far beneath Vireloch, where the Vein pulsed softly like a buried heart… something opened its eyes.