Title: Embers of the Skyborne Throne
Prologue:
High above the fractured continents of Aerathen, where the clouds kissed shattered islands adrift in a sea of endless sky, the Skyborne Empire reigned for over a millennium. Its floating citadels, suspended by ancient aetheric forges, glowed like stars across the firmament. But now, only silence and ruin remain. The Throne of Skye, the heart of the empire, has fallen—its fall a mystery, its legacy a whisper among the winds.
Chapter One: Ashes in the Wind
Kaelen Vire, an exile turned sky-scavenger, drifted in his rickety airship, The Wayfarer's Grief, among the husks of forgotten citadels. With a patchwork crew of outcasts and dreamers, he sought remnants of the old world—not for wealth, but for answers.
The sky cracked open in flame as a thunderstorm of unnatural hue churned above the ruins of Skye. Kaelen saw it: a beacon of golden light piercing the storm—a signal flare only used by the Skyborne elite. But they were all dead. Weren't they?
Chapter Two: The Last Aetherforge
Word of the flare spread fast. Factions stirred—the Zephyrite Consortium, the Corsair Courts, the Aetherian Remnants. They believed the flare signaled the reawakening of the last aetherforge, a relic capable of reigniting the skycities.
Kaelen's crew found themselves hunted and hailed alike, thrust into a conflict between the fractured remnants of a dead empire and those who sought to build anew. Amid this turmoil, whispers spoke of the Ember Key—an ancient sigil that could unlock the Skyborne Throne's deepest vaults.
Chapter Three: Winds of Treason
Infiltrating a drifting war-cradle of the Corsair Courts, Kaelen uncovered part of the Ember Key—but not before betrayal by one of his own. Trust frayed. Loyalties shifted. And deep within the clouds, something watched.
An ancient intelligence—bound to the Skyborne Throne—had awakened.
Chapter Four: The Heart of the Storm
Guided by visions and hunted by both allies and enemies, Kaelen plunged into the storm-choked vortex that shielded the fallen Throne. Inside, time fractured. Memories bled. Truth and myth intertwined.
There, Kaelen found the last Empress, preserved in aetherium crystal—and still alive. But she bore a terrible truth: the Throne fell not from war or sabotage, but from a sacrifice made to imprison a greater darkness.
Chapter Five: Embers Ascend
With the Ember Key complete, Kaelen faced a choice: ignite the forge and restore the empire—or destroy it forever to prevent the return of the darkness that once nearly consumed the sky.
He chose a third path. The aetherforge roared. Not to rebuild the empire, but to break its cycle. New citadels rose—not ruled by bloodlines or ancient right, but by those willing to chart a new course across the heavens.
Epilogue:
The Skyborne Throne burned, its embers scattered across dawnlit skies. And from them, a new age took flight.
Kaelen disappeared that day. Some say he became one with the wind. Others say he waits, watching, for when the sky needs him again.
—End of Book One—