Moriden

"There are some paths best not treaded." —Alistair A chill hangs thick in the night as the rider glides through the quiet desolation of a world forgotten. His presence is an unnatural stillness, and the black steed beneath him is less a creature of flesh than a wisp of smoke, its hooves barely brushing the earth as it carries its master over derelict roads. Nothing stirs in the wake of his passing—no birdsong, nor whispers of wind—only the choking silence of death itself. Once, Moriden had been a knight of Yalnor, sent as an envoy to Elyndris, kingdom of the fae, to forge peace between their people. The fae had long held themselves above humanity, but within their gilded halls, he found an exception. She was of noble blood, an immortal being of light and grace, yet she loved him fully—a mortal, fleeting as the seasons. For a time, their love endured, hidden from the scrutiny of the fae elite. But change came with a cruel hand. A new ruler seized power in Elyndris, a bigot who saw humanity as a stain upon their sacred land. To him, humans were seen as destructive, cunning creatures who wasted their ephemeral lives on nefarious greed. One by one, human visitors and traders who had been tolerated were cast out—or worse. Fearing for his life, Moriden's lover pleaded with him to return to Yalnor, promising to follow soon after. But she never arrived. Instead, word of her execution came first. Her crime? Treason against Elyndris for conspiring with man. The news shattered him, and in his grief, he abandoned his duty and forsook his name, turning his heart to vengeance. What he did not know—what no one could tell him—was the truth. His love had not been executed, but imprisoned, locked away in a cell while she carried his child, for it was against sacred customs to kill a highborn. Word of Moriden's execution was also falsely spread in Elyndris, part of a vicious plan intended to deter humans from returning to its gates. Alone and condemned, Valara gave birth in captivity, only to finally perish from the ordeal. Their child, an unknowing heir to his bloodline, was hidden away in the walls of Elyndris, where hate for man could be cultivated carefully in her heart. Blinded by wrath, Moriden sought out any power that could grant him the means to bring ruin to Elyndris. This is when he heard the whispers of the Nether God, an ancient force that had long despised the fae for their clever magicks, having achieved sanctuary from death. Moriden was offered the strength to shatter their paradise, to strip them of their endless years and drown their city in oblivion. Twisted by fantasies of revenge, Moriden relinquished his soul and allowed the Nether God forge him into a weapon of pure ruin. He returned not as the knight he once was, but as the Wraithborn Rider. Forever indebted to the Nether God, Moriden is neither living nor dead, severed from this world, yet eternally bound to it. The past, a distant memory, is buried beneath the weight of this black union, and the future is but an unrelenting march toward the end of an era. His child, still unaware of his existence, lives on, while Moriden rides as a harbinger of destruction. The magicks the fae cling to are a mockery of the natural order, a lie that must be undone. They will fall, Elyndris will burn, and the Wraithborn Rider will see it through.