Ashes of the Veilborne

Long ago, before the towers crumbled and the skies cracked open, the world of Vaereth was alive with Veil-magic — a current of power that flowed through all living things, linking the land, the stars, and the very soul of humanity. The Veilborne were its chosen — rare individuals born with the ability to see into the Veil Realm, the spirit-layer that coexisted with the waking world. They were healers, prophets, warriors of balance… and eventually, threats.

When the Veil began to fray and the power it offered grew wild, kings and warlords turned on the Veilborne, blaming them for the collapsing order of the world. They were hunted, burned, cast from cities, and forgotten. The Cleansing War lasted a generation. By its end, magic had vanished — sealed away, buried deep beneath ash, blood, and betrayal.

That was three hundred years ago.

Now, Vaereth is ruled by steel and fear. The skies burn orange with the dust of endless mining. The people of the realm kneel to the Gilded Empire, a brutal machine of industry and conquest, led by a throne that bleeds every time it speaks. Magic is forbidden. The Veil is a myth. The old songs are silenced.

But in the northern wastes, a light flickers.

Her name is Maelin Orien, a quiet orphan raised among archivists in the Empire’s most remote fortress-library. She has no surname, no family, and no power — until the day a dying prisoner whispers three forbidden words into her ear: “You are Veilborne.”

The next morning, Maelin wakes to find her world changed — shadows speak to her in riddles, her dreams bleed into waking life, and when she touches the bones of a long-dead seer, the world cracks open before her eyes. She has glimpsed the Veil Realm, and it is stirring again.

Fleeing imperial agents and haunted by visions of a world she doesn’t understand, Maelin is drawn into the remnants of a long-buried resistance — survivors of the Veilborne line, hidden for centuries in shattered enclaves beneath mountains and sea. With them are others: a fire-dancer who burns without flame, a warrior who remembers every death she’s ever suffered, and a blind swordsman who sees only what others refuse to.

Together, they unravel an ancient prophecy left behind by the last Oracle of the Veil: “When the ash is thickest, when the sky turns black, the last of the Veilborne shall reignite the world.”

But awakening the Veil comes at a price. The realm of spirits is not empty. Something else stirs in the dark — the Hollow One, a forgotten god-thing born from the death of magic, who has waited centuries for the door to be opened again. It whispers to Maelin in her dreams, offering power in exchange for peace — peace built on silence and ash.

Now, Maelin must walk the path of her bloodline — to either become the bridge between worlds, or the blade that severs them forever.

In a land that fears the old ways, where hope is heresy and truth is treason, the last Veilborne must decide what kind of world is worth rebuilding — and what must be burned to make it so.