The Crownless Hour

There was a time when the land of Aerithen was ruled by Eternal Kings — monarchs chosen not by blood or sword, but by the Aether Clock, a divine mechanism said to be crafted by the gods themselves. Every thousand years, the clock would chime, and a new king would rise from the people — not born to a throne, but born to destiny. It was balance. It was peace. It was sacred.

Until the clock broke.

No one knows why it happened. Some say it was the war of the twin continents. Others believe it was the murder of the last True King, whose soul was never accepted by the Veil. Whatever the reason, the Aether Clock fell silent two centuries ago. Since then, no king has risen. The sky no longer bleeds gold at the turn of the millennium. And the world, once held in harmony by time and fate, is unraveling.

The Crownless Age has dragged on like a wound that won’t close. Noble houses fight over scraps of false power. Cities operate as walled kingdoms. The time-worn laws that once protected the weak are nothing more than brittle myths. Plagues sweep the southern coasts. The stars have stopped moving. And the heart of Aerithen — the Crescent Capital, built in the shadow of the Aether Clock — has become a place of silence and sorrow, its great bell tower dark, its gears choked by rust and dust.

But in the alleys of the Forgotten Quarter, where even the rats go hungry, a thief awakens with no name and no past — only a brand on her hand and a voice in her head that speaks in riddles and time-signs.

They call her Ellarien, after the rebel queen who burned the last throne.

She doesn’t remember who gave her the name, or why. Only that she can steal what no one else can: time.

When she touches certain objects, she sees their moments. A sword might sing of battles long gone. A lock might whisper the hands that last turned it. A dying man might show her his last heartbeat — or his first breath. She hides the gift. She survives. She steals for bread, for warmth, for the orphans she protects in the ruins of a broken temple.

But fate doesn’t stay hidden for long.

One night, on a job meant to plunder the vault of a fallen noble, Ellarien finds a time-sealed relic: a Second Hand — one of the lost pieces of the Aether Clock, buried since the world cracked. When she touches it, the voices scream. Time bends. And something ancient awakens beneath the capital — something that has been waiting for her.

Across the realm, seers fall into trances. The sky churns. The Aether Clock ticks once — a sound not heard in 217 years.

Now, hunted by The Reclaimers — fanatics who worship the still clock and believe the world must never be mended — and stalked by a cursed prince who should have died two centuries ago, Ellarien is pulled into a war she never asked for.

With her strange gift and the relic at her side, she must journey to the five broken Sanctums of Time — ancient places once connected to the Aether Clock’s heart. There, she must find the other lost Hands, unlock the gears of fate, and discover the truth of her bloodline… before time collapses completely.

For the world is dying in silence.

And the Crownless Hour is ending.