The Blackened Frost

The frost at the Thornveil border has come down black. Where the Thornwood's woven roots once held back the frozen wastes, crystalline strips of corrupted ice now peel from the obsidian archways, and wraiths descend in silence where no living thing should survive. Alara Voss, the last sentinel still holding position, has seen what the sentinels before her could not: the frost is not a natural turning. It is a wound, spreading from something called Morghaleth that stirs beneath the permafrost. In the capital, Queen Senna Coldhaven faces a court tearing itself apart. Lord Vael Thriceward argues the gates must be sealed, condemning the frozen villages to the wraiths, while his son Caelen whispers that the queen is already compromised. Lyrelle the White, the court's dying prophet, sees patterns in the blackened frost no one else can read, and Maren Duskwhisper moves through the shadows carrying messages that could either unite the realm or scatter it to the wind. Kester, the queen's last loyal steward, holds the logistics together as the borders crumble. Alara has two paths. Obey the command to seal the Thornveil and trust the queen, the lord, and the prophecies to hold the line while she retreats behind frozen walls. Or break through the living wall of roots herself, walk into the wraith-tainted dark, and confront Morghaleth before the black frost reaches the heart of the kingdom. Either way, the frost keeps spreading. And it is no longer white.