Across the Realms, whispers spread of the Calamities. Fear rose. Children wept without knowing why. Wolves howled at midday. Rivers ran backward for an hour, then resumed.
And in hidden places, the champions were chosen.
In Terra, Ronan Earthward stood before the Heartbloom Tree — a sacred oak whose roots touched the world's memory. He knelt, and the druids carved sigils into his skin with blades of thorn and sap. He drank from the Root Chalice and dreamed of fire and stone.
He awoke with green fire in his eyes.
In Aqua, Nymira chose her niece, Lysar — a songweaver trained in controlling currents of magic and water. Lysar was quiet, but her voice could split tides and calm storms. She wore a circlet of moon coral and carried a trident made from the shell of a Leviathan.
In Aeris, a boy named Kael was plucked from the orphaned towers. He had no name until then, only a gift — he could command wind without training. The Windborne gave him robes of sky-thread and whispered his true name: "Stormchild."
In Ignis, Caelen Drevaris broke with tradition and sent a woman — Tahlia, a scarred gladiator who had survived the Fire Trials. She wielded a blade called Ashbane, forged from star-metal and cooled in dragon blood. She did not believe in prophecy.
Only survival.
The four champions were summoned to Terra's Heart — the verdant circle at the center of the continent. There, they would begin the Rite of Binding.
There, they would learn the truth:
Vorlath had already moved.