Chapter One — The Age Beneath the Ashes
Birinci Bölüm — Küllerin Altındaki Çağ
541 A.D.
The years humanity chose to forget…
What history now calls the “Dark Ages” was not dark because of war, famine, or plague. It was dark because people were too afraid to write the truth.
Because during those years…
the sky did not belong to mankind.
For months, the sun had vanished. In the northern lands of Europe, giant shadows were said to tear across the night sky. Ancient monastery records spoke of “devil birds breathing fire.” Most of those writings were burned by the Church.
But not all of them.
Along the northern shores of the Black Sea, there was a black stone city buried beneath the sea.
Its name was:
Nhor’Kael.
Humans did not live there.
The beings who dwelled within could wear human faces. Their skin was darker than night, their eyes completely white. Their bones were longer than those of men. When they spoke, their mouths did not move. Their voices whispered directly into the mind.
They were known as:
The Faceless.
And the dragons…
They were never myths.
They were not merely ancient beasts hiding within mountains. Dragons ruled the skies themselves. Human kingdoms offered sacrifices to them as though paying taxes to gods.
Every hundred years, an entire city would vanish.
Whenever the sky turned red, people locked their doors.
Because that was when the hunt began.
—
In the mist-covered mountains of northern Anatolia stood a small forgotten village.
A seventeen-year-old boy named Aren lived there. All his life, he had wondered why his father never left the house after sunset. The villagers feared the man because strange black scars covered his back like burn marks.
One night, Aren discovered a hidden stone door beneath the stable.
Ancient symbols were carved into the surface.
It read:
“The man who looks toward the heavens is no longer human.”
As he pushed the door open, freezing air rose from the darkness below.
Then two enormous eyes opened.
Golden eyes.
A colossal creature lay chained in the shadows.
Every breath it took shook the stone walls.
Aren stepped back in terror.
Then the creature spoke.
“You have finally come… heir of the Black Throne.”
Aren’s blood froze.
Because the voice was not heard through his ears.
It echoed inside his mind.
At that exact moment, screams erupted outside the village.
Human screams.
Then came a monstrous roar that split the heavens apart.
A gigantic winged creature descended from the clouds above the village.
Its wings were so vast that they swallowed the moonlight itself.
The dragon had arrived.
But there was a truth far more terrifying than the dragon itself.
The dragons did not hate humanity.
They feared…
the Faceless.
