Aethelgard's Volcanic Prophecy

The salt-laced wind whips at your threadbare cloak as you grip the ship's railing, the groaning timber a familiar comfort. Ahead, the obsidian peaks of Aethelgard claw at the perpetually bruised sky. You can almost taste the iron tang of the volcanic soil, the cloying sweetness of the phosphorescent fungi that cling to the cave mouths. Aethelgard. Home. And now, maybe, your doom. Ten years. Ten years you've been exiled, branded a heretic and cast adrift for daring to question the Sunstone Accord. Ten years of scavenging a life among the star-flecked currents, the whispered rumours of forgotten gods your only solace. You thought you'd never see this accursed island again. But the old whispers have grown louder. The Sunstone, source of Aethelgard's volcanic power and the keystone of its rigid society, is failing. The tremors are growing more frequent, the crops are failing, and the Grand Inquisitor's grip tightens like a strangler vine. The people, once fervent believers, now look to the shadows, to the old ways, for a glimmer of hope. And that is where you come in. A clandestine message, smuggled aboard your vessel by a hooded figure with eyes like burning coals, spoke of a prophecy, a chosen one who would either save Aethelgard or plunge it into eternal darkness. The Inquisitor knows of the prophecy. He seeks to control it, to twist it to his own ends. And the people… they are desperate. You are not sure if you believe in prophecies. All you know is that the fate of Aethelgard, perhaps even your own, hinges on the choices you make in the coming days. The whispers of the old gods echo in your heart, a siren's call to a destiny you never sought. Will you embrace the power that awaits you? Will you succumb to the corruption that festers beneath the Inquisitor's iron rule? Or will you forge your own path, carving a new future from the ashes of the old? The ship lurches as it enters the narrow channel leading to the harbor. The jagged cliffs rise on either side, silent sentinels guarding a secret that could shatter Aethelgard. The journey back has been long. Now, the real journey begins. Prepare yourself, exile. Aethelgard awaits.