While Jareth descended into a massacre within a goblin settlement in the Nurwhir region, hundreds of kilometers away, another individual connected to Kiara journeyed quietly within a caravan, unaware that the threads of fate were tightening around them all.
Harrison was nothing more than a small-time merchant from Western Phoenix, the largest vassal state under the Phoenix Empire.
Years ago, Western Phoenix had stood as an independent kingdom ruled by House Veyne, proud and self-governed.
However, after an incident that reshaped its political fate more than a decade earlier, the territory had been absorbed into the Empire and was now administered by House Drake, one of the twelve major noble clans.
For most of his life, Harrison had traveled between towns within Western Phoenix, purchasing local specialties and selling them at the capital for modest but steady profits.
