Meanwhile…
Skyhold, three hundred miles outside Lam River.
This was the southeastern border of human territory. Further south lay the vast, untamed Primeval Forest.
Deep within the forest hid a bottomless chasm.
Black mist constantly flowed from the rift, twisting into grotesque shapes in the air. From its depths came faint whispers and guttural roars.
At the edge of the rift stood a towering stone watchtower.
Built entirely from white jade and standing about fifty meters tall, its summit floated a massive orb of light, radiating a soft golden glow that sealed the surrounding black mist out.
This was a human Watcher's Tower.
The Shadowkin were not minions of the Dark God—they were native to this world.
They were the descendants of the Great Abyss from the previous era, once rulers of the entire world before the Abyss closed.
Two thousand years ago, the gods and humans united to seal the Shadowkin beneath the abyssal rift.
