[GRAVEFIRE] Blade, the Rogue

Blade begins at the Eerie Chasm.

The Great Chasm on the eastern border of Motonia was one of the wealthiest regions in Ekothis. Its mines cut deep into the mountains and produced enough gold to enrich noble families, merchants, and mine owners for generations.

That wealth stayed in the hands of the privileged few. Most people in the Chasm lived in poverty. Winter killed the poor and destitute every year. Miners without work, traders pushed out of business, and families without food or shelter filled the mining towns around Alnore.

Then rumors began to move through taverns and alehouses.

Some spoke of a shadow in the night, a figure who left food and blankets for the poor. Others described a dark-clad thief who raided storehouses and robbed caravans, escaping with gold and silver coins. Both rumors agreed on one point: the figure was a woman of exceptional beauty.

People named her Blade, after the dagger witnesses saw in her hand.

To the poor, Blade was a friend. To the greedy, she was a scourge. The rich began to fear the night. Merchants, traders, and nobles were robbed even when they believed themselves guarded. The head of the Jewellers' Guild was found hanging from his own ceiling, his bedclothes tied into a noose. One of the wealthiest bankers in the region disappeared with his savings and was later found naked and alone in the depths of a mine.

Gold moved from the hands of those who hoarded it to those who needed it. Blade was praised by the poor and cursed by the rich.

Eventually, the merchants set a trap.

They raised taxes in Alnore, then leaked the supposed location of the collected money. They expected Blade to strike, and she did. One night, a shadow broke into the counting-house vault.

There was no money inside. Only armed mercenaries waited.

As they charged with weapons drawn, Blade understood that her end had come.

In a way, she was right.

The Grave Fire tore through Alnore in that same instant. It burst from the earth in a wave of unholy flame. Mining towns, villages, rich and poor alike, mines and storehouses and homes, all burned into cinders.

All except one figure.

Blade sank to her knees in the ruins of her hometown while ash drifted around her. Everything she had fought for had burned away: the poor she fed, the rich she punished, the money, the mines, the balance she tried to maintain.

Then she saw her dagger glowing faintly.

Something in the world had changed. In the silence of the burned ruins, she sensed movement. Ashes and charred flesh knitted together. Unseen voices whispered. From a high point, she watched the remnants of the dead move through the burned town, searching for the souls of those who had somehow survived.

Souls like hers.

A scream rang out in the night. Blade almost smiled.

She still had a purpose in this world, and she would see it fulfilled.