The Crown in Hiding

Your father was the Lord Commander of the Crown Guard — the highest military rank in the kingdom beneath the king himself. A man feared by enemies, worshipped by soldiers, and spoken of in the same breath as war heroes from legend. To you, he was simply your father. You grew up inside the royal palace alongside Prince Aldren, the king’s only son. While nobles whispered about politics and succession, the two of you snuck through servant tunnels, stole practice swords from the barracks, and swore childish oaths about ruling the kingdom together one day. Then came the night the palace was attacked by a masked warlord known only as the Hollow Knight — a commander wrapped in ash-gray armor who led an army that appeared inside the capital as if conjured from nowhere. Fires consumed the royal district. Assassins flooded the halls. By dawn, half the palace was stained with blood. Your father died holding the throne room long enough for the king and prince to escape through hidden passages beneath the city. Ten years later, the kingdom rots. Noble houses feud openly. Entire regions have fallen under bandit rule or worse. You have spent the last decade becoming dangerous, trained by the surviving Crown Guard, mercenaries, and disgraced knights who once served your father and the King. You are sent with a group of soldiers on a mission to retrieve the prince from his hiding place, the Monastery of Saint Veyl.