readnovel

The mountains, grass, and water. That is all there is in the vast world… except at the Wellsprings.Mankind clings to life around these miraculous, shifting sites—places where stone and precious metals erupt from the ground, where beasts and blessings pour forth in equal measure. Beneath them lie dungeons and mines, twisted labyrinths crawling with monsters and ancient relics. But when the Wellsprings recede, they leave behind the Bilight, and all their gifts begin to rot. Magic turns sour. Beauty becomes horror. And still, mankind endures, bound to the lands of Lyvaris—kept alive by the Wellsprings… and imprisoned by them.Auren is a hunter with no tribe, no loyalty, and a reputation for failure.When he accepts a contract to retrieve a mythical heartscale—a relic said to cure any curse—he sees a chance to vanish into the chaos of a Wellspring no one has ever conquered. But the deeper he goes, the clearer it becomes: the scale is not a cure. It''''s a key. Tied to buried rune witch secrets and rival factions ready to kill for control, the heartscale could heal a dying girl—or ignite a war the Church cannot contain. Armed with a soul-bound knife and haunted by the corpse he left behind, Auren must decide whether to run from the truth… or become the monster his enemies deserve.