⸻The Last ShardbearerBook One of the Aetherbound SagaBy A.S. Riven⸻Chapter One: The Ember in the DarkThe ruins of Thornewood slept beneath a tangle of roots and ash, its last breath long since stolen by time. Wind moaned through crumbling arches, and ivy strangled stone pillars once carved with the sigils of forgotten kings. Somewhere beneath the rubble, something pulsed with light—a steady throb in the shadows, as if the earth itself had a heartbeat.Lira crouched beside the fallen altar, her fingers brushing away soot and moss. The flicker had drawn her here. Not gold. Not relics. Just… something that felt wrong and ancient and alive.There it was again.A low hum. A red gleam. She reached in—and pain bloomed like fire up her arm.She screamed.The shard burned into her palm like molten metal, searing her nerves with light. Images flashed behind her eyes: wings of flame, a sky torn in two, a voice like thunder whispering her name.Then silence.She collapsed to the ground, gasping, heart hammering. The shard rested in her hand, cool now, shaped like a jagged crystal no larger than a child’s heart. It pulsed with a quiet flame.She had no time to wonder what it meant. Shadows stirred beyond the arch. And eyes—too many eyes—blinked in the dark.Something had felt the shard awaken.And it was coming.⸻Chapter Two: The Whispering WoodLira ran.Branches clawed at her cloak, thorns tore her sleeves, but she didn’t stop. The thing that had risen in the ruins—she didn’t know what it was, only that it wasn’t human. It moved with a liquid silence, limbs too long, eyes glowing like coals in a pit of tar. And it was still behind her. She could feel it, like a pressure in her spine.The shard in her pocket pulsed with heat, almost guiding her through the trees. It whispered in her thoughts—not words, but intentions. Flee. Hide. Live.Twilight swallowed the woods, and soon she was running blind through tangled roots and mist. Her foot caught on a gnarled vine, and she fell hard, the wind punched from her lungs.The creature stepped through the mist. No footsteps. Just presence.She scrambled backward into a clearing, heart pounding.And then a blur of steel and movement.The creature shrieked—a high, scraping sound like metal dragged across bone—and recoiled as a man slammed into it from the shadows, sword flashing silver. The blade cut clean through its chest. The thing dissolved into ash with a hiss, the mist swallowing it whole.Lira stared, trembling, as the man lowered his weapon. He wore dark leathers and a cloak fringed with starlight, and his face was shadowed beneath a hood. His voice, when it came, was dry as old parchment.“You touched the shard.”Lira’s breath caught. “How do you—?”He turned to her, eyes glowing faintly beneath the hood. Not with magic. With memory.“Because now it’s awake,” he said. “And everything that once hunted it will come hunting again.”She reached instinctively for the shard in her pocket, now warm against her thigh.“Who are you?” she whispered.He sheathed the sword.“My name is Kael,” he said. “And if you want to live, you’ll come with me ⸻Chapter Three: The Shard of DawnKael led her through the forest without speaking, his steps silent on moss and leaf. Lira tried to ask questions, but he offered only a shake of the head and the occasional glance behind them.They moved until the trees thinned and moonlight glittered off water. A narrow path emerged along the cliffs, winding toward an abandoned lighthouse perched like a sentinel over the Veil Sea.It loomed from the rock, half-swallowed by time. Sea mist clung to its windows like ghostly fingers.Inside, it smelled of salt, rust, and forgotten memories.Kael gestured for her to sit near the central brazier, now cold and filled with dust. He crouched beside her, unhooking a satchel from his side. From it, he drew out a relic: a crystal shard nearly identical to the one Lira had found—though his glowed faintly gold.“They were called Aether Shards,” he said at last. “Fragments of a force older than magic, older than kings. No one knows who made them, only that they once held the balance of the world.”Lira stared at her own, resting on the floor like a sleeping ember.“Why me?” she asked. “Why would it choose me?”Kael didn’t answer right away. He ran a hand over his face.“Shards don’t choose the worthy,” he said finally. “They choose the desperate.”She flinched. She wanted to argue—but he wasn’t wrong. She had fled from a burned village, from a life with no future. The shard had found her in the dark, not because she was strong—but because she had nothing left to lose.He placed his shard beside hers.The moment the crystals touched, light exploded through the lighthouse. Golden fire and red flame entwined, curling into a glowing symbol that hovered above the stone. It burned into the air, casting shadows that weren’t shadows at all, but visions—of winged beings, silver-clad warriors

⸻The Shard of AetheriaAn epic fantasy adventure of forgotten magic, rising darkness, and a girl who dares to defy fate.In the quiet village of Thornewood, seventeen-year-old Lira dreams of a world beyond the mist-shrouded hills—a world shaped by the ancient tales her mother once whispered. Myths of lost cities, fallen stars, and a powerful force that binds all life: the Aether. But no one believes those stories anymore.That is, until the sky rips open.A bolt of celestial light crashes into the heart of Thornewood, striking an ancient tree and leaving behind a shard unlike anything the world has seen for centuries. Smooth, silver, and pulsing with light, the mysterious fragment hums with power—and it calls to Lira.When she dares to touch it, her world is shattered by a vision: a land falling into darkness, a crystal tower gleaming on the horizon, and a voice that speaks of doom—and destiny.“Only the one who bears the Dawn may mend the world.”Haunted by the vision and hunted for the shard, Lira flees her village, pursued not only by fearful elders but by shadows that move in daylight. As she journeys into forgotten lands, she meets Kael, a brooding warrior with secrets of his own—a former Guardian sworn to protect the shards of Aetheria, now disgraced and bitter. Though reluctant, he agrees to help her unlock the truth of the shard and the ancient power sleeping within it.Together, they must cross the cursed Whispering Marshes, scale the thunderous peaks of the Skyreach Cliffs, and uncover secrets buried in the ruins of Eldenmoor, a lost city beneath the earth where voices still echo from the past. Along the way, they discover that the shard Lira carries is one of five, created to balance the forces of light and shadow. But one has already fallen—to Velros, a sorcerer who seeks to use the shards to reshape the world in his own image.If Velros succeeds, the Aether will collapse, and the world will be devoured by eternal night.With each step, Lira must face her fears, unlock the truth of her heritage, and learn what it truly means to be chosen. For the shard is more than magic—it is a mirror of the soul. And the deeper she delves into its secrets, the more she learns:She was never just a village girl.She is the last hope of a dying world.⸻The Shard of Aetheria is the gripping first volume in a high-fantasy saga filled with mythical creatures, ancient relics, found family, and a heroine who refuses to be defined by fate. Perfect for fans of The Name of the Wind, Shadow and Bone, and The