The image on the laptop screen flickered, Levi Monroe's face, gaunt and drawn, swimming into clearer focus. His voice, weak but resolute, began to narrate a truth that would shake Issac Monroe to his core.
"My son, Issac," Levi Monroe began, his eyes holding a profound weariness, "if you are watching this video, it means you have returned, your training complete. I know I sternly forbade you from following the High Jarl of the Draknhold Bastion all those years ago. That wasn't out of cruelty or lack of faith in your potential. It was because a Crimson Bind was laid upon you."
Levi Monroe paused, gathering his strength, a visible struggle that etched deeper lines of pain onto his face. "If you had chosen to live the life of an ordinary man, the Crimson Bind would have remained dormant, co
