Novels by Hencho

The room emptied slowly after Saint Varn left, but the tension clung to the walls like a fog.Prince Caelan didn’t move right away. He stood near the war table, one hand resting on its edge while his other rubbed the bridge of his nose. Maps were still in front of him, battle lines sketched in red ink and tiny flags marking troop positions. But none of it mattered right now.The Church had made its first move.And the game wasn’t going to stay on the board for long.Sir Dave stood near the entrance with arms folded, his face hard but unreadable. Ferrin lingered a few steps behind him, unsure where to stand or even if he was supposed to be here.Rhok stood alone by the window.He didn’t look out at the camp or the horizon. His gaze was somewhere else, somewhere deeper. His arms hung loosely by his sides, his shoulders slightly hunched. He looked like a man thinking about walking away from it all.Finally, Caelan broke the silence.“I don’t know how to explain this to my father.”Sir Da

By the time Rhok and Sir Dave returned to the warfront, the sun was already dipping low in the sky. The air smelled like smoke and steel. Soldiers moved about with their usual rhythm, cleaning blades, mending armour, and eating what little food there was. No one paid the two much attention at first, but word travelled quickly. Rhok had returned. And he hadn’t come back empty.Ferrin was trailing behind, exhausted but alive. His hands shook slightly, but he kept his head down and followed orders. Rhok said little during the return journey. He barely looked at anyone, and when he did, his eyes seemed distant, not because he was angry or sad, but like he was stuck halfway between two thoughts that wouldn't leave him alone.Sir Dave, on the other hand, stayed close to Rhok the whole way, watching him, studying him. He said nothing, but there was a tension in him. A weight that hadn't been there before.When they arrived at Prince Caelen's war tent, the guards let them through immediately.

They walked in silence.The tunnels stretched endlessly, winding and curling like veins through the earth, but for once, they found a way out. A narrow path behind the Sealed One's chamber, hidden beneath a layer of ash and crumbled stone. Rhok had found it with the use of shadow sense. He simply pointed in the direction, and they followed.They didn’t speak, not at first.Ferrin walked with a limp, bruised and scraped from the fall and the fight, his was face pale and his hands trembling slightly. He didn’t complain though. He looked like he wanted to, but every time he opened his mouth, he closed it again.Sir Dave kept one hand on the hilt of his sword. Not for danger, the path felt strangely empty now but for comfort and out of habit. A shield of a routine.But Rhok...He walked ahead, just far enough that no one could really call it a group walk anymore. His back was straight, his steps steady, but something about him had changed. The weight in his shoulders. The way he didn’t bo

The fall down the pit was long and completely dark, Rhok wasn't sure how Sir Dave had landed on his way down so he simply turned into a shadow and glided down the pit.As Rhok landed, he assumed his human form and observed the path that lay before him, unlike above, the tunnels here changed.They no longer looked natural, not like the ones dug by giant worms. The walls were smoother, carved deliberately. There were symbols again, etched deep into the stone, pulsing faintly with an unseen energy.He met up with Sir Dave who held Ferrin by the side, Fortunately, Sir Dave had no problems seeing in the dark as well.Rhok walked ahead with slow steps. Using a lamp didn’t matter much to him anymore. He could see perfectly in the dark, his vision touched by something not entirely human. Ferrin stayed behind them, wide-eyed, holding onto the last bit of courage he had left. Sir Dave followed behind them last, his sword drawn and his senses were on edge.The air grew colder as they moved deepe

Rhok stared at the carvings on the wall. They weren’t like anything he had seen before. Not Church, not demonic, not even the crude art of old human tribes. These were clean, shaped with precision, and glowing faintly under the dust.The light came not from magic but from something older. Something embedded in the stone itself. Symbols formed circles, lines cut through them like veins, and at the center of one design was a shape that looked like an eye split in two halves."This isn’t wormwork," Sir Dave muttered beside him. "Someone built this. Ages ago.""And they left it buried," Rhok added.He moved a hand over one of the carvings. As his fingers touched the lines, something inside him stirred. Like a breath caught in his chest.Ferrin watched carefully, arms folded. "Those symbols feel... heavy. Like they're alive?""They are," Rhok whispered. "I think this place remembers."Sir Dave raised an eyebrow. "You mean like magic memory?""No," Rhok said, eyes narrowing. "I mean like it

The Sand Paths were massive.They weren’t just roads, they were tunnels carved by beasts larger than carriages, wide enough for entire wagons to ride through side by side, tall enough to swallow a small house. These tunnels went on for miles, branching off like veins, twisting and turning in ways that made maps nearly useless.People lived here, they were not many, but just enough. Makeshift homes were carved into the sand walls. Crude wooden doors, blankets used as curtains, candles lighting up the darkness. But it was quiet, too quiet.Rhok, Sir Dave, and Ferrin moved deeper in, walking slowly, watching everything."They don't seem friendly," Ferrin muttered."No," Rhok said. "They seem scared." Feeling rather concerned.They stopped at the first small group they found. Two men, an older woman, and a child stood near a tented corner, huddled together. Their eyes darted around like they were waiting for something to crawl out of the walls."Excuse me," Sir Dave said. "We're not here