All Chapters of Aurelius Chronicles: Lord of the Mountain (Book 1): Chapter 1
- Chapter 9
9 chapters
PROLOGUE
In the region of old Transylvania, “perched high in the Carpathian Mountains ”stood an ancient Kingdom, Aethelred.House von Caerstein ruled its northern frontiers with iron discipline and cold nobility.King Hadrian von Caerstein was a titan known throughout the Free Kingdoms as 'Frostborne' It was a title earned due to realm he ruled, the harsh cold northern.Legends tell that King Hadrian stood as tall as a spruce and carried a broadsword forged from a meteor. His presence alone was said to warm the coldest courtyard. When he spoke, even the ancient, stubborn mountain peaks seemed to bow their snowy crowns in acknowledgment.Hadrian was the anchor of his kingdom, his honor an immutable law. He was a father who ruled by virtue and a man whose greatest strength lay in his absolute certainty of right and wrong. He protected the bloodline, the Von Caerstein legacy, with the fury of a thousand.Married to Isolde Erzsébet ZalváriQueen Isolde of House Von Caerstein, born a princess o
Chapter One: Welcome to Transylvania
The minivan smelled faintly of coffee, and snacks.They had been on the road, for which feel like eternity.Isolde leaned her head against the cool glass, watching the landscape of Romania devour the last traces of modernity. Hours ago, the world had been a bustling, friendly green. Now, it was a charcoal study in mist.“Seriously, Isolde, are you sure this is the right road?” Leo, their team’s pragmatic research lead, peered over the GPS unit clamped to the dashboard. His voice held the familiar, stressed cadence of a New Yorker lost in the wilderness.“The legend says ‘the forgotten pass, where the pines weep over stone.’ I think we’re exactly where we should be,” Isolde replied, pushing back a stray wave of dark hair. She tightened the scarf around her neck, but the chill she felt wasn't from the air.The cold that began to seep into her bones brought with it a familiar, sharp spike of defiance. Two weeks ago, in her parents’ Upper East Side apartment, her mother’s voice had be
Chapter Two: The bloodthirsty Guardian
They drove for another hour before reaching the small, isolated village where they had booked rooms, a cluster of slate-roofed homes huddled around a dimly lit inn called Corbul Negru, The Black Raven InnTheir guide, Marius, was waiting. He was a local liaison, hired for his knowledge of the dangerous terrain leading to Aethelred Castle."We will begin the ascent tomorrow, just after dawn," Isolde explained, pointing at the map. "We need a full day to survey the exterior and stabilize some baseline readings.Marius nodded, his gaze distant. He gathered his coat to leave for the night, but suddenly stopped in his track, his eyes shooting up as if startled by a sound only he could hear. He offered a simple, unexplained advice."Do not wander in the night."He didn't wait to give an explanation. He just left, slipping out into the cold twilight, leaving the team exchanging confused glances.************Inside, the inn was warm and cozy.Exhausted by the long journey and the emot
Chapter Three: Aethelred
The frantic journey down the mountain road ended just as the sun broke fully over the distant peaks. They reached a regional hospital on the outskirts of Cluj-Napoca.After hours of tense waiting, the doctor confirmed Leo’s prognosis: a deep, ragged laceration, severe blood loss, and a clear need for heavy antibiotics. He was stable, but he would be grounded for weeks.In the hospital cafeteria, the remnants of the team Isolde, Maya, and Ben stared into their lukewarm coffees.Isolde broke the silence, the road to the clinic took us three hours.That’s six hours round trip on those roads. We’d be traveling well into the night to get back, and we know what happens after dark.”Maya, still shaken from the attack, stared down at her hands. “The Zimbrul Fomist. He called it the Hungry Auroch.”“It’s tied to the castle, Maya. That means this entire valley is a perimeter,” Isolde explained, drawing strength from the cold logic she was imposing on the situation.“Marius has organized a ro
Chapter Four: The scent of old Blood
AureliusFive centuries. The word was a mathematical concept, devoid of feeling. Five centuries of cold, eternal night, where the only sensations were the gnawing thirst and the crushing weight of memory. Prince Aurelius, now the King of Ashes, stood immobile in the highest spire of Aethelred.He had sensed the moment the four warm bodies crossed the cursed line but it was not the scent of their life that drew him. It was a resonance, a sudden, violent vibration in the heart he hadn't known could still beat.He glided to the broken window, the air in the spire instantly falling to a temperature that would freeze mercury. He looked down upon the frail, fragile mortals setting up their strange, bright equipment. And there, standing on the desolation of his courtyard, was the impossible.Maria.......The gasp was silent, a physical impossibility that nevertheless ripped through his chest. Her face, the stubborn set of her jaw, the dark hair falling just so across her shoulders it w
Chapter Five: The mysterious Servant
The moment Isolde stumbled out of the Great Hall, her hands over her eyes, the sheer terror radiating off her was palpable. She didn't have to utter a word to signal the danger.Maya, whose nerves were already shattered by the attack of the Zimbrul Fomist earlier that day, waited for no one. Seeing Isolde’s face was enough. She abandoned the tripod she was holding and raced down the slope to the parked minivan, wrenching the door open and diving inside.“Marius! Go! We are leaving!” Maya shrieked from the passenger seat, her hands trembling as she fumbled for her seatbelt.Marius, who had been guarding the perimeter, moved quickly. He packed up the remaining gear with practiced efficiency, throwing the bags into the trunk before jumping into the driver's seat. Isolde scrambled into the back, her breath coming in short, ragged gasps. Ben hopped in after.The minivan tore away from the castle gates, bouncing violently down the treacherous King's Road.**********The chaotic journey
Chapter Six: Bon fire Night
A week passed, and the sharp edge of terror began to dull, replaced by the mundane rhythm of recovery. Leo was discharged from the regional hospital, with his arm in a sling.He set up a command center in the Corbul Negru’s common room, analyzing the few blurry frames of data they had captured before fleeing the castle.In the meantime, Isolde and Maya tried to integrate themselves into the village. They spent their days in the small market square or the bakery, buying bread and asking questions.The answers they received were a frustrating tapestry of contradictions.Everyone only talked about one person, The youngest prince of the Von Caersteins "The Prince?" a baker said, dusting flour from his hands. "He was a great military leader who went mad with grief. He jumped from the spire.""No, no," an old weaver corrected them later. "He was a sorcerer. He dabbled in alchemy to bring his bride back and blew himself up. The castle is haunted by the explosion, not a man.""A tyran
Chapter Seven: The Bride, Rose, and the Wolves
Isolde returned to the Corbul Negru after the festival, her mind reeling. The image of the pale man in the black coat, the man who looked the same as the man she saw in the castle burned behind her eyelids.After bidding the others goodnight, she couldn’t sleep, she tossed and turned for hours.When she finally drifted into a fitful doze, she was awakened by the sound of her window latch clicking shut.She sat up, heart pounding. "Who’s there?"The room was empty. The window, which she was certain she had locked, was unlatched. But on the sill, bathed in the pale moonlight, lay a single object.It was a black rose.It was fresh, velvety, and impossibly perfect, with thorns that looked like polished obsidian. Next to it was a small piece of parchment. Isolde picked it up, her hands trembling.There was no text. It was a charcoal sketch.It was a drawing of her, standing by the bakery wall at the festival, looking into the shadows.The skill was masterful, capturing not just her
Chapter Eight: The Archaeologist Obsession
The near-death encounter with the wolves failed to scare Isolde out of the High Carpathians, instead, it solidified her strange, dangerous obsession.She spent the morning of the attack narrating to Ben, Leo and Maya, insisting the man she saw was the same man she saw in the castle, the night of the bonfire as well.Leo, however, was thrilled. "A physical encounter! She was saved by something real. This is not a ghost story anymore!"The person you have been seeing was actually a real person?? Alive and breathing!! Ben howledMarius brought this, earlier this morning, Leo pointed to a large, brittle map he had spread out on the Corbul Negru’s table, pointing at a small structure half a mile from the main castle ruin.“This is the only auxiliary structure labeled in the 17th-century texts, the Watcher’s Tower. It was supposedly the private archive and observation post for the Von Caerstein family, sealed after the catastrophe. If there’s uncensored history, it’s there.”Ben was liv