Days later,

Author,

By the end of the week, the entire continent hummed with the coming event.

Messengers rode day and night, their horses kicking up clouds of dust along every road. Ravens blotted out the sun as they carried replies between clans and strongholds. Even the most isolated border clans, who rarely acknowledged the Council’s authority, sent word that they would attend - no one dared refuse a summons that carried the Northern rune.

Officially, the Annual Gathering was the most important political event of the year. The Council’s announcements spoke of settling border disputes, negotiating new trade routes, coordinating defenses against the growing number of demon swarms spilling...