Tree Born

In a realm where the ancient, sentient forest and the kingdoms of humanity maintain a precarious balance, a single act of negligence shatters the peace. Lord Geoff, a young and inexperienced noble charged with stewarding the borderland castle of Blackwood Keep, leads a hunting party deep into the woods. Blinded by arrogance, he disregards the old ways, desecrating the sacred Kupai bush—a plant known to be both a poisonous ward and a healing salve. The forest’s retribution is swift and brutal, claiming the lives of two of his men and leaving Geoff himself wounded and shamed. Their rescue comes from an unexpected source: an infant girl, discovered sleeping peacefully beneath the very Kupai they had wronged, a living vine tenderly wrapped around her wrist. While Geoff’s superstitious soldiers see a curse, the pragmatic Captain Ned—a man born of royalty but sworn to the wild—recognizes a profound truth. This child is no ordinary foundling, but a "tree-born," a rare bridge between the human and natural worlds. The mystery deepens at the sanctuary of Count Cathedral, where priests unravel a terrifying prophecy. The girl is not merely tree-born; she is the Lady of the Kupai, a figure foretold to unite the full might of the forest against a looming darkness from the Blighted Plains. As the only one of her kind, a female sovereign destined for command rather than quiet guardianship, she cannot remain in seclusion. Recognizing the symbiotic need, Captain Ned returns to a chastened Geoff, offering him a path to redemption. The child will become his ward, raised within the stone walls of Blackwood Keep, the crucial nexus between two worlds. In protecting her, Geoff will heal his own guilt and learn true stewardship, while her presence prepares the realm for the coming storm—a conflict that will require root and stone to rise as one against the swallowing dark.

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