High in the mountains stands Hallowmoon Academy, an ancient stronghold where musicians, scholars, and soldiers are trained to protect the human realm from the broken world beyond it.

At the heart of Hallowmoon’s work is the Great Veil—not a physical wall, but an immense magical wardsong woven through the world. It separates humanity from the Sundering, a fractured realm where the boundaries between living things no longer behave as they should.

When the Veil weakens, cracks called wounds can form.

Through them come the creatures Hallowmoon calls wound-things—distorted remnants of life from the Sundering, dangerous because they are driven by an instinct to join themselves to whatever they encounter.

Only certain people can hear or interact with the Veil.

They carry starblood, an ancient magical inheritance tied to music and resonance.

Most starblood is faint.

Very rarely, someone is born with enough power to awaken the legendary violin Seraph’s Voice.

That musician becomes the Nightingale.

When the Great Veil can no longer sustain itself, the Nightingale climbs Hallowmoon’s Spire and performs the Hymn of Ascension, renewing the wardsong that protects the world.

Most Nightingales return. Some do not.

No one at Hallowmoon knows exactly what happens to those who vanish during Ascension.

This is the story of one of them.