It could be argued that everything that has gone wrong in Arla can be linked back to the house that now rules the Arlan Desert, House of Sfin. Many already agree it was Queen Andelusia, the first Ascended Incarnate of Sfin and ruler of the cannibalizing house, who set the Desert on a troubled path. The Crown of Damnation, gifted to her by the God Sfin, poisoned her. Corrupted her. Her direct descendants and the entire Desert would later face the consequences of her nefarious actions. Heirs would be cursed. Desert Wars would be declared in the name of the God Sfin. The Abyssinian War. The Black War. War of Kings. The Desert landscape was never the same. A landscape of narrow valleys and few oases. A land of cursed sand baked in blood. A land of beings who lurk in the shadows. Over time, the Desert became a land of betrayal and broken promise; a land littered with violence, unspeakable acts, and magic. A land where darkness, an unbreakable curse, terrorizes the desert three times a year in what has become known as The Black Affliction. It could all be traced back to one house: House of Sfin.

***

The rise of House of Sfin to total domination over the Desert wasn’t graceful nor elegant. The fall of the other houses didn’t come easy, but it did come with consequences. When the House of Nirea fell, the forbidden was unleashed. For the first time, curse magic fell into the hands of ordinary Arlans. When the House of Yuitra self imploded, right before the House of Sfin could fully invade, time de cessastio was lost. A weapon that could undo the damage that would occur in the future. And when the House of Hunu fell, there was no one else to reign in the beasts of the day, shadow shifters.

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But the fall of these houses didn’t mean the total extinction of the families that once made these houses. Instead, it made them slaves to a house hungry and desperate for something called dual power.

***

House of Sfin rules mercilessly over the Desert. King Jaho III, married to Lady Myriam, is its current ruler and rules from the Western region of the Desert in his palace called The Coral Bastion, a marvelous sandstone carved palace that has seen its fair share of deaths. Queen Annar was stabbed by her own child, Princess Sewi, in one of the courtyards. King Vincet II was poisoned by his own mother, Lady Rena. The Queen Consort, Erie, was cursed to a gruesome death by her own sister.

Fortunately for King Jaho, he hasn’t suffered the same fate as some of his ancestors.

Instead, he has become the longest reigning royal in the Desert. In The Coral Bastion, he not only lives with his wife, but his two living children: Princess Jannar, his second daughter, and Prince Jaho III, the second son and heir.

In the palace, Prince Jaho was sleeping in his room. To the outside world, he was sleeping peacefully. But on the other side, it was a different story. In the dream world, Prince Jaho was suffering…alone…..in a wicked web.