Kaelen, a weary swordsman, wanders through a desolate land where the sky burns red and villages lie in ruin. Reaching a hamlet, he finds three bodies nailed to a dead tree, executed by royal inquisitors. In the burned chapel, he meets a strange, pale girl carrying a lantern filled with blue fire. She warns him that “they always come back when the sun dies.” Before Kaelen can question her further, the nailed corpses begin to stir. One breaks free, rasping with an inhuman hunger, and the others writhe into motion as well. Kaelen draws his blade, the girl’s lantern flares, and the dead begin to descend from the tree—setting the stage for a fight against something unnatural.