Ten years earlier, the Zol Dominion seized the adjacent realm of Aquafa and forced a union between the two peoples. The conquest was swift but brutal, leaving scars on both sides. While the campaign succeeded, the Zol forces failed to capture Fire Horse Village, where a strange lethal plague called Black Wolf Fever erupted. Ever since, the populace has assumed the sickness was wiped out.
Within a salt quarry under Zol control, Van Gansa serves as a captive soldier completing compulsory labor. He endured harsh conditions and watched the mine's lights flicker as wolves prowled. One evening, a band of ethereal wolves raided the pit; both Van and a girl named Yuna were bitten, yet they fled as the sole survivors. The subsequent inquiry concluded that the wolves carried Black Wolf Fever, which caused the rapid demise of guards and workers.
Yearning for liberty again, Van promptly settled with Yuna in a modest agrarian hamlet. Yet he remains unaware that someone shadows him. Chased by those eager to harvest his blood for a cure and by others determined to halt such attempts, Van confronts a deeper threat that could spread beyond the nation. The looming danger threatens to unravel the fragile peace that holds the empire together.
