The Sons of the Kingdom of Salt and FogFor three centuries, the Kingdom of Aethelgard has been swallowed by The Shroud, a chilling, toxic grey marine fog accepted by all as an inescapable divine punishment. The kingdom's wealth and status are founded entirely upon the hazardous extraction of "White Gold" (a rare, potent salt) from deep, submerged, volatile mines.Above the perpetual grey mist, the powerful, rival Houses of Aethus and Gard live in isolated, protected enclaves, savoring the sunlight unknown to those below. In the depths, the common populace-the Salt-Born-are condemned to brutal labor and life in a permanent twilight, the toxic Shroud slowly consuming their lungs and souls.Kael, a young, hardened miner, never questioned the Shroud, his existence defined by the unending rhythm of the hammer. But a catastrophic mine collapse leads Kael on a desperate search for answers, not to a broken timber, but to a forgotten fissure deep within the rock-and to forbidden knowledge.The secret he uncovers is devastating: The Shroud is not a curse. It is a debt. It is a deliberate, continuous sacrifice engineered by the Founding Families centuries ago to conceal a terrifying, ancient bargain that granted them dominion and immense privilege. Kael now holds this evidence-a fragment of the "Silver Scar" and an ancient prophecy that names the Salt-Born as the key to the resolution.Now, Kael must navigate the deadly, silent political war between the Houses, who are racing to control the Chronicles of the Deep. House Gard recklessly seeks to breach a forgotten tributary to the source of the original, most volatile White Gold. The lives of the Salt-Born are merely negligible collateral in their escalating power play.As the nobility prepares to break their ancient truce, their greed threatens a catastrophe that is not only political but geological. If Kael fails to expose the truth-and convince a weary, defeated people to fight-the kingdom's 'Sons' will not only devour the Salt-Born, but their actions will destroy Aethelgard's geological foundations, sinking the entire realm into the unforgiving sea upon which it was built.A dark historical fantasy where the real enemy is the cost of power, and salvation lies beneath the fog.