Sword Song: A Bard's Reincarnation

Once, he was a wandering elven bard.

He traveled from land to land with an instrument in hand, collecting songs, stories, and performances wherever he went—and shamelessly claiming the best of them as his own.

Then he died.

When he opened his eyes again, the wandering bard found himself reincarnated into the body of Hansel Liederheim, a young lord of the North.

It was a land where winter never seemed to end.

Beyond its walls stretched battlefronts stained crimson upon white, where generations of men had raised their swords against an endless tide of demons. Here, songs were not sung in warm taverns for coin and applause.

They were sung for the war and the dead.

A bard had no place upon such a battlefield.

And yet, as Hansel took up the sword, he discovered that perhaps there was little difference between music and battle after all.

A rhythm could be followed.

A performance could be stolen.

And even the clash of steel could become a song.