by Naro97
His grove burned. His people died. The sword should have killed him too, instead it did something far worse. Bound to the cursed blade Nemain, the very weapon that destroyed his people, he wanders a world where monsters roam the roads, kingdoms struggle to survive, and ancient powers stir beneath forgotten ruins. The sword whispers. It hungers and every life he takes strengthens something far older than himself. When fate hands him a handful of refugees struggling to survive as the village of Blackthorn burns, Kaelen is given a choice: Remain a wandering survivor or plant new roots. What begins as a refuge in the wilderness slowly becomes a grove, a community, and perhaps the first home he has known since the night everything burned. But monsters gather in the forests, politics threaten from within the city, and the darkness bound to Nemain waits patiently for its chance. A slow-burn, Grimdark, progression fantasy featuring: Druid magic and nature powers A cursed sentient weapon Settlement and community building Found Family Meaningful character relationships Politics and leadership Monsters, ancient ruins, and exploration Gradual progression and earned power A hopeful story in a dark world Nature answers. Nemain whispers. He endures.
No streak history
One state-enhanced oracle order, filtered by each list. Observed Royal Road ranks remain separate ground truth.
Rank updated 2 Oct 2026, 04:58 UTC
Entry forecast updated 2 Oct 2026, 04:58 UTC
Ranking model: rs-public-oracle-state-v1
Forecast model: rs-model-entry-v1
Chart history contains only this ranking model's runs; legacy points are not spliced in.
Coupled 14-day outlook
rs-joint-entry-copula-v1
Any eligible RS entry
10%
Two or more lists
1%
Likely threshold order: Action → Fantasy → Adventure → Main.
Leading bundle: Action (10%).
Estimated from one fitted shared story path; category probabilities are not multiplied as if lists were independent.
Separate entry forecast; this probability does not enter the ranking score.
Overall Rising Stars Shadow RS rank
#584 of 12,129 · 534 below RS #50
By genre
beats 99% of similar stories
beats 48% of similar stories
beats 52% of similar stories
Mid-pack, room on both levers
Traffic and conversion both sit mid-field for a story this size. Growth here compounds from consistency: steady cadence feeds traffic, and a sharper hook lifts what each view is worth.
Benchmarks: 8,060 active Royal Road stories, percentiles within the 150+ chapters band, cohort of 2026-07-02. Conversion is measured as followers gained per 1,000 views over the recent window.
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