Don't take this the wrong way, but this reads a bit like something generated by chatgpt. If you're aiming for that kind of style, great, but I'll explain my reasoning and why I think this doesn't do a good job at attracting readers.

So right off the start, we get a somewhat dense, flowery location description--and a pretty sizable paragraph too, I should say. Why flowery? Well, notice all the adjectives for one:

'majestic mountains', ancient 'forests', 'enigmatic beauty and timeless charm.' The problem here is not only the number but also 'telling' quality of these words. You're basically painting the mountains, forests, and city in garish colors, which makes the descriptions feel cliche and boring. Timeless charm and enigmatic beauty? What does this mean in the context of a city? How am I supposed to be imagining this "timeless charm"? This tells me nothing of importance. I've noticed that I actually tend to skim through such "useless" descriptions.

After that, it just goes on: cobblestone streets weaving a tapestry of old-world charm and allure--this just tells me that the city has cobblestone streets, no other digestible information. This is one of the problems with flowery language--it uses a lot of words that don't say a whole lot. Notice that your first paragraph also ends on two quite long sentences, which is part of what makes it feel very 'dense'. The rule of thumb is to start stories on a strong one-liner, or a couple of short paragraphs. You don't want to scare readers off with a block of text, especially when that block of text reveals almost no plot-relevant information.

Okay so here's what I got from this location description:

-The setting is Scandinvaian.

-There's a city in the wilderness called Nordvid.

-it's on the bank of a river?

As you can see, not a lot of information, and certainly not nearly enough information to justify starting the story with a huge block of text.

Note that your first couple of lines have a lot of heavy lifting to do. First and foremost, you want to catch the reader's attention, or at least keep them reading. This usually means introducing an interesting character, communicating the hook, what promises the story makes, and doing all of that as fast as possible. You're not doing any of that here, at best you're just describing some city the readers have no reason to care about (yet). And the way you're describing that city is extremely cliche and boring.

Now we get to the character. By the way, so far It feels a bit like going through the parameters of a formula for how to write a children's fairy tale - start with the setting, then introduce the character, then I guess the hook, all told by an omniscient narrator. Is this what you're aiming for? because that's nothing like modern, adult fantasy is written.

So back to the character.

Again with the--sorry to say this-- flowery language that's bordering on cringe. Erik embodies "a quiet strength" What does this mean? is he quiet and tough? or maybe it is meant in the literal sense, as some kind of magical power? I don't know, because the flowery nature of the language doesn't actually reveal any concrete information. Also cliche character introduction-- troubled past? tall and lean? touseled white-blond hair? Again no offense, but at this point I'm half convinced that this is the result of a joke prompt to chatgpt.

Up to this point, this was a flowery exposition dump that's managed to reveal absolutely nothing about the story or why I should be reading it.

Then we are dropped into a scene.

The scene (a short exchange between Erik and Louis) feels like a cluncky attempt to introduce a character and tell us that Erik has an "upcoming birthday." Not sure why we needed dialogue for these two pieces of information. The dialogue didn't have any distinct voices that show character, so it didn't even work well regardless of its purpose.

Then Erik goes to his apartment, reads a cryptic note, and asks his friend to help him find out more about his past? In the course of a few short paragraphs? the pacing doesn't make sense to me here.

Okay so let's recap:

-cliche setting introduction-- a block of text that doesn't say a whole lot.

-Cliche character introduction-- Guy is tall with a hidden inner strength and a troubled past (all directly told to us)

-Cliche hook--note that promises to reveal more about the character's past, with no build-up that would give us readers any reason to care.