Alojzy spent years building a monument to his god...Only to have his god come to visit.When Alojzy turned twelve, he devoted his life to the God of Death, of Eternity, and of Abstract. Enamored with the stories, he spent his adolescence building altars in the woods and listening to the soldier's prayers, all while dreaming of the day when he could finally build a citadel to honor his god.When that opportunity arrives in the form of a marital arrangement, Alojzy engrosses himself in building a citadel that would rise above the rest of his town. Little did he expect that the stones walls he built would be the perfect place for secrets and magic. With paranoia about affairs and uncontrolled magic spreading, Alojzy is left reeling with the possibility that his masterpiece will be stolen from him.Alojzy is left with few options, until one day, his god's angels arrive in his citadel to give him an offer he cannot refuse: a chance to prove his loyalty and become one of...

Caroline always dreamt of joining her mother on the fishing boats.That all changed when she caught a corucaish. On the Night of Firefraught Lights, Caroline Walsh did what she had always done: she fished. She cast her net out to sea, only to catch a corucaish—a mythical silver fish that bore both prayers and curses wherever it traveled. Upon showing the fish to her father, the beast coughed up an amputated hand, and with it, a curse that ravaged the town. Blamed for the curse and ostracized by the town, Caroline put on her first mask: the best fisher who could avenge her town, feed her family, and stop death in its tracks. For years, she fed her obsession, only to have Death come knocking on her doorstep as a stout, balding man. This man offers her the chance of a lifetime: become his apprentice. With a new opportunity in front of her, Caroline has a decision to make. Should she abandon her life by the sea and enter an...

Towers graze the landscape... The Order has grown in power...And the mist is burning with retribution.After losing Ningursu's head to the Pool and escaping the Library of Mist Keepers, Brent and Bria arrive back in their home country of Rosada. Yet things have changed since they left. Guard towers move across the landscape. Children are being taken from their home. All the while, the Mist Keepers seek vengeance.Brent and Bria set out on a journey to protect their homeland. Yet, staying together amid a growing war is difficult. Between a magical carnival disrupting their travels, ruthless Guards stripping people of their humanity, and uprisings in the nation's Pits, every move they make might impact the future of magic, Order, and the Effluvium.All the while, the Order of the Effluviums's strength grows. With a newfound weapon in the form of a young woman and a ruthless series of experimentations upon Magii, the Order believes they have found a cure for the dying...

Malaika longed to escape the mundane life on her father's farm...but she didn't expect to be stolen by a dragon and taken far away from home. Life on the farm had always been redundant. With no future other than marriage, Malaika has grown antsy to explore the world. Upon hearing her father's plans to marry her off to a trader, Malaika makes a plan to escape. Yet, the plan is derailed when her father's dragon takes flight with her on its back, carrying her far away from home. After soaring through the sky, the dragon deposits Malaika in an unfamiliar oasis at the edge of the City of Errat. With no knowledge of this new land, Malaika befriends an old couple with an inclination for magic. Enthralled by their abilities, Malaika agrees to stay with them. Yet, little does she expect them to help her navigate her destiny and lead her straight into the arms of Death. With her life dangling by a strand of yarn, Malaika is left with an...

Victors, they say, write history.Too bad the victors can't write.After her father passes away, Nanette hops on a caravan to the neighboring country of Rosada to join her sister. Yet Rosada is in the grip of a deep fog: magic is banished, storytelling is outlawed, and the Order reigns. With her sister grown complacent over the horrors of their new home, Nanette takes matters into her own hands to protect stories, no matter the cost.With the help of a loud-mouthed cabby, Nanette forms a plan to reignite the storytellers in Rosada. But it's not safe to tell stories, even in the shadows.With tensions rising and storytellers vanishing, Nanette must decide: are stories worth her relationship with her sister?Are stories worth risking her life?Content Warnings: Rated 18+ for language, sexual situations, violence, police brutality, mentions of suicide, and trauma.

On the sea, nothing changes.Unless there is blood.When Leena Davies was a child, pirates took her eye and killed her father. She did not remember their faces, but she could not forget the day. Filled with childlike revenge, she and her brother Tristan ventured every night to the seashore to plot against the pirates who had taken everything from them.Until her brother committed arson on the night of the blood moon.To pay her brother's bail, Mr. Hackney of the Sanguine Tortuga acquires Leena and puts her to work. With a new life onboard a ship filled with magic and talent, Leena sees a potential future of adventure, only to be greeted by redundancy. Locked in a routine, with nothing remarkable about her, Leena's future lies in the hands of a captain with a vendetta.After Mr. Hackney acquires an alluring pirate with a secret, and as discontent grows amongst his acquisitions, murmurs of rebellion echo within the belly of the Sanguine Tortuga....