The Uncrowned

They broke him in the dark. He crawled out into the light carrying nothing but rage and a question nobody wants to answer: How do you get strong enough to protect people without becoming the thing they need protection from? In Valdris, power costs. Magic strips away humanity. Strength demands sacrifice. And the world only respects those willing to become monsters. Korath Crow escaped hell. Now he's building something the world says can't exist: a place where broken people rebuild. Where chains stay broken. But power attracts predators. And the voice inside his head keeps whispering it would be easier to just crush them all. The war isn't against enemies. It's against what you become to defeat them.