In the year 1800, the Great Scourge began.
For seven years, humanity fought for its life against the united forces of the Ether—the parallel dimension of soul-energy and ancient power. The assault was led by the demon lords, but they were not alone. Vampires, werewolves, witches, shadows, and a host of lesser fae joined the carnage.
Humanity was saved by a betrayal and a weapon.
The betrayal: a demon named Demi, who gave humans the "Soul-Prayer."
The weapon: the Prayer itself—an ancient incantation that, when chanted in unison, burns a supernatural being from the inside out.
The kingdom that received this gift was Tombsrose.
They won the war. Then they won the peace.
Now, forty years later in 1840, Tombsrose rules the fractured human realm of Brustain as a brutal hegemon. They guard the Prayer as a state secret, a monopoly on salvation. They demand tribute, obedience, and souls.
The other kingdoms orbit this dark sun:
· Eden, poor and ravaged, a dying symbol of the old world.
· Silverveil, a mercantile power that collaborates to survive.
· Highcrag and Greensong, playing their own desperate games.
It is a world of steel, shadow, and silent calculation. Power is the only truth. Mercy is a liability.
Beneath it all, the Ether simmers. The supernatural races, decimated and ruled by a paranoid Demon Council, remember their humiliation. They watch. They plot.
This is the ledger of ruin. The balance sheet of survival.
Into this calculus steps a princess who thinks in equations and a guardian who cuts with a whisper.
They intend to change the numbers.