The Machine is a lie ...
... a carefully constructed prison for humanity created eons ago by the Demiurge and its servants, the Archons. This prison, known as the Illusion, traps humanity in an endless cycle of death and rebirth, severing us from our true nature and the greater reality beyond. For millennia, the Jailers snuffed out any spark of knowledge that could threaten their control. Great civilizations rose, only to be plunged into ruin before they could uncover the truth.
Sometime early in the twentieth century, the Demiurge vanished. Without their master to command them, the Archons began to fight among themselves for supremacy, and the Machine is falling into neglect. In the growing chaos, new powers arise to contend with ancient divinities for control of the Machine. Fractures have begun to form in the Illusion, and humanity is beginning to awaken. Psychic abilities long dormant now flare to life. Ancient magics, dismissed as myth, have begun to bear fruit. And something else—something darker—has slipped through the cracks, drawn by the scent of newly awakened power.
Passages through our crumbling prison open both ways and expose humanity to forgotten dangers. Beasts and demons roam among us undiscovered; feasting on the lost, the weak and the innocent.
David grew up knowing this danger all too well. Raised by a family of warlocks, his soul promised to a dark power, David narrowly escaped the sacrificial rite that would have sealed his fate. But his freedom came at a terrible cost: his brother dead, his mother vanished, and everyone who sheltered him slaughtered by the dark forces hunting him. Alone and desperate, David turned to forbidden magic for protection and bound himself to a demon, a cunning and malicious being known as the Ghythling.
Now David is caught in a deadly game between two ancient powers: the dark entity who would claim his soul, and the Ghythling, who has claimed him as its own. Both seek to control him, and he has spent years running, trying to escape his cursed past and the darkness he once embraced. But the cracks in the Illusion are growing, and the world is changing. As newly awakened psychics, rogue spirits, and predatory entities stalk the crumbling prison, David must decide whether to keep running or take a stand.
David is not alone in this fight. Lucas and Anna, siblings haunted by their own family’s dark legacy, have become his unlikely companions. Thirteen-year-old Anna is one of the newly awakened psychics, her growing powers making her both a beacon of hope and a target for forces that would exploit her. Her protective older brother Lucas fights to shield her from the shadows closing in, even as he struggles to trust this haunted man, damned by his pact with a demon. Together, the three of them form a fragile, found family, united by their shared desire to survive—and to break free from the forces that seek to control them.
The Illusion cannot hold forever. When it finally collapses, humanity will face an impossible choice: Tear down the prison walls entirely, exposing the world to the chaotic reality beyond, or seal the cracks and preserve the Illusion, even if it means sacrificing their hard-won awakening. As David, Lucas, and Anna are drawn deeper into the heart of this conflict, they must grapple with their own roles in the unraveling of the Illusion—and the sacrifices they are willing to make for a chance at freedom.
In a world where truth and lies blur, and power comes at a terrible cost, what will they choose: redemption, survival, or the terrifying unknown?
The Shade Bound Heart
Book One of the Shade BoundSome curses don’t kill you. They make you live with them.
David’s life has never been his own—not since the Ghythling, a demon bound to his soul, wormed its way into his thoughts. It whispers in his ear, twists his fears, and revels in his failures. And now, it might be his only weapon against the Mourner, a malevolent spirit feeding on the despair of the living and the dead. But the cost of using the Ghythling’s power is always higher than it seems, and David is running out of time to decide how far he’s willing to go.
When Anna, a young woman carrying a gift she barely understands, is marked as the key to stopping the Mourner, David is thrust into a desperate fight to protect her. Alongside Lucas, Anna’s fiercely protective brother, and Mateo, a priest with his own dark secrets, they uncover a ritual that could banish the Mourner once and for all. But it comes with a terrible price—and there’s no guarantee she’ll survive.
As the Mourner’s influence spreads, twisting reality and dragging countless souls into its nightmare, David and his fractured team are forced to make impossible choices. With the Pale Maiden—a cold and merciless Archon of suffering—watching their every move, they must decide what they’re willing to risk to stand against an ancient darkness.
To defeat this evil, David will have to gamble his soul. And saving Lucas and Anna may mean losing himself.
