[Set in Eilos, the world of 'Echoes of the Reach', and can be read standalone.] Where ripples of the past lead, the tidal waves of history soon follow. Jaster Brand is an artificing prodigy. From enchanted tools to automaton companions to his own right arm, his passion for arcane engineering has carried him to the Malkest Throne's biggest cities in search of work. Working with his fellow travelling apprentice, the rookie hunter Astrid Forrester, they scrape up enough money to support themselves and their families. On Jaster's latest visit home, however, something changes. The road to Flatsands transforms into a sunken cove, a seabound scape of sand and shells cut off from the wider world. Worse still, the village itself is abandoned, its residents vanished and their homes claimed by an insidious dark coral. Mysteries rise at every turn, yet none more startling than the sudden reappearance of Calypso, Jaster's one-time imaginary friend pulled back by forces unknown. Stranded together in a drowning village, the three must race to find the missing villagers, undo the curse that has befallen Flatsands, and face the ancient threat that stirs beneath the blackened waves. *** Cover and chapter-end banner skilfully crafted by the wizard of legend @-DeeIsDead- (thank you so much again, Dee!)

🏆ONC 2025 HONORABLE MENTION 🏆 A lone lighthouse keeper watches over the coast, tending to her light as the sea rages beyond. The storms are nothing new-neither is the solitude. She is content with the quiet rhythm of her life, the crash of waves against the cliffs, the scent of salt and parchment filling her days. But when a shipwreck leaves a battered stranger at her doorstep, the tide of her world begins to shift. The man is rough-edged, a relic of salt and shadow, with secrets hidden beneath his scars. He speaks of a past that the waves should have swallowed, of maps inked in the margins of forbidden books, of love letters lost to time. Trapped together by a storm that refuses to pass, they share stories by lantern light-one seeking refuge, the other searching for something long forgotten. Yet not all ghosts are content to stay buried, and not all storms end when the sky clears. Whispers of war linger in the distance, and the truth he carries may threaten the safe harbor she has built for herself. As the past and present begin to intertwine, she must decide-will she cling to the safety of her lighthouse, or will she risk everything to follow the reflection of something new? -- Cover by @Heuristic_Hashmath