Shades of War

[Highest Rank: 653 in Fantasy]
When a portal to the Cursed Planet of the Shades suddenly appears in the capitol city of Dralina, it can only mean one thing: War has returned to the planet, in the form of an exiled and embittered prince named Ellatar Davarin.

For student hacker Daniel Grace, it means that he has slightly more to worry about than passing the Academy's science exam and coming up with questionably legal ways to pay his tuition. Daniel is soon recruited as a spy to infiltrate Ellatar's forces. Together with a quirky team of misfits, he travels to the captured city of Telel.

Then Cassidia falls out of a tree and onto the scene. Cass, an eccentric country girl, is everything Daniel isn't: outgoing, emotive, and with an unflinching belief in freedom and destiny. She even claims to have supernatural visions of a divine weapon that can save the planet from Ellatar's conquest.
Though he disdains emotion, Daniel soon finds himself falling in love with her. But when unexpected events strike, this inconvenient attachment may prove to be his greatest weakness - or his greatest strength.

A genre-blend of science fiction and fairy tale.

((Draft completed))

"Your writing has always been good, but this reflects much experience and maturity. I found myself caught up completely in the story -- I only do that when the writing is strong enough that I can relax and escape." - Bernadette Pajer, author of A Spark of Death (published with Poison Pen Press)

"12/10 on tension and reveals and characters confronting their fears" - hobbitsetal

"Curse you, you have no idea how hard it is to make me feel investment." - Vio1315

"You are great at character arcs."
"Everything hurts. I say that in the best possible way." - Tuttle-2017