The Awakening

In a city divided between light and shadow, twenty-year-old Mercy has always known her place-a quiet life in Nimmar, surrounded by water and the gentle worship of the goddess Mirenna. But when her Awakening ceremony reveals an unexpected gift, she is claimed by Malichor, god of darkness and shadows, and thrust into the dangerous world of Kaldren's Cassis, a brutal academy training Septos' deadliest fighters.

Ill-prepared and out of her element, Mercy struggles to survive among Kaldren's fiercest recruits, where combat is a language, and strength is the only rule. Especially as she catches the eye of Xaverick Thane, the notorious and enigmatic commander whose reputation alone would make most hesitate-and whose touch Mercy can't quite forget.

Now, haunted by her connection to the darkness and armed with powers she never wanted, Mercy faces impossible choices. As the city's fragile peace teeters on the edge, she must decide what she's truly willing to become and how far she'll go to claim her own fate.

Power is a gift. Survival is a choice. But loyalty? That might demand her soul.