Mourner's Meridian

In the industrial city of Rainswarith, survival belongs to the ruthless.

Eleanor Vale knows this fact intimately.

As an exerminator - an assassin who kills quietly, efficiently, and without asking questions, she uses her skill of alchemy as a tool for death and self-regulation.

It is a brutal life. But it keeps her sister, Rose, safe, the tithe paid, and their bellies half-full.

Then, Ellie accepts the wrong contract.

A routine hit leaves behind something impossible: a fractured stone that emits heat - pulling her into a forgotten world beyond Mourner's Meridian - a cursed threshold that divides humanity from the monstrous Krevek of old legends. Creatures blamed for the Great War. Historically feared as Gods. Now privately hunted as nightmares.

But history has a way of twisting the truth.

As political unrest spreads across magical kingdoms and strange weapons begin turning entire cities into wasted ruins, Ellie is pulled into a conflict far older than she can comprehend. One tied to the Meridian itself, to the terrifying cost of power, and to a history humanity buried in blood and lies.

And at the centre of it stands Nik Belon - a Krevek prince forged for war, carrying fire in his veins and exhaustion in his bones.

He is dangerous. Sharp-tongued. Infuriatingly perceptive.

And sees through every wall Ellie has ever built.

Together, they uncover a conspiracy that not only threatens both realms, but the fragile balance keeping humanity from descending into madness. To stop it, Ellie must confront the violence that shaped her, the grief she spent years outrunning, and the terrifying possibility that softness is not weakness after all.

But love has always been dangerous in a world built on survival.

And history has a way of repeating itself.

Mourner's Meridian is a dark fantasy about grief, survival, power, and the courage it takes to remain human in a world determined to turn suffering into control and weaponry.