The Gembound: The Price of Keeping

The city fell. I tried to save him. That's when he started laughing. Yara survived Runewick's destruction with an ancient power fused to her ribs. It whispers. It hungers. It promises she'll never be helpless again—if she feeds it. Her first attempt to save someone creates a monster. Her second creates three more. By the time she learns to bind people properly—to make them need her—she's already become something she doesn't recognize. Every choice is between horror and helplessness. Every servant she creates binds her tighter to the thing keeping her alive. Not a villain origin story. A survival story where survival has a price. Dark progression fantasy. Body horror transformations. Morally gray descent. Book 1/Volume 1 is complete.  The story shifts from survival to kingdom-building.   ─────────────────────────────────────── What to expect: Morally gray protagonist making terrible choices for understandable reasons Body horror transformations - learning through trial and error creates monsters Servant binding mechanics - people transformed become dependent on purpose Dark progression - power has real psychological and moral costs Stats visible from Chapter 17 (LitRPG elements unlock mid-Book 1) Building a power base through bound servants NOT a power fantasy - every victory extracts a price What NOT to expect: Heroic protagonist or villain origin story Harem Easy answers or moral shortcuts Isekai protagonist with cheat skills Gratuitous gore for shock value ─────────────────────────────────────── CONTENT WARNINGS: Body horror, transformation, morally gray protagonist, graphic violence, psychological trauma. Not a power fantasy. UPDATE SCHEDULE: Daily Monday thru Friday at 8:00 AM EST ─────────────────────────────────────── If you enjoy the story, please consider following, rating, and leaving a review. Your support helps others discover the series.For full disclosure, I do use Grammarly for editing.