A Throne of Graves

I wanted to be a hero. Instead, I became the architect of a graveyard. I sacrificed everything to reach the end. My friends, my humanity, the very world I swore to protect—all exchanged for a chance to face the source of the apocalypse. I stood alone at the heart of the abyss, ready to die fighting a monster. But the end of the world wasn't a demon. It was a frail girl with eyes of burning violet. She didn't fight me. She paralyzed me with primal terror, took my own sword, and pressed it to my throat. Her last words before sending me into the darkness weren't a curse, but a promise: "I will save you." The story should have ended with my death in that ruined castle. But the violet light had other plans.