Reaper’s Oath

For thousands of years, the world has feared death. They have forgotten that death was once its greatest guardian. Seventeen-year-old Kael has spent three years carrying the scars of a tragedy he cannot forget. The village of Ashvale was consumed by flames, his family vanished, and all that remains of his past is a scorched silver pendant bearing a symbol no one recognizes. Branded weak after being born with only twenty-five Soul Threads—the measure of a person's potential—Kael's dream of becoming a knight seems impossible. But when strange whispers begin haunting his dreams and ancient seals hidden beneath the Black Forest begin to fail, Kael is drawn toward a truth buried deeper than any kingdom's history. The Black Forest is not merely a forest. Beneath its roots lie forgotten cities, lost civilizations, underground seas, and the ruins of an age that predates recorded history. There, legends speak of the Great Loom—the source of every soul—and of a promise made by two primordial beings at the dawn of creation. Life, who wove every beginning. Death, who carried every ending. Together, they maintained the cycle that allowed the world to endure. Then came the Abyss. An ancient force that seeks not conquest, but erasure itself. As darkness stirs once more, Kael discovers that the mysterious crest he carries is tied to the lost Reaper, a figure feared by history yet revered by the oldest legends. Chosen as a Candidate of Death, he begins a journey that will challenge everything the world believes about life, power, and fate. Alongside an unlikely group of companions—a historian obsessed with preserving forgotten truths, a free-spirited scholar hiding her own grief, warriors burdened by duty, and enemies who believe his existence threatens the world itself—Kael must uncover the secrets of the Soul Threads that bind all living things. For the Soul Threads are more than power. They are memory. They are destiny. They are the very fabric of existence. And as the Abyss awakens and the Great Loom begins to unravel, Kael will face a choice that no Candidate before him could make: Become the next Reaper and inherit an ancient burden... Or break a cycle that has endured since the beginning of time. In a world where every life is a thread in a vast tapestry, one forgotten promise may decide whether the story of humanity continues—or is erased forever