Sin Unwitnessed: A Hollow Elf Mystery

Welcome to the Hollows.  Welcome to the Lightless. Here in cities built miles beneath the crust of Thera, the Hollow Elves have lived for untold eons, surviving in the deepest darkness because they know that the Sun and all its light was devoured long ago by the Many-Eyed Mother of all that Crawls, Claws, and Climbs. But what if that's not true? What if the Sun is still out there? What if the entire history of the Hollows is built on a lie... and what if there are people willing to kill to protect that lie? As an Expositor of all things Civil, Criminal, and Arcane, and a Professional Witness, Sin Zherikyo has built a career out of risking his life to upend the lies of scorned lovers and scheming politicians. But his latest client, who came into his life without warning or appointment, has set him on a course that could upend... everything. And this all begins - as these stories so often do - with a murder that needs to be solved. And Sin isn't sure if he can solve it on his own... But here in the Lightless, a world of darkness where no sin exists if there are no witnesses to its existence... Who can he possibly trust?Author Message: This story takes place in the world of Thera, the same world where "Hordes and Homerooms", "Big Kaiju On Campus", and "Gnoll Knockout" take place. Sin Unwitnessed focuses on the Hollow Elf homeland, which continues to be a mystery to the rest of the world, which is in turn a mystery to it. The tone of this story is a little different, a little darker. The Lightless is my love letter to some of my favorite stories of Dark Elves across a variety of media from D&D to Anime to Video Games. This story is a little experimental, and as of yet unfinished. I will update it when I can, chapter by chapter until it is done. You can expect the intrigues of Hollow Elves and Hollow Orcs, deadly assassins and even deadlier Queens and Princesses, and a systemic matriarchy where women generally have far more power than men. Hollow Elves do not have a Hero Culture or Class System like the Mithrocans of "Hordes and Homerooms" and "Gnoll Knockout." While Mithrocan Heroes like to measure themselves against each other with their Ranks, Hollow Elves survive through subtlety. You can also expect violence as well as sex, drugs, and rock and roll. Though nothing explicit. Especially the rock and roll.(The theme song for the Hollow Queens is "God is a Weapon" by Falling in Reverse. Sin's theme song is "The Man who Sold the World" by David Bowie.) [Disclaimer: No AI is used within the writing of this book, just good old fashioned spellcheck and grammar-check, and eventual obsessive-revisions. The Cover Art is what I will refer to as "AI-Assisted." I sketched a front-facing image of Sin, one hand open and one fist closed, and then tied him up with webs, connecting those webs to the title and author name. I then had AI clean it up and refine my contrasts between light and shade, and had it detail the webbing, which I'd sketched as doodly strings. I also had it format the title and author name so they didn't look as cocked as they did in the original sketch. I will commission an official cover for Sin Unwitnessed once finances permit.] {Schedule - Every week, I post a chapter on either BKOC or SU:AHEM, by Sunday. On a good week, I post a chapter for both. With that said, I do not allow either work to go more than two weeks without an update}