Anima Nullius

They called him harmless. A boy who carried another's bag and took another's blows without complaint — a joke, a loyal dog, a nobody. ​Then the girl he loved broke him in the mud, and the dark between his bones answered. ​To survive, Elias paid a price no altar should ever ask for. Now he walks with a shadow-forged blade, an empty stare, and a debt written in blood — dragging behind him the very girl who once called him worthless, bound to his shadow whether she wills it or not. ​But power built on a mother's ashes always asks for more. And the boy who swore he'd never feel anything again is about to learn that some things refuse to stay dead. ​The kingdom that made him "harmless" is about to learn what it created.