Gravebound: Tales of the Black Coin

In the ash-stained empire of Varkhast, the boundary between life and death has grown dangerously thin. The dead don't simply rest-they rise, hungry and relentless. Standing between these horrors and total annihilation are the Gravebound-mercenaries magically bound to service, who cannot truly die until their contracts are fulfilled.

Kael Riven is the most notorious among them-ruthless, scarred, and bound by death magic that forces him to resurrect each time he's killed. When scholar Elara Voss summons him with a Black Coin bearing his name, he expects a routine protection contract. Instead, he's drawn into a conspiracy spanning generations.

Elara has discovered she's the last of an ancient bloodline designated as "Keepers"-guardians of mystical gates that separate reality from a ravenous entity her ancestors named the Devourer of Light. As these barriers weaken and the empire's most powerful necromancer seeks to collect thirteen Black Coins that seal these gates, Kael and Elara form an unlikely alliance. Together, they must journey through impossible landscapes, confront the walking dead, and descend into the bottomless Deeping at the heart of Varkhast itself.

"Gravebound" weaves a dark fantasy tale where antihero pragmatism meets scholarly determination, exploring how partnerships forged in desperation can evolve into something profound. In a world where death is merely a threshold and ancient horrors wait beyond, sometimes the greatest strength comes from adapting beyond one's original purpose-even if that purpose was written in blood and bound by magic older than the empire itself.