The world beyond the novel
Some bonds are chosen. Others are carved into you.
A world where magic carries consequences, old forces leave scars, and the difference between power and captivity is not always as clear as it first appears. Meet the people who carry the Coil’s magic, its secrets, and the cost of choices made long before their story began.
The people caught in its path
They carry its magic, its scars, its secrets, and the consequences of choices made long before the story began.
Age 20 · Bearer of the Black Coil
Isolde has spent most of her life carrying something she never chose. The Black Coil grants her extraordinary magic: the ability to read shadows, mend broken flesh, and sense the ancient presence beneath the fjord. But its gifts are never free. Every spell takes a memory in payment. Guarded, intelligent, and accustomed to being feared, Isolde has learned that survival often means relying on herself. Unfortunately, the Coil has other plans.
Former Inquisitor · Branded by the Order
Konrad Veit was once trained to hunt people like Isolde. An inquisitor of the Order, he learned obedience, discipline, and exactly what could be justified in the name of faith. He also learned what those justifications cost. Now he carries the Order’s brand on his own flesh, along with memories he would rather forget. When Konrad washes ashore in Isolde’s world, neither has much reason to trust the other. Unfortunately, trust may be the only thing either of them has left.
Age 18 · Survivor of the Fjord
Tobias learned young that the fjord does not give back what it takes. Street-smart, stubborn, and slow to trust, he has survived by noticing danger before it notices him. Loyalty does not come easily, but once someone has earned it, he holds on fiercely. He may not consider himself brave. That has never stopped him from standing beside the people who need him.
Ocean-born · Fiercely loyal
Adelheid grew up with the fjord in her blood and old grief close behind. Quiet, observant, and fiercely self-reliant, she notices far more than she says. She has little patience for those who wield power carelessly and even less interest in surrendering her choices to anyone else. When she chooses someone as her own, her loyalty runs as deep as the water that shaped her.
Keeper of forbidden knowledge · Man of faith and doubt
Father Aldric has spent a lifetime studying the things others decided were better forgotten. Priest, scholar, and reluctant keeper of forbidden knowledge, he knows the old stories are rarely as simple as the faithful would like them to be. He has read the texts others fear to open and learned names that were meant to disappear. His faith remains. His certainty does not.
Voice of the Coil · Weaver of fate
He is the voice behind the Coil. Ancient, patient, and impossibly subtle, the Coil’s Master does not need to command. He guides. He whispers. He offers choices, then waits for others to convince themselves they chose freely. He plays a game measured not in days or years, but in lives. He does not collect power. He collects consequences.
Its world does not end at the final page
In the years following the events at Sankt Wendelin, Father Aldric Sommer began gathering what remained: fragments of the Codex, records of the Order, forgotten names, and accounts others had tried very hard to erase. These are some of the pages that survived.
Sankt Wendelin Scriptorium · Anno Domini 1876
Regarding Those Who Bore the Mark
Transcribed by Father Aldric Sommer from a damaged surviving leaf of the Codex. Six names remain in the older record. Beneath them, in another hand, a seventh was added: Isolde Nacht.
More pages from the Scriptorium will be recovered in time.
Some bonds are chosen. Others are carved into you.
More stories between the pages →