In Eldrith, death is not the end-it's a choice. When Caius Valerian lost everything to betrayal and fire, his grief drove him to the unthinkable: a deal with Erebus, the god of death. Now bound by the sinister Death Contract, Caius has become a Harbinger-a relentless hunter of souls tasked with piecing back the one he loved. Each soul he claims edges her closer to life, but at a devastating cost: the more he hunts, the more he loses his humanity. In a world where gods weave lies and mortals pay the price, Caius is drawn deeper into a deadly game of power and revenge. His journey through the underworld of Nyxwraith reveals haunting truths about the gods, their fragile balance, and the cost of defying fate. As whispers of betrayal and divine war grow louder, Caius faces an impossible choice-one that could destroy not just the woman he loves but the world itself. Will love be enough to defy the gods, or will the Death Contract consume him?
Chapter 1 Part 1: The Death Bargain (Chapter 1: The Descent into Nyxwraith)
The dead do not rest in Eldrith. Not truly.
Their whispers slither through the wind, their memories cling to the ruins of forgotten temples, and their souls-if one is desperate enough-can be bought.
Caius Valerian had once fought to keep the dead where they belonged. Now, he stood at the edge of the underworld, prepared to drag one back.
The obsidian gates of Nyxwraith loomed before him, cut from the bones of forgotten gods. Veins of crimson light pulsed through the black stone, slow and rhythmic-like a heartbeat. Beyond them, the underworld called to him, a labyrinth of shadows and broken souls, where death was currency and the gods played their cruelest games.
A gust of wind rolled down the cliffs, thick with the scent of scorched earth and something bitter-like old blood that had seeped too deep into the ground to ever be washed away. Caius inhaled sharply, feeling the weight of the place settle over him. The air here was heavy, pressing against his skin like unseen hands. The living did not belong in Nyxwraith.
But he had stopped feeling alive the day Seraphine burned.
The memory was a brand on his soul. The way her voice had cracked, raw and furious, as she cursed the gods with her final breath. The way the flames had devoured her skin, the scent of burning flesh thick in the air. The way he had failed her.
Caius forced the thought aside, focusing on the path ahead. He reached for the iron flask at his hip and took a slow drink, the burn of cheap whiskey grounding him, if only for a moment. His fingers traced the worn handle of his sword-a habit, nothing more. A blade would do him no good here.
The ground beneath his boots trembled, a deep vibration that seemed to come from the core of the earth itself. Then, a voice-soft as silk, cold as winter's first breath.
"Enter, mortal."
The gates groaned open without a single touch.
Beyond them, the underworld waited.
The Descent
Stepping forward was an act of surrender, but Caius did it anyway.
The moment his foot crossed the threshold, a shiver rippled through him, like ice spreading through his veins. The gates slammed shut behind him with a deafening finality.
A bridge stretched ahead, suspended over an abyss so dark it swallowed the torchlight. Shadows slithered beneath the surface like creatures lurking. The moment his boot touched the obsidian surface, something shifted. The entire world seemed to hold its breath. Then-movement.
The abyss below him was no longer empty.
Shapes writhed in the dark, shifting just beyond the reach of the dim red glow from the gates. They did not have bodies, not truly-only shadows, stretching too far, mouths where there should have been nothing. They made no sound, but Caius could feel them watching.
The weight of their hunger pressed against his bones.
He kept walking.
One step. Another.
The bridge did not creak. It did not sway. It simply was, unbothered by the abyss waiting below.
The air grew heavier with each step, thick like oil, settling over his skin, clawing at his lungs.
Then, a voice slithered through the silence, cold as winter's first breath.
"You reek of grief, mortal."
Caius stopped.
The figure had not been there before.
Now it was.
Erebus.
The god of death did not move. Did not breathe. He simply existed, as if he had always been there, waiting.
His body was tall, unnaturally so, draped in robes the color of the abyss itself-robes that did not shift with the wind, as if even the air knew not to touch him. His skin was pale, but not like a man's-it was the color of something long dead, drained of life, of warmth.
But his eyes-black as the void, endless and wrong-were the worst of all.
They did not reflect the red glow of the gates. They did not blink. They did not look at Caius so much as through him, stripping him down to the marrow, peeling away every lie he had ever told himself.
Something inside him recoiled, some instinct buried deep in his blood that knew-this was not a being meant to be looked upon.
The air grew colder.
Then the shadows moved.
Not around Erebus, but from him.
They poured from his robes, coiling and writhing like living things, slithering along the bridge, stretching toward Caius as if tasting the air around him. His skin burned where they passed, a sensation not of heat but of absence as if something had been stripped from him in their wake.
The whispers grew louder, not from the abyss, but from Erebus himself. His very presence was a chorus of voices-not one, but many, layered atop one another, speaking in tongues no mortal should ever hear.
Caius gritted his teeth, locking his knees against the overwhelming sensation that something inside him was breaking, unraveling just by standing here.
Erebus tilted his head, the movement slow, deliberate. The shadows pulsed with each shift of his form, a ripple through the very fabric of reality.
Then, a slow, knowing smile.
"Tell me... what are you willing to give to undo it?"
Caius's throat was dry. His chest ached as if something unseen was pressing against his ribs, testing his resolve.
But his voice, when it came, did not waver.
"Name your price."
The smile widened.
Shivers ran down his spine.
Chapter 1 Part 1: The Death Bargain (Chapter 1: The Descent into Nyxwraith)
25/03/2025
Chapter 2 (Chapter 2: The Price of Resurrection)
25/03/2025
Chapter 3 (Chapter 3: Marked by Death)
25/03/2025
Chapter 4 (Chapter 4: The First Hunt)
25/03/2025
Chapter 5 (Chapter 5: The First Kill)
25/03/2025