Being a hero makes things worse.
A dark fantasy novella about choosing to act anyway.
When evil first rose, a hero was created against his will.
When the enemy demanded a duel, the hero never came.
Evil won.
The land fell.
And the word hero became synonymous with coward.
A thousand years later, the world is a desolate waste, the people believing the hero long dead.
But he survived.
Every time he revealed himself, the enemy responded by erasing everything – towns, families – hoping to finally end the threat.
Nameless, faceless, the hero learned to hide.
To pass as a stranger.
And to kill anyone who realizes the truth about him.
Kill one to save many.
It worked.
The hero endured.
And the world continued to rot.
Now, a town struggles to survive in the wasteland.
A nameless traveler passes through.
Trouble follows.
And for the first time, the hero hesitates.
Helping will make things worse.
Doing nothing guarantees nothing ever changes.
What happens when we refuse to let fear decide the future?
Hero is a 25,000-word dark fantasy novella about:
- The violence of being seen
- The cost of becoming a symbol
- Moral responsibility when every choice causes harm
- Choosing to act when it may doom everyone around you
There are no clean victories. Hope, when it appears in this world, is hard-won and fragile.
But no less vital or precious.
Hero is for readers who enjoy dark fantasy with real consequences, protagonists trapped by systems—not destiny—and stories where “the right thing” is unclear, but unavoidable.
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The grip of night pressed in on the small diner, threatening and intrusive…
In this city, you didn’t go out at night. The thugs and rapists were bad enough, but the roving gangs of parhumes tore you to pieces if they could catch you unaware. And they always did. They lived in that darkness, stalking people like prey.
The door swung open, the bell dangling above the frame struck sharply by a corner. Auriel jumped, startled out of her thoughts, and looked up to see a man walk in. Grizzled beard, filthy, a canvas bag on his back. A wave of hot air from outside rolled in behind him, cutting through the inefficient coolness of the diner’s air conditioner.
A traveler? she thought. This city was hundreds of miles from anything. Desolation claimed the land in every direction. No food, water, or protection. The dozen or so diners all glanced up from their food to eye the newcomer. The hunch of his shoulders and the way he kept his head down told Auriel he was aware of the attention, and was accustomed to it, if still uncomfortable. She watched him as he eyed the empty tables, but came to sit at the cafe bar, putting his back to the room.
Who will stand up to evil when “hero” is a dirty word?
Read a dark fantasy novella – and receive occasional essays exploring power, consequence, and difficult hope.
