The First Gate (Tales of Aeden, #1)

Beneath the Kingdom of Liralind lies the First Gate — an underground outpost where the unwanted are sent and rarely remembered.

When Luka of the Griffin Brotherhood is assigned there, he expects punishment and decay. What he finds instead is something older: a place where guilt festers, witches whisper half-truths, and the tunnels themselves seem alive.

Drawing from eldritch horror and Slavic folklore, The First Gate is a grim fantasy short story about duty, curiosity, and the cost of looking...