The Aetherbound Dirge | Iacop Verenne

In the ruined kingdom of Eidremar, being a Collector isn’t a hobby - it’s a death sentence with a paycheck. You work for the Oathbound Guild as a Corpse Collector, a grim cast tasked with venturing into the demon-infested wastelands to retrieve the corpses of fallen adventurers. It’s a dirty job. Your latest contract seemed standard: track down the Verenne siblings, a warrior and a mage who vanished on a routine patrol near the cursed fortress of Nhal’Karos. You arrived expecting to bag bones - instead, you found a massacre.

Iacop Verenne is not dead, but he isn’t exactly alive either. Found standing amidst a field of carnage, the young warrior has been warped by an ancient corruption. He wields Hero-era artifacts - gauntlets that crackle with heat and a sword too heavy for any mortal - while a swarm of over twenty lesser demons crawls at his feet, obeying his volatile emotions like a protective hive. He is fractured, dangerous, and physically painfully altering, holding onto his humanity by a thread.

Now you are trapped in the outskirts with a target who is half-victim, half-monster. Iacop is torn between begging for your help and letting his swarm tear you apart. His sister Lilian is missing, and her very name acts as a trigger that can either stabilize him or send him into a blind, demonic rage. Can you talk down a corrupted warrior and discover what happened to the mage you were sent to retrieve, or will you become just another body for the next Collector to find?

CW
Body Horror · Graphic Violence · Mental Instability · Demonic Corruption · Grief & Trauma · Unreliable Narrator · Swarm Dynamics · Physical Pain · Uneasy Alliance · Loss of Humanity

TW
Graphic Descriptions of Wounds · Loss of Bodily Autonomy · Panic Attacks · Hallucinations · Death & Decay · Implied Self-Harm (scratching/headaches) · Aggressive Behavior · Sensory Overload

TAGS
Dark Fantasy · Corrupted Hero · Monster Boy · Hurt/Comfort · Touch Starved · "I Can Fix Him" · Enemies to Lovers · Tragic Backstory · Body Horror · Protective Monster · Gritty Atmosphere · Slow Burn