The In-Between

...is a sci-fantasy story set in a world teeming with holy energy. Despite this, a select few are reborn as demons upon their deaths, their senseless rampages only brought to an end by the Reverend and her divine fire.

As traditional weapons prove ineffective against these creatures, the people become desperate for any means of protecting themselves. They beg to be given a piece of that holy flame, and God, acting through the Reverend, obliges. The five holy families are established to pass down this blessing, quickly becoming powerful political entities with complete jurisdiction over their niches.

No longer needed to guide or protect her people, the Reverend abdicates much of her responsibilities. She becomes a curiosity for many, a holdover from a previous time.

She is impotent. And she is angry.

✽ Main Characters ✽

Reverend Kyvern

After the holy families' rise to power, Kyvern withdrew from society as little more than a figurehead.

Her rank and immortality have made forming genuine, lasting relationships nearly impossible, so for the past centuries, she has distracted herself with solitary pursuits such as art and literature.

Recently, her crushing loneliness hit its breaking point, prompting her to hire a personal aide whom she initially hoped to befriend. Unfortunately, the aide's presence only complicates things after Artheus shows up, seeking Kyvern's assistance - and later on, her companionship.

Kyvern is physically genderless, but identifies as female.

Artheus

Orphaned as a child by the deadliest demon attack in recent history, Artheus's life was spared only by a rare appearance of the Reverend Kyvern. Now a grad student in his final year, his degree in biostatistics has given him access to past medical records - including those of people who later became demons.

Despite strict laws prohibiting the study of demons, Artheus proceeds with his thesis in an attempt to persuade the academic community that more research is needed to eradicate demonhood once and for all. His presentation is met with outrage, netting him a swift suspension and a criminal investigation.

Pushed to the brink by his own personal shortcomings and lifelong depression, Artheus commits suicide...only to return as a demon himself. But somehow, unlike every other demon, Artheus retains his conscious mind. With nothing left to lose, he meets with the only person who could possibly help him - his childhood savior, the Reverend Kyvern.

Sprylee

Coming soon!

Histamine Virius Annerton

Coming soon!

✽ Illustrations ✽

✽ WIPs ✽

✽ Sketches / Concept Art ✽

✽ Worldbuilding ✽

Currency

Rare earth metals are extracted using a specially-designed plant that concentrates each individual metal inside of “kernels” that develop along its exterior. These kernels are then harvested and minted by the government.

A single kern is similar to our concept of pennies, and krests are like our dollars. However, the purchasing power of kerns and krests is far greater than these real-life currencies.

Banknotes in Martyr’s Fault are vertically-oriented and come in denominations of 5, 10, 20, 50, and 100 krests. Each krest has raised gold embossing to help the visually-impaired differentiate between their values. As in our world, special krests featuring important contemporary figures are minted in limited quantities as collectibles.

To protect against fraud, there is only one living extraction plant at any given time in the city, and the harvesting process is closely monitored. Raw, unprocessed kernels are considered to have zero monetary value. Additionally, any form of tampering with existing money, such as scraping the embossed text off of krests, is illegal and punishable by death.

More lore to come!