About

"He drew out the last syllable, waving one hand in the air and looking expectantly at them – like a teacher leading a student to the correct answer."

The story

The mortal realm has been largely left in peace by the greater gods since the sealing of the Hells many millenia ago, until a strange divine corruption leaves a handful of unlucky individuals affected by a terrible curse. One of them is Tamrus, a dwarven ex-merchant fighting back the hunger that is threatening to take him over. It has taken his colleagues, his livelyhood, his life, and soon even his sense of self, if no cure is found.

It is only when he and his comrades - the thief Lily, the elven siblings Luzem and Tariya, and the warlock Kae - are joined by Kajo, one of the minor gods, that they finally have a lead. Someone is meddling with the matters of the mortal realm and breaking the most important rule that all gods must heed. Who and what for? Tamrus's life may depend on finding answers to those questions.

Background info

We are a queer couple residing in Finland, and The Ascended is our shared labour of love. It all started as a collection of short stories centred around the same overarching plot, until we realised we'd casually written a full novel's worth of material just for fun. The original idea was to collect them into a zine to showcase at local conventions. 'Zine', we said, thinking this would be a short endeavor. Cute. Try 'doorstopper' instead.

Most of our worldbuilding starts with one of us randomly going "why can I imagine this character saying something like..." or "I have this mental image that..." and then the discussion spirals wildly out of control until we've outlined several new instalments. Is there method to our madness? Who knows. Creative insanity sounds more accurate.

About us

Auraboo

Fantasy-loving writer and artist from Finland. She drinks copious (and frankly worrisome) amounts of tea, is always juggling too many personal projects at once, and would love to talk your ears off about cats.

Author of The Threefold Soul webnovel, a m/m fantasy trilogy available in Finnish and English.

Tehri

Swedish writer residing in Finland who has loved fantasy, especially Tolkien's works, since childhood. She's working on a high fantasy novel titled Vildmarksjungfrun, along with several other original projects. Co-parenting two cats with Auraboo.