Withstanders
In the quiet outskirts of Manchester, where the woods press close against the edges of ordinary life, fourteen-year-old Alex Pinskey has always believed himself to be nothing remarkable. He is human, unnoticed, and burdened by the quiet certainty that his life will never stretch beyond the familiar boundaries of home and school.
That belief begins to unravel the night he meets Godin.
What starts as a chance encounter in the narrow strip of forest behind his home becomes the opening of a door Alex never knew existed. The world he thought he understood gives way to something vast and ancient, a hidden reality layered beneath his own. In this unseen realm, kingdoms rise and fall beyond the knowledge of ordinary people, and the balance holding them together is beginning to fail.
Alex is not what he thought he was.
He is the last heir of Qandroll, a name spoken in whispers across worlds that are now crumbling under the weight of time and forgotten power. As the final thread in a fading lineage, he is drawn into a conflict that has been unfolding long before he was born. The ancient realms are weakening, their foundations splintering, and only one relic holds the promise of holding them together.
The Lost Parchment.
Long believed to be nothing more than legend, the Parchment carries a power capable of preserving the fragile order between worlds. Without it, everything fractures. Cities fall. Histories vanish. Entire realms slip into ruin.
To reach it, Alex must leave behind the life he has always known and enter the Academy, a place where knowledge is guarded, loyalty is uncertain, and every lesson carries a cost. There, he must learn to understand the power within him while facing visions that haunt him with glimpses of ash, fire, and the end of all things.
But power is not given freely, and destiny does not wait for those who hesitate.
As alliances shift and the truth of his inheritance begins to take shape, Alex must decide who he is willing to trust and what he is willing to become. The boy who once believed himself ordinary stands at the center of a storm that threatens to consume everything.
In a world where prophecy demands more than courage, survival may require him to surrender the very thing that makes him human.
And if he fails, the collapse of one world will not be the end. It will be the beginning of many.