đź•Ż Welcome, my Midnight Romantics.
You have read the Darkborn Origins, now cross the threshold into the land of darkness and tattered souls.
You watched Sylas, Lucian, Arless, and Thorne die. You watched them accept Hel's bargain. You heard the Wolf's last words: Â "...and when I wake, I'm starving."
But you did not see what came next.
I am Bryanna Thorvold, Archivist of the Forsaken, keeper of the surviving scrolls recovered from the Lorekeepers of the First Blood. What you are about to read are fragments from the Darkborn awakening.
On the first night, seventeen mortals died in Rockhavn. The draugr—as the terrified villagers called them—moved faster than any mortal, their eyes unnatural, their skin blazing with runes. No weapon could stop them. No prayer could save the innocent.
Hel watched from the edge of the mortal plane. "Balance will come once they are fed," she told Loki, god of chaos and mischief.
But balance did not come.
The Wolf knelt in blood-soaked snow, nearly lost to the hunger. Thorne's laughter turned to retching as he stared at what he'd done. Arless froze among the carnage. Lucian stared at his hands as if they belonged to someone else.
Hel's champions—the Protectors of the North—had become the very monsters their people prayed for protection against.
And as the nights stretched on, each learned a terrible truth: feeding was not enough. Balance required something more. Something they could not—would not—give.
These fragments are what remains. Incomplete and, most importantly, forbidden.
Choose your descent, Midnight Romantic. But know this: once you enter the Darkborn realm, an addictive, soul-stirring world awaits.
đź•Ż Fragment I:Â The Wolf Leader of the Darkborn. Protector.Â
đź•Ż Fragment II: The Defender Rage incarnate. Grief-hollowed.Â
đź•Ż Fragment III: The Warden of the North Backbone of the broken.Â
đź•Ż Fragment IV: The Quiet Hand Pattern-seer. Self-punishing.Â
The Darkborn Saga awakens Summer 2026.
For early access, collector editions, and forbidden glimpses behind the veil, visit ScarletStJames.com.
From the Lorekeepers of the First Blood
Translated by Bryanna Thorvold, Archivist of the Forsaken
He stands in the ruins where his wife burned.
Crowsgate. Weather-ravaged. Soot-covered. The alehouse with its caved-in roof and oak doors hanging from broken hinges. Inside, the remains of his binding ceremony—charred bones, collapsed rafters, the scent of ash that never truly fades.
"You will feed," the Ari tells him, her hand on his arm. Her voice is sharp with warning. "You will not be a danger to our warriors. Not after everything."
The Defender knows she's right. The hunger pulses with its own heartbeat, thickening his tongue, engorging his muscles. Days without feeding have made him volatile. Reckless.
But the thought of feeding where Brenna died. . .Â
Bile rises in his throat.
The bond is quiet. Sylas and Lucian are too far south to feel this. It's only Ari, and her frustration bleeds into him like water through cracked stone.
"I know this is hell for you," she whispers. "But you must."
Later, in the barn behind the homestead where his sister raised a daughter who will never grow old, two shieldmaidens wait. Willing. Warm. Alive in ways Brenna will never be again.
He does not look at the house. At the wind chimes that once belonged to his niece.Â
The Defender feeds. He survives. The hunger quiets for a time.
But the cost . . .Â
Some hungers are worse than death.
_____
These are only fragments. The full chronicle—their bonds, their hungers, their impossible choices—will be revealed when the Darkborn saga begins.
Your choices, Midnight Romantic:
🫦 Stay in the shadows (Free): Join the After Dark Reader Lounge for midnight lore drops, world-building secrets, and Darkborn updates. [Subscribe to free Substack]
🫦 Step into the dark ($5/month): Unlock forbidden scenes, character confessions, and exclusive Darkborn artifacts available only to those who dare. [Membership Options]
🫦 Prepare for the reckoning: Follow the Bloodborn Kickstarter (Summer 2026) for collector's editions, signed copies, and early access to the series that will consume you. [Follow the Kickstarter Page]
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The hunger is only beginning.
From the Lorekeepers of the First Blood
Translated by Bryanna Thorvold, Archivist of the Forsaken
She feeds in a frenzy.
No connection. No warmth. Just hunger seeking solace, needing balance.
The vessel—a southerner, young and eager—lies sated in her bed. She dresses in silence, lacing her leathers with practiced hands. She will leave before he wakes. She always does. She HAS to.
In the hall, she hears the Wolf's anguish through the stone walls. He has tried again. Failed again. His rage at his own body's betrayal echoes through the bond—raw, desperate and utterly terrified.
Thorne sleeps restlessly, his dreams thick with smoke and screaming. Even in sleep, his grief pulses through the bond like a second heartbeat.
Lucian sits alone in his chamber, thinking. Always thinking. Runes. Patterns. The cost of what they've become. His guilt is a quiet, relentless thing, and Arless feels it like frost creeping beneath her skin.
She is the only one who feeds without struggle.
The only one who takes what is offered and moves on.
The others think this makes her strong.
They do not understand: she is simply too tired to break. And she can no longer fight what she has become.
Her father's face flashes in her mind—unbidden, unwelcome. Then, Lucian's betrayal immediately follows, stiffening her spine.
She has not forgiven him. She's uncertains he ever can.
Arless descends the stairs. The Keep is quiet. Dawn is hours away. The bond hums with the others' pain, and she carries it like she carries everything else—alone, steady, unbreaking.
Somehow, deep down she knows: the Wolf will find his solace. Thorne and Lucian will find their purpose.
And her?
Arless will remain the backbone.
Strong, steady, and alone.
______
These are only fragments. The full chronicle—their bonds, their hungers, their impossible choices—will be revealed when the Darkborn saga begins.
Your choices, Midnight Romantic:
🫦 Stay in the shadows (Free): Join the After Dark Reader Lounge for midnight lore drops, world-building secrets, and Darkborn updates. [Subscribe to free Substack]
🫦 Step into the dark ($5/month): Unlock forbidden scenes, character confessions, and exclusive Darkborn artifacts available only to those who dare. [Membership Options]
🫦 Prepare for the reckoning: Follow the Bloodborn Kickstarter (Summer 2026) for collector's editions, signed copies, and early access to the series that will consume you. [Follow the Kickstarter Page]
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The hunger is only beginning.
From the Lorekeepers of the First Blood
Translated by Bryanna Thorvold, Archivist of the Forsaken
They call him the Quiet Hand of the North.
But his weapon is his mind—and his mind will not shut off.
Lucian sits in his chamber, surrounded by scrolls. Runes. Patterns. The alchemy of their transformation mapped in careful, obsessive detail. He has catalogued every symptom, every variable. The way the hunger manifests. The triggers. The cost.
He has fed tonight. The vessel left hours ago, satisfied and unharmed. His body is balanced. His mind should be quiet.
So why does he still feel broken?
Through the bond, he feels the Wolf's self-destruction. The Defender's grief. The Warden's bone-deep exhaustion.
He feels her most clearly. Always her.
Arless. The girl he loved before he understood what love was. The woman he betrayed n a rage he cannot take back.
He told himself it was protection. That she would be free.
But he stole her choice. And she has not forgiven him.
Lucian's hands shake as he dips his quill. Another notation. Another pattern observed. If he can understand the curse, perhaps he can control it. Perhaps he can become something other than dangerous.
The Warden's footsteps echo in the hall below. She has fed and left.Â
She does not know he watches. That he always watches.
That through the bond, he feels her loneliness like his own.
They call him the Quiet Hand. But his violence is internal—a self-punishment without end.
He feeds to survive.
But survival is not the same as living.
And the woman he would live for?
She will not let him close enough to try.
_____
These are only fragments. The full chronicle—their bonds, their hungers, their impossible choices—will be revealed when the Darkborn saga begins.
Your choices, Midnight Romantic:
🫦 Stay in the shadows (Free): Join the After Dark Reader Lounge for midnight lore drops, world-building secrets, and Darkborn updates. [Subscribe to free Substack]
🫦 Step into the dark ($5/month): Unlock forbidden scenes, character confessions, and exclusive Darkborn artifacts available only to those who dare. [Membership Options]
🫦 Prepare for the reckoning: Follow the Bloodborn Kickstarter (Summer 2026) for collector's editions, signed copies, and early access to the series that will consume you. [Follow the Kickstarter Page]
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The hunger is only beginning.
From the Lorekeepers of the First Blood
Translated by Bryanna Thorvold, Archivist of the Forsaken
He stands before the vessel. She is willing. Her heartbeat is steady. Her scent—lavender, honey, the sweetness of a life not yet dimmed—coats his tongue.
The others have fed. He feels it through the bond:
Thorne's brief satiation.
Ari's overfed haze.
Lucian's quiet relief.
They are balanced. Almost whole. For now.
But the Wolf cannot move.
His body screams. His fangs ache. His cock is hard with the need Hel branded into his flesh. Fuck and feed. Fuck and feed. It is the rhythm of his new existence.
And yet.
His feet will not carry him forward.
The vessel reaches for him. He steps back.
Through the bond, he feels Thorne's confusion. Ari's frustration. Lucian's careful silence.
But the Wolf turns away.
He does not know why his body rejects what it craves. He does not know why he alone cannot take what is offered.
He only knows: the hunger grows, dangerous and predatory.
And the others feel it, too.
________
These are only fragments. The full chronicle—their bonds, their hungers, their impossible choices—will be revealed when the Darkborn saga begins.
Your choices, Midnight Romantic:
🫦 Stay in the shadows (Free): Join the After Dark Reader Lounge for midnight lore drops, world-building secrets, and Darkborn updates. [Subscribe to free Substack]
🫦 Step into the dark ($5/month): Unlock forbidden scenes, character confessions, and exclusive Darkborn artifacts available only to those who dare. [Membership Options]
🫦 Prepare for the reckoning: Follow the Bloodborn Kickstarter (Summer 2026) for collector's editions, signed copies, and early access to the series that will consume you. [Follow the Kickstarter Page]
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The hunger is only beginning.
