The Emanations of Barbelos

by Miss Liz

In the fractured kingdom of Aethel, the Martianite faith is heresy, a forbidden religion worshipping Barbelos, the divine emanation, the first thought of the unknowable God who existed before the Demiurge stole creation and bound human souls in flesh. For centuries the Martianites have hidden in the shadows, guarding the Codex of Emanations, a sacred text said to contain the true name of Barbelos and the path to gnosis, the liberating knowledge that can free humanity from the Archons' prison. When Maren, a disgraced scribe's apprentice, discovers a fragment of the Codex in a dying monk's cell, she becomes the fulcrum of a war between the Martianite underground, the Demiurge's inquisitors, and the Archons themselves, cosmic wardens who walk among humans in stolen skin. To survive, Maren must trace the Codex's scattered fragments across a world that does not want to be saved, decipher the layered mysteries of Barbelos' emanations, and confront the terrible question at the heart of the Martianite faith: if Barbelos is truly divine, why did She allow the Demiurge to rule? And if She returns, will She save humanity, or unmake it?