What happens after the fall?
A new story in the Creativity Stone Series is coming next week!
What happens after the monster is defeated—but the scars remain?
Next week, I’m releasing a new short story set in The Creativity Stone Series that continues Dedecus’s journey beyond Transcendence.
Redemption’s Scars is a dark fantasy story about justice, self-punishment, and the slow, painful work of repentance. It asks a difficult question: not whether forgiveness is possible, but whether someone who hates himself believes he deserves it—and what happens when that belief is challenged.
The story leads into forbidden places and fractured realities, into spaces beneath the world of Fides where the past refuses to stay buried. As Dedecus is hunted by someone who believes justice means vengeance, he is forced to face the one enemy he has never been able to escape: the version of himself he believes God can never redeem.
This is a free mini-novella, designed to be read in one or two sittings (about a 35–40 minute read) and it will be released all at once next week here on Substack and directly to your email.
If you’ve been following Dedecus’s story so far, this is not a side tale. It’s a necessary chapter in what comes next in preparation for the ultimate conclusion in book 3.
– Caleb Ward