SONDER : Prologue

Author's Note

Sonder, the realization that other lives are just as vivid as your own...
In the world of SONDER, the characters' stories weave and intertwine with each other. As the reader, you will guide their fate along their journey by making choices as their destinies unfold. These choices impact other characters in the series as your choices will affect their world.
The most commented on character stories will be written first, and the most voted for choice will be written in the following chapter posted. If the next section is already written and you would like to vote for another choice, vote anyways as the choices will in time be revisited and added.

In this prologue, you will meet the souls you will guide and learn the beginnings of their stories... To continue reading, comment which character you'd like to read first and a book will be created with that character's name. Stories are generally updated in order of reader preference, and choices made in one character's life affects the world of the others...

The world of SONDER is like our own, but the world we know was recreated many times over. Those souls that could not survive the remoulding are reborn in the new world. Some beings, however, persist, manipulating the destiny of the next world and those in it. But playing god has its consequences.

You may read the characters' introductory chapters in any order you please.

ALPHA, Leader of Lost Souls
~        Azrael's Story        ~

Azrael, once a fallen angel, now a hero, commands an army. But when a battle goes wrong and he is infected by a beast, everything changes. The venom transforms him into something else entirely, and time is running out to save his people. With a death sentence hanging over him, he relives the horrors he vowed to never again entertain to prepare those around him for his death. He isn't certain the war is winnable without his knowledge.

Until he meets Her. A living weapon. Someone who could oppose the very Gods. And Azrael then could no longer see his higher purpose so clearly: would he take from her, using her to win freedom for once and for all, or would he give her his very heart? Just as he begins to look for another way, he uncovers a conspiracy that threatens that which he still holds dearest, bringing him on a journey back home. He must act fast, as time has run its course. He would have no choice but to sacrifice the woman who was now slowly owning his heart and soul.

FROZEN, King Without a Country
~        Caelus' Story        ~

Caelus, the rightful Fae King, is unable to return to his kingdom for its own safety. He roams the mortal realm, searching for ways to lift the spell he cast on his people - without letting evil seep in. All the while he's haunted by his greatest failing, a singular moment he never knew would haunt his every dream. He wasn't supposed to love a monster, but by the time she made her way back to him, that's what she was.

But another has staken its claim on her in his absense and she has no memory of Caelus. To win her back and keep her at his side, he must break a mate bond, and steal her heart. Just as she seems to remember him, the way to return to his Kingdom is revealed. But going home means leaving her behind, with the beast. Caelus knows that to leave her means the end for them. But without his Kingdom, he can't keep her safe. And to not return would mean the end for his people.

ECHOES, Defier of Fate
~        Saskia's Story        ~

Saskia battles with what she has become as strange beings manipulate her every choice. Hatred pushes her forward, a thirst for a revenge she can't even remember, her only solace in a world she will never be a part of. As dead bodies decorate her destructive path, she rages against the Gods themselves until she gains the power to have them bow to her and beg for forgiveness. But one voice begs her to stop, to heal, to choose love. Will she listen? Or does he want to manipulate her just as all the others? How could she know after all that she's been through?

If she were to give in - to remember - and open the door to every tragic and bone-chilling memory of her past, she would sacrifice her own sanity and risk her laser-focussed path to vengeance. As one voice pushes her into doing exactly that, another vows to help her on her path of rage... But at what cost?

OMEGA, Twin Serpent
~        Lucreytzja's Story        ~

Lucreytzja wanted to make something of herself other than the way her father molded her. But when her father goes missing, questions arise as she's torn from her thesis and pulled back into the world she tried to leave behind. He told her lies. He coddled and deceived her. His betrayal pushed her to embrace her dark side, her mother's blood, and the chaos it would bring to the world. Among his lies: that any part of her was human.

When a handsome stranger offers to take her to her mother's world, Lucreytzja accepts without a second thought. She discards her father's warnings and becomes entrapped in this world with no way out. When she prays for salvation to whoever might be listening, someone reaches out to her. Now residing in this new world, something terrifying starts emerging from within Lucreytzja and all the puppet masters around her start to notice. With everyone wanting to pull her strings as her true self awakens, angels become demons as she risks trusting anyone - the consequence of misjudgement would oust the light of the world, oust the flames of all life and of everyone and everything she ever cared about. If only she had embraced her father's lies, but now the safety net he laid out for her was torn to shreds.

            Upcoming Titles:
SIN, Breath of Winter
SHATTERED, The Meek Who Drowned the Earth
NEITHER, W(h)itch Queen
NIGHTMARE, Faithful Wrath
FATED, Cursed Traitor
DREAMER, Reluctant Surrender
BLOOD, Dragon of Chaos
JUSTICE, Harbinger of Lies