by niah

synopsis

Lethe banishes demons for a living.
The Holy Office gives her a badge, a spear, and a sigil seared into her spine. In return, she gives them everything else…her body, her soul and her sleep schedule.

It’s not a glamorous job. The hours are brutal. The insurance is fake. Her coworkers are either on strike, missing, or dead. But the Office still stands. And Lethe?
Lethe keeps showing up.

This writing circle submission includes the draft of chapter one, plus a short excerpt from chapter two.

To view in full screen, please click the arrows on the top right (>>) of the pdf viewer and click “presentation mode”.

Author’s Note:

Just a heads up, a lot more comes after this during the Friday Beers scene! This is not the end of Chapter Two; I’m just pausing here due to submission length limits. This chapter opens a whole can of worms…

There’s much more character interaction in the full scene, especially between Lethe, Gabriel, Nada, and Yuriel, as well as deeper worldbuilding, backstory reveals, and let’s just say… a rather tense confrontation conversation.

I’m still editing Chapter Two, but I loved this intro so much that I wanted to include it anyway. Also, as I continue writing and developing the full story, some elements in this opening (character arcs, stakes, worldbuilding, structure) may change significantly as I revise.

Thanks so much for reading! 🙂