In a world where angels, demons, and gods fight over the possession of mortal souls, two conflicted pawns are ensnared in a cruel game. The enigmatic seer Estella finds herself thrown together with Count Mikhail, a dogmatic Templar dedicated to subjugating her kind. But when a corrupted cardinal and puppet king begin a systematic genocide of her people, the two become unlikely allies.

Taking humanity back to their primordial beliefs and fears, Estella confronts Mikhail’s faith by revealing the true horror of the lucrative trade in human souls. All organized religions are shops orchestrated to consume mankind. Every deity, religion, and spiritual guide has been corrupted, and each claims to have the monopoly on truth and salvation.

The Shadow Crucible is a gripping epic examining a range of subjects from traditional religion to the occult, and the mysteries of the Threefold Death—the ancient ritual of apotheosis, of man becoming God. T. M. Lakomy spins a sinister web in which the struggle for redemption is on the verge of being crushed by the powers of evil. This ambitious work will establish her as a compelling new voice in the world of dark fantasy.