Play here - Chapter 1 ~ Released 1/12/2025 (I wrote 2024 in the game file :))) kill me now)
In a world where magic is law and power is everything, A thin line between desires invites you into a sinfully beautiful, emotionally charged, wickedly dark and traumatic interactive tale set within Aequrion, a realm that had been split a long time ago into the Mortal and Undying Lands, humans and kindred. Embark on a fast-burn, high-stakes journey of trauma, power, and the thin, blistering line between love and survival. Every decision matters. Every scar tells a story. And the scariest monsters may not be the ones wearing claws.
You play as a human woman with no memories, brought into a world of magic and ghastly beauty — used as a pawn, stolen from the arms of one High Lord by another, as prophecies and blessings push you deeper into the fray.
What began as a dream of love and freedom shattered into nearly a decade of decadence, survival, pain, degradation and despair. Once cherished in the wild Forest Court, now kept as a twisted trophy in Regina’s brutal dominion beneath the mountains of the Sun Court.
But even in darkness, desire burns.
Even in chains, your mind remains your own. Mostly.
Reclaim your voice.
Uncover buried truths.
Shape the fate of the realm with every decision.
Will you seek vengeance? Love? Freedom?
Or will you become something else entirely?
Warning: This dark romantasy contains mature themes, emotional intensity, and morally complex characters. Choose carefully. Not every path leads to salvation. Some sexual content is not optional and VERY non-con, in the beginning as the MC is captive (full fairy revel madness).
The romance is not optional, you will have to choose a ✨mate✨ at one point.
This is a WIP and things are subjected to change.
Theme: HEAVILY inspired by ACOTAR (this was initially a Tamlin redemption fanfic that spiraled out of control ) With sprinkles of WoT and Stormlight Archive.
Your story is one of choices, of pain and power, of twisted affections and fragile alliances. Who can be trusted in a world where pleasure is weaponized and loyalty is a mask? Who are you when survival turns to something more?
-> MC is gender-locked as female, but every other aspect is customizable (the usual skin and eye color, hair color, texture, length, etc.).
-> Choose a body type from Slender, Curvy, Toned.
-> Options for body image and a favorite feature characters will comment on.
-> Play as one of 4 female archetypes: The Maiden, The Enchantress, The Nurturer, The Wise. These will not lock you out of anything, just give a general idea of how your character usually thinks.
-> Choose from 3 Backgrounds for your past, noting that the amnesia will never go away:
1 betrayed spy
2 escaped cultist
3 "Modern girl falls in a fantasy world" - this one will have mc as an entirely new character into the world with no secret ties to anything. It’s all up to you to canon.
-> Survive a scorned rejected female on a warpath, forge alliances, escape your first assassination, bond a dragon, live through a war, forge a Fellowship and journey on a mission to save the world or break it.
Not all love stories end the same — some are about mending, some about letting go, and some about remaking the world.
🍃 Kael’thalas - High Lord of the Forest Court - The Wild Sovereign - The Last Ael’thari
The High Lord of the Forest Court is the embodiment of untamed nature and quiet strength. Towering and broad-shouldered, his body is carved from muscle, like an ancient statue grown from the earth itself. His skin is sun-kissed, and his long, almost-white blonde hair falls in silken waves down his back, often tangled by wind and wildflowers alike. Beneath heavy brows, his emerald green eyes shine with a soul-deep warmth, piercing, but never cold.
There’s a primal grace to him, like a great beast at rest, power held in patient reserve. Tattoos or markings snake down one arm, looking like roots or vines grown into his skin, echoing his bond with the forest. Though he looks wild, there’s a gentleness in the way he moves, in the way his gaze lingers—protective, steady, and deeply in tune with the world around him. A quiet force of nature cloaked in silence and strength, the very air shifting around him… and the first face you see when you awaken.
Tropes: Found family, friends to lovers, Star-crossed lovers?, option for him to be just a brotherly figure.
🌙 Azrien - High Lord of the Moon Court - The Fallen Star - The Moonkindler.
The High Lord of the Moon Court is a vision born of midnight and magic. His skin is twilight, velvety lilac to deep blues, scattered with constellations that shimmer and shift as if the night sky itself had been woven into his flesh. Each movement catches the light of invisible stars, casting soft glows that dance like stardust. His long, silvery-white hair flows around him like lunar mist, wild and otherworldly. It floats with a weightlessness that defies gravity, haloing a face both sharp and regal. His silver eyes glow like twin moons, unreadable and eternal, always watching with a calm that borders on eerie. There’s an elegant stillness about him, a silence that commands reverence.
Adorned in regal black and cosmic violet, inked with celestial patterns across his chest and shoulders, he is timeless—a being shaped by both shadow and starlight… and your kidnapper, the one responsible for your decade of misery and despair.
Tropes: Arranged marriage, the most enemies to lovers, with a dash some kind of shared Stockholm syndrome for sure :)), Star-crossed lovers?
☀️ Solren - High Lord of the Sun Court - The Gilded Flame - The Sun's Judgement -> I am weak, I might turn him into some kind of twisted Sunwalker vampire
The High Lord of the Sun Court stands as a vision of elemental fire and divine authority. His skin is bronzed and radiant, glowing faintly with the burnished warmth of eternal sunlight. Golden tattoos arc across his chest and neck like ancient runes, pulsing softly with power. Long, fiery red hair falls in wild waves or perhaps a loose braid, a cascade of molten flame framing a face carved with impossible beauty—sharp cheekbones, full lips, and glowing amber eyes that burn like twin suns.
There’s a dangerous allure to his gaze, something both regal and ruthless, and the faint smirk tugging at his mouth speaks of a male who knows both power and how to wield it. But why has such a creature turned his eyes on you?
Tropes: Oh man… manipulation? enemies-ish to lovers.
🔥 Orin - Heir of the Sun Court - The Second Sun - The Tempered Spark
The Sun Court Heir is a prince draped in gold but shadowed by doubt. Though he sits in silks of cobalt and sun-burnished bronze, his presence is tempered by the ache of never being quite enough. A second son, a “spare”, only heir due to his runaway sister, he bears only one undeniable inheritance from his father—their burning, golden eyes, bright and watchful like the desert sun at its zenith.
His features are sharp with restraint, noble yet guarded, a face that learned too young how to mask longing with indifference. His skin is a rich, warm bronze, like polished mahogany brushed with gold. It glows under the light, a quiet defiance. His sharp cheekbones and long, narrow face give him a regal, almost ethereal look, made all the more intense by the golden eyes that smolder from beneath his dark lashes. His dark, unruly hair falls around him like a storm held at bay, often half-shadowing the glint of his gaze. Around his neck, gold rests heavy—symbols of a court that praises brilliance but rarely kindness.
He is not cruel, only carved from years of being overlooked. Beneath the gold, beneath the practiced poise, is a longing to be seen, for who he is, not who he failed to be. And in his rare, quiet moments, when no one is looking, he turns his golden eyes toward you.
Tropes: a bit of a corruption arc? Manipulation turned obsession?
🎭 Wits - Fellow enslave merman - The Harrowed Fool - The Broken Song
The Jester, known to most as simply Wits, is a figure of both mystery and sorrow—a mad, ancient being bound in silence. His once-haunting voice, said to have been able to tame storms and lure ships to ruin, is long gone. Around his throat lies a heavy iron chain, its weight both physical and symbolic. Beneath it festers an old, unhealed wound, raw and angry, like a cursed reminder of what he once was.
His eyes are the color of the open sea, deep, fathomless, and glimmering with a thousand unspoken tragedies. His hair falls in wet, tangled strands, sometimes adorned with bits of shell or seaweed, like he never quite left the ocean behind. Though his madness often masks it, there is a keen intelligence in his gaze, something sharp and old and watching.
Despite his wild, erratic laughter and eerie presence in Regina’s court, he moves with a fluid grace that betrays his aquatic origins. His smile rarely reaches his eyes. When he dances or mocks, there is always a shadow of pain lingering beneath the performance. A melody unsung, a scream forever trapped behind sealed lips.
Tropes: hmmm yes… spoilers… too big… the spoilers! but still in the realm of fated love.
⚔️ Rhevan - The human King - The Bloodbound King - Oathbreaker.
The Human King is is a legend carved in blood and fire.
His eyes, a rich, earth-dark brown, are deep and steady like tilled soil after rain - patient, knowing, scarred by what they’ve seen. There’s weight in them, the kind that comes not from age, but from choice. He does not flinch from violence, but neither does he revel in it. He carries the cost of his crown behind those eyes.
His body is carved by survival—tall and powerful, yet weathered, with a strength born of necessity, not ornament. His skin is a rich, sun-darkened bronze, marred by old scars and the occasional fresh wound that he wears like history etched in flesh. There’s a brutal honesty to him, as though he would rather be feared than adored, and yet he is loved for that very reason. His hair is a tousled crown deep brown, falling in wild curls that catch the light like dark copper leaves. His jaw is strong, his cheekbones high, and his smile, when it comes as he turns towards you in a dream, is both fierce and unburdened, the kind that feels like summer after a long winter.
Tropes: kinda friends to enemies to something more, loyalty, betrayal, angst, the usual.
The routes are somewhat (loosely) paired thematically in groups of 2, but you will not be locked out of anything until the final mate bond… somewhere towards the middle of the game.
Fate vs. Free Will - Kael & Az
Power vs. Compassion - Sol & Orin
I am contemplating an unhinged reverse harem route where MC just freaking mates all of them to her :))
Mortality vs. Divinity - Wits & Rev
FAQ - DEMO -
Other stories I haven't started yet, but live rent free in my head.
Broken Lovely - an early Victorian with late regency feel, where you play as a gender locked Female MC from either a noble or peasant background. Return to London to your best friend and help her uncover the truth about her soon to be husband, an enigmatic exiled duke that just inherited his new title and his scary retainer that shadows him everywhere.
ROs: the Best friend, your bff's soon to be husband the Duke, and the Duke's bodyguard/retainer, with an option for a full poly with all 3.
Not gonna lie, I already wrote a "plot map" and some 13k words for the first chapter.
The Scarlet Lantern House - this one will not be gender locked :P MC gets trapped in the Spirit World, where they will have to work at The Scarlet Lantern House - a magical Ryokan that exists in both worlds - to pay off a 10 year contract. Do questionable things to shave off time off your contract. Help the Mage Houses and the Prince to purify malevolent spirits running rampant.
The fundamental nothingness at the core of everything (WIP title) - it's Cyberpunk 2077 meets sitcoms. I want When life gives you lemons and Apartment 502, but it's a gritty futuristic sci-fi world, where you will have to do questionable things to earn money, take care of a toddler or two, decide where to buy an apartment, what body modifications and upgrades you want... if you have enough funds to keep your parents and aunt's consciousnesses uploaded into The Cloud™. While also maybe accidentally getting involved with mercenaries and evil corporations.
And Aaaah how could I forget -- The Holy Romanian Empire :)) -> an alternate history where Vlad the Imparer made a deal with the devil and actually became a vampire, slaughtered the ottom forces, united the Romanian principalities and resurrects a dying Roman empire, bringing the new Roman capital to Bucharest :)) this would be a short prequel story with only Vlad as a RO. the main plot would happen some time around ww2. The ROs would include a gladiator, a courtesan, a revolutionary and one of Vlad's children. Spartacus meets The Man in the High Castle with a sprinkle of Castlevania mashup no one ever asked for :))
So, I'mma just leave this here and go to bed :))
Chapter 1
It has some 44k words.
I tested it a few times and there seems to be nothing game breaking, but I can't concentrate anymore. Please let me know if you find any errors, typos, continuity errors, passages repeating :)))
How are the Ros with a shy/docile mc who also gets embarrassed easily? 👀 I like playing shy mc 😅
Also, I hope you have been doing well and taking breaks.
I also like playing shy MCs though I always check the bold options too 🤣 to see what I'm missing on.
I've played a bit with the idea of having the ROs have a general preference, as in if they'd usually prefer a bolder or shyer MC, but I don’t want to make anyone feel like they HAVE to play a certain kind of MC.
I almost did a shitty thing and wrote them without the names and let ya’ll just guess who each paragraph was for
I did both shy and bold so no discrimination😂
These are more early on when getting to know each other and maybe barely in a relationship.
Kael - He’d be very gentle with a shy MC, checking boundaries and always making sure she’s ok with things. If she’s too shy, it would drive him up the walls until he finally breaks and kisses her :)) He’s very understanding, but also incredibly impatient.
A bold MC would challenge his restraints a bit more. He’d try so hard not to be tempted, try to laugh her flirting off, but her words would be replying in his head long after they parted.
Az - internally, he’d be unimpressed and maybe even slightly annoyed. Because it makes him feel bad. If she had a little more fire in her maybe he wouldn’t feel so guilty all the time! On the outside though, he’d be a perfect gentleman, while slowly unraveling inside.
Surprise, surprise, but a bolder MC would actually NOT make him feel any better :)) He’d still feel that need to protect her, that guilt for having brought her under the Queen’s reign. He’d take her boldness as a mechanism to blend into the revel, into the lives of fae.
Sol - At first he'd think her shyness is a survival tactic, like a kitten acting cute to be saved. He'd go through stages of admiring the acting skills, questioning, realising… pitying her for a while. Before coming to appreciate it, guard it, like the rare thing it is in his Court. He’d still tease her from time to time.
A bolder MC would amuse him. If MC thinks she can outcharm him she’s greatly mistaken and he can and will prove it.
Orin - he's at a loss for a while with a shy MC. He's used to the decadence under the Queen's rule, with his parents cold calculation, with people throwing themselves at him for his status. A shy MC would undo something in him, but he'd also be very suspicious in the beginning. Later on, he’d find solace in a more shy/docile MC.
A bold MC would bring out his bolder side as well. He’d match her banter and flirting and while in the beginning he’d think she’d just like the others, he’d find he actually enjoys it when it’s her.
Wits - He’d be having whiplash :)) Air sucked out of his lungs, hands reaching out for her instinctively to brush her reddened cheek, to turn her face back towards him.
He’d have an easier time with a bolder MC in the beginning; he could banter and laugh and flirt and not think of anything for a while. Only to later realize he’s fallen for her, for how it felt so easy, so natural to be around her.
Rev - The teasing would never end for poor shy!MC. He’d love to see her blush and squirm, but just for him! Anyone making her slightly uncomfortable and he’s there to pull her away from the conversation. He’d also be encouraging her to take bolder steps, stand up for herself, demand things!
A bold MC would match his freak :)) A lot of banter would turn steamy fast.
I finally managed to decide on what interlude 2 will be about and that's almost done. As a random note, the interludes will probably make no sense for a while but I promise you they are linked and very lore filled :D The lore has actually gotten me quite excited and out of the depression fest the rest of the chapter is, because...
Chapter 2 is proving to be a lot more difficult than I thought.
I basically hate it :)) Like i don't know, it's just depraved and it makes 'sense' in the context (context that you will not really know until way later, so there's also that), but also I just freaking HATE it, I hate writing/ rewriting stuff for it.
I want to go back writing fluff and romance not torturing MC :)) And I think I'm finally nearing that at the end of this chapter with less trauma and more meeting the all ROs and spending time with them. still some psychological trauma, but then some ✨fluff✨ too.
I've also been going back and forth with feeling like some of the ROs are too similar "cold brooding ancient fae" types, but I can't picture them any differently. and honestly Sun and Moon lord might have swapped personalities while I was writing. It just happened, they decided it, it was out of my control.
Anywaaays, I'm like 15k words in... with the hope that I will manage to have this chapter out this summer. I have it mapped out and everything, just little time to actually sit down and write.
For all of you still here, thank you for being so very patient! 🤗💕
You know... I don't really have an answer for this.
This was initially supposed to be a Tamlin redemption fic, then I thought I could make it interactive with more guys from Acotar... then I decided to just make it my own story... and I just never thought to add any women :)))
It did cross my mind later to make Dovi/ Nirinia/ Yvonne/ Ianna romanceable... but I don't know. It's extra work for me, and I think I would only really consider it if I cut some of the other ROs out. 6 ROs are already too many, for me, personally to handle as my first IF. Or if I make some of them gender selectable, but it would only work for the non High Lords. Some flings with them and/or others might be easier. Or some side stories...
At the end of the day, I am writing this for fun, my own fun :) and I don't want it to turn into a burden with too many routes.
If it helps, though it probably doesn't and shouldn't, the Queen will be engaging in some very questionable, very non-con, very optional to read stuff with MC in the next chapter.
hmm not exactly face claims, but I do have some very loose images I found on pinterest that I used as a somewhat... reference? I stare at them when I feel uninspired :)))
Keep in mind these are not 100% accurate depictions, as they are just random pics I found on Pinterest.
and obvious disclaimer, I am the author of none of them.
Kael: probably the tallest and buffest. His hair is somewhere in the middle, a very pale blonde.
Rhevan: I think this is a character from Fourth Wing :))) but pretty accurate to what I have in mind.
Azrien: yep. he's basically Aaravos. You can go ahead and even imagine his voice. Also part of Aaravos' backstory, oops.
Solren: yeah, hehehe *blushing* he, umm, has glow-y tattoos
Orin: my baby Orin <3 I even wrote those black panthers in the story :)))
Wits: heheheAAAhhh
BONUS
Dovi: her skin is skin since she's half dryad, she only has bark-like patters on it.
Nirinia - these are by Chiara Bautista, I love these designs. Her hair is brown tough.
So, with Rhevan, does he think we are dead? Also, did he go to the forest court and ask about us? 👀 that had to be an interesting convo between him and Kael with him being like yeah she juat pops into my dreams. Lol, but Kael thinks we are dead, but I think he wouldn't, especially if their was no body to be found. 🤔
Also, just imagine Mc seeing Kael again and not believing it. And telling him she was hoping he would come save her, but as time passed, she gave up on being saved. 👀
I live for drama and angst
He never got to go to the Forest Court, nor the Sun Court as initially planned 😇🫢 He gets to the Sun Court eventually and it would actually be really fun to write a scene where they almost cross paths.
Rhevan would also not have mentioned MCs powers 🤔 it's something for MC to disclose. At most he would have asked about any humans living there and try to investigate on his own.
As for what he thinks, yeah, he assumed the fae finally killed MC 😅 In his mind there was always a possibility for this, paired with the fact that MC can't and won'tbe Dreamwalking for all those years. I will need to go back to Chapter 1 and add a scene with him where he asks MC if she knows fae sometimes steal humans for their twisted games.
Good day to you again, author~~ Yet another question if you'd allow, please 🙏🏻
I saw the merefolk ask and can't stop myself from wondering how "mermaidesque" they are? We know that Wits' bipedal, or do we? Does he have some body transformation for the water realm or is it magic that lets him to breathe/swim underwater? Or is something entirely diffrent?
So Wits :)) He was initially not a merman, but then I downloaded that stupid Love and Deepspace game and the Rafayel God of the Sea thing dropped and... well... fuck me... why am I blushing?!?!?!?! Stop giggling like a schoolgirl!!!
So yeah, Wits, and all merfolk in this story, can transform their tails at will into legs. They would just be weaker on land.
I picture them a bit more... grotesque is not the right word... but somewhere in that vein. Scarier than mister pretty chained merman above.
Still very handsome, but with a bit more "animalistic" traits in his full merfolk form, to mark him as clearly "lesser" fae - gills, webbed and clawed hands, sharp fangs. He would keep none of these in this High Fae bipedal form. Even his ears would change from the fin-like ones to regular elongated ears.
