And Death Dreamt Us All

Rowan lives at the edge of reality. After witnessing a terrible childhood tragedy, her life has evolved into a shifting state of death and decay. Barely a night without restlessness, barely a breath without torment, she exists at the edge, her mind merely a footfall away from the abyss. Within that abyss stirs a creature so vicious, so evil, and it lies in wait, staring back at her, waiting for her to fall.

Bending and Blending Genres, Rowan’s story is a story of descent: the full rejection of love and the unadulterated embracement of evil. It is the story of a ravaged mind, where reality is the nightmare, where the demons are very real, and where the pathway is so obscured by the darkness that all light has been forever extinguished.

The fight between good and evil has raged on in literature since the Bible. However, Rowan’s fight is completely internal, and even though there appear to be antagonists on the surface, they are merely manifestations of her own inner demons. Rowan’s battle is the battle between conscious illusion and subconscious delusion. There is no victory in a battle such as this. She has been tainted by tragedy and subsequently ruined by the violent world she lives in. Yes, she continually struggles for understanding, but her mind, so damaged, cannot make a hardline distinction between logic and fantasy. Or maybe she can.

To face the darkness in this manner is exhausting; to see the world in all its wondrous and frightening intensity is, without a doubt, terrifying, and whether or not Rowan is gifted with paranormal vision or merely going mad is irrelevant . . . for somewhere beyond the veil lies the depth of understanding she seeks.