In a far-future cosmos where collective belief forges reality, the Consensus Mandate enforces the Canon—the one true map of the mind-universe. For centuries, this has brought stagnant peace. Rogue Mapmaker Corian Severus charts the forbidden, chaotic spaces between worlds, driven by the heretical belief that creation is born from disorder. His quiet rebellion shatters when 'Perfection', a flagship world of the Canon, fractures into a non-Euclidean nightmare known as The Glass Abyss. The Mandate needs a villain for this existential crisis, and they choose Corian. Branded a terrorist, a system-wide manhunt turns public belief into a weapon against him. His reputation is destroyed overnight. Pursued by the Mandate’s finest Censor and a shadowy creature that stalks him from the Abyss, Corian's quest for redemption becomes a desperate flight. The cost of his heresy is paid in the relationships and lives of those who dare to help him. His journey into the Abyss reveals a truth far more terrifying than any accusation: the cataclysm was a targeted attack, a new kind of psychological warfare waged by an unknown enemy using a perversion of his life's work. Corian now holds the proof of his innocence, but it’s a proof the Mandate cannot accept. Cornered and with nowhere left to run, he faces an impossible choice. He can flee into the deepest Unmapped Territories, saving himself but abandoning civilization to a foe it doesn't know exists. Or he can surrender to his hunter and propose a suicide mission to the heart of reality—a pact that will cost him his freedom and his very life. His entire life has been a search for structure in madness, guided by his personal, Cracked Compass. To save everything, he must convince his greatest enemy that Order and Chaos must unite. Can a heretic undertake this mythic responsibility and forge a new reality, or will integrating the abyss just create a more perfect monster?
31 chapters
In a far-future cosmos where collective belief forges reality, the Consensus Mandate enforces the Canon—the one true map of the mind-universe. For centuries, this has brought stagnant peace. Rogue Mapmaker Corian Severus charts the forbidden, chaotic spaces between worlds, driven by the heretical belief that creation is born from disorder. His quiet rebellion shatters when 'Perfection', a flagship world of the Canon, fractures into a non-Euclidean nightmare known as The Glass Abyss. The Mandate needs a villain for this existential crisis, and they choose Corian. Branded a terrorist, a system-wide manhunt turns public belief into a weapon against him. His reputation is destroyed overnight. Pursued by the Mandate’s finest Censor and a shadowy creature that stalks him from the Abyss, Corian's quest for redemption becomes a desperate flight. The cost of his heresy is paid in the relationships and lives of those who dare to help him. His journey into the Abyss reveals a truth far more terrifying than any accusation: the cataclysm was a targeted attack, a new kind of psychological warfare waged by an unknown enemy using a perversion of his life's work. Corian now holds the proof of his innocence, but it’s a proof the Mandate cannot accept. Cornered and with nowhere left to run, he faces an impossible choice. He can flee into the deepest Unmapped Territories, saving himself but abandoning civilization to a foe it doesn't know exists. Or he can surrender to his hunter and propose a suicide mission to the heart of reality—a pact that will cost him his freedom and his very life. His entire life has been a search for structure in madness, guided by his personal, Cracked Compass. To save everything, he must convince his greatest enemy that Order and Chaos must unite. Can a heretic undertake this mythic responsibility and forge a new reality, or will integrating the abyss just create a more perfect monster?
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