Darkness Beyond

Evan Smith never imagined war. As a blacksmith’s son, he was a quiet boy from a quiet village, content to live his days without venturing beyond home.



But when the empire’s banners turned inward and enemy boots crossed the border, his village became nothing more than a battleground between two merciless forces.



Families disappeared. Silence replaced food. Soldiers, both foreign and familiar, came not as protectors but as plunderers. There were no heroes or rebels, only commands to obey… or graves to fill.



With nothing left to bury and no place left to flee, Evan embarks on a journey he never wanted — through war camps, ravaged towns, and dark forests, searching for something even he doesn’t fully understand: a reason to keep going.



What he discovers is a truth no child should ever face —



The world’s cruelty doesn’t come from monsters, but from men.



In a land where hope is forbidden and justice forgotten, Darkness Beyond follows one overlooked life through the slow, suffocating death of peace, questioning whether an ordinary boy can still decide what kind of man he will become… when all the light has vanished.