In the Fifth Age, the united armies of the world burned the ancient vampires and their castles to ruin.

But within the rubble of their spires, children of vampire and human blood were found. Abominations. At first, they were slaughtered. Then the Empire found a darker use for them, casting them into the cursed frontier against horrors no mortal could endure with one promise: purge the land, and what remains will be yours.

They were never meant to survive. Never meant to claim that prize.

They did more than survive. Across centuries, they became the Devos, a militarized brotherhood forged for the Empire’s wars. Thrown against darkness that shattered mortal armies, they endured. They bled. They were forgotten.

But the promise was not.

Among them stands Norroth, scarred by holy fire and bound by imperial oath, second blade of the Devos clan. He leads his warriors toward the last stronghold of the Night’s War, haunted by all the Empire has taken from him.

The end is within reach. But something in the dark knows their name, and when it calls, Norroth must choose between the oath that made him and the truth that could unmake everything his clan has bled to become.

He awakens in a world not his own—and in another man’s body—with only fragments of memory and no way back. He is now Bogdan Vasilevsky, the illegitimate son of a mage-healer in an alternate Russian Empire at the dawn of the twentieth century.

In this world, power belongs to those who control “edra”—a mysterious force capable of reshaping flesh, mind, and even destiny itself. Its source is the Eye of Winter, a vast anomalous zone that appeared in Siberia three centuries ago and continues to spread. The Eye devours the land in endless frost and breeds monstrous creatures, yet is also a wellspring of immense power and priceless magical resources.

From his first days in this new life, danger closes in. His father is murdered. Suspicion falls on him. He has only one choice: to flee east.

In Tomsk, a frontier city on the edge of the anomaly, he attempts to build a new life. He forges his first friendships and begins to master the Gift awakening within him.

But peace evades him. His father’s enemies are closing in. And the power growing inside him may prove as dangerous to him as to anyone else.

The Eye of Winter is a fast-paced urban fantasy set in an alternate early twentieth century—a story of survival, ambition, and self-discovery in a world ruled by the Nephilim, humans with supernatural abilities.

Everything in this world gets a point rating, from smiles to fear. Some folks hunt monsters, others hunt people, but I was used to a quiet life – just ads, work, and family. The Cycle was almost over, and I was getting ready to go to the other world…

That all changed when a private channel showed me my future. Before I knew it, my wife was suspiciously perfect, my neighbor was way too persistent, and the one man who could shed light on everything had disappeared.

I hear a voice in my head telling me what I’m going to do next. I see signs where there shouldn’t be any. The city is rehearsing its own death – explosions, meteorites, quarantines… the Superintendent calls it entertainment. He says people need a good show. But it’s not just a game to me. I want to survive and save the people I love. If my script has already been written, I’m about to tear it up!

I'm a pretty unique guy. I have golden blood flowing through my veins. There are only about thirty people like me in the entire world. Yes, golden blood is a real thing. Google it if you don't believe me.

For me, however, my blood is both a curse and the only thing that offers me any chance of making it out of a life of absolute drudgery. I have an entire family to support single-handedly, so before, I had no choice but to slave away. There certainly didn't seem to be any better prospects for me in this world.

True, the gentlemen from the Special Services Department didn’t exactly offer me a range of choices, either. They had one offer and one offer only. If I'd known what it would turn into, I might have turned that offer down. But what's the point of talking and whining about it? There's nothing I can do to change things at this point.

All I have left are the hopes I've placed in my special inheritance, and my faithful helper Alisa.

After all, I'm a pretty unique guy.

I have golden blood flowing through my veins.

The air smells of pine. It’s July, and I am surrounded by taiga. I’m a gamekeeper and I know it like the back of my own hand. I’m out for boar today.

Then suddenly a shot is heard, and everything goes dark.

When I awake, I’m… seventeen, and my name is now Max. I’m a sickly kid that everyone around here avoids like the plague.

My hands bear the crimson tattoos of a Huntsman. I have to capture my first pet, survive, and help my family. I have to get my bearings in this insane world - a world where people hide behind flimsy walls and fight for survival, and the woods are filled with magical creatures.

I will learn how to be a Huntsman. I will use all my knowledge. With my experience, and the Animal Code, that shouldn’t be difficult. After all, the woods are the woods - you just have to know how to read them. And I do that better than I do anything else.

From book 1:

If you’re going to stick your hand into somebody else’s refrigerator, you better be ready to deal with the consequences. Especially when, instead of perishable foodstuffs, the icebox in question contains people who are “provisionally alive.”

They haven’t died yet — death has not yet made up its mind about them. And even though most of them will never open their eyes again, a lucky few do stand the ghost of a chance of returning to this world. What a pity then that among these fortunate souls, there is one man who thought his earthly affairs concluded for all eternity.

His case file bristles with cautionary attributes such as “serial killer,” “extremist” and “mentally unstable.” And yet could this be the best candidate for an assignment that has already claimed the lives of several veteran operators? Who knows…

Planet Earth burns in nuclear flame.
But The System was kind and wise enough to transfer all its little humans into a new world.
Everyone has been granted a new name, a starting bonus, and a rousing kick up the backside.
Some got a sword, some a crown, and me...
A potato?!
How am I supposed to take over the world with this thing?
System, are you sure you're so kind and wise after all?

When I died and became a portal jumper, the system glitched.

Did that bother me? Not a bit. After all, I’d dreamed of traveling to a different world all my life! The system malfunction turned out to only benefit me. I didn't just lose nothing; I also gained something really cool.

And since the opportunity had fallen into my lap, I was going to take full advantage of it and become the all-time coolest. No — I was going to become a legend.

Orcs and elves come streaming out of portals. People lose their grip and are transformed into afflicted. If this is a zombie apocalypse, it’s a pretty weird one.

The rules are simple: kill an orc or anything else – gain life energy, reducing your chances of becoming a walking corpse. But fail – and become a zombie, AKA an afflicted.

Oh well… I wanted the system to come – now I got it. I ended up with a sweet specialty, too! Let the games begin!

I’ve traveled back twenty-two years to rewrite the future and stop the nightmare threatening Earth. An apocalypse looms, promising total annihilation. No one will be spared. Now the weight of the world rests on my shoulders; I'm the one tasked with changing everything.

I have come back to the past, and in five days, on the twenty-sixth of April, the day of reckoning will arrive. The event that will happen will be known as the Eclipse in the future. It will divide the history of the Solar System into a before and after.

It’s time to rewrite history. To transform the present. To forge a new future.