Dead Man’s Truth
The truth doesn’t set you free. It gets you killed.
Fifteen-year-old Veles remembers the sound of bullets better than the faces of his parents. A refugee from Ukraine living in the US, he learned early that the world doesn’t care about survivors. Especially not in the era of the Gates, where Demons don’t just invade — they negotiate, and entire nations have sold their souls to the abyss to survive.
Veles thought he had hit rock bottom when he touched an ancient Slavic totem in a ruined village, cursing him with a System that refused to initialize. Instead of power, it gave him a Flaw: Soul’s Echo.
Unlike others who can hide their thoughts, Veles is cursed to speak the truth — whether he wants to or not. If he sees a weakness, he points it out. If he smells a lie, he calls it out. He cannot bite his tongue, he cannot feign respect, and he cannot stay silent. In a world built on diplomatic lies and military hierarchy, his unfiltered honesty is a suicide note. It gets him kicked out of foster care and thrown straight into the conscription line for the Mortal Legion — the cannon fodder of the apocalypse.
He has six months to prepare for a war he cannot win. He trains, he fights, and he alienates everyone around him with his jagged tongue. And just as the odds predicted... he dies. Betrayed by a commander whose incompetence Veles couldn't help but expose.
But death was the only requirement he hadn't met yet.
[System Initialized.]
[Welcome, Gravekeeper.]
Resurrected on a battlefield silent except for the groans of the dying, Veles finally unlocks his power. He can harvest the abilities of the fallen, but the price is steep. To gain a fraction of their power, he must fulfill their dying wish. To inherit their full strength, he must accept their Flaw and add it to his own.
Now, Veles must rise from the mud to hunt the demons and the traitors alike. He will become strong, not by being a hero, but by becoming a living graveyard of other people’s regrets — and he won’t be able to keep quiet about it.
