The Dutar Player

No one remembers why the Cherli Desert was named after a bloodline that descended into madness and died out. But the desert remembers. And now, it has awakened.

In the isolated village of Dashil, survival is a daily battle. Unnaturally massive packs of wolves have begun pouring out of the Shir Yatan forest, turning the only path to the outside world into a slaughterhouse. Mergen, a cynical veteran hunter, knows this isn't normal. The wild is growing bold, driven by an unseen darkness.

​But the true anomaly lies safely hidden inside the village, in the arms of a terrified mother.

​Bilan has just been born into a dying world, bringing with him a terrifying and mythical secret: the budding roots of feathered wings upon his back. As whispers of the winged newborn spread through the paranoid villagers—reaching the ears of giant, curious youths and hardened men alike—Bilan’s family must hide the truth before fear tears their home apart.

What they don't know is that the wings are not a curse, nor a simple birthmark. They are a relic of a forgotten era. In a harsh world where the wilderness is closing in, the boy with wings will either become the desert's ultimate salvation or the herald of its final madness.