The Marginlands

Corin Rook is a Keeper—an accredited orator trained to preserve histories, settle disputed accounts, and remember exactly what happened when everyone else starts remembering differently.

He is not a warrior, a sorcerer, or the hero of prophecy.

At least, he is fairly certain he is not.

While travelling with his apprentice, Mara, Corin witnesses something impossible: a creature appears somewhere it could not possibly be. With death only a heartbeat away, Corin does the only thing his rigid, logical mind can manage.

He tells reality that it is wrong.

Reality listens.

When Corin returns home, his oldest friend Gregor has vanished. In his place is Orpheus Vale—a well-dressed, highly offended squirrel who claims his family has owned the local provisions shop for four generations.

Everyone remembers Orpheus.

The records support Orpheus.

Even Corin’s own signature proves they have been friends for years.

Only Corin remembers Gregor.

Then it happens again.

A collapsing bridge acquires centuries of history. A town exists where no map admits one should. Travellers forget roads they have just walked, clocks disagree with the hours they display, and Corin begins discovering evidence that impossible contradictions have been appearing for far longer than anyone wants to admit.

The Hall of Keeping has an explanation.

Corin is losing his mind.

Corin has another.

Reality is.

And somewhere inside the oldest versions of a prophecy he has spent his career dismissing is a warning:

When roads devour the traveller,
when daylight loses flame,
the Keeper shall deny the end,
and all the world obey his claim.