Volkolak: The Will of Gods

The Thrice-Ninth Kingdom – known abroad as the Far-away State – was once a prosperous medieval realm modeled on an alternate 13th-century Rus. Its fortunes changed when a mighty Pecheneg horde invaded, plunging the land into a devastating war. The kingdom won, but the victory came at a catastrophic price. The land that survived was unrecognizable. Its people, afflicted by some terrible plague in the war's aftermath, lost their humanity entirely – turning into raiders, cannibals, and mindless creatures feeding on corpses beyond the crumbling safety of the old fortress walls. Life became an endless nightmare for the few who remained. Amid the chaos, the necromancer Koschei the Immortal seized his moment, growing steadily in power by devouring the souls of fallen warriors and the dwindling survivors. The only one capable of stopping him is Svyatozar, a war veteran in whom an ancient, dormant magic – the power of the Volkolak, a legendary Slavic shapeshifter – begins to awaken. As Svyatozar's transformation deepens, he must choose how to walk this path: as the disciplined Veteran relying on cold steel, as the Volkolak drawing on primal beast-magic, or as the Cursed One, succumbing to bloodlust and embracing the ravenous werewolf within. His journey leads him through the kingdom's most dangerous regions – Tsargrad and its catacombs, the Deep Forest, the Forbidden Peak, the Serpent's Ridge, the Foul Bogs, the Dead Wastes, and the Sky Cliff – where he encounters figures out of Slavic folklore, including Leshy, Baba Yaga, and the elusive Firebird, any of whom may prove to be deadly enemies or enigmatic allies. Every choice, alliance, and battle shapes which of several possible fates ultimately awaits him.