Shroud

Let me set the scene: one moment, I'm at a New York auction, admiring an old mirror and trying not to bid my rent money away; the next, I'm yanked through time, landing in a stone chamber lit by enough candles to make a fire marshal faint. That's when I meet Aleron—brooding, mysterious, and very much not from 2024. He tells me I've crossed into "the Veil," a world where time twists, magic rules, and everything I thought I knew about reality is apparently laughable. Oh, and that innocent-looking mirror I bought? Turns out it's a portal that every power-hungry lunatic in this realm wants to get their hands on. Enter Caden, the charming wildcard with a habit of turning every room into a powder keg, and Rían, the soldier with a past darker than midnight who somehow makes me want to trust him—even when I shouldn't. Navigating this place is like playing chess with the universe, and I'm the pawn everyone's betting on. But here's the thing: I'm not backing down. I'll either figure out how to survive this or take the whole game down with me. Either way, I'm done being the girl who plays it safe.