Hell was never meant to end. Its flames were eternal, its torments unending. But Valen, a pure vampire forged in the depths of damnation, dared to defy this truth. Once a soldier in hell’s ruthless army under a merciless leader, Valen fell in love with Anya, a human soul he was meant to torment. In his desperation to save her, he turned to the Armor of Death, a relic forged by a fallen demi-god, capable of imprisoning countless souls in eternal suffering to grant freedom to one. Betraying his followers and gambling with fate, Valen used the armor to escape hell with Anya, damning the rest of the souls to unending torment within its cursed depths. Centuries later, Valen rules an empire built on secrets. The Armor of Death is displayed as a revered artifact of the empire’s strength, though its true purpose remains hidden. But the armor is breaking. The trapped souls are leaking into the mortal world, possessing humans and animals, twisting them into grotesque monsters. To maintain peace, Valen formed the Nightshade Sentinels, an elite force led by his adopted son, Alaric. What Alaric doesn’t know is that the creatures he hunts are born of the same cursed armor that enabled Valen’s escape, and the curse runs deeper than he could imagine. Long ago, Valen sought the help of a witch to uncover the armor’s secrets. The witch revealed its grim purpose but cursed Valen in retaliation, attaching part of her soul to him. Her curse lay dormant until Vanya, Valen’s firstborn daughter with Anya, was born. As Vanya grew, her presence weakened the armor, and Valen began to see connections between her, the curse, and the monsters emerging from the cracks. Desperate to protect his empire and uncover the truth, Valen devised a plan to kidnap his own daughter and take the armor far away—keeping it all a secret from his wife, his son, and his people. But the story isn’t just Valen’s. It’s also Alaric’s. Alaric, once an orphan on the streets, became Valen’s adopted son in a moment of unexpected compassion. Alaric had clung to Valen as a boy, seeking love after the execution of his parents, who were spies for the empire’s enemies. Valen saw in Alaric something rare—a child who sought not revenge, but love, something his parents had failed to provide. Against all odds, Valen embraced him as his own, gifting him the power of a half-blood vampire to ensure he could protect himself and his family. But this act of love came with a hidden burden. As Alaric matures, he struggles with the growing rift between himself and Valen. His loyalty as the leader of the Nightshade Sentinels is unwavering, but he begins to suspect his father is hiding something—secrets about the armor, the monsters they face, and even his sister, Vanya. His confusion deepens as he realizes his transformation into a half-blood vampire was not only a gift, but also a safeguard, meant to prepare him for threats Valen refused to speak of. The weight of these secrets threatens to break Alaric as he grapples with his identity, his loyalty, and his purpose. As the past comes clawing back and the cracks in Valen’s empire grow wider, Alaric is thrust into a role he never wanted but cannot avoid. With the Armor of Death weakening and the truth about his father’s choices beginning to unravel, Alaric must decide whether to stand by Valen or carve out his own path. Can he rise above the darkness of his father’s legacy, or will he be consumed by the very forces he was raised to fight?