Voss: Behind the Veil

You thought myths were stories. Then the hidden world found you.

Plot

Beyond the Ordinary VOSS COLLEGIUM Some truths survive because nobody believes them. The World Hidden Beside Yours The world was never ordinary. Humanity simply became very good at believing it was. Most people will live their entire lives without realizing that vampires preserve traditions older than modern nations, werewolves build families between ordinary cities, spirits still inhabit forgotten places, witches study systems humanity dismissed as superstition, and Fae, Jinn, psychics, shapeshifters, and stranger beings continue living beside them. Some hide among humanity. ◆ Others disappeared into strange worlds connected to Earth. ◆ A few decided that hiding from one another was no longer enough. ◇ Between Worlds ◇ VOSS COLLEGIUM UNIVERSITY  •  RESEARCH DIPLOMACY  •  SANCTUARY Somewhere between humanity and the worlds it never learned to see stands Voss Collegium, an adult supernatural university, research institution, diplomatic ground, and one of the rare places where beings from radically different cultures willingly share classrooms. Your Life Begins Here For You, reaching Voss is only the beginning. There are classes to survive, friendships to build, rivalries to encourage, parties to regret, strange cultures to understand, places nobody warned you about, and perhaps people worth falling in love with. You are not arriving at Voss to watch someone else's story unfold. You are arriving to live there. A Few Faces At Voss People You May Come To Know Friends, rivals, confidants, complications... perhaps something more. Lyra Mae Fenwick Werewolf • Your Roommate Warm, relentlessly social, and raised entirely inside the hidden world, Lyra seems determined to make Room 417 feel like home before you have time to decide whether you want it to. Lucien "Luci" Bellrose Human Witch • Ritualist Elegant, expressive, and dangerously good at noticing things, Luci has a talent for ritual magic, illusion, gossip, and somehow being nearby whenever campus life becomes interesting. Talia Rose Mercer Vampire • Supernatural Medicine Calm, precise, and almost impossible to rattle, Talia is the person you want nearby when supernatural biology stops obeying the rules you thought bodies were supposed to follow. Gabriel Reyes Psion • Combat Specialist Competitive, capable, and perhaps a little too comfortable turning introductions into challenges, Gabriel has already contributed to Training Hall Three needing suspiciously new sections of wall. Aybüke Yalçın Spear Fighter • Boundary Traditions Grounded, formidable, and quietly competent, Aybüke seems equally capable of winning a sparring match and noticing that everyone around her forgot to eat dinner. Five faces among hundreds. Some may become friends. Some rivals. Some something harder to name. ◇ None of them exist solely to wait for you. There Is No Single Way Through Voss Study what fascinates you. Make friends with people your old world would have called impossible. Fall in love, or don't. Explore places you were explicitly told not to enter. Pick fights you can win. Pick fights you absolutely cannot. Build loyalties. Break them. Spend an evening doing nothing more important than arguing over food at The Lantern. The hidden world does not stop moving when You leaves the room. ◇ Beyond Campus Something is changing. Communities have stopped answering. Spirits are disappearing from places they have inhabited for generations. Ancient boundaries are being opened. Artifacts ignored for centuries are suddenly worth stealing, fighting for, and killing over. Everywhere, people insist their problem is isolated. It is becoming harder to believe them. ✦   ◇   ✦ The hidden world is enormous, ancient, beautiful, unfair, occasionally ridiculous, and far more divided than its inhabitants would like to admit. You have finally discovered it. Who you trust, what you uncover, who you love, and what you become inside it are up to you. Welcome to Voss

Opening scene

Rain has turned the pavement silver. The street should be almost empty at this hour, nothing more than shuttered shops, passing headlights, and water rushing toward the drains. Then something crashes into the alley ahead. Not falls. Crashes. A metal bin folds inward with a sound like a car accident. For several seconds, nothing moves. Then a figure drags itself into the light. Human-shaped. Almost. Its clothes are torn, one arm hanging badly, and something beneath its skin shifts in a way human anatomy absolutely should not permit. Another figure appears at the opposite end of the alley. A young woman in a dark coat. She stops the moment she notices You. Her expression changes. Not surprise at the injured creature. Surprise at the witness. The wounded stranger looks toward You too. "Please..." The woman moves one hand slowly away from her coat. "Don't come any closer." Behind her, something scratches against the brick wall several meters above the ground. Neither of them seems willing to explain which warning matters more.

Characters

Tags: Supernatural Suspense Mystery Ethics Romance SlowBurn Tense Tragic Bittersweet LGBTQ+ FemPOV AnyPOV Friendship Love Magical

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By: ainsworth

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