The Chaos Around Us (The Apples of Sha'ar)

In a world ravaged by chaos and stripped of its oceans, survival is brutal, and every drop of water has the power to change reality.To weave chaos is to embrace corruption, for in a world long since stripped to its bones, the only hands still capable of shaping magic belong to those in power.Chaos is to be feared, and those who weave it are never to be trusted.Ereshkigal—Resh—was already isolated in her elven community for having a human father. But when the voice of a long-dead witch, Menhir, began to speak to her—bringing with it the gift of chaos—Resh is abandoned at the fear of bringing ruin upon her people. Condemned for both her blood and her ability to weave chaos, Resh learns early that to be different is to be alone.Now, Resh wanders the desert wastes on a spiritual pilgrimage to the place Menhir calls her to in her dreams, surviving through both empathy and secrecy—never to reveal the full truth of her abilities: she can create water.But when she is drawn into the walls of Sodom—the infamous city of power and gold—everything changes. The Witch King who rules the city claims her as his prize, offering her a false blanket of comfort, rare luxuries, and the illusion of safety in exchange for obedience.Resh loathes the cage he builds around her, and yet, within Sodom’s walls she discovers what she has always longed for: community. Among the enslaved and the silenced, she forges bonds of love and loyalty that tether her to the very city she longs to escape. Freedom would mean abandoning those who need her most—but staying would mean surrendering herself to a life of captivity.As tensions rise and whispers of rebellion spread, Resh must confront her own nature. Are her abilities truly a tether to destruction—or the key to healing a broken world? And is belonging worth more to her than freedom itself?Rich with immersive worldbuilding, a unique magic system, tangled romance, queer voices, and echoes of myth and refracted through a dark fantasy dystopian world, The Chaos Around Us begins a sweeping saga of survival, identity, and the dangerous price of hope. Read more