Lord of Cinders
A mage on death's door, drowning in a sea of regret - that was Darian, a man who chased power only to find it a cruel mistress. He traded his health for fleeting strength, a bargain that led him to a lonely end in a dingy apartment. But as the darkness claimed him, something shifted. He awakens to a scent that shouldn't exist - his mother's baking - and a sight even more impossible: her, alive and young. Is this a twisted afterlife, mocking him with what he lost? Or could this be a second chance, a rewind on a life gone wrong? But why him? And if it is real... what will he change, and at what cost?