A borrowed name can help Laelyah pass through a town. It cannot hide the black veins spreading beneath her skin forever. Author Lee J. Pleimelding’s novel Ascaron: Ad Vocatus, Part 1 follows her across a dark fantasy world where finding a healer may require her to face the people she escaped.
The Life Laelyah Has Built
Laelyah has spent seven years living with the aftermath of Cindhaëm. Since escaping captivity, she has learned to travel alone, conceal her identity, and earn money through dangerous escort contracts. Each payment brings her closer to twenty gold pieces, the amount she needs to seek out a healer believed to live in the Edenith forests.
She has little room for delay. The mark she removed was supposed to kill her, and its effects have continued to unfold. Black veins now spread under her skin. Laelyah lacks an answer for what’s happening, while Ascaron offers a frightening answer of its own: people believed to be corrupted can be executed.
Her journey begins with a problem that feels immediate. She must take risks to pay for help, then guard the evidence that she needs it. A contract could put her among strangers for days. An injury could expose the veins. Even a kind question might ask for more honesty than she feels safe giving.
Lee uses those pressures to show how thoroughly captivity has affected Laelyah’s life. She’s capable and determined, with a clear goal ahead of her. She also has to spend energy on every interaction, deciding what others can know and when it’s time to leave. Readers can understand why reaching the healer matters long before the mystery of her condition is solved.
Familiar Faces in an Unsettled World
Laelyah’s return to Althenaum changes the shape of her journey. There she finds Erdogan, a friend she thought she had lost. He barely recognizes her at first. Their meeting brings years of separation into a single moment, giving both characters the chance to discover whether their old bond can grow around the people they’ve become.
Their path crosses with Blaise, a disgraced Valkh connected to a stolen royal artifact. His body has begun showing signs of corruption too. Blaise’s condition widens the mystery surrounding Laelyah’s veins and gives the characters a reason to look beyond one possible cure.
Outside their circle, Cindhaëm’s network is resurfacing. Kidnappings and violence spread while political silence leaves disturbing questions unanswered. Laelyah begins to suspect that powerful people know more about her disappearance than they’ve revealed. The road ahead may lead her toward the very influence she worked so hard to escape.
These threads bring adventure and intrigue to the novel, along with dangerous magic and moments of body horror. They also put the characters’ relationships under pressure. Laelyah has spent months relying on herself. Erdogan offers a connection to her past, while Blaise faces a threat that may give him a particular understanding of her fear. Whether they can depend on one another becomes as engaging as the search for answers.
At its heart, the story asks what freedom looks like after someone has taken it away. Laelyah can choose where to go and which contract to accept. Building a future asks her to make harder choices about trust, loyalty, and the help she’s willing to receive.
About the Author
Lee is a French author and longtime storyteller who began writing personal stories and fanfiction at a young age. An extremely discouraging critique in high school interrupted that creative path, and Lee stepped away from serious writing for several years.
The desire to write eventually returned. Ascaron became the project that inspired Lee to develop an original world in depth, complete with countries, cultures, political systems, mythology, and characters. Years of writing and rewriting helped shape the story now reaching readers. Lee is independently publishing Ascaron: Ad Vocatus, Part 1 through Amazon KDP. The adult dark fantasy novel is available in a Kindle edition and begins a larger story set in Ascaron.
The Choice Ahead
Laelyah’s search begins with twenty gold pieces and the hope of reaching a healer. Along the way, old friendships, new companions, and unanswered questions draw her toward a much larger reckoning. Ascaron: Ad Vocatus, Part 1 gives readers a survivor whose courage shows in the difficult choices she continues to make for herself.
