The gods came back. They brought rules. Cas has never been particularly good with rules.

When the Accord descends, Earth doesn’t end.

It gets integrated.

Humanity is dragged into a System of gods, classes, levels and divine contracts, where survival comes with one simple condition: choose who owns you.

Cassian Kerrick has a problem with that.

Former soldier, archaeological-site labourer and lifelong expert in making questionable decisions at precisely the wrong moment, Cas refuses the choice he was supposed to make. The System notices.

So does something else.

His reward is a path that shouldn’t exist, abilities that don’t behave properly, and Wayne, a foul-mouthed, soul-bound companion with his own opinions about gods, survival and Cas’s increasingly terrible ideas.

But escaping the Tutorial is only the beginning.

Earth is changing. Divine factions are already claiming territory. Monsters are no longer mythology. And the people returning from the System are discovering that power always comes with a price.

The gods expect obedience.

The System expects compliance.

Cas intends to disappoint both.

Chains of Heaven: The Accord Descends is the first book in a dark progression-fantasy series about forbidden choices, reluctant heroes, found family, divine manipulation and one very important question:

If power requires surrendering your freedom, what happens when someone refuses to kneel?