Born of the Covenant
Bloodlines of the Veil
Set in a remote medieval forest where plague, famine, and persecution are facts of daily life, Born of the Covenant follows a small cluster of villages struggling to survive at the edge of the known world.
Before immortality, there is fear. Before power, there are children growing up in a world shaped by loss, faith, and quiet desperation. Families make impossible decisions in kitchens, fields, and whispered conversationsâtrying to shield the young from a reality that offers no safety beyond the forestâs edge.
The forest watches. It offers protection, but never without consequence. What begins as an act of survival slowly becomes something far more enduring: a binding choice that will shape twenty-eight lives beyond death and lay the foundation for a secret Covenant built on restraint, responsibility, and moral resolve.
This is not a story of conquest or domination. It is the beginning of a long vigilâof people who must live forever with the values they learned while they were still human, and the choices they made before they understood the cost.
Central Themes
Formation Under Fear
This story is shaped long before immortality begins. Children grow up amid plague, scarcity, and religious pressure, learning values that will later govern power they cannot yet imagine. The book explores how moral foundations are formed under fearâand how they endure.
Impossible Choices
Survival is never clean. The decisions made in this book are not heroic gestures but desperate calculations. When every option leads to loss, what does it mean to chooseâand can a choice made under extinction ever truly be free?
Community Before Self
The focus is not on individuals seeking power, but on a community trying to endure. Sacrifice is collective, quiet, and often unseen. Protection here is an act of responsibility, not glory.
The Burden of Inheritance
Fear, faith, and obligation are passed down long before immortality ever is. The children inherit not power, but expectationâshaping the adults they will become and the decisions they will one day face.
Nature as Judge
The forest is not a benevolent force. It observes, weighs, and responds. Its protection is conditional, bound to moral judgement rather than desire. Power is offered only where restraint already exists.
The Moment Before Becoming
This is a story about the thresholdâabout who these people are before everything changes. The values established here will define centuries of hidden history to come.
What Readers Are Saying
Featured reviews from Goodreads and Amazon
"Born of the Covenant is the dark fantasy origin story youâve been starving for. A plague-ravaged countryside. A village hiding impossible secrets. An obsessed nobleman hunting for the truth. When a rare celestial alignment triggers dangerous births, ancient powers wake beneath the treesâand ordinary people must become the first guardians this world has ever known. A. L. Cuming crafts slow-burn atmosphere where every choice carries devastating weight. Love collides with duty. Faith wrestles with survival. Birth becomes battlefield. This isnât empty actionâitâs consequence woven through medieval realism and haunting, visceral magic. Perfect for fans of Katherine Arden and Naomi Novik who crave moral complexity over spectacle. This is fantasy that lingers in your bones. Start here. The covenant is calling. đ„"
"Some books tell stories. Born of the Covenant makes you feel one being born. A village that survives the unsurvivable. A nobleman who knows somethingâs wrong. When the stars align, ordinary people face a terrifying truth: survival demands you become something you canât undo. A. L. Cuming writes raw, intimate horrorânot of monsters, but of realizing protection and sacrifice wear the same face. Agnes, Thomas, Helena arenât chosen ones. Theyâre changed ones. And watching them navigate powers they never asked for feels less like reading, more like witnessing something forbidden. Stripped-back prose. No filler. Every sentence earns its place. If you loved The Bear and the Nightingaleâs dread or Uprootedâs unraveling but craved deeper exploration of the cost of becoming legendâthis is it. This book doesnât hold your hand. Thatâs why itâs brilliant."
"Born of the Covenant is a richly atmospheric and compelling opening to the Bloodlines of the Veil saga. A. L. Cuming delivers a beautifully grounded historical fantasy, blending quiet, unsettling magic with deep emotional stakes and morally complex characters. The slow-burn tension, vivid medieval setting, and focus on community, faith, and difficult choices make the story both intimate and powerful. Thoughtful, immersive, and expertly paced, this debut sets a strong foundation for a series that promises lasting depth and resonance."