Nyx

by Jonathan Hunter (Pseudonym), Jovan Stipic

Akira and his brother have survived as sellswords, carrying a shared past neither dares to name.

When a radiant sorceress hires them to steal a book from the Wandering Castle of Nyx, the task seems impossible — and irresistible.

Nyx herself greets them at the door: cruel, playful, and endlessly amused by men who believe they deserve her favor. As the brothers linger in her castle, the truth of their bond surfaces — violence, desire, and a past neither can escape.

Nyx! is a dark fantasy heist about obsession, inherited cruelty, and the lie that survival is the same as freedom.

Genres: Fantasy

64 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 20, 2020

Reviews

[Jovan Stipic · Rating 5 out of 5]

another awesome book by me!

[zlata · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Nyx” is another incredible story in The Lost Aeden series, taking place after the previous two. It’s a tale of two sellswords going on a heist into the castle of Nyx - a dangerous and powerful Necromancer. Just like the previous ones it definitely doesn’t lack suspense, horror and mystery.
The wonderful thing about these stories is that you never know what is the next thing this world has to offer and how certain places or destinations are going to shape it or add to the picture you build up in your head.

As for the characters- it’s always interesting to get surprised by the choices the author makes as he introduces them. It truly enhances the feeling of horror and tension when you don’t know who to trust or who you are rooting for since there doesn’t have to be a “good guy” in every tale. The characters we follow in “Nyx” are definitely not your typical heroes going on a quest and fighting for the greater good. Probably because of all the typical tropes, right from the beginning you are ready to cheer them on until the end and hope for their win against the true evil. However, while reading on and learning more, you are not so sure anymore if any of them are reliable..nor that you really can or want to trust them.

Just as the reader starts to feel the build up of uneasiness in the head of the main character, the atmosphere gets even darker as we are introduced to the villan of the story. Nyx is the type of pure, utter evil that makes for a great villain you cant seem to get enough of. The psychological torture the characters endure when coming across her is described in a intricate, detailed way that carefully sets up the terrifying atmosphere of the story. I personally love details in descriptions because they make you forget you are in a real world and trap you completely inside what you are reading, and this story definitely manages to do that. (Thankfully, that’s not actually possible so you don’t have to worry about getting tortured by anyone in any gruesome way and you can just comfortably dread the destiny of these fictional people). The appearance of Nyx is enough to give you the chills, so you can’t avoid at least being fascinated by her. Which makes it really hard to truly hate her as you probably should....

An aspect that i find very interesting is that all the fear the main characters are facing doesn’t even come directly from some sort of physical danger. It shows how fragile human minds are, how easily they break and sometimes, what even the simplest touch can do to them. They are put in a situation where the great power of lust and it’s consequences make them absolutely helpless. The power of Nyx controls them by offering all the pleasure they can imagine for the price of inevitable doom.

By now you’ve probably realized there is nothing ordinary about this story. It pulls you right into the world and keeps you engaged the entire time, craving the answers to any questions that came to your mind. These are, in my opinion, already some pretty great reasons to pick it up (along with the other stories of course) and prepare for whatever the author has in store next!

[Mia (Mia's Book Blog) · Rating 5 out of 5]

release date: June 20th 2020
genre: Fantasy
rating: ★★★★★

I have read all of Jonathan's books, and all I can say that Nyx is by far one of my favorites. Nyx really kept me on the edge of my seat. All throughout the story I was anxious to see what will happen, to see if our heroes would overcome the great struggle in their journey, it really made me want more and more, maybe even a continuation of Nyx's storyline.

❝𝑨𝒍𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒄𝒓𝒐𝒔𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒄𝒆𝒂𝒏 𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒖𝒔, 𝑰 𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒗𝒆, 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒃𝒓𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔, 𝒘𝒉𝒚 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒃𝒍𝒆𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅? 𝑾𝒉𝒚 𝒅𝒐 𝒘𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒄𝒆𝒂𝒏 𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒖𝒔? 𝑰 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒍𝒚 𝒘𝒊𝒔𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒑𝒖𝒇𝒇 𝒂𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒂𝒅𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒐𝒑𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒔.❞

He was able to keep the mystery around Nyx so well, so much that I was thinking that Nyx doesn't exist, but that's until you meet her, besides being mysterious, she's also cunning, clever and never underestimates herself. She knows what she wants, and she knows she will get it one way or another. I really wouldn't mind having her in the main storyline, because I know she will be a perfect villain ready to mess with our main characters.

❝𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒚 𝒐𝒍𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒅, 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒄𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒂𝒏 𝒆𝒏𝒅.❞

Jonathan's writing is great as always. Nyx is connected to the rest of the stories perfectly and everytime I read his work I am completely amazed by his writing. If you have read some of Jonathan's short stories and you enjoyed his writing style. I highly recommend Nyx, in my opinion it's one of his best short works.

[Milena Nová · Rating 4 out of 5]

Don't come to the castle of Nyx. The third story from the world of Aeden follows the story of two sellswords who decided to go on a heist into the castle of a powerful necromancer, Nyx. Her magic is unique, she can control human minds, overwhelm them with lust, so they don't have any control over both their body and mind.

What I loved about this story are the morally grey characters. The sellswords are no heroes or villains, though they don't come to Nyx castle with pure intentions. On the other hand, Nyx is the perfect example of a villain you'll hate from the depths of your heart. Yet there's something fascinating about her that makes her a really good and interesting character. From the beginning until the end, the story has a really dark atmosphere, but it IS a different kind of dark than you can find in The First Gate. There's psychological torture, a lot of frightening descriptions, and things that will definitely make you feel uneasy. The story is worth reading though, especially because of the surprising ending and once again, brilliant writing.


Thank you to the author for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Paula | pastbookish · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you to the author for sending me a review copy in exchange for an honest review!

Available on Amazon Kindle Unlimited!


This book is part of the author’s Tales of Aeden series. It is the story of 2 sellswords who are going on a heist in the castle of Nyx, who was known to be a dangerous Necromancer. She has the power to control human’s minds by overwhelming them with lust which results to them being so helpless. If you are not a strong-willed person, you’d definitely give in and stop living.

I honestly loved the suspense and the story of this one because it really catches your attention from the moment you start reading until the end of it. Obviously, it isn’t boring and definitely a page-turner because of how the characters are battling something they can’t even really see because it’s more of an internal battle.

I applaud Jonathan Hunter for always making his stories very interesting and for always creating unique characters! You have such a great talent and i love that you are sharing it to the world. Keep writing because i am always going to want to read your stories! Happy reading, everyone! Highly recommended ✨

[Bookscamilla · Rating 5 out of 5]

This short story managed to catch my full attention from the first page. The prologue contained so much suspense and horror that I just had to know what happened next. The writing really managed to catch the emotions and suspense so well and it had me on the edge of my seat wanting to read the whole story in one go.

Jonathan Hunter’s characters are always so interesting; They all have their own unique personalities with so much depth. I loved Lana and Nyx! Their characters contains so much power and are true bad asses. Nyx is a villain that you just can’t help yourself liking because she’s such an awesome character. She’s powerful and she knows it: AND she uses it for her own good.

What I especially like about Jonathan’s short stories is that they’re so neatly tied together to the rest of the series, but you’re still able to read them as a stand-alone and get a good feeling of the world.

[Y.D. Mar · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story stood well alone. I have not read any of the other ones, having jumped into this one completely blind besides looking at the badass cover.

The author has a talent of easy writing, allowing the reader to quickly get submersed into the world he created. The dialogue flowed smoothly as well as the story telling. I could easily visualize the setting in my mind and became rapt in where the story was taking me. You all know I love a dark and psychotic tale and this one was just the perfect flavor for a quick read. I do so love Necromancers.

_______________
"Silly boys...all who play against me end up on their knees."
_______________

Why wouldn't a simple heist go haywire?
_______________
"How do you want to die?"
_______________

By the time the story was done, I was jerked back into reality, not yet ready to leave. Highly recommended. Would definitely consider reading the rest of the books in this world. Jonathan Hunter is an author to watch out for.

*I rank this book five stars and a darkness rating of light dark on my darkness scale*

[Iris · Rating 4 out of 5]

NYX
Author: Jonathan Hunter
Part three: In the Lost Aeden series

Nyx is a short story set in the same world as the previous two stories although they can be read in any order.

Two sellswords are tasked with defeating a powerful necromancer named NYX.

To succeed in this, they must first try to enter her mysterious castle, which will certainly not go without a fight. NYX and her dark castle walls will do everything they can to eliminate anyone who crosses their path....

The storyline is very unpredictable and contains a lot of details despite the short length. I was captivated from the first page.

NYX is an original female villain who constantly presents her opponents with many challenges. Her character traits create interesting twists in the storyline.

If you are looking for short fantasy stories with horror elements and an adventurous storyline, I can definitely recommend this series

Trigger warnings:
blood& gore, horror elements

[Jood Alawi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nyx is another great story from The Lost Aeden series, full of suspense and horror. It follows two sellswords who plan a heist into the castle of the most powerful and alluring Necromancer in Liralind-Nyx. The characters were interesting and different. Nyx is the perfect villain and the mystery surrounding her kept me wanting to read more and more! I enjoyed Jonathan’s writing in The First Gate, but I loved it even more in Nyx.
•
ᴀʟᴛʜᴏᴜɢʜ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘᴇᴏᴘʟᴇ ʟɪᴠɪɴɢ
ᴀᴄʀᴏss ᴛʜᴇ ᴏᴄᴇᴀɴ
sᴜʀʀᴏᴜɴᴅɪɴɢ ᴜs, ɪ ʙᴇʟɪᴇ���ᴇ,
ᴀʀᴇ ᴀʟʟ ᴏᴜʀ ʙʀᴏᴛʜᴇʀs ᴀɴᴅ sɪsᴛᴇʀs,
ᴡʜʏ ᴀʀᴇ ᴛʜᴇʀᴇ ᴄᴏɴsᴛᴀɴᴛ ᴛʀᴏᴜʙʟᴇs ɪɴ,
ᴛʜɪs ᴡᴏʀʟᴅ?
ᴡʜʏ ᴅᴏ ᴡɪɴᴅs ᴀɴᴅ ᴡᴀᴠᴇs ʀɪsᴇ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ
ᴏᴄᴇᴀɴ sᴜʀʀᴏᴜɴᴅɪɴɢ ᴜs?
ɪ ᴏɴʟʏ ᴇᴀʀɴᴇsᴛʟʏ ᴡɪsʜ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡɪɴᴅ ᴡɪʟʟ
sᴏᴏɴ ᴘᴜғғ ᴀᴡᴀʏ ᴀʟʟ ᴛʜᴇ ᴄʟᴏᴜᴅs ᴡʜɪᴄʜ ᴀʀᴇ
ʜᴀɴɢɪɴɢ ᴏᴠᴇʀ ᴛʜᴇ ᴛᴏᴘ ᴏғ ᴛʜᴇ ᴍᴏᴜɴᴛᴀɪɴs
•
It’s such an extraordinary tale that’ll keep you anxious and curious for answers the entire time!

[Uru · Rating 5 out of 5]

 Written Review Of "NYX" By Jonathan Hunter

Available On : Amazon
Pages : 63
Genre : Fiction

It's An Amazing Story Created By Jonathan Hunter And Take You To The Another World From The First Page And Kept You Hooked And On Your Toe Through The Story.

The Characters Are Developed Very Well And The Story Is Also Very Crisp And Fast Pace And Kept You Engage With The World Author Has Created.

The Vocabulary Of The Book Is Good And The Language Of The Book Is Also Very Easy So Even If You're A Beginner You Can Read It Easily. Author Has Narrated This Story Very Nicely.

The Cover Of The Book Is Highlight For Me. I Really Loved The Way Cover Looks. It Really Grab Your Attention On First Look.

Overall It's An Nice Read And I Highly Recommend This Book To All The Fictional Lover.
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.
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My Ratings 5/5

[Magdalena Nesovic · Rating 5 out of 5]

The thing I’ve come to realize is, what I like the most about Jonathan’s writing is that characters are always completely unique;
They all have their own personalities, and he never spares any details- which gives the characters so much depth. I love the feeling that female characters are so powerful. Nyx is a villain that you just can't help yourself but fall for even just by reading she seduces the reader as well.

But what I’m most impressed by is Jonathan’s ability to write every one of his pieces as a stand-alone book, but even better than that- the way every one of his books is a step forward in understanding the whole series. What I’ve come to realize is that every little detail is important- and could be either traced back to former books, or it is yet to be clear in the next ones.

All in all - scary, dark, fun, sexy, loved it!

[Branka · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is so far my favorite short story by Jonathan Hunter. The plot follows two brothers that have to escape castle of an extremely powerful necromancer called Nyx. Their adventure is both dangerous and provocative and the fact that you can witness their thought development under Nyx’s spell makes it even more exciting. Hunter’s stories are always entertaining and this one’s no exception. It’s racy and intense until the very end.

[Danna González · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the goriest one, two brothers are sent on a mission to retrieve a book from Nyx’s Castle, the problem is… no one has ever come back alive. Nyx is incredibly beautiful and powerful, she manipulates the will of people making them want to please her. It’s so creepy but again, it gave a lot of important information that will definitely be helpful for The Lost Aeden Book 2.

[Jukilia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This short story is yet again another masterpiece done by none other than the mastermind behind bookgems like "tournament of the lost" and the "first gate".
In "Nyx", he tells the story of two sellsword-siblings on their way to rob a certain necromancer of a prized posession, and their considerably miserable end.

"Aw, cat got your tongue? i hope i didn't strike you dumb. After all, where would the fun in breaking you be if you falter now?"

Nyx, to begin with, is everything one could not fathom, and the PERFECT example for a state-of-the-art-villain. Evil, cruel, ruthless and unkind, demonic, even- not an OUNCE of mercy, kindness or even humanity, except for her... human... form.

Villains usually have a weak point. Out of two things, that is one thing that makes her stand out- she seemingly DOESN'T.
Of course, she could, but there is none mentioned in the story.

Number two is obvious from the prologue alone: she isn't... your average necromancer, you could say. I have less knowledge than i'd need to elaborate, so that i will leave up to the author, but the thing here is that she's also not really a normal person in GENERAL.
Her appearance alone has both characters and readers on their knees with worship, but that really is what makes her so unusual-what her magic all revolves around. Nyx is some sort of what people of generations older than the living people would've called a temptress, the embodiment of lust and carnal desire. Every single bad trait she has, like the load of insanity or a considerable amount of what could be described as arrogance, is immediately forgotten- how could they not? Villains were made to hate, but what makes HER so unbelievably different is that she has the habit of making everyone that even took a glance at her love her.

...including me. Guilty as charged.

"But what? Do you want to live? Do you want me for yourself? Beg. Beg for it and i might give it to you."

The sellswords, however, did have SOME sort of idea what they were getting themselves into. After all, there are indeed rumours about her spread across Liralind- although there isn't really much known about Nyx at the same time, considering that nobody ever returned from her castle once they'd entered, and even before that. I think that that's what got them both killed in the end, akira and his brother, the unnamed protagonist- they had quite literally no knowledge, and therefore most likely didn't take the task of stealing a book from Nyx for a mage called Lana all too serious.

As it turns out, that Lana and Nyx had been working together all along- but when the two doomed siblings even got a HINT at that, it was already too late for them.

It was really obvious Nyx had been playing tricks on them from the start. She let them into her castle, completely relaxed and seemingy only amused, most likely KNOWING they wouldn't have a chance to get out ever again, alive or dead. And even if they would have- nobody that ever got to look at her has a chance of staying sane if they don't see her again. And even if they do- well, you get the point. No sanity for you, my friend.

Nyx has made it abundantly clear she saw it as a game. She introduced it as one: find two items, then reunite, make them whole.

Easy.... right?

Over the storyline, she introduces the main character to another reason i am absolutely looking forward to Jonathan's next work: the king of Liralind at that time. Later on, it turns out that was just another mindgamr of hers, but it makes place for a lot of great writing.

Shortly before it becomes obvious they'll die anyways, the siblings do what i would've NEVER had expected:
they actually TRICK her.
Her, the absolute master of manipulation. I was most shocked by the fact she apparently hadn't known about that. I found her reaction quite amusing, perhaps she was even a little offended- but that didn't matter, considering they couldn't save themselves either way. They committed suicide by stopping to trust one another in favor of wanting Nyx to badly for their own good, really.

In the end, they weren't important. That is another remarkable detail about Jonathan's short stories: they're not there to follow the classic concept of "the villain loses, the hero wins"- they're there to describe the villain and make the readers aware of just what kind of evil the protagonists of the main storyline will be dealing with.
And frankly... Akira and the main character himself weren't such heroes either. They had a lot of questionable morals. Moreover, i hate to expose myself like this, but i'l admit that i was rooting for Nyx just a tiny bit more than for them. Shame on me.

Overall, this book has been an absolute blessing to read, and i'm unimaginably glad that i came across it. Besides a few spelling errors that can be looked across and ignored, it's pure perfection.
Five stars out of five- of course.

I'd definitely recommend it to you if you're a fan of dark fantasy, but thanks to all the gore and the VERY sexual topic (although mostly nothing explicit), if that's not your type of book, don't.

Lastly, i'd like to thank Jonathan for the AMAZING work he did, especially with this, but not only- in all of his books, to be honest. You're a wonderful writer, please keep going. I am HOOKED.

[Fasya (sistershelves) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nyx is the book. The book is Nyx!!

*sigh* where should I start? lol! I have a love-hate relationship with Nyx. She is definitely the most interesting character out of everyone in my humble opinion haha! She's hmm manipulative, and that's what makes her a good villain. Even though you can't call the main characters heroes, I somehow wish for their success. They're also pretty complex. I would have liked to read more about their backstories if the novella could have been longer since we only see glimpses of it.

Overall, solid! Cannot wait to see more Nyx on the main book!