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In this restrained gothic novella, Aurelius Hartmann traces the slow unravelling of reason under the weight of history, obsession, and a cursed object that refuses to remain inert. The Halberd follows an archaeologist whose encounter with a medieval weapon awakens not only buried violence, but a language and will older than moral explanation.
Rather than rushing toward horror, the narrative lingers in moments where certainty weakens. Scholarship gives way to fixation. Translation becomes ritual. The familiar tools of reason, archives, measurements, careful notes, prove insufficient against something that does not present itself as evil, but as necessary.
Across the novella, the past intrudes quietly into the present. Records contradict one another. Testimonies fracture. Language bends, slipping from meaning into function. What unfolds is not the story of a monstrous man, but of a man placed too close to something that demands continuation.
The Halberd offers no comfort and no absolution. It is a study of containment and transmission, of how objects carry intent across centuries, and how history selects its next custodian. The horror lies not in what is summoned, but in what proves willing.
For readers of gothic fiction, psychological horror, and historical unease, this novella presents a deliberate descent into possession without spectacle and without escape.
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Author: Aurelius Hartmann
Language: English
Publication date: 2026
ISBN: 978-87-85353-11-5
Length: 72 pages (including front matter)
Format: Digital download (PDF)
Publisher: Sapientia Publishing
In this restrained gothic novella, Aurelius Hartmann traces the slow unravelling of reason under the weight of history, obsession, and a cursed object that refuses to remain inert. The Halberd follows an archaeologist whose encounter with a medieval weapon awakens not only buried violence, but a language and will older than moral explanation.
Rather than rushing toward horror, the narrative lingers in moments where certainty weakens. Scholarship gives way to fixation. Translation becomes ritual. The familiar tools of reason, archives, measurements, careful notes, prove insufficient against something that does not present itself as evil, but as necessary.
Across the novella, the past intrudes quietly into the present. Records contradict one another. Testimonies fracture. Language bends, slipping from meaning into function. What unfolds is not the story of a monstrous man, but of a man placed too close to something that demands continuation.
The Halberd offers no comfort and no absolution. It is a study of containment and transmission, of how objects carry intent across centuries, and how history selects its next custodian. The horror lies not in what is summoned, but in what proves willing.
For readers of gothic fiction, psychological horror, and historical unease, this novella presents a deliberate descent into possession without spectacle and without escape.
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Author: Aurelius Hartmann
Language: English
Publication date: 2026
ISBN: 978-87-85353-11-5
Length: 72 pages (including front matter)
Format: Digital download (PDF)
Publisher: Sapientia Publishing