The basin in this book does not exist. Its river is on no map, its war is in no history, and the god called Ùdò was never worshipped by anyone but the people I invented to worship it. The Vanguard, the Swamp, the faith built around the Deep. All of it is fiction, conjured for this story and belonging to no real nation, people, or belief.

I built this world from imagination, not from any single place or conflict, and I ask that it be read that way. The cruelties in these pages are invented. The tenderness is the point.

A word of care before you begin: this is a story about a war that feeds on children, and it does not look away. It holds violence, grief, the loss of young lives, and the long shadows such things leave behind. Come to it gently, and at your own pace.

Thank you for stepping into the boat.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, organizations, religions, and events are either products of the author's imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, to real faiths or institutions, or to actual events is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2026 Jesse Chinedu. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, distributed, copied, reposted, translated, adapted, or transmitted in any form or by any means: electronic, mechanical, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author, except for brief quotations in a review. This work is the intellectual property of Jesse Chinedu|indig0jesse and may not be reposted or republished on any platform without consent.