Prologue, 1944: 

Captain Wolfgang von Witzland watches his men execute an SS officer. Three years ago, he believed in honor and justice. Now he only wonders if there's a difference between the two.

ARC I: The Middle Kingdom

The neutral Hanseatic Empire sends two young officers to China on a technical military mission. It fails spectacularly. But for Captain Kylian von Reichsgraf, the mission yields something more dangerous than diplomatic embarrassment: Princess Changning of the crumbling Jin Dynasty. Their attraction violates every protocol. When Japan invades and Changning flees to Hansa as part of a court in exile, the forbidden becomes impossible—a Chinese princess in a Hanseatic empire, a military officer who cannot protect her, and a love that makes them both vulnerable.

ARC II: The Empire of Hansa

War transforms ideals into weapons.
Kylian becomes an interrogator for Imperial Intelligence, trading his conscience for operational necessity. Each confession extracted corrodes another piece of who he was.

Wolfgang, stationed on the Western Front against Germany, falls for a French resistance fighter. When she's murdered by on the order of an SS officer, he allows his men to commit an atrocity in revenge—learning that righteous rage and monstrous action wear the same face.

Changning builds a new life in Hansa, but her relationship with Kylian brands her a traitor. Chinese nationalist assassins hunt her while Hanseatic society treats her as a curiosity at best, a threat at worst.

When Wolfgang's unsanctioned revenge sabotages Kylian's crucial intelligence operation, the two collide in a reckoning that forces them to confront the people they've become and the prices they've paid.

ARC III: Aftermath

As the war ends,they stand not as the people they were, but as the architects of what comes next. Kylian, leaving behind his career, is free to build a life with Changning on his own terms, no longer bound by blind duty. Wolfgang returns home, his idealism tempered into the shrewd, resilient leadership his Duchy will need in a fractured world. And Changning, though exiled, has forged a new identity and a powerful voice, ready to help shape the future from the ashes of the old.

Schedule: 2 Chapters/week.

On The Edge of The Abyss is, at its heart, a story about people. It is a carefully woven tapestry of human fragility, set against the backdrop of empires and war.


Do not expect protagonists who conquer through sheer force. Expect, instead, characters who are shaped, broken, and remade by the choices they are forced to make. The true battles here are not for thrones, but for integrity, for love, and for the remnants of a soul in a world that rewards their sacrifice.


This is an alternate history of World War II, reimagining the global conflict with new powers and different political landscapes. While set against the backdrop of war—including depictions of violence, bloodshed, and the crimes that accompany armed conflict—this novel serves as war literature, examining the ambitions of men trying to shape history and the human cost of geopolitical power.


This story explores difficult themes: the corruption of idealism, moral compromise under impossible circumstances, the erosion of honor in wartime, and the personal costs of loving across forbidden boundaries. There are no clean answers—only choices and their consequences.


Characters you grow to care about will make decisions that haunt them. Not all transformations are redemptive, and not all costs can be repaid.


A Very Important Note: This story is a slow-burn historical epic, and the chapters are crafted to be long and immersive. The chapters are deliberately written to be long. If you enjoy getting lost in the nuances of character, the tension of a lingering glance, and the intricate details of a world on the brink of war, you've come to the right place. 


Chapter 1 - Disclaimer: Important!