“30 years before, a minatory Angel of Death carved from a giant piece of obsidian terrified the world. Jutting from a fractured base that recalled life’s entropy, the Angel of Death stood over two meters tall and inspired an instant feeling of catastrophe. Blacker than any darkness around it, it consumed light. So impressive was the effect, that no person who viewed it felt like they actually saw it.

So troubling too was the effect that the celebrity of the piece came with stern detractors. They defamed the piece as a work of the devil. Others found it so vulgar that it did not even warrant discussion. To the rest, it inspired only shudders of empty sadness.

Whatever the global opinion, at least there was a global opinion. The young sculptor, already known in artistic circles as one of the classics for his adherence to the code of the ancient greats, had risked working such an usual material as obsidian. Such a horrifying result had got him what he had wanted: his reputation spread across the world. He became known as “the true sculptor,” revered for his technique.

But he had broken that code…”

A novel told entirely through Instagram Stories.

Around one page published per day.

Follow me @tonyhymes to read along – chapters organised into Stories Highlights.