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The Shadow Trial, the cover of the book you get
An illustration from The Shadow Trial
From the story

After lights-out

The Shadow Trial

Every student at the mountain school passes the Shadow Trial alone, at night, with no light. Your character is the only one who has failed it twice — and tonight is the last attempt anyone is allowed.

  • 12 illustrated pages
  • Read online
  • Keep the PDF
  • Illustrated in comic style
Make this book

Free to try. We draw your character first. Love it, or ask for a redraw.

Turn the pages of a finished book →

At the mountain school, every student must face the Shadow Trial alone, at night, without a light. Twice, your character turns back. Tonight there is no fourth chance. Familiar landmarks disappear into darkness, and every sound seems to come from the wrong direction. With sight no longer any help, the next step depends on listening to the very noises that make retreat so tempting.

For you if quiet suspense makes bedtime a little more interesting.

What is inside this book?

Across twelve pages, you follow a single nighttime trial, with the mountain school giving way to darkness and uncertain sounds. The text comes in one or two short sentences per page. Comic illustrations give shape to the surroundings that become difficult to recognize, while the writing follows the effort to listen and keep moving.

Who is this one for?

Choose this if you or someone you know enjoys suspense built from silence, strange sounds, and a difficult next step. The appeal is the pressure of trying again after failure. It fits an evening when you want a tense, inward adventure and a little uncertainty before sleep.

The Shadow Trial is a personalized illustrated storybook of twelve pages about a final attempt at a mountain school’s nighttime test.

More like this

How is this one different from the others?

All four books are the same price, the same twelve illustrated pages, read online and downloaded as a PDF. What differs is the situation, the feeling, and the style it is drawn in.

This story compared with three like it
StoryThe situationMoodIllustrationChoose this if you like
The Shadow Trial — this oneA final school trial in complete darknesstense, solitaryComicfacing a feared test after two failed attempts
The Last One AwakeA lone search through a sleeping towneerie, quietWatercolorempty streets and the mystery of everyone’s sudden sleep
The Monster Who Was Scared of the DarkA first hello to a frightened bedroom monstertender, funnyBright cartoonawkward introductions and discovering a monster shares the same fear
Captain of NothingA squabbling crew with a contrary mapchaotic, comicStorybookcrew arguments and navigation that depends on getting lost

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