Shadow of Great Britain

Sir Arthur Hastings is the most decorated civil servant and war hero of Victorian Britain—a Knight of the Garter, a Crimean War legend, the man who sounded the death knell for the East India Company, a lifelong friend to literary giants like Dickens and Dumas, and a steadfast patron of scientific minds such as Faraday and Darwin. Rising from a founding graduate of University College London to the first Cabinet Secretary and Permanent Under-Secretary of State, he stands as the living embodiment of the empire's glory. Yet behind the medals and the public adoration lurks a secret known only to him: the demon Agres, a red spectre that clings to his shadow and whispers temptations from the dark. On the day of UCL's fiftieth anniversary gala, Arthur ascends the podium before a hall of young admirers who see him as a national icon. As Agres gleefully urges him to feed the crowd the flattery they crave, Arthur draws a deep breath and unleashes a thunderous, scandalous roar that ignites the audience: "Oxford are a pack of bastards!" The students erupt in deafening applause. He follows with a second strike—"And Cambridge too!"—and the cheers grow even louder. In a world entirely devoid of magic, the only devil Sir Arthur has to wrestle is the one that dwells within his own mind.