The Award Winning
Fantasy Collection of
The Witch's Rebirth Dark Fantasy Series
From award‑winning author Michaela Riley comes a dark epic trilogy, where history and myth bleed together.
History taught us to fear witches.
This story reveals why we needed them.
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In the twilight of the Western Roman Empire in 478 AD, as ancient Gaul fractures and the old gods are hunted into shadow, a buried prophecy begins to stir. It does not speak of emperors or saints—but of a witch. Reborn. Remembered. Revolted.
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Born under a three‑hour eclipse, Merona enters the world screaming in rage. Her soul is not new; it is a vessel returned, carrying the weight of forgotten lives. Hunted from birth by Armaeus—a hollow‑eyed sorcerer who feeds on souls to stave off decay—Merona’s magic awakens in storms, visions, and the memory of burning pyres.
She should have died. Instead, she is found.
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Claimed by Murdach, an immortal dragon bound in human flesh, and watched over by The Morrigan, the Crow Goddess of fate and fury, Merona is no longer just a victim. She is a weapon of divine retribution. As the new faith outlaws the old and darkness spreads from shattered warlord fiefdoms to distant Constantinople, Merona’s journey deepens. She must master the Cauldron of Dagda to halt a supernatural pestilence, descend into the Otherworld’s labyrinth to face who she once was, and finally claim the Spear of Lugh as the world itself begins to die.
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The final war does not begin with trumpets, but with a silent, fallen sun.
Armaeus, now more powerful than ever, stands at the brink of triumph. But Merona is no longer the girl who fled. She is the storm. The flame. The last voice in the dark. To defeat the ultimate darkness, she must accept the full, terrifying truth of her rebirth: she is not just a witch, but the living vessel of the divine feminine—the eternal return the world tried to erase.
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For fans of The Mists of Avalon and The Witcher, The Witch’s Rebirth Trilogy is a visceral reimagining of a lost age, where gods fall, empires rot, and one witch refuses to go quietly.
Labyrinth of Shadows: The Witch's Rebirth
Part I
An award‑winning dark fantasy by Michaela Riley
From award‑winning author Michaela Riley comes an epic saga that shatters myth and redefines destiny. What if the world’s salvation depended on the rebirth of its most feared woman?
Forget every villainous witch of lore. In the twilight of the Western Roman Empire, as chaos descends and the Merovingian Franks carve their bloody path through a fractured Gaul, humanity’s greatest hope is not an emperor or an army. It lies in an ancient prophecy and the miraculous rebirth of a woman destined to wield forbidden power.
Welcome to 478 AD—a world on the brink of collapse, consumed by cosmic unrest. Amid the despair, whispers of a singular hope emerge: a powerful witch, foretold to lead humanity back from the edge. On the night of Samhain, as the veil between realms thins, an infant girl named Merona is born beneath a celestial eclipse—her arrival a harbinger of both terror and humanity’s last stand.
Merona is no ordinary child. Marked by a forgotten past and bound by a love that transcends millennia, her very existence is a ticking clock, awakening a legacy of strength and untapped magic. A sinister sorcerer, Armaeus, steeped in soul‑devouring dark arts, is determined to extinguish her light before it can fully ignite. But he is not the only power who has seen the prophecy. The Morrigan, fearsome Goddess of war and fate, watches over Merona from the shadows, a mythic protector standing between her and annihilation.
Within Merona’s veins flows the power to reshape existence itself. Her awakening will ignite a cataclysmic struggle: demons lurking in labyrinthine corridors, a dragon who can shift into an immortal warrior, and a world where ancient spells clash with rising, uncontrollable power while the fate of humanity hangs by a thread.
Labyrinth of Shadows: The Witch’s Rebirth – Part I is more than spellbinding witchcraft and brutal battles. It is an immersive, character‑driven journey that redefines heroism—exploring the rebirth of hope, the rekindling of compassion, and the truth that even in humanity’s darkest hour, its inner light can still pierce the deepest shadows.
Will you brave the treacherous realms beside Merona? Will you witness her claim her rightful place and unravel the secrets hidden deep within the Labyrinth of Shadows?
Step into the beginning of a legend—where salvation wears a witch’s crown.
Awards & Honors
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Storytrade Book Award Winner – Fantasy (2025)
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Readers’ Favorite Silver Award – Magic & Wizardry (2025)
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International Impact Book Award Winner – Fantasy (2025)
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Semi‑Finalist – Chaucer Award (Historical pre‑1750, France)
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Semi‑Finalist – Series, Chanticleer International Book Awards (The CIBAs)
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Winner – First Place Fantasy, BookFest (2025)
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Winner – Horror, Best Book Awards (2025)
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Finalist – IAN Book of the Year Awards, Fantasy (2025)
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Literary Titan Gold Book Award – Fiction
Cauldron of Dagda: The Witch's Rebirth
Part II
Dive deeper into darkness and destiny in the second installment of Michaela Riley’s award‑winning dark fantasy saga.
Set in 540 AD, Cauldron of Dagda: The Witch’s Rebirth – Part II hurls you into a world where ancient Celtic myth collides with the brutal decay of a crumbling empire. The Eastern Roman Empire trembles. Constantinople teeters on the edge of ruin. Something far older and darker than war is rising—and it hungers.
Known now only as The Witch, Merona can no longer remain in the shadows. A supernatural pestilence threatens to swallow the living world, and at its center lies a single, legendary artifact: the Cauldron of Dagda. If it falls into the wrong hands, humanity’s last light will be snuffed out.
To protect the Cauldron, Merona must stand alongside those bound to her by fate and lifetimes of blood:
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Murdach, the immortal warrior and shapeshifting dragon whose fierce loyalty and forbidden love for Merona burn hotter than dragonfire
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A war goddess who walks the boundary between prophecy and battle
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A wise seer whose visions cut through time—but not always clearly enough to save them
As chaos closes in, Merona’s choices grow more impossible. The cost of wielding her power mounts. And with every step, the bond between her and Murdach deepens, pulling them toward a love that spans centuries—and a destiny that could destroy them both.
Blending sword and sorcery, historical fantasy, and dark fantasy, Riley delivers a richly textured, character‑driven story filled with:
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Political intrigue and looming catastrophe
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Ancient magic and cursed relics
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A sweeping, enemies‑to‑lovers‑adjacent romance forged in war and rebirth
At its heart, Cauldron of Dagda is a story about a love that refuses to die, a magic that refuses to be buried, and a woman who must decide whether to save the world… or let it burn.
Step back into a world of gods, empires, and witches who will not go quietly.
The Spear of Lugh: The Witch's Rebirth
Part III
In Spear of Lugh: The Witch’s Rebirth – Part III, the dark epic of Merona reaches its shattering conclusion.
Return to 544 AD, to the shadowed town of Septimania in ancient Gaul, where the echoes of a devastating plague still cling to the air. Among untamed bonfires and lingering grief, a fragile hope has begun to bloom—but Samhain is approaching, and with it the veil between worlds thins. An ancient darkness, thought defeated, begins to rise again.
Destiny calls to Merona, the reborn witch who survived the labyrinth and claimed her power. Now armed with the divine strength of the gods—and wielding both the Cauldron of Dagda and the Spear of Lugh—she stands as humanity’s last line of defense against the encroaching void.
But the deeper she steps into her fate, the more terrifying the truth becomes: she is not only a savior, but a harbinger. To save the world, she may have to extinguish her own last flicker of hope. The path before her demands a brutal choice between her own soul and the survival of everyone she’s sworn to protect.
Steeped in Celtic mythology, historical detail, and high‑stakes dark fantasy, Spear of Lugh delivers a finale where:
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Ancient gods and forgotten relics clash with a rising, primordial evil
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Sacrifice and destiny collide in the ashes of a dying empire
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One witch must decide if the world is worth the cost of her own destruction
Can Merona harness the power of the gods to vanquish the ancient darkness once and for all?
What will she have to sacrifice to fulfill the prophecy of her rebirth?
Will hope prevail—or will the world finally succumb to the shadows that have hunted it for centuries?
Dive into Spear of Lugh: The Witch’s Rebirth – Part III and witness the epic, unforgettable climax of Merona’s journey.