That broken veil is what allows us to not wallow around in ignorance and instead allows us to understand the will of God.
Broken Veil is the second novel written by M. C. Ashley and the first in a planned series.
It follows Jessie Minett and her group of college friends as they pick up a wandering hitchhiker, Nathan Goodwin, who claims to be a pastor as they head to Hammer Falls, New Aztlan, where the fabled Hammer of Thor, Mjolnir, is said to rest.
Upon visiting, they soon discover that Nathan is more than he appears and is on the run from a deadly demon known as Dillon Maxwell, who will stop at nothing to kill them and and exact its revenge on Nathan for reasons unknown.
Dead Lands provides examples of:
- Absurdly Sharp Claws: Dillon possesses these, which it uses to great effect to harm others.
- The Adjectival Man: One of Dillon's other monikers is The Dark Man.
- Ancient Evil: there are many, including Dillon, who claims to have been there at the beginning of creation. Also there are Abdul Alhazred and the Mad Old Ones, whose true ages aren't known. The Mad Old Ones are said to have been formed from the introduction of sin into reality following the Fall in the Garden of Eden and thus see creation as anathema which they seek to destroy and control.
- Anti-Magical Faction: there are three groups who worked to stop the Mad Old Ones in the Armageddon Wars
- The Gray Forum would be seen by most as magical themselves, but because Magic Is Evil, they utilize the power left over by Creation to empower their abilities. They were wiped out preventing an Eldritch Abomination from taking over North America.
- The Legion of Light designed new technologies that would allow mundane humans to fight against their supernatural superiors and swiftly advanced the world from feudal serfdom to the Industrial Revolution in very little time at all. They were completely destroyed following their Mutual Kill of themselves and the Red Council (a group of The Quisling mages working for the Mad Old Ones) at Mount Tambora, which caused it to explode.
- The Annihilators were the combined forces of the Christian church who utilized their faith to kill gods and demons alike. They too ended up in a Mutual Kill with the Sanguine Collective, a group of empathic vampires, when they managed to reverse a spell intended to pacify humanity into mindless drones, but the magical backlash wiped both groups out.
- Attempted Rape: to solidify his true nature: Aaron tries to do this to Jessie twice. Once when she was working as a prostitute and later when Dillon transforms him into an abomination.
- Big Good: Nathan-Prime, in his role as the Guardian of the Multiverse, acts as this for the group, having saved both Jessie and Nathan in their backstories so they could at least make it to the events of the novel. He is unable to act physically now, though, unless directly given permission by God to do so, which he does when Nathan prays for help, for which he is rewarded with the water that brings him back to life after Dillon kills him. He later appears as an Astral Projection to Dillon when the demon revives itself and swears to continue its rampage. However, as a result of this, he is now allowed to physically intervene, allowing him far more autonomy to protect his young charges.
- Countrystan: Nimrodistan takes the place of our Iraq, being named after the biblical Nimrod. It is a protectorate of the United States of the Commonwealth and was where Nathan fought when he illegally entered the army.
- Cult: Hammer Falls maintains its presence in the desert thanks to the immovable Mjolnir in the center of the town, so, naturally, there's a cult devoted to Thor called the Thorites the prove to be a major obstacle near the climax of the book. However, they are no match for a real threat in Dillon, who gleefully kills them all.
- Deadly Road Trip: their initial plan to visit the west coast and only stopping for a bit in Hammer Falls proves to be this for most of the group.
- Death of a Child: Bambi had a younger sister who was just an infant when she died of SIDS. In reality, she killed her out of jealousy, but honestly didn't mean to end her life. She just liked seeing her baby sister turn blue after placing a bag over her head, which asphyxiated her, a fact that haunts her so much Dillon is easily able to use to manipulate her.
- Jessie, likewise, lost her younger brother, although hers was as a result of negligence due to her being too high on Refrain to notice him enter their pool and drown himself accidentally.
- Dwindling Party: out of their eventual group of five only Nathan and Jessie make it out alive.
- Eldritch Abomination: the Mad Old Ones were this in the backstory, having easily conquered human civilization for years until two hundred years before the events of the story, humanity fought back and defeated them.
- The Empath: throughout the wild night, Jessie discovers her Christener abilities extend from being this, allowing her to weaponize her feeling to give her super strength and fire blasts of energy.
- False Friend: Bambi is friendly to Jessie on a superficial level and demeans her behind her back. Aaron, on the other hand, is actively trying to make Jessie his, whether by seduction or force.
- Fantastic Drug: Jessie was once addicted to a narcotic known as Refrain. It made its victims placid and lazy. However, after losing her brother while she was high on Refrain, along with a bad experience with one of her clients during her days as a prostitute, she went cold turkey and has been free from it for a little over a year.
- Faux Affably Evil: Dillon will affect emotions intended to lure in its prey and claims to love Jessie and Nathan despite its hatred for them, but, ultimately this is an act designed to kill them.
- Fictional Earth: the story takes place on one in which human culture was secretly manipulated for years by agents of the Mad Old Ones, who were beaten in a conflict known as the Armageddon Wars. The United States of this reality is known as the United States of the Commonwealth and has states like North and South Carolinus, among other regions like the California Islands. It also proves to be one to one of the author's other books Lost Time, as the Gray Forum is mentioned as one of the three main factions who fought on humanity's side during the Armageddon Wars.
- Religiously in this world there are many changes. Christianity remains, but is divided between the Catholic Church and its version of Protestantism: Kenosisians. Mormonism was all but wiped out early on in its development and is seen as a fringe cult. A mixing of Taoist and Buddhist beliefs called The Path is also around. Paganism of various mythologies are also more prevalent, given their roles in the Armageddon Wars.
- Final Girl: Jessie ends up as this for a time until it's revealed that Nathan wasn't as dead as he seemed.
- Former Teen Rebel: Nathan was this in his hometown. He, as a result of being a Pariah, being supernaturally aware, and living in a strict religious environment, partied hard, slept around, and made his parents lives a living hell. He ran away to join the army to get away and as a result of the horrors he experience there, he reformed and now has become a pastor to make up for the sins of his past, although he still has to fight his baser nature.
- Good Samaritan: Jessie's decision to force the group to pick up a hitchhiking Nathan when it would be more pragmatic to leave him behind is precisely what gives them a fighting chance to survive when Dillon attacks.
- The Grotesque: Dillon can appear as an angel of light, but its true form is a twisted abomination that is described as "bent."
- Hooker with a Heart of Gold: before meeting the others, Jessie was a prostitute, which she started to fuel her drug habits. Realizing this was going to kill her made her decide to get clean and remake her life. During her time as one, she treated her customers with care and became popular as a result, but she admits she was just trying to find acceptance, no matter the cost, which would only have ruined her had she remained in the profession.
- Horrifying the Horror: Dillon is so afraid of Nathan-Prime that it is doing everything in its power to find a way to kill him, which includes hunting down his alternate counterparts. Later, as a result of their Combination Attack, it grows to fear Jessie and Nathan as well.
- "It" Is Dehumanizing: Dillon is only ever referred to by its foes as an "it," perhaps to make it seem more inhuman, rather than for them to recognize it is possessing a person.
- The Masquerade: Jessie's studying of the Armageddon Wars has caused her to realize that the official story that she was told doesn't match up with the truth of how history went. In reality, humanity was once subject to the Mad Old Ones and their supernatural servants. It was only thanks to the appearance of a man known as the Last Knight that they were able to kill their oppressors and take back control of the world. However, this is seen as a fringe theory at best, because of a conspiracy with unknown backers who don't wish for this to be known.
- Must Be Invited: Nathan is able to use this supernatural knowledge to protect the group when they find a house where the occupants are all dead, meaning he can temporarily stake a claim at ownership. All homes have this power, but only to those who own them, as houses seem to have a supernatural will that understands this. So when it realizes Nathan isn't going to buy it and instead is using it as a temporary reprieve from Dillon's attack, it revokes this privilege, forcing them all outside. again
- Mysterious Stranger: Nathan fulfills the archetype well. He is a wandering pastor forced to hitchhike on dangerous roads in a country that he used to serve as a soldier in. His military and home background are mysteries for a while, until he explains the loss of his platoon and the sins of his past to his fellow survivors, while still maintaining an air of mystery around himself.
- No-Sell: when Nathan explains how he first met Dillon, he shoots not only it, but Abdul Alhazred as well with regular bullets. For the mad mage, he simply heals from the wound, but for the demon, it doesn't get effected at all, even when Nathan goes for a Groin Attack with his combat knife.
- Not Quite Dead: Dillon believes it has finally killed Nathan, but he's saved by the water Nathan-Prime had left for him, something Dillon ironically had used to demean Nathan. Later on, once Nathan and Jessie are able to kill Dillon, it is placed on an ambulance, but when its body is touched by one of the paramedics, it is able to regenerate and come back to life.
- Only a Flesh Wound: thanks to its regeneration, Dillon can recover from plenty of damage. In the backstory, Abdul Alhazred also recovered from a sniper shot to the head, his regeneration bringing him back to life easily.
- Only the Chosen May Wield: out of the group three out of the five are heavily hinted at being able to wield Mjolnir. Nathan is able to prove his worthiness in the final battle, but this advantage is soon lost to him when Dillon throws it away.
- Our Demons Are Different: Dillon Maxwell, also known as the Second-to-Fall, claims that it was once allied with Satan in their attempt to become like God, but was cast down by the Almighty for their rebellion. It also says it was once a larger entity, but split itself in multiple parts because its different personalities couldn't agree with one another, so this Dillon is a weaker version of the original. It can use hellfire, despises Christians, and can stay within a human host for very long periods of time. It also despises its own intelligence, which it claims is a gift from God, so every time it is forced to rely on intellect it is a subtle reminder that it can never be greater than its Creator.
- Our Mages Are Different: like the series the phrase originated from Christeners were once one of three groups protecting the world from supernatural threats. However, they were wiped out in the Armageddon Wars preventing an Eldritch Abomination from controlling the world. Wyatt mentions he has Christener blood in his veins, but in the end, Nathan and Jessie are the only ones explicitly said to have supernatural powers.
- Paint the Town Red: because of Dillon's wanton attacks, Hammer Falls soon finds itself a ghost town, as the demon kills anyone it can get its claws on, feasting on souls and bodies along the way.
- Psychopathic Manchild: when its intelligence is temporarily removed, Dillon acts like this, as it hates the fact that it needs to rely on its intellect to plan and succeed, when it prefers just attacking and killing its enemies. It whines and complains when it doesn't get its way and kills without a care.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: Dillon was this until Abdul Alhazred manipulated Nathan's squadron into setting the demon free by acting as a target for them.
- Sequel Hook: Nathan and Jessie both understand the true nature of the world and have teamed-up to undo The Masquerade. Also, Dillon is Not Quite Dead after absorbing a paramedic's life force to come back to life; however, as a result of not letting go of its grudge against all Nathans, Nathan-Prime is now allowed to intervene physically, setting him up as a potential mentor.
- Shout-Out: one of Dillon's many names is The Dark Man.
- Abdul Alhazred is a pretty blatant shout out to the Cthulhu Mythos.
- Dillon's true form being referred to as "bent" is one to The Space Trilogy, where demons are also described as thus.
- The Thorite cult is a subtle one to the the Church of Thor, also known as Thorites.
- Sole Survivor: Nathan is the sole survivor of his unit in Nimrodistan, the rest having been wiped out by Dillon, who killed him too, but Nathan-Prime was able to resurrect him, because his story wasn't over yet, a fact that has left him with massive PTSD.
- Town with a Dark Secret: Hammer Falls is host to a cult to Thor and they sacrifice tourists to try to bring him back every year. They also kill Wyatt and almost kill Jessie were it not for Dillon's appearance.
- Villainous Rescue: Dillon actually saves Jessie from being killed by the Thorites, although this is only so it can be the one to kill her.
- War Is Hell: especially if supernatural forces are conspiring to bring about a resurgence of their control over the world. Nathan returned to the United States distraught at what happened there and still has to recite street names of his hometown to calm himself down when the memories resurface.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: the question of where Mjolnir ends up after Dillon Maxwell is able to cast it away is never answered, which is particularly glaring because it was made into a big deal, only to be lost before the true climax. Dillon's claim that it's flown all the way to Mongolia could just be hyperbole.
- Weird Weather: two separate types are known to occur on this version of Earth, caused by the deaths of old gods during the Armageddon Wars.
- The first is the one which occurs on the western side of the United States of the Commonwealth: the plasma storms. They only occur at night and consist of energy known as plasma, but not being the same as the one accepted by science, which corrupts anything it touches, although some animals and plants have evolved to resist its effects. Technology has been invented to prevent it from entering homes or buildings, as, otherwise, humans exposed to it will twist into inhuman abominations.
- The second type occurs on the east coast: the temperature variance storms happen at random, but mostly at night as well. They consist of sudden and rapid temperature changes from the regular ones experienced at a given time a year so that they could easily raise or lower the temperature of an effected region with very little warning. These are localized events, but still very deadly if not escaped from.
- With Friends Like These...: Jessie and Wyatt hang out with Bambi and Aaron because they were all together when a hurricane swept through their college town and they took refuge in Wyatt's house. Out of the four, only the first two have any affection for the others, despite Bambi being Wyatt's girlfriend. Wyatt admits to himself later on that he just wanted to have friends, even if they treated him like dirt and Jessie admits similar thoughts as well.
- Would Hurt a Child: at first, it seems like Dillon has spared Sasha in the opening, only for her dead body to be found by Nathan not long after arriving in Hammer Falls. When Dillon expands its reign of terror, many families are found dead due to its machinations.
