Myths are real.
Autumn’s family is living proof.
Even so, Autumn’s life should be more ordinary.
School. Friends. Family.
Instead, she lives under the shadow of constant hostility—even from her own cousin—and she has no idea why.
The truth is far stranger.
Hidden inside Autumn is something ancient: the power of a Balanced One, a rare incarnation tied to the forces that keep creation itself in equilibrium.
And someone has been sent to protect her.
Carrie arrives with a single purpose: guard Autumn from the forces that would exploit or destroy her. But protecting her means staying close. Closer than Carrie ever expected.
Because the longer she remains at Autumn’s side, the harder it becomes to ignore the growing pull between them.
Is it simple affection?
Or something deeper?
The magic that binds a Tala’har guardian to the Balanced One creates a connection unlike anything Carrie has known before—a bond that dulls her instincts, draws her to Autumn, and blurs the line between duty and desire.
Carrie was sent to protect Autumn.
She was not supposed to fall for her, not like this.
But if their bond is influencing her feelings, Carrie must confront a dangerous question:
Are her emotions truly her own…
or are they another force of magic she cannot control?
Because enemies are already searching for the Balanced One.
And if Carrie loses sight of her mission—even for a moment—existence itself could pay the price.
Unvarnished follows a young woman named Carrie, who arrives in our world to protect an extraordinary girl of her age. Autumn, Carrie's charge, is an incarnation of a being known as a "balanced one.” She faces harassment from her high school peers, led by her own cousin. She does not know what she is, thus forcing Carrie to conceal her duty. This tale takes the myths of our reality and brings them to life through Autumn's family, who embody some of these myths.
Unvarnished was created from a vibrant blend of influences, drawing inspiration from literature, comics, anime and manga, video games, and ancient myths. If you're familiar with the Isekai genre in anime and manga-where characters are transported to a fantasy world-Unvarnished can be seen as a reverse Isekai since the main character comes from a fantasy world to ours. The world is similar to ours in this narrative, but its myths are true, akin to the worlds presented in the PERCY JACKSON and MORTAL INSTRUMENTS series. However, unlike those books, Unvarnished is aimed at an older audience.
