“Demiurge” is the author's second novel.

The novel Demiurge is an existential-psychological work in which an individual’s inner world and adherence to personal principles come into conflict with the norms of society. It does not belong to the genres of fantasy or speculative fiction, as the extraordinary or supernatural elements function as metaphors for subjective perception—one person’s internal experience, rather than as rules or foundations of an alternate reality.

Unlike fantasy, where the supernatural often resolves conflict, in Demiurge the extraordinary only intensifies it, rendering human existence more unbearable. In this novel, the “unusual” is not presented as a miracle or spectacle, but as an existential burden: it reflects the protagonist Damian’s inner experience and fractures his relationship with external reality.

Damian’s ability to hypnotize is not a fantastical element but a lens for exploring ethical dilemmas and subjective psychological experiences, in keeping with the traditions of the psychological novel. His abilities are neither systematized nor bound by explicit rules or “magic mechanics.” Instead, they are fragmentary, sensory, and psychologically filtered, functioning like trauma, heightened empathy, childhood hypersensitivity, or the mismatch between intellectual and emotional development. Damian’s powers expand his internal reality rather than altering the external world.

The novel emphasizes consciousness rather than external events. Time is deliberately slowed, drawing attention to bodily sensations, reactions, streams of thought, associative memory, emotionality, and colors (auras as a metaphor for empathy). The text does not exploit sensational moments, fires, accidents, or physical danger, but examines human powerlessness, guilt, and responsibility. This focus reveals the existential core of the story.

Demiurge does not construct an alternate world; it remains firmly within the psychological and ethical novel tradition. Readers are invited to experience the inner conflict of a fragile, sensitive, yet extraordinarily strong individual, rather than a new external reality. The novel illuminates the gap between one’s moral compass and societal norms.

The protagonist, Damian, is a young psychiatrist with exceptionally strong empathy. He perceives trauma and violence that institutions, police, hospitals cannot or will not see. When systems remain silent, he refuses to comply, not out of desire for power or vengeance, but out of ethical conviction. Despite his extraordinary abilities, Damian does not use them selfishly. His altruism and empathy are so intense that he refuses to kill or physically destroy evil. His inner tragedy lies precisely in this heightened ethical and empathetic dilemma.

The novel does not seek to convince the reader of Damian’s powers’ reality; rather, it examines society’s reaction to a person who does not conform to normative frameworks. Damian’s abilities are treated as an ethical problem, not a gift. They isolate him, evoke fear in others, distort relationships, and create moral tension (“Have I done wrong?”), forcing self-restraint and precipitating classic existential conflict: how to act in a world that is not made for him.

Demiurge explores altruism and empathy not as virtues or moral ideals, but as existentially unbearable burdens, which alienate the individual while engaging ethical responsibility where conventional law and justice fail. The novel portrays the tension between subjective morality and societal norms, showing that “different” people, even those opposing evil, are rejected. Psychological tension and moral imbalance drive the narrative, continuing the tradition of Central European psychological prose in the vein of Julio Cortázar, Franz Kafka, or Jorge Luis Borges, but with greater focus on empathy and moral conscience rather than intellectual games.

The story’s hope emerges not at its conclusion, but in the moment Damian refuses to accept evil while recognizing his inability to destroy others. The novel offers readers an ethical and morally grounded form of hope, rather than psychological comfort.

Demiurge was published with the support of the State Cultural Capital Foundation (VKKF).