Arthur was fifty, tired, and forgotten. He died in a sterile hospital room, a man who had played it safe and lost everything. But death wasn't the end. He wakes up in the body of an eight-year-old boy named Kaelen, in a world where the dirt is stained with blood and the "Middle Ages" are just beginning to crawl out of the dark.
Sold to the Order of the Obsidian Veil, Kaelen is forged into a weapon. But unlike the other orphans, Kaelen has the mind of a man who knows the value of a second chance. As the world transitions from tribal warring to civilized empires, Kaelen moves through the shadows, caught between a forbidden love with a deadly rival and a conspiracy that threatens to undo the very civilization they are building.

Kaelen carried Lyra through the crumbling tunnels, his body screaming in pain. Above them, the Nest was in chaos. The feedback loop was destroying the steam-engines and the brass grafts.


He reached the surface, the cold mountain air hitting his face like a slap. He saw Master Vane standing at the gate, looking at the smoke rising from the training pits.


"Go," Vane said, not looking at Kaelen. "The Veil is broken. There is nothing left here but ghosts."


"No," Vane said, finally turning. His eyes were no longer sharp. "I was the one who let the Architect in. I must be the one who goes down with the mountain."


Vane handed Kaelen a small, leather-bound journal. "The maps of the Forbidden Lands. Find the Archive. Stop Silas before he finds another door."


Chapter 29 - Chapter 29: The Flight of the Traitors