Novels by Ugo Lee

Ash and smoke still clung to their clothes. The city above buzzed with chaos, emergency lights, collapsing news feeds, encrypted Consortium alerts blinking across every hidden channel.Zane, Elen, and Cain lay low in a decaying observatory on the city’s edge, the old dome cracked and filled with rusted telescopes. No cameras. No drones. Just silence. Elen stared at the static flickering across a handheld monitor. The signal from Myles had gone dark ten hours ago. No confirmation if he escaped the blaze, or if Rae Avenir’s men had silenced him.Cain paced. “He should’ve sent something by now.”Zane sat against the wall, legs stretched, eyes dull. “He was laughing when we ran. That man didn’t expect to live.”“No,” Cain said, stopping. “But he expected to be heard.”Zane's jaw tightened. “And they buried his voice.”Elen turned to face them both. “So we raise it louder.” Zane’s gaze slowly lifted to hers. A spark returned.…That night, a click echoed in the room. One of Cain’s traps h

Rain poured like knives on glass. The city groaned under thunder. Lights flickered. In a dark corner of the Lower Grid, inside a forgotten hotel basement, Zane and Cain stared at a map lit by candlelight.A red circle marked one name. RAE AVENIR, First Circle AnchorCain whispered, "She’s not just any First Circle. She funds the Whisper Halls. She owns the assassins."Elen paced beside the map, rubbing her arms. "She’s holding a gala. One week from now. A mask-only affair. Even board members need codes to enter."Zane’s eyes narrowed. “Then we crash it.” Cain looked at him. “Not just crash. We torch it.”…They needed access. But Rae Avenir's systems were off-grid. Only one man could bypass her firewalls: Dr. Myles Dreeve, a washed-out genius who once built code for the Protocol.They found him in the ruins of Sector 12, drunk, muttering to rats. Zane crouched beside him. “Myles. We need you.”Myles looked up with bloodshot eyes. “You're the heir, huh? The boy who thinks he’s fire. F

The air was sharp the next morning. Zane stood at the edge of the Clockspire ruins, watching the city breathe below. Sunlight hit the tallest towers. The elite moved like ants in gold-plated cages. But the people on the streets, the forgotten, the watchers, moved with a different rhythm. They were quiet. Careful. Like they knew something was coming. Behind him, Cain and Elen sat in silence.Cain spoke first. “You dropped the cards. That means war.”Zane didn’t turn. “Then let it come. I won’t play their game.”Cain walked beside him. “Then you better learn a new one. Fast.”…That night, the three of them moved into a safehouse deep in the lower city. It was hidden behind a fake scrapyard. Underground. Dusty. Cold. But safe.Elen worked fast, rerouting comm lines, burning any trace of their location. Cain mapped out what he called the "Shadow Network."A web of secret ties between Consortium board members and something older, deeper than anyone knew.Zane listened. And then, he made

Night covered the city like a heavy coat. Zane sat alone in the backseat of a plain black car. It moved quietly through winding roads, climbing toward the upper districts. His fingers tapped against the red card Cain had returned to him.One week. That was all the Council gave him. Find Cain. Learn the truth. Or die with him.But how do you find the truth when everyone is hiding something?…The car stopped before the dark stone steps of the Consortium’s oldest tower, Stonehall.Two guards opened the doors. Sylra was waiting at the entrance. Her face was unreadable. “They’re expecting you,” she said.Zane followed her inside. The halls were colder now. The air smelled of old paper and iron. Every step felt like walking into a trap. “Why here?” he asked.“Because this is where it all began,” she answered. “The first Protocol. The first betrayal.”They entered a long chamber. It wasn’t the Council’s usual meeting room. This one was smaller, narrower, with only six chairs.Zane frowned.

The sun rose slowly over the manor’s tall towers. But for Zane, the light did not bring peace.He stood in the garden at dawn, staring at the small tree his mother once planted. Its leaves were brown now. The roots had grown around the stone path like fingers holding on to old memories. Sylra stepped into the garden quietly. “I know where he’s going,” she said.Zane didn’t look at her. “Cain?”She nodded. “There’s a place deep in the Ashmoor District. Off-grid. No cameras. Old base for the Silent Faction. He’ll go there next. He wants you to follow.”Zane ran a hand through his hair. “What if it’s a trap?”Sylra shrugged. “It is. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t walk into it.”…Ashmoor was nothing like the world Zane now lived in. There were no golden gates or polished walls. Just steel, smoke, and silence. Old warehouses leaned against each other like drunks. The air smelled of burnt oil and rust.Zane walked through narrow alleys, dressed in a simple jacket and cap. No guards.

The mansion was quiet when Zane returned from the Silent Room. Too quiet.He walked slowly through the long marble hallway, his boots echoing in the dark. He held the red Protocol card Cain had left him. It felt warm in his hand, like it was pulsing. Alive.His twin brother. Real and dangerous. Zane’s mind raced with questions. Why did their mother hide Cain?Why did Cain want to burn the empire? And who were the real enemies Cain spoke about?Zane stopped at the hallway mirror. His reflection stared back, eyes darker now, face older than before. Just a few days ago, he had been cleaning floors. Now, he was holding a card that could change the world. But the world wanted him dead.…When Zane finally reached his room, Sylra was already waiting inside. She stood by the window, arms crossed. “You went alone,” she said. “To the Silent Room.”Zane blinked. “You knew?”She nodded once. “We always know. But we let you go.”He didn’t ask who we were. Not yet. “I met someone,” Zane said. “My

The temple-city of Latticehaven was a place that breathed light.Every archway shimmered with soft blue glow. Every pillar hummed with old circuits beneath polished stone. Trees with silver leaves grew along the pathways, their branches whispering with gentle electronic sounds as the wind passed through them. The streets were peaceful and clean, filled with warm lamps that never flickered. The people walked slowly, their steps guided by harmony, as if the city itself encouraged calm hearts.And at the very center of Latticehaven stood the Healing Sanctum. Lyra worked there.She moved through the Sanctum’s long hallways in quiet steps, her white robe brushing softly against the floor. Her hair was tied back neatly, and her eyes were gentle, steady, filled with empathy that made every frightened patient breathe easier when they saw her. Her presence felt like sunlight after rain, warm, reassuring, real. But the world she tended was not simple anymore. Not after the Second Dawn.Insi

Vantress Spire rose like a blade cutting through the clouds. The structure did not look natural. It was tall, narrow, made of layers of black stone and steel plates that shimmered faintly with leftover system code. Every wall pulsed with quiet light, as if the building itself was breathing. Bridges stretched between its towers like thin strings of silver. The wind around it always whistled sharply, as if warning anyone who approached.Inside the Spire, nothing was wasted. Every hallway was perfectly aligned. Every guard moved with practiced rhythm. Every screen displayed information in endless streams. It was a place built for one purpose, control through understanding.At the highest level sat the chamber of the Silent Strategist. Soren. He stood with his hands behind his back, staring at a giant holographic map that filled the room. It wasn’t a normal map. It showed the world’s new, unstable geography. Lines of energy flickered across shifting landscapes. Zones pulsed with dif

Riko always liked quiet places. Not peaceful places. Not beautiful places. Just quiet ones, corners of the world where no one looked.No one expected anything, and nothing tried to pretend it was perfect. And now, after the Second Dawn, the world was louder than ever.People were laughing with their real voices. Rivers were actually flowing with uneven currents. The wind carried dust and scents and unexpected changes. The world felt alive. Imperfect. Unpredictable.Riko liked that. But she also knew that something underneath the world was not resting. Something was humming inside the network. Something was waking up.And she was the only one who could hear it. She sat alone inside a tiny maintenance shack at the edge of a half-finished town. The building looked abandoned from outside, cracked windows, dusty door, a flickering old lamp nailed to the wall. But inside, wires crawled along every surface. Screens hung like vines. Old server cores hummed quietly, blinking with uneven lig

Darkness was not empty. It was warm, like lying under a heavy blanket, safe from storms. It was gentle, like a quiet breath resting against Rae’s cheek. She floated inside it without weight, without fear, without the sharp edges of pain. She did not know if she was alive, dead, or something in between.She only knew she was drifting. She reached out her hand, hoping for something to hold. The darkness shifted when she moved, rippling like soft water. Then a faint shimmer grew in the distance, small at first, like a single ember glowing in ashes.It pulsed. Rae felt something stir inside her chest. A memory. A voice. “Rae… don’t disappear.”Finn. She remembered the tremble in his voice, the way he had squeezed her hand before the world broke apart. She pushed toward the light, swimming through the darkness as if moving through a dream.Another pulse glowed beside the first. “Stay with me.”Everett. His voice was softer, fading, but real. The echo of him. The part of him that had not

Light surged from the Origin Seed like a river breaking free of a dam. It poured through the chamber.Filling every corner, every crack, every shadow with golden brightness so intense that Rae had to squeeze her eyes shut. The ground beneath her trembled as if the entire world was breathing in too much air at once. She felt heat spread through her arm and into her chest, warm at first, then hot, then almost burning.Something was pulling her forward, pulling her deeper, pulling her inside the Seed. Someone shouted her name. “RAE!”The voice sounded far away, muffled by the storm of light. She tried to open her eyes again.But only saw swirling patterns, twisting symbols, and long streams of broken code whipping past her like ribbons caught in wind.“Rae, hold on!” Finn shouted, but his voice sounded like it came from behind a wall of glass.Hands grabbed her shoulders, anchoring her. Rae forced her eyes open, blinking through the brightness, and saw Finn beside her, face tight with

Light swallowed everything. It expanded like a wave, blinding and cold, rushing through the battlefield.Until every shadow, every piece of broken ground, and every trace of the monstrous construct dissolved into pure white. Rae felt herself lifted, weightless, spinning without control. She reached out blindly, trying to grab Finn or Lara, but there was nothing to hold, nothing to ground her.Then, with a sudden jolt, her body hit solid ground. Rae gasped and pushed herself up slowly. Her vision cleared enough to reveal a vast chamber stretching far beyond what her eyes could follow.It was dark at first, but then soft lights blinked awake one by one, revealing walls made of smooth black metal and an endless ceiling covered with floating orbs of pale blue light.Finn groaned behind her. “I am getting really tired of being thrown across dimensions every five minutes.”Lara sat up, rubbing her head. Her scanner sparked weakly, then steadied. “We made it through the Collapse Threshold.