RISE FROM THE VOID
In the gleaming sky-city of Celestara, the elite discard anything unwanted without remorse,broken tools, faded finery, even people. To Xander, a scrappy orphan from the shadowed under-rings, those castoffs are treasures worth fighting for. His mentor, old Harlan, always warned: stay low and stay alive.
When Harlan is murdered by a masked killer, Xander is framed and condemned. He's thrown into the Void,a vast, toxic chasm of endless refuse where the fallen never return.
Xander wakes amid choking fumes and grotesque “junkwraiths”: hulking monsters of rusted metal, rotting fabric, and seething decay. As the beasts close in, a battle-hardened woman named Veyra saves him. She fights with a “Remnant Blade”, a weapon born from a cherished relic, its power drawn from the soul of what was lost.
Xander bonds with his own Remnant,twin bracers that let him reshape discarded junk into deadly tools. He joins the Exiles, a band of survivors hunting wraiths in the depths, clinging to dreams of escape.
Driven by vengeance, Xander vows to climb the poisoned layers of the Void, expose the true killer, and make Celestara's highborn pay,proving the trash they threw away can rise to shatter their world.
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Chapter: Chapter 8The bodies weren't fresh.Xander crouched beside one,an Exile whose face was frozen in terror. Their Remnant bow lay dark and lifeless. "How long have they been here?""Hard to tell." Torrin studied the massive door ahead,thirty feet of metal covered in glowing symbols. "This is the oldest access point. Harlan knew the codes, but knowledge isn't enough. The Guardian doesn't care about keys."Metal scraped against stone. Then whispers,dozens of voices speaking words Xander couldn't understand.The Guardian emerged.Twenty-five feet tall, constructed from interlocking metal plates engraved with thousands of names. Its arms were hydraulic pistons ending in almost-human hands. But the head made Xander's blood freeze—a dozen preserved faces arranged in a circle, each frozen in different expressions. From their mouths came whispers of last words.‘"Please don't..."’‘"I'm innocent..."’‘"My children..."’"The first ones." Torrin breathed. "Celestara built this from the first hundred pe
Last Updated: 2026-02-03
Chapter: Chapter 7"I went dark. Stopped reporting. Celestara probably thinks I'm dead, which suits me fine. I've been living in the Void's margins ever since, gathering information, building my own network." Torrin's whip-Remnant uncoiled slightly. "I can't undo what I did. But I can make Celestara pay for it."Xander weighed his options. Trust was a luxury he couldn't afford. But pragmatism was survival."Twenty-four hours to the wall. You guide me there, help me reach the under-rings, and I'll share whatever I find. But if you betray me…""Your copper wire will carve me into pieces. I'm aware." Torrin extended a gloved hand. "Do we have an accord?"Xander shook it. The grip was firm, confident."Good. We leave at dawn. Such as it is." Torrin settled against the container's far wall. "Get some rest. Tomorrow's going to be intense."Xander didn't sleep. He kept Kael's daggers within reach and watched Torrin through slitted eyes. The masked figure didn't move, didn't speak, just sat in perfect sti
Last Updated: 2026-02-03
Chapter: Chapter 6Day one alone and Xander understood why so few survived the Void.The wraiths moved differently here, beyond the Exiles' protected territory. They hunted in coordinated packs, driving prey toward kill zones. Xander spent six hours crouched inside a hollowed-out refrigerator while three wraiths circled, sniffing for heat signatures.His bracers stayed dormant, wire cold against his skin. Any activation would draw them like blood in water.When they finally moved on, Xander emerged shaking. The toxic air burned his lungs. Chemical rain had started falling,thick, oily drops that sizzled on metal. He pulled his salvaged hood tighter and consulted Veyra's map.Two more days to the western wall.He moved through a canyon of crushed vehicles, boots crunching on shattered glass. Something skittered in the shadows above,not a wraith, something smaller. Scavenger rats, mutated by the Void's toxins into things with too many legs and eyes that glowed red.Xander's hand found Kael's borrowed dagge
Last Updated: 2026-02-03
Chapter: Chapter 5Three weeks in the Void changed Xander.His body hardened,muscles adapting to constant combat, lungs adjusting to toxic air. His bracers evolved with him, the wire flowing faster, responding to thoughts before he'd fully formed them. He could shape twenty configurations now: blades, shields, grappling hooks, even thin wire that could slice through wraith armor like thread through cloth.But it was the nightmares that wouldn't leave.Every night, Harlan's face. The pool of blood. The masked killer's soft voice: ‘"The old man knew too much."’Xander woke gasping, bracers flaring hot in the darkness of his assigned bunk. Other Exiles had stopped asking if he was okay. Down here, everyone had nightmares."You're up early." Veyra sat on a supply crate near the entrance, sharpening her Remnant blade with a whetstone. The sound was rhythmic, almost soothing. "Can't sleep?""Never could." Xander joined her, looking out at the Void's perpetual twilight. "You?""Gave up trying years ago."
Last Updated: 2026-02-03
Chapter: Chapter 4Dawn didn't exist in the Void. Only the shift from absolute darkness to toxic twilight,greenish light filtering through chemical clouds.Xander woke up to Veyra shaking his shoulder. "Gear up. Hunt leaves at ten."His body screamed in protest. Every muscle ached from yesterday's fight. The wound in his side throbbed beneath fresh bandages. But he stood, tested his bracers. The copper wire responded instantly, flowing around his forearms like liquid metal.The hunting party gathered in the Rust Haven's armory,eight Exiles including Xander. Garreth stood at the center, his staff planted like a war banner."The Broodmother nested in the eastern ravines, three miles from here." He traced a route on a salvaged map. "She's been spawning wraiths for months. Every one we kill, she births two more. We end her, we cripple the wraith population in this sector."Kael checked his daggers. "Broodmothers are Alpha-class. Intelligent, adaptive. She'll have guardians.""Which is why we're bringin
Last Updated: 2026-02-03
Chapter: Chapter 3. THE TRIALThe girl's name was Mira. She clutched a torn photograph,family faces fading under her trembling fingers."They said I stole medicine for my brother." Her voice cracked. "I just wanted to help him."Veyra pressed water into her hands. "Everyone up there is dead to you now. Accept it or die."Xander's bracers pulsed warm against his skin. Wrong. The past wasn't dead. It was fuel."Can she forge a Remnant?" Xander asked."Maybe. First, we take her to the Council." Veyra moved to the entrance. "They decide if she joins or...""Or what?"Veyra didn't answer.They climbed a mountain of compressed vehicles. At the summit, Xander saw it,a massive cargo ship half-buried in the Void's wall. The Rust Haven. Platforms jutted from broken windows. Rope bridges connected wreckage to trash mountains. Firelight flickered inside."Home." Veyra said.They crossed a chain-link bridge. Below, chemical sludge glowed yellow. Guards met them,a man with a crystallized smoke arm, a woman with electric
Last Updated: 2026-02-03
