Novels by Shuaib Balikis

The cold hit me like a wall the moment we stepped off the transport ship. It was not the familiar mountain cold I had grown up with. This was something deeper, something that seeped through my coat and into my bones like icy water.Valerie pulled her hood tighter around her face. "The collapse of the sacrificial machines has triggered an artificial ice age. The automated heat generators that used to keep this continent warm are all dead."I looked out at the frozen wasteland stretching before us. The sky was a pale grey, heavy with clouds that promised more snow. The ground was covered in a thick layer of ice, cracked and uneven. In the distance, I could see the remains of what had once been a city, its towers now just jagged spires of frozen stone.Tomas, the young messenger boy, stood beside me, his thin coat doing little to protect him from the biting wind. "This is the edge of my village," he said, his voice trembling. "We used to have fields here. Crops. No

The fire crackled softly in the hearth, casting warm shadows across the wooden walls of the cottage. I sat at the table, my hands wrapped around a chipped ceramic mug, watching the steam rise from the hot tea inside. The smell of roasted root vegetables filled the small room, mixing with the scent of pine and wood smoke.It was strange, sitting here. Strange and wonderful and terrifying all at once.Two months had passed since we destroyed the core. Two months since the foreign fleets retreated and the green shield went up across the sky. Two months since the world had changed forever.My mother was at the stove, stirring a pot of stew with a wooden spoon. Her hair was streaked with grey now, and there were lines around her eyes that had not been there before. But she was alive. She was home.My father sat across from me at the table, his hands resting on the worn oak surface. He was older too, his face weathered by years of hard labor and harder choices.

The sound of Kenneth's body hitting the stone floor echoed through the room like a thunderclap.I stood there, my fist still clenched, my breath coming in short sharp bursts. The master override key was no longer in his hand. It had slipped from his fingers when I struck him, spinning through the air before clattering against the floor. The golden light flickered once, twice, and then the key shattered into a dozen pieces, scattering across the stone like broken glass.Valerie moved fast. She dropped to her knees and gathered the fragments in her hands, her fingers working quickly to arrange them on the floor. "The key is broken, but the energy is still active. I can use the residual power to jumpstart the planetary entity's natural defensive shields."Kenneth pushed himself up on his elbows, blood still dripping from his lip. "That is not possible. The shields were designed to be activated only by the core. Without the key, they cannot function."Valerie

The golden light from the override key faded, and the foreign fleets disappeared over the horizon. The silence that followed was heavy, filled with unspoken questions. I looked at Master Kenneth, standing there in his dark scholar's cloak, the key still glowing faintly in his hand."Soren," he said, his voice soft but steady. "We need to talk about what comes next."I lowered my black blade. "What comes next is we rebuild. We help the people who survived. We start over."Kenneth shook his head slowly. "It is not that simple. The foreign fleets are retreating now, but they will return. They will regroup and come back stronger. The only way to ensure lasting peace is to use the override key to destroy them permanently. To wipe their fleets from the sky."I stared at him. "You want to destroy them? All of them?""I want to protect this continent," he said. "The key gives us that power. With it, you could rule as a god. You could reshape the world in y

The elevator shaft was dark and cold, but we did not have time to wait for a platform. I grabbed the iron chains running along the wall and started climbing, my boots scraping against the stone. Valerie followed close behind, her gauntlet glowing just enough to light our way. Clara came last, the baby strapped tight against her chest."Faster!" I shouted, pulling myself up hand over hand. "We do not have much time!"The shaft shook with each distant impact. The bombardment was getting closer. I could feel the tremors running through the stone, small at first, then stronger. The foreign fleets were tearing the continent apart.We reached the top of the shaft and pushed open the hatch. The throne room was still there, empty and silent, the frozen nobles gone. The golden cables were just dust on the floor. But the ceiling was cracking, chunks of stone falling around us."The control deck is this way," Valerie said, running toward a side door I had not notice

The dragon's chest core was cracked, but the beast was not dead yet. Its mechanical eyes flickered with dying light, and its massive body twitched on the floor. The High Priest lay motionless nearby, thrown from his perch when the dragon collapsed.I stood on the dragon's chest, my black blade still embedded in the core. The locket was in my hand, the portrait of my mother staring up at me. But I did not have time to look at it. The dragon was not finished."Soren, get off the dragon!" Valerie shouted. "It is still active!"The dragon's tail moved. It lifted off the floor, slow and heavy, but it moved. The capture net launcher at the tip of the tail was still intact. It fired again, shooting another energy net straight at Valerie.She did not panic. She did not scream. She just reached into her coat and pulled out her entire supply of volatile salt vials. She threw them directly into the dragon's open furnace intake, the same intake that had been trying t

The Void Prime rose from the forge like a wound in reality.It had no face. No body. No shape that made sense to human eyes. It was just hunger. Absolute and endless. It reached out with invisible tendrils, pulling the light from the chamber. The stars above us flickered and died. The ground beneath us cracked and crumbled. The air itself began to dissolve."Everyone, fall back!" I shouted. "Get to the surface! Protect the refugees!"Kenji grabbed my arm. His grip was strong. His eyes were fierce. "Soren, what are you going to do?"I looked at the Void Prime. At the hunger that threatened to consume everything we had fought to protect. At the darkness that was swallowing the stars."I am going to stop it," I said."You cannot fight that thing alone!" Kenji shouted. His voice was raw with fear. He had seen me face impossible odds before. But this was different. This was something beyond anything we had ever faced.I turned to him. I pl

The Zero Script crumbled beneath my blade.The scroll turned to ash, its dark words dissolving into the air like smoke. For a moment, I thought we had won. The forge fell silent. The runes on the walls stopped glowing. The chamber was still.Then the ground shook.A deep, rumbling vibration traveled up through my boots and into my chest. The walls began to crack. The ceiling began to crumble. The forge at the center of the chamber flared to life, its ancient mechanisms groaning as they turned."Soren!" Kenji shouted. "Look!"I turned. A figure stood at the edge of the chamber, emerging from the shadows. Tall. Thin. His face was sharp and angular, his eyes burning with cold, blue fire. He wore robes of black silk, their surfaces covered in runes that pulsed with hungry light."High Inquisitor Vane," I said.He smiled. It was a terrible thing to see. His teeth were too sharp. His eyes were too bright. He looked like a man who had long a

The entrance to the labyrinth was hidden beneath a collapsed cliff.We found it after hours of searching. The refugees had drawn us a map in the dirt, their trembling fingers tracing the path to the heart of the darkness. They had warned us about the null sentinels. About the traps. About the hunger that waited at the center."We will be back," I told them. "I promise."The boy who had recognized my light looked up at me. His eyes were still hollow. But there was something else there now. Hope."Come back," he said. "Please."I nodded. Then I turned and walked into the darkness.The labyrinth was old.Older than anything we had ever seen. The walls were carved from black stone, their surfaces covered in runes that predated Vaelen's clock. The air was thick and heavy, filled with the smell of ancient dust and forgotten power."These runes are different," Kenji said, his violet light casting strange shadows on the walls. "They ar

The compass led us through the sky-sea for three weeks.We passed through regions of space that had never been mapped. Stars that had never been named. Worlds that had never been touched by the old scripts or the new freedom. It was beautiful. Quiet. Peaceful.Then the stars began to die.I noticed it first. A dimming on the horizon. A fading of light that should have been bright. The stars in this sector were not burning. They were flickering. Dying."Something is wrong," I said, standing at the prow of the flagship. "The stars are fading."Lyra walked up beside me, her grey eyes scanning the darkness. "I have never seen anything like this. Stars do not just fade. They burn for millions of years.""Unless something is making them die," Kenji said, his voice low.We sailed deeper into the sector. The dying stars grew more numerous. The darkness grew thicker. And then we saw it.A planet. Desolate. Grey. Its surface was covered

The celebration lasted for three days.Oakhaven was filled with music and laughter. The villagers danced in the streets. The soldiers shared stories of their battles. The allied fleets anchored in the sky-sea, their lights twinkling like a second canopy of stars.But I could not stop thinking about what came next.The war was over. The void was sealed. The prophecy was broken. But the future was still unwritten. And that meant there was still work to do.I stood on the central platform, looking out at the sky-sea. The endless horizon stretched before me, filled with countless worlds. Each one was free now. Each one was finding its own path.But freedom was not easy. It was fragile. It needed protection. It needed guidance. It needed people who would fight for it."Lost in thought again?"I turned. Lyra was walking up the platform, her silver wires coiled around her arms. Her grey eyes were soft. Understanding."Just thinking ab

The chamber was collapsing.I could feel it in my bones. The Crown of the Primordials was breaking apart, its ancient structure unable to withstand the void backlash. Towers crumbled. Platforms shattered. The ground beneath us cracked and split."Soren!" Lyra shouted, her voice barely audible over the roaring chaos. "The entire Crown is coming down! We need to leave!"I looked at the collapsing structure. At the void-light pulsing through the cracks. At the energy that was building, ready to explode outward and consume everything."If we leave," I said, "the collapse will spread. It will drag all five realms into the void. Everything we fought for will be destroyed."Kenji stepped up beside me. His violet eyes met mine."What do you need?" he asked.I looked at the center of the chamber. At the heart of the Crown. The source of the collapse."We need to redirect the energy," I said. "We need to channel the collapse into somethi