The sky split open with a sound like tearing metal as forty tons of bone and scales crashed directly through the high marble roof.Giant stone blocks and shattered glass rained down into the grand plaza below, crushing four palace guards instantly and sending hundreds of fleeing citizens diving into the dirt for cover. A thick cloud of white dust rolled across the courtyard, blinding everyone in its path as a deafening screech shook the very foundations of the city.Through the falling dust and swirling smoke, a massive creature pulled itself onto the broken edge of the temple wall. It was a giant white dragon, but its scales were unnatural, pale as bleached bone, and glowing with an eerie, sickly red light around its chest joints. Long silver needles protruded from its thick neck where liquid tubes had been fused directly into its spine.It is the clone, Kassia screamed, shielding her eyes with her arm as a wave of hot air swept across the plaza. The white dragon clone

The city of Solis was no longer an empire of order, it was a inferno of screaming steel and crashing stone.Thick black smoke poured from the high temple roof, turning the pale night sky into a dark blanket of ash. Down in the narrow stone avenues, thousands of armed citizens armed with iron hammers, butcher knives, and stolen spears joined Prince Kaelen’s navy guards as they smashed through the imperial barricades.Down with the Sun Order, a shoemaker screamed, driving a heavy iron bar into the wooden shield of an imperial sun guard. They fed our children to the arena beasts.Push them back to the lower gates, Prince Kaelen shouted, his navy cloak flying behind him as he parried a sharp thrust from a solar spear. Do not let the imperial guards regroup.Logan, Vivienne, Kassia, and Brandon sprinted down the winding steps of the grand avenue, their boots stepping over shattered glass, dropped torches, and broken brass shields. All around them, the people of Solis were

The sky went dead black as the moon aligned perfectly over the northern coast, and that pitch dark shadow was the exact catalyst Vivienne needed to shatter the sky.A loud, metallic roar echoed through the rocky cove as a second white clone, even larger than the first, dragged its massive stone-plated body along the jagged cliff path. The artificial beast possessed four glowing red eyes, and three thick rows of synthetic runes burned brightly along its spine, humming with a harsh energy that vibrated the sea rocks beneath their boots.It is blocking the tunnel mouth, Kassia shouted, her fingers slipping slightly on her bowstring as cold rain began to pour down from the dark eclipse sky. My arrows are bouncing right off its shoulder plates.That is not real dragon armor, Brandon warned from behind a heavy boulder, his raspy voice cutting through the rising wind. Those are synthetic spell runes carved into ironwood plates. They draw raw magic directly from the surrounding

The smoke over Solis began to clear, but the fires of a new world were just beginning to catch the desert wind.Prince Kaelen stood at the high marble balustrade of the city plaza, his dark navy tunic torn and covered in gray soot. Below him, thousands of citizens, former slaves, and navy guards stood in silence, their weapons held low as three loud trumpets sounded across the stone avenues.People of the Sun-Kin Dominion, Kaelen shouted, his voice echoing off the high stone arches with absolute authority. High Priest Harek is dead. The corrupt council has fallen. My father, who traded our honor to western tyrants, has fled into the dark sea like a thief in the night.A low, rumbling cheer started in the lower market and rapidly built into a deafening roar that shook the city walls.As of this hour, I declare a total ceasefire across all provinces, Kaelen announced, raising his right hand to quiet the massive crowd. No more arena executions. No more hunting foreign t

The cold sea wind howled across the wooden deck, but inside the narrow rear cabin, the sound of Brandon’s shallow breathing was far more frightening than the storm.The fast sun-ship rocked gently over the rolling northern waves as the thermal engine below hummed a low, steady thrum. Inside the dimly lit cabin, Brandon lay propped up against two thick woolen blankets, his face ash white and his dark lips trembling as he fought for every single breath.Father, drink a little water, Logan said softly, kneeling beside the small wooden cot and holding a tin cup to the old man’s lips.Brandon shook his head weakly, pushing the water away with a frail, trembling hand that had almost no strength left in it. The water cannot fix this, Logan, Brandon rasped out, his voice barely louder than a whisper. My body was broken in the Void Tower. The black-blood poison did its work months ago.Do not talk like that, Logan urged, his hand tightening around the wooden frame of the cot