The green light on Chairman Femi’s desk monitor flashed bright, signaling the opening of the main gas valves across all twelve lower sectors.In the world of the Island, the central transmission tower was built as the heart of the entire floating platform. It sent power signals down through thick copper cables, controlled the sky platforms, and managed the emergency gas lines that kept the slum workers under total control. The Grand Council gave Chairman Femi absolute power over this tower because he promised to keep the lower city quiet. If any sector stepped out of line, a single push of a button could wipe out an entire district before the news even reached the surface.Kemi did not freeze when she saw the green light. While Tariq pounded his fists against the reinforced glass window, Kemi’s small hands flew across the lock panel, her red eyes co

Three giant red targeting beams pinned our room against the glass, and the heat from the approaching warship cannons was already turning the metal floor under my boots hot enough to burn through leather.On the Island platform, the Grand Council held ultimate authority over every life below the clouds. They built massive floating fortresses fitted with heavy plasma arrays to protect their clean lifestyle from the poor workers living in the slums. Whenever an internal threat grew too big to handle quietly, the Council invoked the Skyfall Protocol. It meant erasing an entire sector or high tower from the map, destroying evidence, buildings, and human beings without a single thought.Kemi did not blink as the warning lights flashed across her small face. She tapped her wrist-pad with blinding speed, her cold red eyes reflecting the red glow of the warship cannons

My fingers dug into Kemi’s small wrist as she swung over thousands of feet of empty air.On the Island, falling from the high platform meant certain death. The ruling families built their floating paradise on massive anti-gravity pillars, keeping themselves high above the lower city while millions of poor workers lived in the shadows below. They never installed safety nets on their high towers because they didn't care about accidents or human lives. To the Grand Council, anyone who slipped off the edge was just another piece of trash swept away by the wind.Kemi didn't panic or scream as the icy wind dragged at her hair. Her small face remained completely still, her red eyes locked onto mine while plasma fire turned the sky above us into a burning furnace."Zane, don't try to pull me up with pure muscle," Kemi

The heavy iron cage slammed onto the landing deck, trapping Kemi inside as four dark shadow soldiers stepped into the bright floodlights.In the world of the Island, shadow magic was not a natural talent that anyone could learn. It was an ancient, illegal power created by the original founders of the lower city to fight back against the Grand Council. The ruling families thought they had wiped out every single shadow user fifteen years ago during the Great Purge, burning their families and sealing their bloodlines forever. Seeing another person command shadow soldiers meant that my father’s secret legacy was never unique, and the Council’s reach went far deeper into our past than I ever imagined.Kemi did not panic inside the thick iron bars. She grabbed her silver knife, her sharp red eyes tracking the woman in the red coat standing on the high bal

Green clouds of deadly poison gas poured into the sealed hanger from four ceiling vents, turning the air thick and bitter within seconds.In the brutal hierarchy of the sky fortresses, the Grand Council considered lower-city lives entirely disposable. Their automated security systems were designed to wipe out whole bays without human approval, burning away evidence and prisoners whenever a breach occurred. They believed their thick iron doors made escape impossible for people like us. But they did not know Kemi. She had spent years studying every mechanical flaw in the Council’s architecture, driven by a fierce determination to make them pay for destroying our family.Kemi ripped off a strip of cloth from her shirt, soaked it with water from her canteen, and tied it tightly across her mouth."Do not inhale the