Echoes of heart

Prologue

The year was 2157, and the world had changed completely. After many years of war, hunger, and disasters, the last surviving people formed a new society called The Dominion. They promised peace and safety, and they kept that promise—but it came with a heavy cost.

In The Dominion, love wasn't just risky—it was illegal.

Long ago, the leaders of The Dominion decided that emotions were the cause of all the world's problems.

Wars were fought because of passion, societies fell apart because of jealousy and hate, and the human race had almost destroyed itself in the search for love. So, they banned it. With advanced technology implanted in every person, feelings were controlled and muted until love became a distant memory.

Families weren't built out of love anymore. Instead, the Algorithm of Stability matched people based on how well they worked together to have children and contribute to society.

Children were raised in special centers, away from affection, and taught to only care about serving The Dominion. Love, hope, and desire—these feelings were dangerous and only spoken about in secret by a few brave rebels.

But deep beneath the city, a quiet resistance was growing. This underground group called themselves the Luminous.

They were determined to bring back emotions, especially love. For years, they moved in secret, slowly growing their numbers. They believed love was the key to saving humanity's spirit.

Among them was a young woman named Kaia, who didn't yet know that she would become the Luminous' greatest hope.

Kaia lived like everyone else in The Dominion—calm, efficient, and numb to feelings. But all of that changed when she met Ronan, a boy with a dangerous secret. Ronan had found a way to unlock the emotions the system had buried.

As Kaia and Ronan's lives intertwine, they start to rediscover feelings long forgotten—feelings that will shake The Dominion to its core. But love is powerful and uncontrollable, and Kaia will soon learn it is both beautiful and dangerous.

In a world that has forgotten how to feel, love might be the one thing that changes everything—or destroys it all.