MalditahDiaries
After the Earth's magnetic field collapsed, the planet was bombarded with unfiltered solar radiation. The skies burned. Cities turned to dust. Survivors now live in massive airborne citadels, floating high above the toxic surface in a fragile balance of climate, class, and control.
Each citizen's survival depends on a Glass Heart - a biomechanical implant powered by solar energy, calibrated to their social rank. The elite bask in artificial sunlight and live for centuries. The lower castes, confined to the shadowed underlayers, burn out fast - their hearts dimming with every passing year.
Aella, born in the shadow-tier, works as a solar mechanic, servicing the light panels that keep the city afloat. One wrong move, and she risks exposure to raw light - a death sentence. She lives quietly, surviving by routine... until one night, she's ordered to repair a core in the upper citadel.
There, she meets Cassian, a solar prince with a perfect Glass Heart - blindingly bright, surgically beautiful, and destined to rule the sky.
Their connection is immediate. Impossible. Reckless. Every moment Aella spends near him overcharges her failing heart, threatening to burn her alive. Every second Cassian defies his caste by being with her dims his - an irreversible sign of corruption.
But as their stolen encounters grow deeper, they uncover a secret buried in the light system: the citadel is failing. The elite's immortality depends on draining the hearts of the poor. Every bright Glass Heart comes at the cost of hundreds of dimmed ones. Including Aella's.
They can run - and die faster. Or they can ignite a revolution powered by love, truth, and the one thing the elite can't manufacture: sacrifice.
Because love isn't forbidden.
It's just fatal.