The Phoenix

The United States as known has been obliterated, now an enormous, dark city that stretches from coast to coast. In order to eliminate the poor populations, the States have manufactured a plague meant to lure the destitute to the fate mountains upon mountains of others have faced: death.

Because of the Rave, the Sun has shied from the country, leaving Aeron Smith, founder of Smith Industries, to manufacture artificial sunlight for the wealthy, thus plunging the poor into a haze of smoke and candlelight.

In the darkness, the poor struggle through the smog, while the Rave leers over their shoulders, breathing down unshaven necks and presiding over dinners with empty plates. Yet, from the ashes littering the unpaved streets, a Phoenix is rising, bringing the flame of the rebellion with it. Its own light illuminates the cobweb-covered buildings, and feeds the starving with the hope of a sunlit future...

Yet, somehow, the fate of the destitute falls onto Aeron Smith's own son. Titus Smith's past is littered with good grades and military awards, all to win his wealthy father's favor. Yet when his only ray of hope is lost in the crocodile tears and fake well-wishes of the rich, Titus is launched into a position he never would've wanted- and uncovers a dark truth far deadlier than the Rave itself.