Child of Five

It is the year 2195. Over 150 years ago, an apocalyptic event devastated the earth.

What was left of civilization came together to form the Paxdiem Union of the Five Syndicates (or Paxdiem for short). The world is with limited technology and poverty is a lifestyle. Only a few live in luxury and know of leisure. However, despite the problems of this new world, there is peace. The simple life of many has brought a peace that was unheard of before the Event.

In addition to this newfound peace, within this world, children with powers have emerged. The powers range from the ability to increase crop yield to healing wounds to moving objects with one's mind to shapeshifting. For unknown reasons, the government has issued an order that the first-born child that shows signs of powers must enter into the Place. The Place was cruel yet it offered a chance to create a new life path of luxury and leisure for the children that passed the Challenges and live the Paxdiem Dream. If you survived that is.

Zoe is a powered child. She has a number of powers, but her strongest power is her most human: survival. She entered the Place once, but through her powers, survived. Not wanting a life of luxury and leisure, she escaped back to her family and vowed to never step near the Place ever again.

Zoe does not love many people and trusts even less. However, she would do anything for her family. And when her brother, the first-born son, turns eight and begins to show signs of his powers, she volunteers to go in his place. After all, she is eighteen and survival is her superpower.

But soon, Zoe finds things are not as they seem and her past, present, and future have been somehow entangled in what is known as the Place. Will Zoe finally embrace who she is and learn to trust (maybe even love?) someone outside of her family? Because Zoe will need more than her survival to get out of this one.