AFTERTASTE | Mikhaiah AU

AFTERTASTE

Twenty years ago, the world ended-not with a bang, but with a bloom.

Project BLOOM was humanity's last hope: a synthetic biotech meant to regrow organs, heal the sick, and revive the dying. But something went wrong. Instead of saving life, it twisted it. Nature mutated-forests overran cities, animals became monsters, and the infected evolved into something not quite human.

Civilization collapsed under vines and chaos. Governments fell. The old world drowned in rot and rebirth.

Now, only fragments remain.

The survivors split into factions-ruthless warlords, rogue scientists, Wildborn nomads, and those hiding behind poisoned city walls. Legends speak of one final place untouched by BLOOM: Sanctuary-hidden beyond the overgrown zones, rumored to hold a cure... or a weapon that could end everything.

And at the center of it all: Kai, a hardened lone wolf marked by betrayal, and Lira, a mysterious woman with half the map to Sanctuary etched into her skin.

They don't trust each other. They don't even want to.
But fate doesn't care what they want.

Hunted by warlords, creatures, and ghosts of their pasts, they'll bleed, fight, and burn their way toward a truth buried in ash.

Because in this world, survival is the first taste.
But the aftertaste? That's what kills.