Heros Utopia Part 1

Fifty years ago a hero went rogue and killed ninety percent of his kind. The people turned on the rest. When the dust settled and the bodies were counted, the Khan Empire made a decision - militarize the survivors before the public finished the job. Now heroes serve the empire or they disappear.

Cael Dross has no powers, no military standing, and a hand-drawn blueprint for a robotic suit hidden inside a school textbook. He wants to be a hero anyway.

Then some kids put a crushed mysterious stone in his lunch as a prank. Then his best friend turns out to be Shift - one of the empire's most recognized heroes - and everything Cael thought he understood about his own life turns out to be a fraction of what was actually going on.

The strange dreams started that same night. Then the healing. Then the feeling that something behind his eyes is paying attention in a way that isn't entirely his.

He doesn't know what bonded to him. Nobody does. But the empire is heading to war, a cult that was supposed to be destroyed fifty years ago is moving again, and whatever Cael is carrying isn't nothing.

He just doesn't know what it is yet.
(cover is AI art. best i can do)