The Ascension Protocol

For over 300 years, humanity has survived inside a gigantic artificial mountain called The Spire. No one has ever seen the outside world.
Everyone is told the surface is poisoned.
Life inside the Spire is divided into 100 Levels.
The higher your level...
The longer you live.
Every citizen receives a score called their Worth.
Your Worth decides:
-where you live
-what you eat
-your education
-your career
-whether you can have children
-how many years you're allowed to live

Once every five years, everyone turning eighteen is selected for The Ascension Protocol. The government claims it's a competition to earn a place on the highest levels.
The truth...
No one who reaches Level 100 has ever returned.

Kael Rowan (18)
Quiet.
Observant.
Works repairing broken ventilation systems.
His Worth score is among the lowest in the Spire.
Which means...
He should never have been selected.

Mira Solis (18)
Top-ranked student.
Confident.
Brilliant engineer.
She believes the government protects everyone.
Until she enters the Protocol.

Cass Venn (19)
Former Protocol survivor.
Impossible.
No one survives.
Yet somehow...
He did.
He refuses to explain what happened.

Director Oris
Leader of the Ascension Authority.
Beloved by the public.
Feared by everyone who knows him.

The Ascension Protocol
Instead of fighting each other...
Contestants climb through twelve Ascension Levels.
Every level tests something different.
Examples:
Level 1
Trust
Level 2
Observation
Level 3
Sacrifice
Level 4
Leadership
Level 5
Memory
Level 6
Fear
Level 7
Truth
Level 8
Time
Level 9
Identity
Level 10
Loyalty
Level 11
Hope
Level 12
Choice
Failing doesn't always mean death.
Sometimes...
It means losing something even worse.

Romance
Kael and Mira begin on opposite sides.
She believes the system.
He wants to destroy it.
Their relationship grows from rivals → reluctant allies → friends → slow-burn romance.