Max_Valans
Magic woke in their blood, but love is the only thing keeping them alive.
When Lukas, Eliara, Cassian, Eira, and Tessa wake up to find their ash-choked mining town completely abandoned, their quiet lives are instantly reduced to a frantic run for survival. Hunted by the Ivory Chorus, the ruthless, bone-armored soldiers of the empire, they are forced into the frozen mountains with nothing but the clothes on their backs.
But they aren't just ordinary villagers. They bear the hidden, inked markings of the Kirilari, an ancient magic-wielding bloodline the empire wants to weaponize or destroy. And their volatile powers are violently waking up.
As the continent tears itself apart, survival means clinging to the ones they love most.
For Lukas and Eliara, the childhood friends who have always been the anchors of their makeshift family, the trauma of the escape pushes their unspoken, desperate yearning into the light. Lukas's new magic threatens to pull him into the dark, and Eliara will burn the world down to pull him back. In a world of nightmares, their love is the only reality they can trust.
For Cassian and Sara, it's a collision of broken pieces. Cassian is a haunted musician carrying the grief of a lost love, unwilling to let anyone else in. Sara is a runaway princess harboring dangerous secrets and a desperate desire to be seen for who she really is. Thrown together in freezing rivers, secret passages, and deadly ambushes, their fiery distrust slowly melts into a fierce, protective bond neither of them expected.
Separated by enemy forces and trapped in strange, magical dimensions, this found family must master the terrifying energy in their veins to find their way back to each other. Because they aren't just fighting for their lives. They're fighting for their hearts.