summerduck
"When I burn my own shadow, the world remembers me - even if I forget myself."
In the fog-wrapped port city of Elmsworth, neon lights can't reach the darkness beneath a boy's feet.
Leon Colyn, 16, broke student and part-time fry-cook, carries an empty pocket - and a shadow that hides an entire abyss.
One back-alley beating later, his shadow stands up for the first time, shredding the attackers' minds and shredding his ordinary life along with them.
The Order of Aether, the Ember Pool, the dark-energy tide - colossal forces surface one by one.
Emotions can be devoured, memories clipped and re-spliced, shadows forged into the sharpest weapons.
Leon is forced onto a one-way road: trade shadow for power, and lose a piece of "self" every time he burns.
Enter Su Wan, an observer from the Order, who offers him a cup of hot cocoa and a merciless contract:
"Three days - master your shadow, or be mastered by it."
The countdown begins.
Old-theatre rooftops, abandoned subway tunnels, a violet-sloped ritual of fire and ears - each battle erases his past yet lights up the city's darkness.
When the last inch of shadow burns away, will he still remember why he fights?
Inside you'll find:
β Slow-burn, cinematic urban-fantasy with a full cast to love and lose
β Shadow-combat scenes story-boarded like film frames
β Youth, revenge, protection and self-redemption, all woven together
β A ruthless tug-of-war between light and dark - and the grey tenderness in between
"Don't be afraid. I remember you - even if the whole world forgets."
Open Shadow Ember and watch a boy light up the entire fog-port with the final ember left in his abyss.