Chapter 1

In the rust-stained port city of Vareen, twelve-year-old orphan Kalen survives among the corroded trams, toxic canals, and crumbling brutalist towers that groan with the echoes of lost industry. When he uncovers a sleeping machine buried beneath the harbor-a creation tied to his mother's past-the city awakens with a mind of its own. As rustwater floods the streets and old gods of metal and memory stir, Kalen must decide whether to destroy the only place he's ever known or become part of its rebirth.