ZaWritah
A skeleton sits at an ancient desk, fingers of bone wrapped around a quill that never runs dry. It inscribes the tales it perceives within its own marrow—stories etched into the calcium, whispered by the remnants of a soul that refuses to fade. No one knows who it was. No one asks. The stories are what matter. The Branded is one such tale.
30The Branded
Everyone fears the day their Brand appears. It starts as an itch. Then a burn. Then a mark — etched, permanent, and impossible to hide. Tetsutaya Awagami was nine the night the Registry came for his family. His brother stayed behind so Tetsutaya could escape into the shadows. Eight years la...
7The Seventh Researcher
Esther is ninety-three years old, and she's been carrying a secret for sixty-seven of them. On her deathbed, she tells her granddaughter the truth: before the Brands, before the Registry, before the world changed, there were seven researchers. A gate beneath a mountain. A vote that went six to...