Dreamer

Vahl An Louviel is the last of his line. A dying dynasty in a rapidly modernising world. Born into the Kozmos Empire's golden era, after its Unification and Reform, he should be poised to reclaim his family's former glory. Instead, his parents' sudden deaths have left him clinging to the edges of arcanist society, barely solvent and haunted by questions no one will answer. In a world where dreamless workers ride free trains to factory shifts and sip kelp soda in subsidized apartments, arcanists lock themselves in coffins to face the trials of the dreamscape. Survive, and claim the power to reshape reality. Fail, and something crawls into your skin, wearing your face while your body rots from within. Vahl has inherited the curse of dreams but not the knowledge to master them. As he fights to ascend through increasingly lethal trials, he'll discover that power comes at a price and that some conspiracies run deeper than blood, bone, or memory. Will he restore House Louviel, or become another name swallowed by the night?