by Frednando
Clay’s world is one of ruin and revenge. Haunted by past betrayals, he moves through a shattered Earth, determined to confront those who wronged him. On his path, he encounters Velt, a determined escort, and Faith, a mysterious young girl with extraordinary abilities tied to an artifact of immense power. Velt is tasked with keeping Faith safe, and Clay reluctantly joins their journey toward Lantern City, a distant metropolis ruled by Malrek, a man obsessed with control and the secrets of the Infinity Pool—a source of untold power that Faith must reach and Clay seeks to confront.The road is dangerous, and tragedy strikes early: Velt dies, leaving Clay and Faith to navigate the world alone. Their journey deepens when they meet Eda, a battle-hardened super-soldier who survived the original Kinikoti alien invasion, a war that reshaped Earth and nearly destroyed humanity. Eda guides them, revealing fragments of a world they never fully understood, including the devastating consequences of human betrayal. Among those betrayals is the Cobra, once part of Eda’s team, who sold humanity out to the Kinikoti. This treachery forced Seshat, an AI built to end the war, to release a virus that devastated both humans and Kinikoti, sending the world back to a Stone Age–like reset. The Cobra stands as a living reminder of ambition, betrayal, and the heavy cost of survival.As Clay and Faith push toward Lantern City, the stakes become intensely personal. Malrek’s obsession with controlling Faith and the Infinity Pool brings them into direct conflict with a man willing to manipulate, destroy, and dominate to achieve his goals. Along the way, Clay and Faith begin to uncover the full scale of the alien invasion and its aftermath—the war that destroyed civilizations, the AI that intervened to stop it, and the virus that reset the world. Every step forces them to confront the past and the consequences of choices made thousands of years ago.By the time they reach Lantern City, Clay, Faith, and Eda are irrevocably changed. They have endured loss, witnessed betrayal, and confronted truths about humanity, the alien invaders, and the AI that once sought to protect them. Their journey is one of survival, vengeance, and discovery—a race to finish what the past started and to face a world that has been forced to begin again.
