by NEMI SHARMA
Until the Color Fades A Novel by Nemi Sharma Kai steals to keep his dying mother alive. One job goes wrong. A man named Hendricks offers him a devil's bargain: deliver a sealed case, untouched, and walk away with enough money to disappear. But the case cracks open on a mountain road, spilling a toxin built for soldiers who were never supposed to come back human. Kai doesn't die. He changes -- violet veins glowing beneath his skin, faster than human, less than himself. Hidden in a healer's home below the cliffs, nursed by Maya, a quiet alchemist who has no idea what she's keeping alive, Kai must decide what's worth fighting for when his own body is no longer fully his. This is not a story about becoming a hero. It's a story about how much of yourself you can lose before there's nothing left to save. If saving the people you love costs you the person you are -- do you still call it winning?
