The Blank Page

The Blank Page In Halloran, everyone is born with a Role. The Book writes it before you take your first breath. Baker. Guard. Seer. Healer. Your Role decides your power, your place, your entire life. Most people never question it. Most people never even wonder where it comes from. Ren Aether has no Role. The Book never registered him. To the Narrative, he doesn't exist. He's spent his whole life being treated like something broken, hiding powers he doesn't understand, powers that don't follow this world's rules. Then one night, he uses one of those powers to save a stranger's life. He severs the man's connection to his Role. Permanent. The man will never get it back. That single act puts Ren on a radar he never knew existed. There are people hunting for the Book that holds the Narrative's full authority — and the only way to reach it is through someone the system can't touch. Someone outside the rules. Someone like Ren. He doesn't know that yet. What he knows is that a notice has gone up with his description on it. Three strangers are staying at an inn near the north gate. One of them can't find his way anywhere anymore. And a street kid named Kite just told him the men who posted the notice aren't from this city. Ren has one person he cares about — his adopted sister Mira.