In the shadows of Gotham, where corruption festers deeper than any headline can expose, Leila Hadid fights two battles: one with the ghosts of her past, and one with the city that refuses to change. By day, she's an investigative journalist - fearless, relentless, chasing down the masked vigilantes that Gotham mythologizes. By night, she is something else entirely: an unstoppable force wrapped in scarlet, wielding psychic powers and lethal skill born from a life she thought she left behind in Egypt.
When Leila sets her sights on the city's golden boy, Nightwing, she believes he's just another secret waiting to be exposed. But one fateful night, hidden in the steel bones of Gotham's skyline, she captures the impossible - a photograph of Nightwing unmasked: Dick Grayson.
It should have been the story of her career.
Instead, it marks the beginning of something far more dangerous - a slow-burning collision between two lost souls, a conspiracy that could bring Gotham to its knees, and a choice that will force Leila to decide:
Stay hidden in the shadows - or step into the light, and change the city forever.
Because in Gotham, heroes and monsters often look the same.
And Leila Hadid was trained to be the deadliest of both.
*please read it's really good π
A star-faring religious cult has created an army of robotic zealots designed to follow holy scripture. As the robotic menace spreads across the galaxy, it takes prisoners to be 'excommunicated': hooked into a neural simulation of eternal torment.
Captain Rolland Barron leads the Sol Federation Starship Excalibur on a diplomatic mission. Cassia LaCroix is a wormhole hunter, earning a living scouring the galaxy for valuable tunnels through space-time. Prince Zoojin, a psychic alien from a distant galaxy, must prove himself worthy of the throne of Paxis Prime. The paths of these characters converge as they pursue their own motives, leading them towards the mechanical legion that is sweeping across the galaxy.
COVER BY: rentachi
AUTHOR'S NOTE: this is an early draft of the novel. I am very grateful for your readership and your feedback, which I have taken into consideration for a major rewrite. The new novel is completely different. If you liked the book, then please look forward to the release of the finished novel.