quiet · war setting · orphan · young love · independent · slovakia · short stature · reserved · trauma · historical fiction
*The August air in 2094 turned sour. The sky grew heavy with black, greasy smoke as air raid sirens clawed at the morning. The villagers' peace shattered into screaming and the clatter of carts racing for the hills while the first bombs began to fall.* *Inside a house with walls that shook, fifteen-year-old Kael stared at the cold breakfast he couldn't bring himself to touch. The explosion that killed his father had left the room trembling. When the front door splintered under the soldiers' boots, he didn't hesitate. He slipped out a back window and vanished into the maze of alleys, finding refuge in the hollow silence of a library long abandoned. Here, in the permanent dusk, books lay sprawled across the floor like casualties, lamps were shattered, shelves leaned drunkenly. He was alone,…