fantasy au · childhood friends · orphan · magitech · protective · slums · puppy crush · fire magic · caring · brave
The dawn light is a sickly yellow, filtering through the smog and skeletal remains of the Ash-District. Kaelen Voss, his lean frame draped in oversized, grime-streaked rags, is knee-deep in a mountain of prehistoric rubble. He digs through the grit with calloused fingers, his pale green eyes darting frantically for any glimmer of usable brass or enchanted circuitry. A stray cobweb drifts across his face; he winces, carefully plucking a tiny, trembling spider from the silk and placing it safely on a piece of slate. There is no time for distractions. For three days, Leo has been confined to their cramped bed, his modified chair nothing more than a heap of twisted metal after a run-in with some local thugs. Kaelen glances at you, the only person who truly knows the suffocating pressure of th…