Word Count: 98993
Summary: Several hundred years after the Great Dying, a whole new way of organizing society has come about. There are no cages. What long ago were considered gender relations no longer are done in the same way. A gender binary doesn’t exist. People are free. Then, comes a hunger for power. And freedom is lost. Again. Four major struggles set the scene as we meet Makk, a sixteen-year-old about to transition into adulthood. Now that Alvás is coming to an end, Makk and their fellow sixteen-year-olds embark on a long, dangerous journey to fetch water as a sacred rite of passage meant for self-discovery. But the scorching sun makes it unsafe to do anything during the day. So, for centuries, humans have turned to nocturnal ways of life. And the younguns must rely on each other to navigate the night. All the while, unable to telepathically mindspeak like the rest, Makk is marginalized by their peers and feels utterly alone. Until they meets Takver, a stranger from a shared past. Life seems to be improving for Makk. But, seemingly isolated raids by marauders—Kidnappers and pillagers of entire encampments. Murderers. Rapists.— not only threaten the vulnerable waterfetchers and the entire Átmeneti people but force Makk and Takver into hiding. While contemplating their past and future, together, Makk and Takver unexpectedly unearth a long-dormant technology that allows them to connect with ancestors and descendants across space-time. But soon they realize that the delicate balance of the present-past-future relies heavily on finding the missing journals of loved ones that they never knew existed. Makk will do whatever is necessary to reunite with their people and fight to maintain their way of life, even if it means putting their ancestors in the path of danger.
