The Ashen Weft
In a world where hair is magic, beauty, and power, Mal was born with none.
He is a "Smudge", ugly, hairless, and worthless, a servant in a holy utopia that promises spiritual perfection. But the Gilded Garden is a lie. It is not a sanctuary; it is a "hair farm," harvesting the magical hair of its "blessed" women to fuel the brutal, all-powerful Hegemony.
When Mal discovers the horrific truth, his escape ends in failure. He is caught. He is executed by a high-ranking Justicar wielding a blade woven from stolen magic.
But the killing blow is too precise.
Instead of dying, Mal's Lifeforce is set to zero, leaving him neither alive nor dead. He becomes an ashen, immortal ghost, a creature who cannot be harmed and who can pass through the world unseen.
He has lost everything, but he has just discovered a new, cold power: the ability to devour the "dead" magical essence the empire discards.
They took his life. They took his world. Now, the ugliest, most powerless man in the empire will become the terrifying, unseen force that tears it all down, one stolen strand at a time.