Sixteen years before the events of New Rome Rising, a boy wakes in a gutter with no name, no memories, and one instinct.
Run.
He’s thirteen. Too young to fight. Too dangerous to be left alive.
The world around him is vanishing into the MetaVerses, leaving the streets to rot. Desperate to survive, he dives into a brutal underworld of street gangs, corrupt enforcers, and rogue hackers.
But something worse is waiting. A shadow lab that doesn’t just erase kids like him — it weaponizes them.
No matter how fast he runs, his past is closing in.
Because history can’t be discarded. Or deleted.
We don’t own it.
It owns us.
The explosive prequel to New Rome Rising — and the harrowing origin of Alex Snow.
“Dystopian thrill ride!” ★★★★★