StromReborn

In the neon-lit ruins of Runehaven, humanity’s last city, Gates tear holes through reality — and from them spill monsters no one understands. To survive, Hunters wield rune magic fused with lost tech, battling back the endless tide.

Kael Thorn is no Hunter.
He’s just a 14-year-old orphan scraping by in the shadows of the undercity, hacking rune relics and dodging drones. His only treasure? A strange pendant left behind by the mother he never knew — a pendant that no one can decipher.

But when a new Gate opens and the pendant awakens, Kael does the impossible: he touches the core of the Gate and lives.

Now, the city’s strongest Hunters want him.
The Academy demands he join them.
Megacorps want him under their control.
And something ancient beyond the Gates has set its sights on him.

With enemies on all sides, Kael must rise — from street rat to Hunter, from outcast to legend — and uncover the truth of his Voidborne blood… before the Gates swallow the world.

Voidborne: Runehunter of Neon Gates

Kael Thorn crouched on a crumbling rooftop, the ruins of Old Avalon spread below like broken teeth. Neon smeared the sky—sickly green and bruised purple—reflecting in oily puddles far beneath. Somewhere down there, Hunters strode through streets in gleaming armor, laughing like kings.

Jagged scars in the night, pulsing with cold, hungry light. The newest one—fresh and weeping black mist—hung three streets over.

Kael's stomach twisted. Empty. Again. He'd only come to scavenge—maybe find a scrap of copper wire or a discarded protein bar. He'd *seen* the Gate crack open. Felt the air vibrate, the hair on his neck prickle. He should've run.

Now the Gate *pulled* at him. Like gravity. Like fate.

Tall. Wrong. All knife-edges and too-long limbs. Its face was a hollow bone mask, eyes burning with pale fire.

His foot slipped on loose rubble.

Down the side of the building, skin tearing on rusted rebar. Slammed into concrete. Breath punched out. Vision swimming.

Kael lay gasping. His mind screamed *MOVE!* His body didn't listen.

Silent as a grave, the beast stalked closer.

Kael's hand brushed something cold in the dirt.

Black metal. Warm to the touch. Etched with a single rune that glowed faint violet in the neon haze.

Lightning tore through his palm—fire and ice, eating him alive. He screamed.

The world snapped into sharp focus.

Kael rolled. Grabbed a rusted pipe. Scrambled up.

The pendant's light bathed him. The rune on his palm pulsed with his heartbeat. *Alive.*

Kael raised the pipe. Shaking. Defiant.

Above, the Gate crackled. City lights flickered.

And deep inside that swirling dark…

Something that *knew* the mark on Kael's skin.

Tonight, a boy with nothing claimed his first rune.

The Gates would never ignore him again.

Chapter 1 Ashes and Neon