*“The scarlet tattoo marked him as one who had never been born. It marked him as a Second.”*
In the age of inventors, Seconds are beings that were never meant to exist. Split personalities with their own thoughts, feelings, and bodies, separate from those who spawned them, Seconds are seen as a nuisance in the mechanized city of St. Laran.
Eighteen-year-old heiress Tide Yondo has never met a Second. Sheltered at the top of the city’s highest apartment complex under the watchful eye of her father’s lawyer, she frequently sneaks out to moonlight as a scrap climber, fulfilling ruin-exploration quests in the wasteland beyond the city walls.
On the day of her huntress licensing test, Tide meets her first Second. Contrary to the ‘despair in a suit of flesh’ her friends warned her about, Rye is fun, cute, and seems as solid as any other person, except for the red tattoo on his neck marking him as one who shouldn’t exist.
As Tide and Rye’s fast friendship over their love of scrap climbing begins to blossom into forbidden feelings, they start to question their chance meeting. Tide experiences blackouts and claims to be pursued by a serpentine demon. Rye feels a strange familiarity with Tide, as if he knew her before being split from his primary personality. Meanwhile, outside forces seem determined to drive them apart.
Through steam-filled ruins and dangerous hunts, Tide and Rye slowly piece together their fractured pasts, working together to uncover the secrets of the soul.
Description:
*“The scarlet tattoo marked him as one who had never been born. It marked him as a Second.”* In the age of inventors, Seconds are beings that were never meant to exist. Split personalities with their own thoughts, feelings, and bodies, separate from those who spawned them, Seconds are seen as a nuisance in the mechanized city of St. Laran. Eighteen-year-old heiress Tide Yondo has never met a Second. Sheltered at the top of the city’s highest apartment complex under the watchful eye of her father’s lawyer, she frequently sneaks out to moonlight as a scrap climber, fulfilling ruin-exploration quests in the wasteland beyond the city walls. On the day of her huntress licensing test, Tide meets her first Second. Contrary to the ‘despair in a suit of flesh’ her friends warned her about, Rye is fun, cute, and seems as solid as any other person, except for the red tattoo on his neck marking him as one who shouldn’t exist. As Tide and Rye’s fast friendship over their love of scrap climbing begins to blossom into forbidden feelings, they start to question their chance meeting. Tide experiences blackouts and claims to be pursued by a serpentine demon. Rye feels a strange familiarity with Tide, as if he knew her before being split from his primary personality. Meanwhile, outside forces seem determined to drive them apart. Through steam-filled ruins and dangerous hunts, Tide and Rye slowly piece together their fractured pasts, working together to uncover the secrets of the soul.