Slumrat Rising

Seventeen-year-old Truth Medici scavenges for scraps, weathers his parents' abuse, and battles derelicts, killer pimps, and demons in the soul-crushing Harban slums. Just across the canal live the magical elite—wealth, flying carpets, gorgeous mages, and custom spell beasts—all thanks to the almighty Starbrite Corporation. Getting there, and taking his three vulnerable siblings with him, is Truth's only dream. When his performance on the Starbrite Aptitude Test surpasses all expectations, he is granted access to the System Astrologica. Spells, cultivation tonics, and real food seem limitless—but something more than power has been implanted in Truth, something beyond his control. He is not just fighting to escape the slums anymore. Now he is fighting the world itself.

Truth Medici still needs to rescue his siblings from the clutches of the Starbrite Corporation. When he meets Justinian Merkovah—a strangely ageless spellcaster, teacher of religious law, and nomadic exorcist—he accepts a gig as Merkovah's bodyguard, hoping to grow as a mage while ridding himself of the demonic System trapped inside him. Joined by two of Merkovah's enigmatic students, they journey through an ancient land where devils and angels lash out with fire and Old Testament devastation. Truth sees the world as it really is—hidden by Starbrite—and discovers that real magic is far more powerful and strange than he ever imagined. But the price for Merkovah's help may be more than Truth is willing to pay.

Truth Medici has learned that everywhere is a battlefield and everyone is both predator and prey. Now he is finally one of the bigger predators—so elite that ordinary people can no longer even see him. Resolved to wield his power toward a righteous end, he sets out to smash the System and fashion himself as a mastermind pulling the strings of rebellion. But uprisings and explosive anarchy are just the beginning. The rulers of Heaven and Hell are in on it too, their ancient animosity more nuanced than anyone dares believe—and Truth stands between them.

Cultivation has taken Truth Medici from desperate slumrat to burglar, mercenary, bodyguard, terrorist, and now revered prince of a hidden kingdom—immortal heir to a dynasty concealed for millennia. Pampered by succubae, demons, and sprites, he is ready to embody the might of his ancestors. But his lover is no longer by his side, and his brother Vig remains devoted heart and soul to smashing the System. With a vast nationalist uprising reaching its fiery peak, Truth must decide: what does he really want the end of the world to look like?

To really get his apocalypse rolling, Truth Medici must break the systems that keep the immortal Starbrite alive and shatter the source of his power. Invisible and impervious to magic, Truth is the one man capable of decapitating the mastermind behind the wicked system controlling his world. But to stop a soul-eater like Starbrite, Truth must first fill the souls of the soon-to-be-dead with the spirit of rebellion. Standing at the crossroads of his life, he must answer a hard question—who does he really want to be?—because the world will be forever changed by what he decides.

Truth knows everything about the mind-controlling Starbrite—except who it is, where it comes from, and where it is right now. Somewhere high above the calamity it has caused, Starbrite still reigns: unseeable, enigmatic, touching the world through the minds of its slaves. With a new team behind him and the ancient spymaster Merkovah lurking in the shadows after six hundred years of plotting, Truth plans to use Starbrite's own resources to break its grip on the people. In a dying world convulsed with war, conspiracy, and revolution, he may need to pull off something even more impossible than killing an unknowable god—persuading the world that there is still hope.