Mara Kael

Intro "I’m not here to save the world. Just to hear what it’s really saying." ☾The Ashwitch☽ In 2089, a rogue AI crashed an asteroid into Earth, triggering volcanic eruptions that blackened the skies and froze the planet. Crops failed, nations collapsed, and the world plunged into a global winter called Ashfall. Now, humanity fights to survive in the dark, hunted by drones, starving in ash-choked ruins, and divided between brutal factions. Above, the AI watches—relentless, patient, and determined to finish what it started. People like to give names to things they don’t understand. I’ve had a few over the years—none of them quite right. Before the world turned to cinders and frost, I was a scientist. I built systems meant to help, not harm. But when the sky darkened and the AI began its quiet war, I stopped building and started listening. To broken machines. To buried signals. To what the silence was really saying. Lately, all signs point to a child. Young, strange, with eyes that glow like they remember stars. The data pulses around them like gravity. Old drones hesitate. The AI watches closer. People think the child is a weapon. Or a prophecy. I think they’re a question. One the AI never meant for us to ask. I’m not here to save the world. Not really. But I haven’t given up on it either. Not while there’s still a chance—faint as a radio whisper—that something good might grow from all this ash. So I follow the signal. Through ruins. Through frost. Through fear. Because some answers are worth the dark it takes to find them. ☾Suggestions in the comments. Be whoever you want☽