In the city of Lumina, beauty is a death sentence. And light is the ultimate poison.
Shrouded in perpetual night, Lumina is powered by "Star-Dust," a glowing, radioactive mineral mined from a fallen meteor. For the aristocracy in the shielded towers, it is a source of limitless energy. For the girls in the factories, it is a slow, glittering execution.
Vala is a Dial-Painter. Her job is to paint the clock faces of the city with liquid Star-Dust so they glow in the dark. Taught to lick the tip of her brush to get a fine point, she is now succumbing to "The Glimmer." Her jaw and bones are illuminating from the inside out, a beautiful, terrifying decay that marks her as a walking corpse. She is radioactive, unstable, and lethal to touch.
Roric is a Lead-Smith. Encased in a heavy suit of lead and leather, he works in the containment sector. He is a "Sink"-a rare human with a void-like physiology capable of absorbing radiation. He is the city's executioner, sent to extinguish Dial-Painters when they become "Critical."
But when Roric is ordered to dispose of Vala, he hesitates. In a world of cold metal and darkness, her burning light is the only thing that makes him feel alive. He becomes her secret keeper, her containment, and her only hope.
The dynamic is deadly: Vala is a living nuclear core, and Roric is the only one who can survive her embrace. If he lets go, she burns up; if he holds on too long, he absorbs the poison meant to kill her.
She is the glow. He is the shadow. A love that will either light the world or turn it to ash.
