Cogwheel of Regret
By @john1208
Elias Thorne was a man who built marvels from Aetherium, the city of Veridia's lifeblood, yet failed to build a life for his own. His genius, sharp as any lathe, turned inward, consumed by a relentless pursuit of the perfect Aether-engine. He dismissed his wife Elara's worries and his daughter Lyra's pleas, deafened by the hum of innovation. Until the hum became a roar, and the roar became an inferno – a catastrophic Aether-cascade that devoured his district, his legacy, and his family in a single, agonizing flash.
As he lay broken, a splinter of raw Aetherium, burning with temporal energy, pierced his chest. He awoke a year in the past, a ghost in his own flesh, haunted by memories of an irreversible future. The city of Veridia, still bustling with gaslight and steam, now feels like a gilded tomb. Elias, no longer just an engineer, finds his hands now capable of channeling volatile Aetherium, turning him into a desperate, dangerous man. He must navigate a world on the brink of another disaster, facing not just the past's echoes but the burgeoning forces that threaten to repeat history, all while trying to rebuild what he so carelessly shattered.
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