The Bastion won't let you live. But love won't let you die.
Story Ross is not a rebel. She is grateful to The Bastion. Their artificial intelligence models rule supreme after blanketing the world in stability by ending World War III. As a brilliant young healthcare prodigy, Story is poised to begin her career working with the AI healthcare models. Every surgery, every birth, every death, is run by them.

When her younger sister, Lark, is placed on an end-of-life countdown by her AI doctors, Story is consumed by finding a way to fix the mysterious birthmark taking a deadly toll on Lark’s small body.

A forced trip into the heavily guarded Hocking Forest reveals truths that rewrite the rules of Story's life and loyalty. There she encounters the imprisoned man who will do anything to save her, all while setting her soul and career on fire. He holds the secret to saving not just Lark, but the entire world.

What tipping point forces her hand to be the first human to wield a scalpel in decades?