Altrarium (Altrarium Empire Series Book 1)

“We once believed machines were tools—until the Empire made them gods.”

In a realm of brass spires and iron citadels, the Altrarium Empire reigns supreme, powered by Celestium—a rare form of aether energy that fuels invention and enforces control. This Empire’s progress demands a horrifying price: the surrender of flesh. Citizens are forced to shed their humanity piece by piece, trading limbs, organs, and even minds, for cold, unfeeling machinery.

Elias Calder is a brilliant mechanic with a broken past and a daughter he’d die for. When the Empire demands ten-year-old Ada be augmented two years ahead of schedule, Elias faces a choice that could cost them everything.

A rebellion sparks beneath the Empire’s steel skin, and Elias risks everything to chase it. If anyone can save Ada, it’s those mad enough to defy the Altrarium itself. But freedom has a price. The Purists, rebels who prize flesh over metal, won’t trust a man with a brass arm. Cast out by both sides, Elias races the clock… and loses. Ada is taken.

To save the one thing that matters, he must first become a monster—the machine the Empire wants—just long enough to tear it all down.