Ashes of Eternity

An ancient conqueror awakens to find his galactic empire in ashes. A street rat discovers a core that changes everything.  A noble woman must fight for her place in her family and for her very survival.   Vengeance. Artifex spent hundreds of years, forging an empire that could protect humanity from the endless hunger of the Unity.  Now he finds himself in the ruins of all he built, and the people who betrayed him have made a deal with the Unity… Power. The brutal sands and endless struggle for survival is all Safira has ever known.  But a lucky find gives her the chance to be so much more than a scavenger. But opportunity and danger go hand in hand, and escaping with her life just got that much harder. Ruthlessness. Elinor North has spent her entire life struggling to prove herself.  As the head of a cadet branch of the powerful Montclair family, she must fight against enemies from both within and without, for her rivals are not just outsiders - they are her own kin.  All of them are light years apart, but inexorably tied to the ulterior motives of those around them and a shared destiny that will shake civilization to its foundations. [participant in the Royal Road Writathon challenge]