Waxbound

In a frozen world where the aurora births the only food — the polar fungi, humanity survives through a fragile pact with the Lanterns. Candles grant senses, but their wax melts, dragging men closer to nothingness. To ascend is to consume more candles, to awaken more gates, and to pursue the ultimate dream — true enlightenment, a state of perfect perception where one becomes more than human. The government demands only survival: each year, the harvest of fungi must succeed or famine will follow. But among the chosen, ambition burns brighter. They seek more than life. They seek eternity. Once, there was a brilliant candle-maker, a man celebrated for his mastery of pure, untainted flames. He rose swiftly in rank, honored by nobles and feared by rivals. But genius comes with a price — and in one fateful moment, his brilliance turned to ash. Now stripped of his senses, reduced to nothing but a beast of burden, he drags carts through the underground streets. The world remembers him as the man whose fall sparked a war and a famine. Yet in his silence, a spark remains. A memory. A possibility. The story begins when he dares to chase that spark once more.