Sky Children

Zechariah Jacobs and Isaac Blum are colonists sent out by the Northwestern Empire, aboard star ships on similar courses, separated only by the passage of time. In the past, Isaac and the crew of his ship terraform and colonize a new planet, but there's a viral epidemic that grants science-defying magic powers! Their distress signal brings warships intent on wiping them out!

Zechariah crash-lands on an "unexplored" world, seeing evidence everywhere that the world was once colonized. He meets a local "history miner" named Winzon and together they search for lost technology. Along the way, Zechariah grows sick and gains magic powers of his own.

Isaac and his people scatter to the winds as nukes fall from the sky and Isaac uses magic to defend his own small group. Starting over underground, they build a new star ship. Isaac gets cancer and becomes a living time capsule for his people, sealed within the ship.

Zechariah and Winzon discover the ancient ship and accidentally wake Isaac. Working together, they gather and educate a crew for it, but as soon as Zechariah has left the confines of their world, he feels the need to share the truth about the government cover-up.

Isaac stays behind to prepare defenses, while the ship and crew leave on a mission to capture one of the Empire's media hub.

Will they get the truth out or will the crew of the ship become the most recent in a long line of victims snuffed out by the Empire's secret cover-up operation?

Volume one of Sky Children. Approximately 121,000 words.