Gold in the Wind

Standalone Romantasy Adventure

The surface of the Earth and the troposphere long ago became uninhabitable to life, but human communities survive in the stratosphere, high above the accelerated superstorms, drifting with the wind at an altitude where there's little oxygen and even less ozone to offer protection from the radioactive sunlight. During the day, people sleep in lead-coated gondolas suspended under massive hydrogen balloons, but at night the skies come alive as travel, trade, and other familiar parts of society continue at a pace to match the 200mph winds.

Blake is the reigning champion in the glider games, and his fiancé Duvan dreams of running the nightly firework show, until one night, a treasure hunter named Captain Viera offers to recruit the newly engaged couple. Believing an adventure could be a suitable test flight for their marriage to come, they take a chance. After all, the captain has her own airship, capable crew (more-or-less), and a mysterious map leading to a lead mine on the planet's surface. For demand of radiation shielding, lead has become more valuable than gold.

Trusting the captain, however, causes the boys to worry: not just about their compatibility, particularly in high stress situations, but no one knows how she navigates through the deadly weather. Rumors say she's a sail stretcher, someone who uses magic to control the wind. Others say, a con artist, but it's not long into their adventure when the boys discover just how many secrets have been kept from them, secrets they've kept from themselves, secrets that will change the skies forever...

Concept Art