The Immortality Tax
In a city where time itself is currency, the Bureau decides who remembers-and who forgets. The hollow live long but empty, their laughter and grief bottled in glass reliquaries hidden deep underground. The powerful drink stolen years to stretch their lives, while the rest fade into shadows of themselves.
Jonas Vey, a weary Collector, has spent centuries siphoning memories for the Bureau. But when visions of a defiant woman named Elira haunt his dreams, Jonas discovers the Vault: a cathedral of glass where millions of souls are trapped. Touching her reliquary awakens something he cannot ignore-proof that the Bureau doesn't just tax time; it steals entire lives.
Drawn into a rebellion on the edge of collapse, Jonas must decide whether to unleash the flood of memories and return them to the people-risking chaos, madness, and his own destruction-or watch the city remain enslaved to silence.
A story of sacrifice, rebellion, and the unbearable weight of remembering, The Immortality Tax is a haunting dystopian thriller where forever comes at a cost-and the only way to live is to remember who you are.