The Rune Scribe

Nine days before Akitu, Naram is only a low-born apprentice scribe with one inheritance to his name: a ring seal that never should have mattered.
Then, alone in the temple archives after hours, he finds a sealed niche—and a forbidden bundle of rune tablets that answer to his seal. The clay awakens. A mark blooms on his skin. And suddenly Naram can do what no student is meant to do: rewrite reality with the precision of a scribe’s hand.
But Babylon’s temple does not forgive disorder. Watchers prowl the corridors. Priests tighten their scrutiny. And Zimri—golden, well-connected, and desperate to secure both status and Iltani’s betrothal—sees Naram’s secret as a threat he can turn into a weapon.
As the city swells toward festival crowds and ritual processions, the tablets promise power… at a cost Naram doesn’t yet understand. To protect Iltani, to keep his mother safe, and to stop a rival’s ambition from tipping Akitu into panic, Naram must choose what kind of man he’ll become:
One who chases praise—
or one who binds chaos back into order, even if the temple claims him for it.