The age of Man has come and gone. His bright and glorious works are ruins, his heritage scattered and forgotten. Vicious things now walk his empty halls and hunt his empty streets. Men are few in number and huddled far away on the last weary stretches of land that have not cast them out.

Yet new things awaken and old things change. Warmth may still return and light again may shine where doors have long been closed. New feet begin to tread on lost ground and beings more ancient than the sun behold and wonder: Do old mornings dawn again? Do old days return?

In the land of broken roads, nothing comes easy. For a boy like Dirt, there is no food but what he can scavenge and no shelter but what he can dig. If he wants to survive, he must find allies in even the most unlikely places, because in a world the wilds have reclaimed, there is no mercy from hungry jaws.

Dear reader: This is an adventure story about friendship, courage, and the unrelenting savagery of nature. It'll give you warm fuzzies and nightmares. It takes inspiration from the isekai and reincarnation stories that have become so popular lately, starring a boy with a mysterious, forgotten past who must quickly learn to contend with the supernatural to survive.

Updates are weekly, usually on Thursdays. Chapter names are the book titles and chapter numbers. Any time skips between consecutively-numbered chapters are deliberate.

Please also consider reading my complete fantasy trilogy, the Acts of Androkles, still available on Royal Road: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/25012/the-acts-of-androkles