When mankind traded Earth for the Heavens, there were a thousand lesser bargains made. We traded safety for freedom, comfort for change, and our humanity for divinity. When we left behind skin, bone, steel, and stone, we found power beyond power in silver, silicon, and steel. We knew unimaginable beauty and we knew untold horror. The Empyrean embraced us just as we embraced it. All the glory of the Heavens was ours, and it only cost us everything. Stories From the Empyrean is an anthology that follows multiple characters through their lives in the Empyrean (human-colonized space) at a distant point in Humanity's future. More than narrative, it aims to explore characters, themes, moods, and aesthetics associated with Science Fiction.  Author Note: The first story, "Scorched", is written in second-person, which is atypical for the greater work. It is not strictly canonical to stories that follow, but it is included because it was the first story written in the setting, and provides meaningful context for the framework upon which later stories were built. Currently updates twice a week, Mondays and Fridays.