Twenty years ago, a failed mission to the sun changed the world. The Sun grew hotter and brighter. Soon, those who survived found it normal to fear the light, for it had become deadly. Things have settled down since then. The equator became a burning wasteland, but life continued on for those lucky enough to live further north. In southern Missouri, at the edge of the Scorched Lands, A boy named Brandon runs out to save a girl from committing suicide-by-sun. In doing so, he finds himself becoming ever more entangled with the massive towers built to save the world, and the girl tied to them. In my youth, I found what I thought was a new source of power. A strain of energy, part of simple sunlight, that had been blocked by our ozone. I called it Sunsoul. The moment I discovered it, I knew I would change the world. Once I finally realized what it actually was...  ...I already had. — V. B. Fontaine, PhD