Crystal Ruin. Fallen Suns, #1

Ancient Alien Technology Ignites Galactic War The Kyndred were the architects of the galaxy. They built the FTL network. They seeded life across worlds. They ruled for eons. Then they fell. Their echo-a fragment of their consciousness, their power, their curse-was buried across the galaxy, waiting to be found. Castor is a scavenger on a dying world. He survives by finding what others have left behind.
He has never asked for more. Then he finds the crystal. It is beautiful. It is ancient. And it carries the last echo of a civilization that ruled the stars-until they fell, leaving behind only ash and silence. Now Castor carries their power. Their war. Their fate. The Anvil Pact hunts him. The Enduring Compact wants to study him. The Forgotten see him as salvation or a threat. But the crystal isn't just power.
It's a prison. And something inside it is waking up. He didn't inherit a legacy. He inherited a war.