The Memory Merchant - Key of the Void

Synopsis

In the Third Age of the continent of Eldara, known as the Era of Memory, archmage Merlin Crystaltongue discovered that human memories are tangible information encoded by microscopic "neural crystal threads." This discovery gave birth to Memory Alchemy—and a thriving black market trade in stolen, sold, and forged memories.

Victor Grayfeather operates from Seventh Alley, the heart of this underground economy. Once a respected guild extractionist, he was exiled seven years ago after a forbidden experiment to save his wife destroyed her memories and left his daughter Ayla dying from Memory Dissolution Syndrome. Now he trades in the shadows to afford the stabilizers that keep Ayla conscious, one precious month at a time.

When a mysterious masked figure offers a fortune to extract the complete memories of Silas Morningstar—an archmage dead for twenty years—Victor faces an impossible choice. The job is execution-grade illegal, but success could provide Ayla with a lifetime of treatment... or even a cure. As Victor descends into the Frost Tomb to retrieve the memories, he discovers that Silas's secrets connect to his wife Eleanor's death, his daughter's true nature, and a cosmic conspiracy that threatens the boundaries between existence and non-existence itself.

What follows is a journey through memory, identity, and sacrifice as three generations confront the ultimate question: if memory is existence, what are we when we forget?

Part One: Dust of Memory Crystals

The world of memory merchants and the impossible choice that sets everything in motion. Victor must infiltrate the Frost Tomb while navigating the politics of the black market and the mysteries of his own past.

Part Two: The Battle of Memory

A desperate transfer, a father's final sacrifice, and a daughter's awakening to power she never asked for. The stakes escalate as the true nature of Ayla's condition—and her connection to dimensional secrets—are revealed.

Part Three: Key of the Void

Three years later, Ayla has become a powerful memory merchant in her own right. But the door her mother discovered still stands at the edge of reality, and forces from the Void itself seek to open it. Ayla must become something more than human to broker peace between existence and non-existence.

About the Author

Literary Haven crafts immersive fantasy worlds that explore the boundaries of consciousness, identity, and what it means to be human. The Memory Merchant series combines intricate worldbuilding with deeply emotional character studies, asking profound questions about memory, love, and sacrifice.