The Uncarved

Ryan spent centuries making death obsolete. By the end of his first life, he had risen from an ordinary man to the ruler of a civilization spread across the stars, armed with technology capable of rebuilding bodies and bending space itself. Then something finally killed him. He opens his eyes again as Russell: an infant in a medieval world where magic is real, ancient institutions control its use, and the mark on his hand is enough to earn him a death sentence. Everything that once made him powerful is gone. His empire. His machines. His body. His mind isn't. To everyone else, magic is inheritance, ritual, and tradition. To Russell, it is a system. And systems can be measured. Understood. Improved. Broken. But Russell's second life was not an accident. Something arranged his reincarnation, the Church has spent six thousand years hunting what he carries, and whatever brought him here expects something in return. Ryan conquered death once with science. Russell will have to do it again with magic.