The Ghost Pirate King
“In a world ruled by legacies, wealth, and Consortium lies, the only thing more dangerous than being nobody… is becoming somebody.”
Sixteen-year-old James Aston is broke, fatherless, and one bad debt away from losing the last person he cares about—his dying grandfather. On a future Earth dominated by corporate dynasties and portal technology, the only escape from poverty is conscription into the Portal Program, a deadly initiative that sends expendable recruits into alien worlds in exchange for survival, skill unlocks, and the faint hope of power.
James never asked to be chosen. But thanks to a favor called in by criminals he doesn’t know, his name is marked, his body extracted, and his life thrown into Trial World Theta-9, a nightmarish forest where monsters stalk the weak and only killers thrive.
Armed with nothing but a rusted knife, a malfunctioning system screen, and a sarcastic inner monologue, James must kill to survive, adapt to evolve, and learn fast—or die faster. But something stirs in the darkness beneath the trial zones. A fragmented legacy long buried begins to awaken in his blood… one that whispers of pirate kings, ghost ships, and sovereignty carved from shadow and steel.
What begins as survival will spiral into war.
From street scum to assassin. From assassin to pirate king. From pawn to player.
In the game of worlds, James Aston refuses to stay a piece on someone else’s board.
