The Legacy Binder 
A world with a forgotten history
Twelve centuries have passed since the world broke. The truth of what happened lies beyond Emery’s understanding, waiting to be uncovered.
The Shatterveil Expanse · Book One
THE SHATTERED LOCKET
A Tale of Silver and Steel
She was built to be invisible. The world is about to see her anyway.
Twelve centuries ago, the world broke. Now, beneath the smoke of iron cities and the shadows of forgotten history, a young thief is about to uncover a secret someone went to extraordinary lengths to bury.
Explore more books by Paul T. Brewer
Her name is Emery.
In the Hollow, they call her the Chameleon.
No one remembers her face. No one is supposed to.
But when the woman who raised her dies with a secret on her lips, Emery inherits a mysterious locket, a past she never knew existed, and a dangerous path toward answers she was never meant to find.
A world of silver and steel awaits. And disappearing will no longer be enough.
The story
Some secrets are buried for a reason.
Emery has spent her life learning how to disappear. Through locked doors. Across crowded markets. Past watchful guards. She knows how to move without being noticed, how to survive without being remembered, and how to trust no one. Especially herself.
But everything changes when the woman who raised her dies, leaving behind a secret and a locket Emery never asked to possess. Suddenly, the life she understood begins to unravel.
The answers lie beyond the Hollow, somewhere among sprawling industrial cities, dangerous smugglers, powerful enemies, and the forgotten history of a world shattered twelve centuries earlier.
To find the truth, Emery must leave behind the one thing that has always kept her alive. Her invisibility.
And the deeper she travels into the Shatterveil Expanse, the more dangerous one question becomes. Who is Emery, and why was the truth about her hidden?
Enter the Shatterveil Expanse
A broken world. A forgotten past. A future waiting to be claimed.
Welcome to a world where towering iron cities rise through endless smoke, steam-powered locomotives cross impossible heights, and massive airships drift above the ruins of an age long forgotten.
Engineering and mystery.
Wealth and desperation.
Progress and decay.
The powerful build their empires in steel while the forgotten survive in their shadows. Somewhere beneath the machinery, the secrets of a shattered world remain. And the past is beginning to stir.
Twelve centuries of silence are about to end.
Meet Emery
The girl no one remembers.
They call her the Chameleon. Not because she possesses extraordinary strength or commands armies. Because she knows how to become invisible.
Emery survives by observing, adapting, and never giving anyone a reason to remember her. Trust is dangerous. Attachment is weakness. And questions about the past rarely lead anywhere good.
But when the only life she has known collapses, Emery faces something she has spent years avoiding. The truth about herself.
The locket left behind is more than a possession. It is a mystery. A connection to something she does not understand. And perhaps the first real clue to the person she was always meant to become.
She has spent her life hiding from the world. Now the world is searching for her.
The locket
Some things are worth more than silver.
An old locket.
Strange markings.
A history no one has explained.
Emery never wanted it. Yet this seemingly insignificant object becomes the center of a mystery reaching far beyond anything she has known.
What does it mean? Why was it kept from her? And what connects it to the secrets of a world broken twelve centuries ago?
Every answer brings another question. Every discovery carries a cost. And some truths are dangerous long before anyone understands why.
The smallest object sometimes carries the greatest secret.
A world of silver and steel
Where fantasy meets machinery, mystery, and danger.
The Shattered Locket introduces readers to a dark fantasy adventure shaped by industrial cities, extraordinary machines, hidden histories, and characters whose loyalties are anything but simple.
A heroine who survives by disappearing
Emery’s greatest strength has always been her ability to remain unnoticed. But finding her identity will demand something entirely different.
Allies with secrets of their own
A charming boy whose secrets outnumber his explanations. A girl who trusts no one, least of all herself. In a dangerous world, deciding whom to trust is a risk of its own.
A journey through dangerous territory
Smugglers’ dens, iron cities, a forge-lord’s vault, an impossible debt, and a blade meant for Emery’s heart.
A mystery larger than one lifetime
The past is not finished with the present. And the truth about Emery’s identity is only the beginning.
Why read The Shattered Locket?
For readers who want to get lost in another world.
If you enjoy fantasy built around mystery, dangerous journeys, complex characters, and richly imagined settings, The Shattered Locket invites you into the opening chapter of a larger adventure. This story brings together:
- Dark fantasy and steampunk-inspired worldbuilding.
- A resourceful young heroine with a mysterious past.
- Secrets, hidden identities, and difficult choices.
- Industrial cities, airships, locomotives, and ancient mysteries.
- Uncertain alliances and dangerous enemies.
- The beginning of an expanding fantasy series.
At its heart, The Shattered Locket asks a question that reaches beyond its fictional world.
What happens when everything you believe about yourself begins to fall apart?
The Shatterveil Expanse
Every great story begins somewhere.
The Shattered Locket is Book One of The Shatterveil Expanse — an introduction to a world shaped by catastrophe, divided by power, and haunted by the secrets of its past.
Emery’s journey begins with the death of the woman who raised her and the discovery of a mysterious locket. But the world beyond the Hollow is larger, stranger, and more dangerous than anything she has encountered.
One girl. One locket. Twelve centuries of unanswered questions.
About the author
Paul T. Brewer
Paul T. Brewer is an author, firefighter paramedic, husband, father, and founder of The Legacy Project 360.
With more than two decades of experience in the fire service, Paul has spent much of his professional life working in environments where decisions, consequences, courage, and character matter.
His writing explores those same human experiences through different genres, from practical nonfiction and Christian allegory to imaginative fantasy adventures.
The Shattered Locket marks the beginning of The Shatterveil Expanse, a fictional world of mystery, industrial fantasy, hidden history, and characters searching for answers about who they are and where they belong.
Begin your journey
She was built to be invisible.
The Hollow taught Emery how to survive. The woman who raised her left behind a secret. And a mysterious locket is pulling her toward a world she never expected to enter.
Beyond the shadows lie iron cities, dangerous strangers, forgotten histories, and answers someone never wanted her to find. The only question is whether Emery will survive long enough to uncover them.
The world is about to see her anyway.
Explore more books by Paul T. BrewerTHE SHATTERED LOCKET
A Tale of Silver and Steel · The Shatterveil Expanse, Book One · By Paul T. Brewer · Published by The Legacy Project 360