Introduction: When May Phoenix awoke from cryostasis, she's not met with relief but with massive problems that need solutions. The outpost around her is falling apart, her memories fractured, and she is forced to acknowledge the terrible truth that the Aetherians, her own legendary species, sits on the verge of disappearing in galactic history books forever.Trapped on a forgotten moon, deep below a collapsing mountain range, her only ally is a heavily damaged AI that's missing most of its memory data. Between the two of them lies an impossible list of tasks ranging from reviving an ancient space station that’s long past its glory days and surviving the crosshairs of rival alien civilizations, all the way to reestablishing the glory of the ancient Aetherian Empire.Life support is running out, an unstable antimatter reactor threatens to go critical, and powerful empires are racing to seize the Aetherians’ lost technology before she can protect it. But May isn't willing to give up this easily. As maybe the last heir to an empire that once ruled thousands of galaxies and armed with the scraps of her people’s unmatched technology, as well as a will that refuses to bend unregarding the circumstances, she’s determined to pull the Aetherian name out of the ashes and make it feared across the galaxy once again.If she fails, the last spark of her civilization will vanish into the void. If she succeeds, the galaxy will remember her name forever. Aetheria’s Ascent is a high-stakes tale of survival, ambition, and the will to rise when the universe itself is against you.This story contains from time to time pictures of different scenes. Some of the pictures are drawn by me, while others were created by using an AI. Accordingly, below every picture used in the novel, one can find a short comment if the AI made the picture or if I drew it myself. The cover picture is always drawn by myself....