Kaelen crouched on a rooftop, his fingers stained with "Glimmer"—the residue of spent magic. Below him, the High Prelate was lecturing a crowd about the "Intent" of the stars.
Kaelen didn’t care about the Preservation of the universe; he just wanted to keep his boots from falling apart.
He pulled a cracked gemstone from his pocket. It was a , a rare focal point that could pull Investiture directly from the air without a glass trap. If he could charge it during the height of the Dimming, he could flash-step across the city and vanish before the Spires’ guards even knew their treasury had been breached.
On Vela, everything was a trade. The twin suns, Solis and Luna, didn’t just provide warmth—they provided Investiture . As they dipped toward the horizon during the "Dimming," the sky bled a violet hue, and the people of the High Spires held up glass spheres to catch the fading rays.
"The light is a gift!" the Prelate shouted. "To hoard it is to invite the Void!" Hoarding is exactly what I plan to do, Kaelen thought.