The x Festival x Of x Suns
⟢───── Ashes × Aether ─────⟣
NARDOX, THE CAPITAL CITY OF SOL - Festival Week Day 1
The parade deepened as it moved.
The Dragon Float’s glow faded farther down the route, replaced by the steady burn of The Twin Chariot Float that followed behind it.
On the street, the crowd shifted with the flow.
People adjusted without needing direction. Vendors turned their stalls to face the route. Kids climbed onto low walls and crates for a better view.
A rolling line of forge crews came first.
Mobile rigs creaked forward on reinforced wheels, carrying open braziers that burned hot enough to ripple the air. Smiths worked as they moved, hammers striking in rhythm with the drums above.
Metal rang sharp.
A hex-blade took shape in real time, glowing white at the edge before being plunged into a traveling quench basin. Steam burst outward, rolling into the crowd.
People cheered.
A man near the front raised his child up so she could see over the shoulders ahead of them. Sparks drifted down and died before they reached the ground.
The Dorion caravans rolled through.
Wide carts loaded with grain bundles and tools, pulled by bison-elk built for distance. Farmers walked alongside them, posture easy, expressions steady.
One man tossed a piece of dried fruit into the crowd. A kid caught it and held it up like he’d won something.
Laughter followed the carts as they passed.
No one treated them like lesser.
They were part of this.
Then the rhythm shifted.
Boots met stone in perfect time.
An OmiKami formation entered the avenue and the crowd gave them space without being told.
Rows tightened as they moved. Distance held exact between each body. Hands rested near blades, never touching, never drifting.
The drums fell in behind their pace.
A pair broke from the line.
Three steps. Turn. Strike.
Steel cleared the sheath halfway, stopped, returned in one clean motion. The exchange ended before the sound could carry.
They folded back into formation without breaking stride.
Another pair stepped out.
Lower stance. Faster hands. Elbows tight. Movement cut close to the body, sharp and direct.
A boy at the edge of the street mirrored them.
Feet wide. Shoulders high.
One of the OmiKami passed him.
Two fingers pressed into his shoulder. Shifted him inward. Lowered his center.
She was gone before he looked up.
As the parade marched down Banner Avenue, children began spilling from the crowd.
First came a handful from Sol’Rahn Academy. They slipped into formation behind the Sun Dragon float, laughing as they jogged to keep pace. One of them looked up at the rear platform and shouted toward Kit, Kariah, and the rest of Team Heart.
“Way to represent!”
Ren leaned over the railing and shouted back.
“You already know!”
That was all it took.
More youth poured in.
Students from the Omika Institute joined next, then a cluster from Hua Heritage School, festival ribbons tied around their wrists and satchels bouncing against their hips. A few carried practice staffs. Others waved Crownfall cards over their heads like banners.
By the time the parade reached the end of Banner Avenue, hundreds of Nardox’s future marched with it.
Soros saw it from the Twin Sun Chariot and lifted his slate.
Rob glanced over. “You about to stop them?”
Soros watched the students fill the route, then lowered the slate.
“No,” he said. “This belongs to them.”
The parade turned right.
Sol’Rahn Arena came into view.
The reaction moved through the street in a wave.
“There it is!” Mina shouted, hands gripping the railing. “Five more sleeps, and we’re playing there in front of the whole nation.”
Kariah stepped beside her, eyes fixed on the arena.
“And this time we’re playing for keeps.”
Team Heart looked up.
The Solar-Glass Dome rose above the central terrace, pristine and enormous, its curved surface clear enough to reveal the arena tiers within. Light from the twin suns poured across it and scattered in clean flashes, making the structure gleam like a diamond set into the heart of Nardox.
A few blocks away, the Halo Clock towered over the central terrace.
Its molten ring hummed softly as it absorbed light from both suns and fed it through the Forge lines beneath the city. Threads of orange-gold energy pulsed through stone channels, down stairways, under bridges, across plazas packed with festival-goers.
The drums shifted.
The parade widened.
Floats slowed into ceremonial spacing as students, dancers, OmiKami troupes, forge crews, artists, and city delegations filled the avenue before Sol’Rahn Arena.
Festival Week had begun.
And the future of Nardox had arrived ready to make its name.
⟢───── Ashes × Aether ─────⟣