⟢───── Ashes × Aether ─────⟣
A handful of delegates stepped onto the platform before the arena.
The stage itself was modest by Nardoxian standards. Polished oak beneath an ivory awning, crimson banners hanging from each side with golden half-sun insignias stitched into the fabric.
Behind the platform, Sol’Rahn Arena loomed over the terrace like a second skyline.
Conversation faded across the plaza.
At the center of the delegates stood Nardox’s Crown Sun, Ra’Kil.
Age had silvered his hair and sharpened the angles of his face, but his posture remained upright and composed. Public appearances from him had become rare over the years. That alone shifted the atmosphere across the terrace.
Chamber members stood around him in layered ceremonial robes trimmed in gold thread.
Directly behind him, positioned slightly to his left, stood Imani, the Matriarch of Light.
The solar grid’s amber lines running beneath the terrace cast a warm glow upward across the platform.
Ra’Kil stepped forward.
When he spoke, his voice carried cleanly across the avenue.
“One hundred and fifty years since the unionizing of the Seven Crowns. Six centuries since our ancestors carved this nation from stone, heat, and conviction.”
The twin suns burned low behind the arena dome.
“And through that sacrifice,” Ra’Kil continued, “they gave us life worthy of protecting.”
The crowd answered with raised palms in the air.
Along the lower terraces, drums struck once in unison.
Ra’Kil let the moment breathe before continuing.
”Every generation inherits a spark.”
His gaze swept across the avenue.
Across the banners.
Across the students who had filled the parade route.
A faint smile touched his face.
“I believe they’re already here. Tonight, the Festival of Suns begins again.”
The avenue erupted.
Cheers surged through the plaza. Festival banners whipped overhead. Fire artists along the parade route reignited their torches in cascading bursts of gold and orange.
Near the rear of the gathering, a path opened through the crowd.
OmiKami warriors moved first.
Then came General Kofi Asher.
The crowd recognized him immediately.
People stepped aside on instinct as he escorted someone forward through the center lane toward the stage.
Whispers followed them through the crowd.
“That’s him.”
”The Expedition Kid”
”Kit Asher”
Some smiled.
Others studied him the way people study stories when they suddenly become real.
Kit tried not to look at them.
That lasted about three seconds.
He looked anyway.
A little girl standing near the front rail waved at him.
Kit waved back before he could stop himself.
The girl immediately turned around and started excitedly pulling on her father’s sleeve.
Kofi saw it.
A small smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.
They reached the steps leading up to the platform.
Above them, Ra’Kil watched quietly.
Imani stood just behind him.
The Matriarch’s expression softened the moment her eyes landed on Kit.
The drums fell silent.
One by one.
Until only the crackle of festival torches remained.
Kofi stopped at the base of the stairs.
For the first time since entering the plaza, Kit looked up at the stage.
The arena stood behind it.
The Halo Clock glowed above it.
Thousands of people filled the terraces around it.
And every eye was on him.
Kofi rested a hand on his shoulder.
The same steady hand.
The same steady weight.
“Go on.”
Kit nodded.
Then climbed the first step.
⟢───── Ashes × Aether ─────⟣