## The Obsidian Bloom The tremor started low, a growl beneath the cobblestones. Then it surged, throwing me against the mosaic floor of our atrium. Marble rained down, shattering against the peristyle. My mother screamed, pulling my younger brother, Titus,…
## The Echo Bloom Rain lashed against the ferroconcrete of Sector 7, each drop a tiny hammer blow. Elara huddled deeper into her threadbare coat, the damp chill seeping through despite layers of worn synthetics. She watched a Nomari courier…
## The Bloom & the Blade The scent of dried chrysanthemum and aged paper clung to Mei’s fingers. Dust motes danced in the single shaft of sunlight slicing through the high window of the Imperial Library’s Annex. She traced a…
## The Stitch & Stone The scent of jasmine hung thick, almost cloying, in the humid Charleston air. Not the sweet perfume of gardens, but a sharper, bruised fragrance clinging to damp cotton. Eliza pressed a handkerchief – one of…
## The Static Bloom The dust tasted like old pennies and regret. Dr. Aris Thorne swiped a gloved hand across the viewport, blurring the already hazy ochre landscape. Below, the geodesic domes of Lunar Base Seven shimmered under a weak…
The rain in New Seattle tasted like static. It slicked the neon signs of Lower Meridian and drummed a persistent rhythm against the corrugated iron roofs. I gripped the damp edge of the Skywalk, my boots kicking up a spray…
The chipped stone bit into my palms as I scaled the tenement wall. Dublin throbbed below, a raw nerve stretched tight. Not from the fighting, not yet. It was the *other* thing. The shadow slipping between alleys, faster than a…
The grit of the Dustlands tasted like regret. Elara spat, the particles clinging to her tongue. Thirteen summers she’d spent inhaling it, watching the sun bleach the color from everything. Even hope felt faded. She traced the chipped ceramic of…
The Void’s Embrace (Kaelen Vorath & Lyra Sola) 5.1 “The Gatekeeper’s Fortress” Kaelen and Lyra’s ships approached the asteroid, but were immediately intercepted by a squadron of heavily armed drones and fighter craft. Thorne’s fortress, carved into the asteroid’s surface,…
Echoes of a Dying Star (Kaelen Vorath – Stoneweaver/Crystal Sage) 4.1 “The Obsidian Network” The stench of sulfur and desperation clung to the air as Kaelen Vorath navigated the labyrinthine underbelly of Pyrehaven. He’d spent the last few days tracking…
Seeds of a Dying Star (Lyra Sola – Gardener/Crystal Sage) 3.1 “Arrival at the Shifting Coast” The Bloom descended through the swirling mists, the bioluminescent wood of its hull casting an ethereal glow upon the turbulent ocean below. Lyra Sola,…
Basalt and Embers (Kaelen Vorath – Stoneweaver/Crystal Sage) 2.1 “Landing on the Forge World” The approach to Ignis was… chaotic. Even from orbit, the planet appeared as a roiling cauldron of fire and ash, a landscape dominated by colossal volcanoes…
Crystalline Resonance (Lyra Sola – Gardener/Crystal Sage) 1.1 “Arrival at the Shifting Coast” The descent was… unsettling. Not due to turbulence – Lyra Sola was a seasoned pilot, accustomed to atmospheric variations – but because of what was shifting. Not…