Prologue - Calling

Once upon a time, there was a world of messy, dangerous days. The old streets stank of smoke and hurry. People fought over scraps and slept with one eye open. There was endless fighting, bickering about right and wrong. It was a time for brave children and braver grown-ups; a time when every morning was a gamble if you’d live to see the next.

Then the worst of all gambles came. People feared themselves so much, they lit a flame that could burn unyielding — the First Flame — and the wish was answered. The Flame smoothed the broken places. All disorder, all chaos, completely rewritten. Where there had been hunger, there was provision; where there had been fear, there was order. A real utopia bore fruit thanks to man’s efforts.

But the world’s healing was not finished by magic alone. Dark things still lurked in the corners, the Blight, a stain on the utopic world that was worked so hard to obtain. The Blight loved the things people hid: The thoughts of the unkind, and the hate that results in pain. When the Blight came, it corroded all it touched, especially the people who fell victim.

That was when the Lucents rose.

They were guardians, trained to hold back the shadow and keep the markets full and the night as bright as daytime. With their shining uniforms, they walked the edges of safe places and the thin seams of wild places. They learned to call on their own powers and draw the power of the land. They fought for the feeble and stood for the greatest purpose of all. There were songs about their names, most impressively the great Imperators.

There is one simple truth: the world is mostly bright now, except for one thing. A small, fixable darkness and anyone can fight it. Study hard, be kind, train the body, and mind. But most importantly, the heart. If you are brave, you too will grow into a Lucent one day. You will wear the white and red and you will eradicate the Blight like a bad dream.

The book’s last page contained a picture, a single child standing at the city edge with a lantern held high, asking a curious question.

Will you light the way forward?

Embers floated slowly from a fireplace, as a woman with pink hair illuminated by the flame closed the cover, smoothed the corners with a thumb, and glanced at the two small faces watching her. A little girl with hair as bright as the morning sun stared up with stars in her eyes, cheeks flushed from running about; a smaller girl blinked up at the drawings like a small believer. Their mother smiled softly at them.

“She always asks for the same part,” she said, tucking a curl behind her older daughter’s ear. “The part where the brave children fix everything.”

“Again,” the littlest whispered, stretching her arms out.

She patted her youngest’s hair softly. “She really does love that story.”

“You’ll be able to make your own ending one day, and when you do, no matter what you choose, I will always be on your side.” She whispered, holding them both tightly in her arms. Wishing she could never go.