Cover

ALSO BY SCOTT REINTGEN

Nyxia

Nyxia Unleashed

Nyxia Uprising

Dedication

For the Reintgen boys, who have torched me in every video game, sport, and board game in existence. I am who I am today because you taught me how to get back up and try harder the next time.

Part One: Lightning

Our people’s history is written in great bolts of lightning. Clear skies for a century or two, and then a single remarkable moment strikes. It illuminates a new way, even as it kills the old.

—The Brightness, An Address to Patriots

Chapter 1: The Alchemist

Farian wakes me at some ungodly hour.

He comes in like he lives here, drags me out of bed, and gets me into a pair of boots. My corner candle’s out, so I can’t even see which cloak he throws around my shoulders or which hat he slaps on my head. Farian would say that’s for the best. According to him, fashion and I were never properly introduced. He’s always threatening to throw away my favorite dresses. It is a point of contention between us.

We stumble through the dark. Someone’s asleep on the couch. An uncle, but I couldn’t say which one. They all snore the same. Empty bottles spin away from my clumsy steps. Farian keeps a steady hand on my back until we’re in the candlelight of the kitchen. He sets a cup of coffee in my hands, lets me take a few sips, and then pushes me out the door.

It should be black at this hour, but the sky’s cloud-clear, and the stars recognize a stage when it’s there. Dueling nebulas slash over the dark, rolling mesas. I hear Doctor Vass explain, “Each light is a sun. To each sun, planets. To each planet, moons. How endless it all is….”

Farian looks back. “You awake yet?”

“No talking until I can see what color your clothes are.”

He laughs. Farian has always laughed easily. Doesn’t know his way around a joke, but he always makes you feel like you do. My best friend and confidant lopes ahead, his limp barely noticeable, a satchel full of camera gear tucked under one thick arm. He’s always been big. Fourth son in a family of farmers, with three older brothers that have all grown even bigger than he is. But that’s because Farian’s made his world more than digging irrigation pits. He skips out on his chores to enhance photographs or edit our film series. He’s bound for an education if he keeps at it, as long as his parents don’t disown him before he can get there.