The morning sun rose over the walls of the Solaris Academy, brushing the stone courtyards in bright shades of gold. The air was warm and smelled of pine and baking bread from the lower city. It was the kind of morning that made people glad to be alive. Kairos Vedaryan did not feel glad, he felt like he had been dragged behind a galloping horse for ten miles.
He sat on the edge of his wooden bed, staring blankly at the floor. Asteria lay across his knees. He had spent the night awake, rubbing a rough cloth over the silver blade until his fingers cramped. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw the charcoal words Luna had sketched in the small parchment.
When the sun and moon turn black, the Fallen will rise.
An eclipse. They were racing against a clock in the sky, and they didn't even know how much time they had left.
A loud, obnoxious snore struck through his flow of thoughts.
