the city

In the year 2142, the city of Luminaris shimmered like a jewel suspended between the clouds and the earth. Towers of glass and living steel rose so high they pierced the mist, their surfaces alive with glowing vines engineered to purify the air. Silent sky-trains wove between them, tracing arcs of light against the twilight.

On the lower levels, where neon flickered in alleys still bound to the ground, lived Kael, a courier who carried secrets rather than parcels. His hoverboard was patched and battered, but its engine purred faithfully as he zipped through the maze of shadows beneath Luminaris’ radiant skyline.

That night, Kael’s client wasn’t the usual smuggler or corporate spy. Instead, a child—barely twelve—handed him a sealed data crystal. “It’s for the sky,” she whispered, her eyes wide.

Curious, Kael broke his own rule and scanned the crystal mid-flight. His visor filled with blueprints: a design for solar wings that could replace the city’s failing energy grid. If released, it could free Luminaris from the corporations that rationed light itself.

Alarms wailed suddenly. Drones swarmed from the towers, their red eyes locking onto him. Kael’s grip tightened. For once, it wasn’t about the credits—it was about something larger. He pushed his board to its limits, racing upward, higher than he’d ever dared.

The drones closed in, but as Kael burst above the smog into the gleaming aerial districts, he launched the crystal into the city’s central broadcast tower. A brilliant wave of light swept across Luminaris as the plans went public.

From the streets below to the skies above, every citizen saw it. For the first time in decades, the city’s glow wasn’t just borrowed—it was theirs.

And in that moment, Kael knew Luminaris was no longer a city of towers and shadows. It was a city awake.