The City of Shadows

The Constellation

The festival was just the day after tomorrow. Most of the preparations were already complete, as the city was well accustomed to their yearly ritual. The Constellation building was all prepared for the upcoming ceremony, with decorations to match. The building itself was situated on the southern end of the Palace, right next to the Inner Wall. It was a massive symmetrical structure that consisted of the Sun wing and the Moon wing. Here is where all governing occurrences happen. The Sun wing is headed by Solar, a title handed down from one leader to the next. This role, like every other government role with no exceptions, is given through winning a popular majority in a vote. Once voted in, officials are allowed to keep their role until they retire or are removed by the populace, not that the latter has ever happened. Below Solar was all the officials who dealt with everything dealing with the city, inside or out. They are sworn to protect the city and its inhabitants, whether through the power of pen or sword. The Dawn Guard are a section of the Sun. The Moon wing is lead by Lunar, a mirror of Solar. They are equals and opposites, their collective power giving them reign over Aneron. Officials working in this wing are tasked with things less empirical. They oversee all things magic, schooling, technology, and knowledge. Counterpart to the Dawn Guard, the Moon has the Dusk Cloaks. Skilled with smaller blades and stealth, they play a quieter role in Aneron's military.

In the middle section of the Constellation building, lie all the joint meeting rooms. On the top floor, in one of said rooms, were two friends pouring over some texts.

Solar: "I don't get it. I thought you said the curator knew the info was here?"

Lunar: "I did. And if he said it's here, then it's here. Now hush, I'm trying to read."

Solar leaned back in her chair and sighed, looking at the books with boredom and with anxiety. Her eyes were strained from staring at words for hours on end.

Solar: "How much longer do you think this will take?"

Lunar: "What're you, a child? These are ancient texts, they just put every unnecessary word they could in. So it'll take a while."

Solar: "But we don't have a while, Lunar. We barely have a couple days, and we still have to get ready."

Lunar: "What is there to get ready for? We do the same thing every year."

Solar looked at him incredulously and motioned to the books on the table.

Solar: "Yeah, because this year is the same as every other year, obviously."

Lunar: "Alright alright, I hear you. Now will you hear me out for a moment?"

Solar crossed her arms and glared at him, waving her hand for him to proceed.

Lunar: "Thank you. So while you were throwing your temper tantrum -"

Solar narrowed her eyes more.

Lunar: "- I found something that might be of use."

Lunar got up and set an ancient book in front of Solar and pointed to one passage in particular. Solar sat up and looked at the text, her eyes growing wider the more she read.

Solar: "This is the original transcript of the first festival."

Lunar: "Yep. But there's more, keep going."

Solar continued reading for a few minutes, eagerly taking in every word despite her fatigue. When she finished, she fell back into her chair and rubbed her eyes.

Solar: "So it's true. Everything that's been going on around here are all signs that the curse could be starting its next phase. What about the whispering?"

Lunar: "I heard them on my way to grab the books."

Solar: "And the shooting stars?"

Lunar: "Don't know yet. But I'd imagine that'll happen sometime soon."

Solar: "So the stars, then the silver and gold sky, then finally an eclipse. But that doesn't even make any sense, we have no moon."

Lunar nodded and looked around the room a bit, deep in thought. After a minute he turned back to her with a question in his eyes.

Lunar: "Unless the eclipse isn't referring to something celestial."

Solar looked at him confused, and before she could even ask for clarification, he explained what he had heard in the city streets.

Solar: "So what makes you think this means an eclipse is referring to a person?"

Lunar: "Isn't that what the curse is about? Lie in waiting/Til times end, In the shadow/One will find, One's purpose/Now defined, War is fought/And now broken, To be fixed/To be taught, To love/To lose, To take revenge/To find peace, End the Conqueror/End the cycle, To free/The Shadows. This whole time, we thought that this was referring to the city as a whole, that we had to fight this 'Conqueror' to gain our freedom. The only problem is, we can't leave this dumb rock to do that."

Solar: "I mean, I suppose, but how can we trust whoever this person is?"

Lunar: "Maybe we can't. Not at first anyways. Maybe our role is to fix and teach them. Maybe we don't have to trust them, but just trust the process."

They sat looking at each other for a long time, both just as nervous and uncertain as the other.