The sacred halls of Celestial Harmony Academy had witnessed centuries of political maneuvering, diplomatic negotiations, and carefully orchestrated compromises that maintained continental balance.
But never in its storied history had the institution faced a crisis that struck at its very foundations—the discovery that its neutrality had been systematically violated by forces whose ambitions threatened the entire established order.
Headmaster Valdris Celestine stood in his private observatory, the academy's highest tower, as dawn light filtered through crystalline windows that offered panoramic views of the sprawling campus below.
His ageless features, unmarked by the centuries he had witnessed, showed the first signs of genuine concern he had displayed in decades.
The communication crystals arrayed before him pulsed with urgent messages from across the continent, each bearing intelligence that painted an increasingly disturbing picture.
