April 25, 1721 of the Era of Awakening. Valtor, capital of the state of Aurelion.
Cassian Vale was reading yet another book on the history of the ancient world, sitting in the university library where he studied. He was training to become a historian-archaeologist. Cassian glanced at the watch on his wrist — it was already seven in the evening.
"Eh, time to go," he thought.
He took a deep breath, held it for a few seconds, and slowly exhaled. Still sitting in the chair, he stretched his arms upward, loosening his body. Then he yawned and stood up. Closing the book, Cassian carefully placed it back on one of the shelves.
As he was about to leave, his gaze accidentally caught on Professor Joseph — an elderly man of about seventy. This was his history professor. All the students, and even other professors, considered Joseph a strange man and tried to avoid talking to him unless absolutely necessary. Cassian, on the contrary, liked him: no one knew or explained history better than he did. But even Cassian had never tried to strike up a conversation with him.
Right before exiting the library, he noticed a strange black bracelet on the professor's right wrist. It looked as though it was in constant motion.
Still, Cassian didn't have time to think about it right now. He needed to get home to celebrate his birthday with friends. He was born on April 25, 1700 of the Era of Awakening. And today, April 25, 1721, he turned twenty-one.
Cassian stepped out of the library building. It stood in one of the lively districts of the city. The street was paved with stone, about fifteen meters wide. Along it stretched three- and four-story stone buildings. The ground floors housed shops, restaurants, and other service establishments. The street was bustling because many people were returning from work. It was very noisy. Some shopkeepers were already closing their stores, while others were lighting up glowing signs — the advertising names of their shops and restaurants.
Cassian needed to cross the road. The moment he took a step, he accidentally bumped into someone.
"Hey, watch where you're going!" the man said discontentedly and quickly walked away.
Cassian took a few more steps, then stopped to let a wooden-and-iron machine powered by a steam engine pass by. Such machines usually carried two people, four at most. After it passed, he took a few more steps and stopped again, this time to let a horse-drawn cart go through.
Finally Cassian crossed the street and entered the building directly opposite the library. He climbed the stairs to the fourth floor, then stepped out onto the roof. The roof was flat. Right on it was an air stop where air balloons, airships, and other aerial vessels docked. They ran on hybrid engines that combined steam power with magic.
Five minutes later, a medium-sized airship approached the roof and came to a stop. Cassian quickly jumped onto the passenger platform. It wasn't attached directly to the airship — it hung below, suspended by stone chains. The platform had almost no fall protection — the walls were only about one and a half meters high. People simply jumped on and off when the airship stopped at an air stop.
Cassian handed the conductor a small paper ticket the size of an index finger. He had bought it earlier at this same stop from a special machine that dispensed tickets for travel on aerial vessels. One such ticket cost only one unit. With it, you could travel from one stop to any point in the city, as long as it was on the route of the chosen vessel.
The airship rose to about a hundred meters. Before Cassian opened a view of Valtor. The city was packed with three- and four-story buildings. Along the streets moved hybrid-engine vehicles, horse-drawn carriages, and ordinary pedestrians. In the sky, at altitudes from fifty to a hundred meters, air balloons, sailing airships, and airships of various sizes constantly floated.
The day was quite warm, although the sun was already sinking toward the horizon. When the airship climbed higher, a cool wind struck Cassian's face. Despite the height, the noise of the city could still be heard. Forges, factories, and other enterprises had already stopped working, so the main noise came from transport and the people themselves. Still, this was not surprising — one million two hundred thousand people lived in Valtor.
The sky above Valtor was clear and bright. The sunset painted it in yellow-orange tones. On the horizon loomed huge, dense white clouds that, because of the sunset, had also taken on a yellow-orange hue. They were voluminous and rose high upward.
Twenty-five minutes later, the airship finally stopped at the stop Cassian needed. The passenger platform came right up to the roof of one of the buildings where another air stop was located. Between the platform and the roof there was about one meter left — enough for people to safely jump on and off.
Cassian jumped down, descended to the first floor, stepped out onto the street, and turned left. His district was residential, but already much less lively. After five minutes of walking, he reached one of the buildings. It was an ordinary three-story structure. He and his friend — with whom he had grown up together in an orphanage — rented a one-room apartment on the second floor.
Cassian went upstairs and knocked on the door.
The door was opened by Marcel — Cassian's best friend. He had brown eyes, a slightly puffy face covered in stubble, and light chestnut hair of medium length that he barely took care of. Because of this, his head was a real mess of wavy strands.
"You're finally back? Got caught up in some history book again and stayed late in the library?" Marcel asked.
"You already read me like an open book?" Cassian replied with a smile.
"I'd be surprised if it was any other way," Marcel smirked.
After stepping inside, Cassian immediately noticed, right by the entrance on the nightstand, an iron cage shaped like a dome. Inside sat a bird.
"This… what is this?" Cassian asked in surprise.
"It's a birthday present for you," Marcel answered, gesturing toward the cage with both hands and grinning.
Cassian laughed.
"You're serious right now? That's an owl!"
Marcel laughed too.
"It's not just an owl — it's an owlet."
"That doesn't change the fact that it's still an owl," Cassian replied, still laughing. "Okay, I admit it — you surprised me."
"When have I ever not surprised you?" Marcel answered.
After laughing for another couple of minutes and calming down a little, they walked over to the table. It wasn't set extravagantly, but very cozily. On it stood a whole deep-fried chicken, two bottles — one of fruit juice and one of champagne. There were also several salads and two kinds of sweet creamy pastries.
"Wow, looks like we're feasting tonight," Cassian said.
"How could we not?" Marcel replied.
They sat down at the table and began to eat.
At that moment, they still had no idea what awaited them ahead.