The sky over the Aethelgard Republic did not bleed red like the legends claimed, but it fractured like broken glass. Below the shimmering fissures, the citizens of the capital went about their lives, oblivious to the fact that their boundless energy source was leaking the sanity of an ancient god.
"Did you hear that sound again, Kael?"
Kael wiped the grease from his forehead, his mechanical wrench clattering against the metal deck. He looked at his younger brother, Elian, whose eyes were fixed on the sky.
"It is just the atmospheric turbines, Elian. Stop scaring yourself with those bedtime stories about the Void Kings," Kael said, his voice laced with the weary pragmatism of a worker who had spent twelve hours in the mines.
"The turbines do not hum in the language of the old tongue, br
