A sphere of pure radiance filled her sight, its surface rippling like molten gold. Bright arches suddenly leapt outward, flames that seemed to dance and reach toward her. The Sun was alive, trembling and bursting with secret energy, a watchful guardian in the sky, granting life to their world as they eternally traveled under its glory.

  Her feet hung in the air as strong arms held her, steadying her so she could peer into the telescope’s eye. The sight filled her with amazement and reverence. While the Sun’s Light at the temple was wonderful, the real thing was more. More everything!

  “Thanks, Daddy!” young Crina shouted as her feet touched the ground.

  Her father smiled warmly at her, then looked through the sun telescope and started noting down the details. His job was to observe their God for any signs and changes. It was his model of the Sun that now brightened most of the temples in the Sands. Her chest filled with pride at the thought.

  The room was filled with drawings, diagrams, and maps that traced every detail of the One Sun. The path their world traced around the Sun was especially interesting to her. Just as they followed the ways of light their God gave them, so did their world. And her father was the one to discover so much of it!

  “Dad, did the priests like your desis?” Crina asked. Her father had been working hard on his proof that their world was a sphere just like their Sun.

  “It’s called a thesis, my little sunshine, and yes, they did,” her father said, closing her notebook and looking at her.

  He was a tall man, even taller than the holy warrior who had visited last month. Ashen eyes like hers watched her with a kind look as his graying hairs fell over his forehead. He picked her up and placed her on his shoulder with ease. She would start training to awaken her life-force soon too, and then she would be just as strong.

  “The governor said that once I finish it, I will get a chance to present it before the Prophet-King herself,” Her father said with reverence.

  “The Holy One! Amazing!” Crina’s eyes widened at that.

  Her hands clasped together as excitement overtook her. She had only seen the Prophet-King’s golden sculptures or paintings. She wondered if her eyes were like the molten gold of the Sun, as the Priests said. Their Sunseer eyes shone, but nowhere near that bright. To think that her father’s work might reach her. Her home was supposedly many times higher than their small observatory.

  “Careful,” her father chuckled as he adjusted his grip when she wobbled on his shoulders.

  “Daddy?” Crina’s voice lowered. She knew that the Sun could see everything that’s happening, but she did not know if the Prophet-King could too. “The Prophet-King decides if your thesis is true?”

  “Indeed, her aides will advise her, but the final decision lies in the Holy One’s hands,” her father said as he stepped off the telescope platform.

  “I’m sure she will agree with you. You worked so hard!” the young girl said with certainty.

  “The Prophet-King is a wise woman. She will know what the correct choice is,” her father said.

  “Let’s hope there will be no mistake,” the young girl whispered.

  “The Prophet-King doesn’t make mistakes,” the astronomer reprimanded.

  “But you said everyone makes mistakes, like the scout,” Crina said, her tone weak.

  “I see. The Prophet-King is not like a normal woman. She is chosen by the Sun and shown its wisdom. The scout was just a normal man,” her father said softly, teaching his daughter the church wisdom. “The two fallen that failed the Sun were not a mistake either, but a trial for our people.”

  “I wish the Sun showed that scout there was that beast hiding in the nest too,” the young girl hid her head in her father’s dark hair.

  “The Sun guides us, but it does not hold our hands. Your mother was a strong warrior,” her father said gently. “She would have gone even if she knew. She would have defeated the beast and helped the city.”

  Crina nodded, still hiding her face.

  “Do you want to go wash Mommy’s stone?” her father offered.

  “Mhmph,” the girl agreed, nodding her head again.

  Crina stepped up the long stairs to the top of the observatory with a cheer. Today at the church school, they were teaching about what her father had discovered. It had been a few months since the Prophet-King had accepted her father’s thesis, and he was spoken about everywhere in the Sands.

  She had received a few gifts from her friends for her birthday as well. The lightshow the priest put on for her was wonderful, too. She wondered what her dad had prepared. Last year, he had taken her to a flower viewing and given her animal figurines. Maybe Lina would bake her honey cakes this year, too.

  She pushed the heavy door to the observatory, and avoiding a stack of books, she stepped into her room. She sighed internally, the room was once again a mess, and she had just tidied it up yesterday.

  Her father was now busier than ever. People from all around the country had been contacting him. The big table with all the sky maps had every inch taken by letters and new books. She was forbidden from touching anything there, as it was all relevant to his research.

  Suddenly, she heard a voice she recognized as the head priest of their temple. She halted and unconsciously hid behind a large metal piece of the new telescope her father was putting together.

  “Cairon, I understand your devotion to your research, but don’t you think this idea is a little… extreme?” the head priest asked cautiously.

  “The same was said about my previous research too,” her father said with mirth. “Once I finish the new telescope, I will be able to prove it.”

  “But to say that the stars are far-away objects like our Sun…” the priest shook his head, “that’s a little too much. We have known for a long time that we are circling the Sun. The Sun itself showed the Prophet-King as much, so saying our world is a big sphere makes sense. Wouldn’t the Sun have told us if there were others, especially so many as there are stars?”

  “I know it sounds a little out there with our current understanding, but if the stars were small lights near our planet, then as we moved around the Sun we would see them shift as the year passes. But they are always in the same spot at the same time of night. That must mean they are somewhere so far away that our movement does not affect their relative positions much. In that case, they need to be either insanely bright or at least proportionally large compared to our Sun.”

  She saw that her father’s white clothes were stained. He sometimes forgot to change after oiling the machinery, and the new construction did not help. It was a stark contrast to the tidy priest.

  “I can’t really grasp my head around that,” the priest shook his head. “I trust you, and you impressed the Prophet-King, but know that many will not like this theory.”

  “I know,” her father nodded. “I will only present it when I’m fully convinced myself.”

  “Good,” the priest smiled. “Now I will leave you alone. I’m sure you have things to prepare for little Crina’s birthday. She is the smartest one in the church, you know?”

  “I know,” the man smiled, then horror crossed his face. “Wait, it’s today!?”

  Crina stilled and, in surprise, pushed the metal piece in front of her. It made a loud scratching sound, and she watched in horror as it fell to the floor. The two older men watched her in surprise, and her father’s face showed dismay.

  “I’m sorry,” she said quickly. “I didn’t mean to hide. I was just surprised, and then I didn’t want to interrupt.”

  “It’s fine, Crina,” the head priest said, feeling sorry for the lone father. He hesitated for a moment but then stepped forward toward the girl and pulled out a necklace with a little golden Sun attached to it. “I have this for you. May the Sun always grant you warmth. I will be going now. Take care, both of you. Step in the Sun’s Radiance.”

  “May the Sun’s wisdom always light your path,” the parent and child said at the same time.

  “Thank you for the gift, Priest Delian,” Crina said respectfully.

  The man nodded and quickly left, leaving the awkward situation behind. Her father looked at her sheepishly, and she was reminded that he had forgotten about her birthday. Well, her father had been a little absent lately, always lost in his own thoughts, but it still left her feeling sad.

  Her father scratched his messy hair and kneeled down. “I’m sorry, sunshine. I’ve had a lot on my head lately.”

  “I understand,” Crina said, but her disappointment was clear.

  He stepped forward and patted her head. “The Prophet-King said she expects great things of me, but I should not neglect you. I will try to be better. What do you say we go to your favorite tavern? I will buy you anything you want on the way back too.”

  Crina smiled. “Okay, scatterbrain, but fix your hair first. I don’t want people to see you like that.”

  The man touched his head in surprise and laughed. “I will. Let’s go down then. I should also get a new set of clothes.”

  More months passed, and the end of the year was around the corner. Despite what her father had promised, his correspondence had only gotten more fervent, and he spent even more time in his observatory after the new telescope was finished. He barely even slept at night anymore.

  “Why don’t you take your father breakfast, Crina?” their caretaker Lina asked. She had been forbidden from entering the observatory floor lately. “I don’t think he will be coming down today.”

  Crina nodded to the kindly elderly woman, picking up a silver tray. “I will.”

  She carefully took the steps one at a time, making sure not to spill any of the tea. Her father had returned yesterday from a talk with the governor. He had not spoken with anyone and went straight to work. She was a bit worried, but she saw her father didn’t want to be interrupted, so she went to sleep herself.

  Opening the door, she carefully stepped around the loose papers peppering the floor. She would need to clean again. She placed the tray on the only free stool in the room and looked around for her father. She couldn’t see him anywhere. If not for the opening in the roof that let in the light, she would have said the room felt darker somehow.

  The new telescope towered above the old one. She was never allowed to use it during the day. It was not made to look at the Sun, which sounded strange to her. Its lens was covered by dark cloth during the day, too.

  “Dad?” she called.

  Suddenly, something hit the ground, and she jumped in surprise. Carefully, she stepped forward and saw her father sleeping behind a stack of books, an empty bottle of wine in his hand. That had been a gift he received when the Prophet-King approved his research through the governor. She had never seen him drinking before.

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  “Dad?” she asked carefully, touching his shoulder.

  Her father’s ashen eyes fluttered open in surprise, and as he looked around groggily, he straightened slowly. He still wore his official astronomer outfit, a long white robe adorned with sun symbols and small golden specks. Today it was stained with the white wine.

  “Crina?” he said, still waking up. “What hour is it?”

  “A few hours past sunrise. You returned late yesterday, so I thought it would be okay if you skipped the morning prayer,” she said, taking the bottle from her father’s hand.

  “I see, thank you. I probably wouldn’t have been presentable anyway,” he said, massaging his temples tenderly.

  “Is something wrong? Did something happen with the governor?” Crina asked.

  Her father looked at her for a while in silence, then turned to look at the room. “The Prophet-King has forbidden my research. I am to turn over all my documents pertaining to it.”

  “What? Why!?” Crina asked, surprised.

  “I don’t know,” her father shook his head, then stayed silent.

  “Eat something, I will clean the room,” she offered. After a moment, her father nodded and went over to the tray.

  She started picking up books and slotting them on the shelves, as she now knew the order by heart. She needed to step on a chair to do it, but she didn’t mind. It seemed her father had a lot on his mind. Then she found an unfamiliar purple book that looked odd to her.

  “On the movement of the moons…?” she read aloud, citing the first sentence of its introduction.

  “Ah, don’t read that,” her father said quickly, taking it away from her.

  “What is this?” she asked curiously.

  Her father hesitated. “It’s a book from a friend I exchange letters with… It describes the movement of the three moons.”

  “The shadow moons?” Crina asked, surprised. “But they are evil.”

  “Well, we need to know our enemies too. Watch out for them,” her father said carefully. “Don’t mention it to anyone. It has some theories inside that are frowned upon by the church.”

  “What theories?” Crina prompted, still surprised by the revelation.

  “There is one that is interesting,” her father started. “It’s still wrong, but it suggests that one of the moons is not like the other two. It moves orderly around the Sun like our planet and reflects its brightness.”

  “Really!?” the young girl exclaimed, shocked.

  “Maybe… I doubt it’s true, but keep it to yourself,” her father said. “Let’s make this our little secret.”

  Crina’s heart started to beat faster. Her father was reading books forbidden by the priests, yet she trusted him completely. He was smart. “Okay, Dad,” she whispered.

  Crina moved carefully between the stalls, her basket light but her mind heavy. The city was lively today compared to her mood. An exemplar had visited the city, a hero whose prayers and parables were spoken of fervently. Yet her worry for her father kept her from sharing in the joy. He had been frantic for weeks now, scribbling notes, muttering to himself, and locking himself for hours in the observatory, barring even her entry. She had tried to help, but it only felt like he was growing more distant.

  A shadow fell over her. Lina’s grip on her hand startled her, “Crina. Now.”

  In surprise, she let herself be pulled, and she dropped her basket. Lina’s face looked frantic, and despite her age, she was nearly sprinting. Crina found it hard to speak as their feet bounced off the hard sandstone tiles.

  “What? Why?” Crina said between gasps.

  “I will tell you once we get out of the city,” Lina said, her voice low but urgent.

  Crina tried to stop but she was too small to oppose the older woman, “What about dad?”

  “Shadows,” Lina cursed and stopped in an alleyway. “Forget that heretic!”

  Crina’s eyes widened, “What!? Please explain!”

  Lina quickly looked around and lowered her voice. “The Honored Exemplar visited the observatory! He found out your father didn’t give up on his research. Worse, he had heretical books in there. Did you know about that?”

  “What? Father said he was researching a way to track the Sun during the night now.” She squirmed. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “There must be some mistake!”

  “There is none. Your father confessed. Even I was questioned for heresy,” Lina said. “The Holy Exemplar asked me to escort you out of the city. The people will stone us once they learn of it, despite not being guilty.”

  Crina’s eyes watered as a lump formed in her throat. “No!” she cried.

  “Look, could you tell the Exemplar that you knew nothing about it?” Lina asked. Crina’s hesitation was answer enough.

  Crina felt limp, and Lina resumed running, half-pulling her as they stepped forward. Lina quickly put her in a sledge, and with two skalith attached, they were gone within minutes, leaving the city behind. Crina looked back, and suddenly the tower that had been her home was set aflame by a beam of light from heaven.

  “It’s okay. Your father gave you his savings, and I have family far in the north. We will hire some guards in the next city,” Lina tried to reassure her. “He was truly repentant for his sin. His soul will find the light somewhere.”

  Crina’s tears felt hot even in the heat of the desert. She did not care for that. Now even her father was gone. She was alone, and it was all her fault.

  She did not know how long they had been traveling. It must have been hours because the Sun had gone down a while ago. She looked around, and for a moment fear overtook her. She had never been this far away from the city walls.

  As if to confirm her fears, a chittering sound reached her ears from her right. She turned to look and saw the massive mandibles of an insectoid monstrosity. It lunged at her. She scrambled away and barely dodged the attack as Lina turned and shrieked in horror.

  Then her screams were cut short as she hid beneath a bench and curled upon herself. She did not know how long she had heard the sound of flesh being torn and devoured, but she screamed in horror nonetheless when the monster decided to go after her and struck the bench with its full body weight, the wood bending and cracking.

  After the second slam, she knew she was doomed. Then something flashed, and there was silence. She felt something grab her, and she tried to writhe free, but it was too strong. Pulled from beneath the bench she stared at the corpse of the monster and gore staining the wood.

  “You are lucky we stumbled upon you little one,” the man who saved her said, he wore a hardened leather armor and held a long blade in his other hand.

  She looked around and saw a large caravan had stopped behind them, most likely heading away from her city. She did not breathe in relief, she had no more tears to cry, instead she felt hollow pain in her chest. ‘

  Crina’s eyes fluttered open. It had been a long time since that nightmare last found her. She tried to rise, but the familiar dull ache froze her in place. Horror rose in her chest as she recognized the pain she had not felt in years. Along with it came the same deep exhaustion she knew came from holy healing, and she knew the true pain would return sooner or later.

  She gritted her teeth, set the sensation aside for now, and sat up on the bed she had been laid in. Seeing Marie and Aren in the room, she asked, “What is the situation?”

  Aren stirred and looked at her. His eyes studied her in the way she was used to, but there was unmistakable worry in them. She let out a quiet breath of relief. She knew he would not judge her, yet the doubt had lingered all the same.

  Marie, she knew, had been aware from the start. It had been her idea to hide Crina’s past, for the sake of the believers, before their journey ever began.

  “It’s… complicated,” Marie said. “The man claims he recognized you, Luminous One, because he had visions of you growing up in the last days. He does not lie, but I confirmed he received no holy visions.”

  “If you let me examine him with magic, I could tell you if the memories were implanted into him,” Aren scoffed. Then he turned to Crina. “Are you okay? You suddenly collapsed.”

  “There is nothing wrong with the Luminous One’s body. I healed the small tears she had,” Marie said. “We cannot kidnap the man outside the city when he hasn’t committed any crimes, and this is not a life-threatening emergency.”

  Aren ignored Marie. “How do you feel?”

  “I’m okay,” Crina said. Then, despite the lump in her throat, she continued, “I don’t think I’m the Luminous One anymore. The pain had stopped when I was chosen… and now it’s back. The Sun must have retracted its blessing.”

  “That’s not how it works,” Marie said. “In all of our history, the One Sun has never changed its choice of the Luminous One. The Sun knows everything, your history included. Even if something like that were possible, the Prophet-King would be the first to know, and he would have informed us.”

  Crina nodded, trying to appear assured despite the unease gnawing at her, and said, “We should resume our duties, then.”

  “Okay, I insist that you let me use diagnostic magic once we leave the city,” Aren said. Hearing no immediate objection, he continued, “I understand why the truth was hidden until now. Should we deny the accusation?”

  “We won’t,” Marie stated firmly. “While withholding truth is sometimes a regrettable necessity, the Church will not endorse a falsehood. One of the fallen kings taught us the harsh lesson of the corruption that lies can bring.”

  “It was quite foolhardy to believe that no one would recognize Crina,” Aren commented.

  “It would be wrong to have the Luminous One pose as someone else,” Marie said, shaking her head. “There was always a chance of something like this, of course, but she was only six when she left the city. Since then, the sickness and, more recently, the tonic regimen have altered her appearance far beyond what simple aging would. It was truly unlikely that anyone would recognize her.”

  “What about my disguise? Isn’t that a lie?” Aren asked, earning a cold stare from the exemplar. “I suppose that’s my lie to bear. Fine, us Teolians aren’t exactly known for our honesty, especially our nobility.”

  Crina smiled at the attempt to lighten the mood. “We should depart. I don’t think I’ll accomplish much here with this situation, and rumors will spread quickly.”

  “I have contacted the Holy One while you were recovering, and a statement of his support for you has been issued,” Marie said. “As far as damage control, this is all we can do.”

  “We should head out then,” Crina said, standing up slowly, her legs visibly unsteady. It wasn’t too bad, a year ago, she would have collapsed trying to stand so soon after being healed.

  Aren looked at her. “Maybe we should leave tomorrow, let you recover more.”

  “It won’t work,” Crina said. “If the disease returns like before, I’ll need more healing by morning.”

  She paused, feeling her legs slowly give out. “Aren, can you support me until we leave the temple? As my Sunbearer, you are the most capable for the task.”

  “Of course I don’t mind,” Aren said, stepping forward and offering his hand. She leaned on it gratefully. He glanced at his black wristband. “Won’t this make people frown, though?”

  “Not more than it already does,” Marie said.

  It was easy to see that the confidence the Exemplar usually displayed was lacking today. Crina knew why. They had discussed this at the beginning, and her history would hurt her chances of achieving anything, especially in the south. The first proof of it was in the guard’s eyes who stood outside the room, his gaze filled with barely contained trepidation and judgment.

  She did her best not to react to the looks, but with each person passed, her heart ached even more. The priests at the temple did not argue their departure. She had already fulfilled her duty with the prayer, and they seemed relieved as she passed through the temple’s arch.

  The city watched her depart, but instead of the usual fervent prayers, their faces were confused and vacant. She felt the weight of their disappointment, the people had believed in a figure greater than herself. She would need to prove worthy of the Sun’s blessing. Maybe then the pain would ease.

  As she contemplated her future, she suddenly heard a thud from her side, causing her to spin sharply. A purple barrier stopped a rock flying at her, and though Marie, already clad in her golden aura, was ready to intercept it, it raised her spirits to know that he had her back. Then she realized in horror what the rock meant for the thrower’s fate.

  Marie passed through Aren’s one-way barrier and brought the young man who had thrown the rock to his knees with her aura alone. The assailant stared at her with eyes black as obsidian, narrowed with malice. Crina’s heart fell.

  “According to the holy law protecting the Luminous One, your sentence is clear, sinner,” Marie said, a golden fist aimed to end the man’s life.

  “Stop!” Crina shouted despite herself. “Marie, please, stop…”

  The Exemplar looked behind her, and after a moment, nodded and waved to two guards from the city to walk over to her. They obeyed without hesitation after their initial surprise passed and took the man away.

  “He will be judged by the governor, but the law is clear,” Marie said. “The sinner’s blood doesn’t need to stain the Luminous One’s eyes.”

  Then their passage out of the city proceeded without further incidents, but it did nothing to ease the way people looked at her. As they neared the gates and had a chance to get a good look at the people guarding her, her heart sank further. Many of them held troubled stares. No one showed fear or hostility, but it was clear the matter would weigh heavily on them. She wished she had more experience to know what to do in a case like this.

  The inside of the tent was silent as she was forced to lie down on her bed. Even simply sitting upright had tired her out as she was carried out of the city. As soon as the city was a fair distance away, Aren spoke.

  “I will run some simple tests now,” Aren proposed.

  Marie did nothing to stop him, and Crina felt a flicker of hope. While multiple priests had examined her condition, no one had used magic on her before. She felt a static sensation pass through her, but it only felt unfamiliar and wasn’t unpleasant.

  Aren lifted his head. “I can see the damage that the disease is causing. I think it’s a bacteria whose cells are partially composed of pure life energy, at least that’s what the energy signature suggests. Those are rare and very hard to treat. I can try some spells designed to purge illnesses I know, but I’m not an expert in healing.”

  Marie nodded. “Try it.”

  Aren nodded and concentrated. Magic circle after magic circle appeared in the air, and she felt each one affect her in a similar manner, but she didn’t feel better or worse. Soon the circles looked so complex that it hurt her to look at the shapes, which seemed to melt into one another. After a few minutes, Aren stopped, closing his eyes, and Crina exhaled quietly, still feeling unchanged.

  “Nothing is responding,” Aren sighed. “Without a proper lab and the help of an expert vitalic mage, I don’t think I will be able to cure this. My medical knowledge is lacking in this department.”

  “Then there is nothing more we can do for now,” Marie said. “I will heal the Luminous One whenever it is needed.”

  “While I can do nothing about the sickness, I can try to remove some of the fatigue you feel after healing. It’s a simple spell that restores the life energy in your muscles and organs, and it’s especially potent on those who do not actively utilize their life energy,” Aren proposed.

  “I could also potentially numb your nerves so the pain feels less intense. In extreme cases, I could disable your sense of pain completely for a while, but that is not healthy long-term. I will still leave the actual healing to you.”

  Marie looked at him for a moment. “Will the spell have to be active as we enter the city?”

  “For the first one, no. The second one is, but I can look into modifying it. It should be possible to numb the nerves temporarily and let them recover on their own,” Aren theorized.

  “Then do both for now, but we cannot let the Luminous One enter the city while under the effect of magic,” Marie stated.

  Aren nodded and quickly cast both spells, and Crina instantly felt better. She sat up and thanked Aren with a slight smile. Then, as if to remind her the day wasn’t over, a droplet of rain struck the tent’s roof. Then another, and another. Amid the clear skies, rain began to fall, announcing the start of the Rain Season.