I. Luminara — The Hedonistic District 1950 FC (≈ 2025 CE) The Hedonistic District declared itself long before Zael crossed its threshold. Even from the high transit lines, its glow bled into the air—an electric bloom wrapped around Luminara’s ancient foundations. It felt less like a district and more like a pulse. Dr. Liora Lytton had warned him. “People go there to …
Golden afternoon light slanted through the tall windows of Dr. Liora Lytton’s office, setting the dust in the air adrift like tiny constellations. The room seemed shaped by centuries rather than design: shelves layered with preserved tablets, annotated codices, and transparent data cubes; a workbench scattered with instruments grown from pale bioceramic; preservation fields humming softly around manuscripts too fragile …