Tuesday 21st of September of 2175

  It was a sunny day, like any other.

  Mark Nyx liked the quiet of the rooftops.

  The Sephir of Astra stretched below him, a sprawl of glowing skybridges and gravity-defying spires, their metallic surfaces reflecting the neon haze of the city. From up here, the world felt slower—cleaner. The hum of anti-grav skiffs caused by floating wove through the air and the rhythmic thrum of power generators hidden beneath the floating metropolis.

  Most people in Astra never looked down.

  Mark did.

  Beyond the city’s shimmering barriers, the Expanse yawned below—a vast, shifting abyss below the clouds, a place only seen when the clouds disappeared. The world beneath the Sephirs was a graveyard of fallen civilizations, where only shadows moved and old ghosts whispered warnings no one wanted to hear.

  The chime of a distant clock tower echoed across Astra, snapping Mark out of his thoughts.

  “Shit.“

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  He was going to be late. Again.

  With a sigh, he turned away from the city’s edge and sprinted across the rooftop, his boots barely making a sound against the reinforced alloy panels. He vaulted over a railing and landed smoothly on a skybridge, joining the steady flow of students heading toward Astra Technical University (ATU)—one of the most prestigious institutions in the entire Sephir network.

  Mark adjusted the strap of his bag as he merged into the crowd. The second day of the first trimester of his final year at ATU. He should have been more excited. Most of his classmates were already making plans—internships, research projects, secured contracts with big corporations, pursued higher degrees or went into the political system.

  Mark? He had no idea what came next.

  “You love making me wait me wait, do you?”

  A gust of wind rustled Mark’s jacket as Daniel Gale fell into step beside him, his usual smirk in place. The guy always moved too fast, like he wasn’t quite used to standing still.

  Mark rolled his eyes. “Not everyone likes to launch themselves across the city first thing in the morning.”

  Daniel stretched, the air subtly bending around him, playing with the edges of his sleeves. “What, and miss the chance to feel alive? You should try it sometime.”

  Mark shook his head, suppressing a small smirk. “I prefer not to get banned from campus airspace.”

  Daniel grinned. “Eh, they’ll get over it.”

  The two of them made their way into the lecture hall, a massive amphitheater where the ceiling panels displayed a live projection of Astra’s floating infrastructure. Today’s topic?

  "The Science of the Sephirs: Foundations of Aerostatics and Sustainable Elevation."

  As Mark took his seat, he couldn’t shake the thought that maybe—just maybe—he should have figured out where he was going by now.