CORRUPTED FILE [Lumina Chronicles Past Drafts]

Level Twenty-Six

[KINDLE'S PoV]

Lumina was tightening our chains yet again.

I pinched the bridge of my nose, took a few deep breaths, and reread Carmen's report from the top.

According to the report, a new law had been passed stating that only Luminous citizens were allowed to import and export goods, and only shops with special certification could sell imported goods. Of course, non-humans were barred from both citizenship and shop certification. That news on its own was troubling. But according to Carmen, a dozen Luminous knights had recently taken up residence in Loftwood.

Loftwood was a safe haven, or so we thought. It was just deep enough in the Wildlands that Lumina generally let it be, apart from an occasional check. It made a perfect base of operations for the Abandoned Order for that exact reason. It was the only place within days of travel for magical beings to freely speak their own languages without repercussions, or work jobs for pay.

If Lumina was sending knights—knights, not just soldiers—then that safe haven was in danger of vanishing.

I leaned back in my chair, pushing a hand through my hair and exhaling hard. While it wasn't how I intended to spend my afternoon, it looked like a trip to Loftwood was in my immediate future. I had to see this for myself, had to gauge the threat.

Over the past few years we'd made a name for ourselves as a rebel force—a terrorist organization, so says Lumina. They'd dispatched dozens of knights in an attempt to find us and bring us to "justice." Obviously, those searches have been fruitless. But a rise in Luminous presence combined with a push for action from the more vocal Order members meant that it was only a matter of time before they found us.

If we stayed put.

While the river valley between Lumina and Nox—a no-mans-land where neither nation technically held power—had been the Abandoned Order's home since the end of the war, it may be time for us to pack up and find a new home. Especially if Lumina was taking root.

But Lydia wouldn't be happy about moving, meaning neither would Seraphim.

We were stuck, unless...

Unless.

I swallowed, nodding to myself as I stood from the chair, grabbed my cloak off the back, and exited into the silent hall.

I killed my thoughts before they could grow. It wasn't something I wanted to think about right now.

I moved down the corridor a bit faster and carefully rolled the report, resisting the sudden urge I felt to crumple the parchment in my hands and set it ablaze.

At the top of the stairs, Serpina's door was open. She sat inside muttering under her breath and scribbling furiously, barely visible behind a mountain of thick books and precariously stacked rolls of parchment.

I leaned against the door frame and knocked on the wall. "Everything alright?"

"Look at this," Serpina huffed, waving a piece of parchment. "Look. At. This!"

"Perhaps if you kept your hand still, I could," I responded, stepping closer.

Serpina stood and shoved the parchment into my hands. "Look!"

I narrowed my eyes, turning the paper. "It's just a bunch of scribbles. Is that supposed to be writing?"

Pina nodded. "This is Maggie's language. It's been driving me up the wall. Like, they use five symbols for all the vowel sounds. All of them. Five symbols. How do they keep track? Do they just memorize word pronunciations?"