Against the Dying of the Light

Kavita is a 17 year old magic wielder living in a rural community in New England. While the city life thrives in the nearby metropolis of Boston, her community lives a quiet life of a different century. As magic wielders, they must live a life completely devoid of electric technology. Every time they come into contact, or even close proximity, to this tech their magic is drained. A lifetime exposure causes permanent loss of their abilities, so magic wielders live out of range of any urban area, in reserved plots of land that remain off-grid.

They aren't isolated from the world, however. They still deal with urban dwellers when it comes to trade, commerce, and even friendship. Certain urban areas are made into 'steam towns', where urban dwellers and wielders can commune under the glow of gas lamps, and trade the hand-crafted goods and minor enchantments that the rural community creates.

Kavita loves her life as a wielder. Her mothers have trained her in herbal lore, in spell crafting, and in other areas, and she has shown herself to be of rare power. She is chosen to be the next in line of the most powerful females of her village. Magic and family are her two ultimate fulfillments in life.

The perfection of her potential future is disrupted when she learns that she has heart failure, and her only hope for survival is a Pacemaker. Her only shot at a long healthy life would mean the end of the only one she has ever known. Her family could no longer be near her, and she would never be able to return to the village she loves.

Now she must face a terrible decision: accept her new long life at the hands of science and technology, or live a few weak years with her family. Facing community pressure to choose tradition, and the deeply rooted instinct to live, she is being torn into two directions.

Will she give up magic and her family for a chance to live? Or will her traditions pull gently into the night of death?