The Citadel of Light, once the most revered tower in the Spire's inner ring, stood silent as the morning sun cut through its fractured stained glass. Today, it would not host scholars or Council decrees. Today, it would host something rarer: a trial… not in secret halls, but open to the people.
Inside the circular forum, rows of formerly robed educators, field scientists, couriers, mechanics—even young students—gathered shoulder to shoulder. Some leaned forward, others crossed arms skeptically. Many simply stared at the raised dais, where two figures stood opposite each other like polar charges.
One was Tarn Vesh—cold, dignified, clenching his jaw like he could rewrite logic through willpower.
The other was Luma.
Scene: The Accusation
Rhon tapped the sound projector. Selka adjusted the crystal mic. A hologram flickered to life above the center stage: blueprints of entropy siphons… bearing Tarn Vesh's signature.
Ion's voice echoed gently, "These devices were never for study. They were built to manipulate. To siphon control."
Luma stepped forward, voice steady. "You told us entropy was inevitable. That science was a tool for order. But you weaponized knowledge. You engineered imbalance to justify obedience."
Tarn sneered. "Order requires sacrifice. Children don't understand what it takes to preserve civilization."
Luma folded her arms. "Then maybe it's time the children grew up—and taught you what civilization really means."
Scene: Evidence and Echoes
Juno walked into the center with a cracked holotablet. "Here's your experiment logs, Tarn. You knew the Marsh of Eclipses was becoming unstable. You ran trials anyway. And Kaelen's notes—he warned against it."
A murmur rose from the crowd.
Behind them, a group of students wheeled in one of the deactivated entropy pylons. It hummed faintly even now—until Ion approached and calmly neutralized it with a tuning coil.
"Science isn't sacred because it's untouchable," he said. "It's sacred because it's meant to serve truth."
Scene: The Turning Point
Tarn tried one last tactic. "They're idealists," he growled. "They don't understand the weight of governance. They want anarchy with equations!"
An old professor slowly rose. "Then perhaps it's time the Spire stopped being a fortress… and became a school again."
Another stood. Then another. Until nearly half the audience stood in silence.
Not shouting. Not chanting.
Just standing.
In defiance. In decision.
Scene: Judgment Passed
Tarn Vesh was stripped of his rank, removed from the Bureau, and placed under scholarly arrest pending a full council investigation.
But the real sentence was written not by the Council… but by the people.
That day, the Spire announced the opening of the Echoborn Institute—an independent educational network to be led by rotating mentors, open to all.
And at its center, Luma was asked to teach the first class.
She looked around the old Citadel, now transformed. The light from the fractured stained glass still painted the walls in scattered colors.
It wasn't perfect.
But it was real.