#honestly ridiculous how much worldbuilding I have for Icarro and Luar when we're hardly going to spend any time there

[cakeinthevoid]

Prologue - The Raid of Luar

I still feel like a bit of an intro is needed... Luar is a moon to Icarro, and is dependant on the larger and more environmentally diverse planet to supply them with the necessities of life. Tensions have been growing between the two worlds, despite Luarans essentially being Icarrans that have evolved slightly differently as a result of spending generations on the moon. Luarans have more of an affinity for magic and manipulating the energies of the world, much to the annoyance of Icarrans. Icarrans make up for it with their fierce military and incredible technologies though...

The attack barely lasted a minute. An Icarran terrorist—soldier, she amended, he was in uniform—had blown open the door to her building and in seconds Diana was pinned to the walls and bleeding out on the mosaic tile. Elder Kacian's suggestion to begin learning defensive and offensive magic rang mockingly in her ears. She had never felt a need to learn magic as a weapon. She preferred the simple castings and interesting spells—and she became a force to be reckoned with as the most skilled Lights Caster in her town. Not to say she had no skill in other domains—she truly considered herself a versatile mage with respectable skill in all magic disciplines.

How naive. She had simply froze as Icarrans invaded her home and nearly killed her.

Luarans had the same weakness as Icarrans, but to a significantly greater extent. Nickel and Iron—what their weapons were made of—were some of the most damaging of all the metals that harmed them. Gold and Silver were one of the very few safe ones—some even wore them as piercings.

The thought of piercing her body with any metal had always repulsed Diana.

Now she was well and truly nauseous from the nickel spear impaling her wrist.

Short enough to be launched from a cross-gun, the spear was still long enough to have pinned her left arm above her head to the wall. The pain radiated all the way to her chest, her core.

She needed to get it out before they came back, or her abilities would remain severely limited. The worst consequence of the metal was how it impeded magic and energy flow; in combination with the blood loss, she didn't think she could cast an illusion, let alone teleport to safety.

The Icarrans were moving through the street with a terrifying efficiency, spear guns and blasters going off like clockwork. It was chaos outside. People running in all directions, children crying, voices cutting off abruptly—

She could only listen to every explosion, every scream with horror. She couldn't move. She knew she had to get up, but her neighbour's last words to her after she had healed the fatal wound on her leg had been to stay put. Magnola said she would return to remove the spear from her wrist—lest she risk permanent damage to her nerves or bleed out in her own attempt to remove it. It was not an immediately life threatening injury, she had said. Then she had left the crumbling building in search of other Luarans to save. Every minute mattered when someone was bleeding out of an artery.

Magnola had run out, spotting a man across the street beginning to slump. She slid on her knees to his side, hands already outstretched to manipulate his life force and heal the bloodiest cuts. From her point of view, Diana had not seen any Icarrans on the street. A heartbeat later, she heard shouts and Magnola's head was rolling on the bloody street.

Diana felt the bile rise sharply in her throat. She blinked, as if that would dispel the image of her neighbour's head rolling. Madam Magnola, who gave her sweet treats after the longest days at school, who gave her the biggest pieces of pie on holidays—Magnola who had a daughter of her own.

She distantly thought of her own mother, who was on the other side of the moon. She hoped she still was anyway. There was no way to know now; the Icarrans had torn down the communication towers soon after they bombed the airstrips and ship ports.

Where were the ships? Why wasn't there anyone coming to help? Luar's military was only a fraction of Icarro's, but it was still a military—what happened? Why was it getting quieter? What was that droning noise?

Diana couldn't think straight anymore. Everything was blending together. She thought of Magnola whenever she tuned into the sharp pain in her wrist, only to realize she would not be coming back. She watched her die and yet she could not accept the idea that it could happen that fast. She saw Magnola killed again, right in front of her. She was already dead. Healers couldn't bring people back to life.

Oh stars, she thought. I'm dying, too.