A soft green glow begins to illuminate the darkened streets of Lumeria. The wane light, barely visible at first, gradually begins to reveal towering buildings clustered together so tightly that it is difficult to see between them. Like a wheat thicket, they reach high into the sky until they are lost in an aquamarine haze. Hundreds of essence lamps lining the streets begin to dim with the coming of dawn, and one sparks, flashes, and finally goes dark for the last time.

Under an awning, upon a stone bench, a pale hand slips and falls upon an unassuming box, which begins to whir and click. The music it plays is soft and cheerful--an Old Realm tune once used as a lullaby. The gentle chimes echo through miles of empty, abandoned crystalline roads, coming back distorted and faint from all directions.

Above, as the blue-green light grows brighter, a whale slowly swims past. Its silhouette passing through the jade-reinforced plates of adamant set high in the windows of the sky, it darkens the streets once more. Schools of fish play in the whale's wake, and a giant squid soon follows after.

The pale hand on the music box is still as dark shapes begin to slither through the streets towards it. Its owner stares blankly, slack jawed cloudy eyed, as the music box continues to play.

The Jadeborn warrior, dead since midnight, makes no sound as the wet, glossy blackness of the first man-sized leech latches onto his leg with its two dozen teeth. He is still as others begin to consume one of his arms and finally his head. As the Mountain Folk's body is consumed, one of the leeches oozes over the music box still resting under his hand.

Its music is muffled as darkness surrounds it. Eventually there is a spark and a sputter within the slug, and all returns to silence. The creature oozes quietly away.

Within minutes, the rubble-strewn streets of Lumeria are silent and clear once more. Nothing stirs in the shadows. Above, the aquamarine skies are clear. No evidence remains that Horaix Slug-Slicer ever sat upon the bench, waiting for the 8:00am train.

A tram silently sidles up to the bench, and the doors open. A small plaque near the bench gleams with letters of white and gold:

Tram from Visitors' Center to the Plaza of the Dawn of Wisdom, Onyx District, Sector 26, now boarding. Time: 8:01am, Saturnsday, Descending Fire 27, OEG 5003. Welcome to Lumeria.