The study chamber was dim, lit only by three suspended mana lamps that floated silently near the ceiling. Their glow was soft and steady, casting pale light across stone walls carved with faint defensive inscriptions. Outside the narrow window, the night wind brushed against the Vistro manor, but inside the chamber there was only stillness.
Edward Vistro stood beside a long stone table.
Spread across its surface were documents from the White Tower, each page sealed with glowing mana signatures that pulsed faintly in silver light. The Atlantis Expedition Decree lay at the center. Around it were supplementary regulations, emergency protocols, guild classification charts, and transmission restrictions.
Rumors from Luminaries had traveled fast.
Illegitimate Marquis.
Patricide.
Duke killer.
Political exile in everything but name.
Edward read every document without expression.
He was no longer entering Atlantis under the Luminaries banner.
