by Merecold
Luminares is a city of impossible heights, a labyrinth of white marble spires, sky-bridges, and ancient cathedrals that reach for the shimmering Refractive Sea. Here, the Church maintains a fragile peace using Huenamancy, a primal magic of colors. To use it, one must make a Pact: a promise of sacrifice that turns human aspects into raw power. Malva is a Red-Hue Seeker, a "Beast" from the borderlands who burns her own lifespan to fuel her fire. She doesn't belong in the silk-draped ballrooms of the High-Tide nobility, but she’s been assigned to track the "Angel", a charismatic cult leader whose Pink-Hue "Gifts" are turning the city’s elite into mindless, blissful puppets. Aurin is an Eldorian operative who uses prototype Hue-tech to bypass the Pacts of the past. He doesn't want to save the city; he wants to secure its secrets before the "noise" of the coming war destroys everything. When members of high society are found "Redeemed", their bodies used as gruesome messages, Malva’s regiment of Seekers is set upon the city to find the roots of the cult, cut them out, and burn what remains. As the cult of the Shattered Vessel prepares to ignite a heresy that will drown the city in blood, Malva and Aurin must navigate the dizzying rooftops and deadly politics of Luminares. In a city where speed is the only currency and every strike has a price, they will learn the ultimate truth of the Hues.
