A million stars shone bright above the Dome Shield as miniature electrical storms played across its surface with an eerie turquoise light. Darkness had fallen over Cinnamon City and the Old Quarter's streets were unusually silent. Most people had returned to their box cabins, closing their shutters for the night. A few still walked the streets, but they walked quickly, watching the shadows and keeping their mouths shut. A breeze swirled, stirring fine sand from the ground and lifting it into the air. When a lizard ran across the street on its hind legs, a small boy pointed and laughed until his mother scolded him and pulled him away into the darkness of a small side street.
Against the darkness of the city, the White Spear stood tall in the sky. Pale white light illuminated the curved glass bands that wrapped around its three hundred and forty separate levels, and a small white light blinked slowly at its apex. Six black towers surrounded it in a ring at a one hundred metre radius, illuminated only by the glow of the White Spear itself.
While the White Spear had been built as a celebration of survival, and a symbol of hope, the black towers had followed later, springing up as dark sentinels to protect against the uncertain world that had emerged within the Dome Shield. Lord Hades had saved a few thousand people from the Iridium Wars, and those few had grown and diversified until their numbers were sufficient to fragment into factions that despised each other. Wasn't it the nature of man to destroy everything that so many had fought so hard to save?
There had been many factions since the Dome Shield's construction. Many battles and wars had been fought. The Kamari were the new threat, imposing their will on the Orange Zone through political force at first, and then by terrorist activities and finally through open warfare. There was a feeling of expectation in the air. These were the days where history would be made, and Central Command would either rise or fall.
Cinnamon City braced itself for the beginning of a very different future. Some people slept sound in their bunks, while others gathered around their stoves, whispering in the shadows with a mixture of hope and fear in their hearts. The people double locked their doors against a dark and ominous night. It would be a long time before the sun rose again.