Why would someone like Silvanus have a friend like Matthew?
Silvanus had left the orphanage long ago. Without government aid, survival itself was a struggle—and their biggest problem, of course, was food.
The place they lived in now lay on the outskirts of the capital, Luminous—a chaotic boundary between the rich and the poor.
The wealthy thrived on slaughter and exploitation; the poor suffered from being slaughtered and exploited.
The streets here were perpetually pitch-black, covered in layers of grime, waste, and stagnant water that had built up over the years.
The people who lived here had grown so accustomed to the stench that they barely noticed it anymore.
Sometimes, mingled within that foul odor was the metallic tang of corpses—but even then, no one cared.
In this barren land, one could live a little longer simply by caring less about the affairs of others.
Even the sky above was dim and heavy, rarely touched by light.
