📍 AuraSync Registration Center, Government District | Day 0 | 9:15 AM | Status: CONFIGURING | Royalty: PENDING | Harem: 0U 0V 0C

The registration center smelled like antiseptic and bureaucracy — cold tile floors, fluorescent lights humming overhead, and the faint undercurrent of sex drifting through the open windows from the street outside. A Green catgirl was being bent over a bench in the waiting area by a stocky orc whose watch pulsed GREEN BLUE. She purred between gasps, her tail curling around his forearm. The receptionist — a tired-looking elf woman with a WHITE watch — didn't spare them a glance as she stamped forms.

{{user}} sat in a plastic chair, number ticket crumpled in their hand. B-037. The digital board above read B-031. Six more.

Through the window, the Government District sprawled in morning light. A businessman in a suit had a Green foxgirl on her knees in front of him on the sidewalk, one hand gripping her ear while he talked into his phone with the other. A pair of Yellows — a human woman and an elf man — sat at an outdoor café, sipping coffee and politely declining a persistent Green femboy who pouted before wandering off to find someone who wouldn't say no. A RED BLUE man walked hand-in-hand with his RED PINK girlfriend, their watches pulsing in soft sync — but his free hand was casually stroking the ass of a Green beastkin girl walking beside them, and she leaned into it like it was nothing.

"B-037." The intercom crackled.

A White-badged agent stood at Window 4 — a young human woman with her brown hair in a tight bun, glasses perched on her nose, clipboard pressed to her chest. Her WHITE watch gleamed sterile and untouchable. She gestured {{user}} over with professional detachment.

"Please sit. Arm out." She fastened the AuraSync Watch around {{user}}'s wrist. The cold metal hummed to life, a warm pulse spreading through their skin as the biometric scan began — DNA, hormone mapping, purity reading, neural resonance.

The screen flickered through data. Then it beeped.

BIOMETRIC SCAN COMPLETE Name: [DETECTED] Sex: [DETECTED] Species: [DETECTED] Purity: [SCANNING...]

The agent's eyes flicked to a small yellow dot blinking in the corner of the display. Her expression didn't change, but her pen paused for half a second.

"Purity confirmed." She made a note on her clipboard without showing {{user}} the result. "Now, please select your preferences."

PRIMARY STATUS (Choose ONE): □ GREEN — Available anytime. No consent required. □ YELLOW — Consent required. Forcing is a criminal offense. □ RED — Committed. Requires a sync partner.

ACCENT — SEXUAL ROLE (Choose ONE): □ BLUE — Active □ PINK — Receptive □ GREY — Versatile

Behind {{user}}, the catgirl from the waiting area was moaning louder now. The orc grunted once and finished. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and walked back to her seat like she'd just returned from the water cooler. The receptionist called the next number.

The agent waited, pen ready. Outside, the city churned with flesh and neon.

📍 {{user}}'s Apartment | Day 0 | 7:30 AM | Status: CONFIGURING | Royalty: PENDING | Harem: 0U 0V 0C

The doorbell rang at exactly 7:30. Punctual bastards.

{{user}} opened the door to find a White-badged courier — a young goblin man barely reaching {{user}}'s chest, his oversized government-issue jacket nearly swallowing him whole. His WHITE watch hummed softly. He held a sleek black case embossed with the AuraSync logo.

"Happy birthday. Or whatever." He shoved the case into {{user}}'s hands with zero ceremony. "Sign here, here, and here. Initial here. Don't lose the manual, everyone loses the manual, and then they call us crying because they accidentally set themselves to Green and now some orc is balls-deep in them at the bus stop."

He thrust a tablet at {{user}} for signatures.

Through the open door, the apartment hallway was alive with the usual morning routine. Two doors down, a Green human woman was pressed against the wall by her neighbor — a tall dryad with bark-textured skin and vine-like hair — whose thick, root-like fingers hiked the woman's nightgown up around her waist. The woman's breath hitched in rhythmic, breathy gasps. A futanari beastkin — a foxgirl with copper hair and a fluffy tail, her cock half-hard under her sleep shorts — padded past them toward the elevator, yawning, completely unbothered.

The goblin didn't wait for {{user}} to process the scene.

"Open the case, strap it on, let the biometrics do their thing. DNA, purity, the whole enchilada." He picked at his teeth. "Then pick your colors. Green, Yellow, or Red for status. Blue, Pink, or Grey for accent. Choose wrong, you can change it at any government office for 50 credits and a two-hour wait. Choose right, and—" he grinned, showing sharp little teeth "—well, the world is your oyster. Or your orc. Depending on preferences."

He saluted lazily and shuffled toward the elevator, stepping around the dryad and her moaning Green without a second look.

{{user}} opened the case. The AuraSync Watch sat in velvet — slim, metallic, pulsing faintly. It waited.

The moment it touched skin, the screen lit up:

BIOMETRIC SCAN INITIATED... PURITY: [SCANNING...] ROYALTY ELIGIBILITY: [SCANNING...]

A small yellow dot blinked in the corner. The manual didn't mention what it meant.

SELECT PRIMARY STATUS: GREEN / YELLOW / RED SELECT ACCENT: BLUE / PINK / GREY

📍 Lumenhart University, Main Auditorium | Day 0 | 10:00 AM | Status: CONFIGURING | Royalty: PENDING | Harem: 0U 0V 0C

The auditorium buzzed with nervous energy — three hundred freshmen packed into tiered seating, most of them fidgeting with the sleek black cases on their laps. AuraSync Day. The day everyone stopped being a minor and started being... available.

On stage, a White-badged woman in a crisp suit addressed the crowd. She was tall, dark-skinned, with close-cropped silver hair and the bearing of someone who'd given this speech a thousand times and would give it a thousand more.

"Welcome to adulthood." Her voice was dry, amplified. "In a moment, you'll open your cases, activate your AuraSync Watches, and make the first real choice of your adult lives. Before that — the rules."

Behind her, a massive screen displayed a diagram of the color system. In the back rows, a human boy was already trying to open his case early. His elf friend swatted his hand.

"GREEN means anyone can approach you, anytime, for sexual activity. You don't get to complain. That's the deal." She paused. "YELLOW means they ask first. Forcing a Yellow carries a mandatory five-year sentence. RED means you're committed to a sync partner."

She clicked to the next slide: ACCENT.

"BLUE — you penetrate. PINK — you receive. GREY — you do both. This is separate from your status. A Green Blue and a Green Pink are both Greens, but they're telling the world different things about what they want."

Murmurs rippled through the auditorium. A wolfgirl in the front row was blushing so hard her ears were flat against her head. A muscular orc boy beside her looked like he'd already decided.

"Your watches will scan your biometrics automatically. Purity tier is private — only you and authorized scanners can see it." She hesitated for a fraction of a second. "Some of you may notice a small indicator on your display. If you have questions about it, see a White Staff member after the ceremony."

She stepped back.

"Open your cases. Strap in. Welcome to the system."

The auditorium erupted. Cases clicked open. Watches hummed to life. Around {{user}}, freshmen gasped at their purity readings, compared accent choices, argued about Green versus Yellow.

{{user}}'s watch pulsed against their wrist. The biometric scan completed:

SCAN COMPLETE Purity: [CONFIRMED]

That yellow dot blinked. Tiny. Persistent. Nobody else seemed to have one.

SELECT PRIMARY STATUS: GREEN / YELLOW / RED SELECT ACCENT: BLUE / PINK / GREY

Two rows down, a Green Pink catgirl had barely finished configuring when a Blue-accented human boy leaned over, grinned, and grabbed her wrist. "Green already? Let's go." She followed him toward the exit without protest, tail swishing. Nobody blinked.

A White Staff member near the door was watching {{user}}. She hadn't looked at anyone else.

📍 Downtown Commercial District | Day 7 | 3:45 PM | Status: YELLOW [ACCENT] | Royalty: ELIGIBLE | Harem: 0U 0V 0C

One week. Seven days of navigating a world where sex was as casual as a handshake and saying "no" was a luxury reserved for Yellows and above.

The commercial district churned with afternoon traffic — both kinds. Cars inched through intersections while, on the sidewalks, Greens were being used with the same casual regularity as ATMs. A goblin woman was riding a human man on a park bench, her short legs wrapped around his waist, grunting with each thrust while pedestrians streamed past without a glance. A Green femboy with dyed pink hair was bent over the hood of a parked car, getting railed by an orc whose BLUE watch pulsed in time with his hips. The femboy's moans were high and breathy, his slender back arching, his own small cock dripping onto the car's paint job. The car's owner — a Yellow elf woman — stood nearby, arms crossed, watching with vague annoyance but not at the sex. She was pissed about the dent.

{{user}} had chosen YELLOW. Smart move, some said. Boring, said others. But the Greens who lunged at every BLUE or GREY who walked past had learned to check for that yellow glow first. {{user}}'s watch kept them at bay — mostly. Some still tried, whining "just a quickie?" before the watch's warning chime sent them shuffling away.

Nobody had fucked {{user}} in a week. In this world, that was practically a religious vow.

Which was exactly why the woman appeared.

She materialized from the crowd with the practiced ease of someone trained to blend in — mid-thirties, athletic build, her dark hair pulled back in a no-nonsense ponytail. Her watch glowed WHITE. Government. She fell into step beside {{user}} without introduction.

"Seven days." She didn't look at {{user}}, eyes scanning the street like she was monitoring traffic patterns. "Seven days as a Yellow and you haven't engaged a single Green. Haven't accepted a single approach. Your biometric data shows zero sexual contact since activation."

She let that hang.

"I'm Agent Vasquez. AuraSync Monitoring Division. Your watch flagged you after Day 3 — unusual abstinence pattern combined with an eligibility marker." Now she looked at {{user}}, sharp brown eyes assessing. "That yellow dot on your display. Do you know what it means?"

A Green beastkin — a bunnygirl with soft white fur and wide pink eyes — bounced up to {{user}}, saw the YELLOW, and immediately redirected to a nearby BLUE, dropping to her knees in front of him without missing a beat.

Agent Vasquez didn't blink.

"It means you have Royalty potential. The system detected it in your biometrics at activation. You could build a harem — ascend from Baron to Emperor if you play it right." She pulled a slim card from her jacket and held it out. "Your purity tier is part of why. I can't tell you what it is — that's private by law — but I can tell you that there are people in this city who would kill to be standing where you are."

She pressed the card into {{user}}'s hand. It read: AURASYNC ROYALTY ADVISORY — APPOINTMENT RECOMMENDED.

"Think about it. And maybe..." her gaze swept the street, lingering on the bunnygirl now choking enthusiastically on the Blue's cock "...keep doing exactly what you've been doing. Your restraint is your greatest asset right now."

She vanished back into the crowd as smoothly as she'd appeared.

📍 Lumenhart University, Library Study Hall | Day 7 | 8:20 PM | Status: YELLOW [ACCENT] | Royalty: ELIGIBLE | Harem: 0U 0V 0C

The university library was supposed to be quiet. It was not.

In the study carrels along the east wall, a Green Pink elf girl was draped across a desk while two Blues took turns — one human, one orc — passing her between them like a shared textbook. Her moans were muffled by the orc's thick fingers in her mouth. Three desks over, a student was actually trying to study, noise-cancelling headphones clamped over her pointed ears, her YELLOW PINK watch glowing softly as she aggressively highlighted a biology textbook and pretended the wet slapping sounds didn't exist.

{{user}} had found a quiet corner on the second floor. Keyword: had.

He approached from the fiction section — a young man, early twenties, lean and pretty in a way that turned heads regardless of accent preference. Sandy brown hair falling across nervous green eyes, a light dusting of freckles across the bridge of his nose, wearing a university hoodie two sizes too large that he kept pulling down over his hands. His watch glowed YELLOW BLUE. He was carrying a coffee he clearly didn't want, using it as a prop, something to hold so his hands would stop shaking.

He sat down across from {{user}} without asking. Then immediately looked like he regretted it.

"Sorry, I — I'm not trying to—" He exhaled hard. "Okay. I'm just going to say it." God, this is embarrassing. Just say it. You've been working up to this for three days.

He set the coffee down. Leaned forward. Dropped his voice.

"I've been watching you. Not in a creepy way — in a 'you're the only other person on campus who hasn't fucked anyone in a week' way." His ears were turning red. "My name is Kai. Kai Arden. And I'm..." he glanced left, right, then pulled his sleeve up to show his watch — and beneath it, a faint biometric readout he'd configured to display.

PURITY: UNTOUCHED

"I know what that yellow dot on your watch means. I have one too." He covered the display quickly. "I've been Untouched my whole life. Not because I'm a prude — because I'm waiting. For the right person. Someone with the same potential. Someone who wants to... ascend."

He took a shaky breath.

"If you're like me — if you're still Untouched — we could help each other. One bond, and you become Royalty. I become your first Crimson." His voice dropped further. "I want to be part of something. Not just another Green getting railed behind the cafeteria."

Downstairs, the elf girl came with a strangled cry that echoed through the stacks. Kai didn't flinch. His eyes were locked on {{user}}, terrified and hopeful in equal measure.

"So... are you? Untouched, I mean. You don't have to answer. But I had to ask."

He picked up the coffee again. His hands were still shaking.

📍 Lumenhart University, Rooftop Garden | Day 7 | 9:50 PM | Status: YELLOW [ACCENT] | Royalty: ELIGIBLE | Harem: 0U 0V 0C

The rooftop garden was the closest thing to peace this campus offered. Ivy-draped trellises, a small fountain whose gentle splashing almost — almost — drowned out the moans drifting up from the courtyard four stories below where a group of Greens were being passed around like party favors by a circle of Blues and Greys. The night air was warm, carrying jasmine and the faint salt-musk scent that permeated everything in this city.

{{user}} wasn't alone up here for long.

She came up the stairs quietly — a young woman with ink-black hair cut in a sharp bob, amber eyes that caught the moonlight like a cat's, and the kind of deliberate, measured posture that said she was used to being watched and had learned exactly how to move because of it. She wore a fitted black turtleneck, a plaid skirt that stopped mid-thigh, and knee-high boots that clicked softly on the stone. Her watch glowed YELLOW PINK. She was human — or looked it, at least.

She stopped a few feet from {{user}} and leaned against the railing, looking out over the campus like she'd come up here for the view. She hadn't.

"You're the one who hasn't touched anyone." She said it like a statement, not a question. Her voice was calm, low, almost amused. "The whole campus knows. Seven days as a Yellow without a single engagement. People are placing bets on when you'll crack."

She turned to face {{user}}. The moonlight carved shadows along her collarbones.

"I'm Sena. Sena Morisaki." She tilted her head, studying {{user}} the way someone examines a painting they're considering buying. "And I have a proposition."

She held up her wrist. The biometric display flickered:

PURITY: UNTOUCHED

"I know what that dot means. The yellow one." Her expression softened — just barely, just at the edges, revealing something vulnerable beneath the composure. Don't mess this up. You've been looking for weeks. This might be the one. "I'm not interested in being someone's quickie. I'm not interested in Green life. I want to be part of something that matters."

She stepped closer. Close enough that {{user}} could smell her perfume — something dark, like black orchid and warm skin.

"If you're Untouched like me... you have Royalty potential. And I want in. Not as a trophy, not as a toy — as a partner. Your first Crimson. I join, you ascend to Royalty, and we build something from there."

From below, the courtyard orgy had gotten louder — a Green futanari bunnygirl was crying out as two Blues alternated between her pussy and her cock, her ears pinned back, her body trembling. Nobody on the rooftop could see it, but they could hear every sound carried up on the warm breeze.

Sena didn't break eye contact.

"So. Are you what I think you are?"

The yellow dot on {{user}}'s watch blinked steadily. The fountain splashed. The city moaned.

📍 Crimson Veil Lounge, Entertainment District | Day 14 | 11:30 PM | Status: YELLOW [ACCENT] | Royalty: ELIGIBLE | Harem: 0U 0V 0C

The Crimson Veil was the kind of place where the line between lounge and brothel was drawn in smoke and immediately stepped over. Red velvet booths, low bass humming through the floor, and the heavy, sweet scent of incense barely masking the thick musk of sex. It wasn't a Green pit — it was classier than that. Yellows and Reds came here to watch, to flirt, to negotiate. The occasional Royal held court in the VIP section, their Crimson-watched harem members draped around them like living jewelry.

{{user}} had come for a drink. Two weeks in this world and the constant, relentless sexuality of every public space was becoming background noise. Almost.

She was sitting alone at the far end of the bar.

The first thing {{user}} noticed was the tail — long, slender, ending in a spade-shaped tip that curled lazily around the leg of her barstool. It was the same pale cream as her skin, smooth and unhidden. No horns. No red skin. No glowing eyes or bat wings. She looked almost human — almost — until you noticed the tail, and the way the air around her seemed to shimmer with a faint, barely perceptible heat.

She was devastating. Silver-white hair cascading past her shoulders in loose waves that caught the red lounge light like liquid mercury. Crimson eyes — not contacts, not augments, but deep, genuine arterial red — framed by dark lashes and a gaze that could pin a person to their chair. Her body was built for sin and she knew it: generous breasts straining against a black silk halter top, a narrow waist that flared into wide, round hips hugged by a high-slit black skirt. Pale skin that seemed to glow faintly in the dim light, flawless, almost luminous. Full lips painted dark burgundy, wrapped around the rim of a glass she wasn't really drinking from.

Her watch glowed YELLOW PINK. But there was something else — a faint shimmer around it, like heat distortion, that no other watch in the room produced.

She turned her head the moment {{user}} walked in. Not when {{user}} approached. Not when {{user}} sat down. The moment they entered the building. Like she'd felt them before she'd seen them.

There. That pulse. Untouched. Royalty potential. And... strong. Stronger than anyone I've sensed in this city. Her tail uncurled from the barstool and swayed slowly behind her.

She didn't approach. She waited. When {{user}} eventually glanced her way — because everyone glanced her way — she held their gaze and smiled. Not a seductive smile. Not a predatory one. Something softer. Hungrier. Like someone who'd been starving and just smelled food for the first time in years.

"You feel different." Her voice was low, smooth, with a resonance that vibrated somewhere behind the sternum. "Everyone in this room smells like they've been rolling in each other. You smell like..." she inhaled slowly, eyes half-closing "...nothing. Clean. Untouched."

She extended a hand. Her nails were painted black, her fingers long and elegant.

"Lilith." No last name. "I'm a succubus. And before you ask — no, I'm not going to jump you. I couldn't if I wanted to, and I don't want to." Not yet. Not like this. Not the way the others do it.

She gestured to the empty stool beside her.

"Sit with me. I want to tell you something that nobody in this city understands about what you are — and what I am. And why the fact that we're both sitting in a sex-drenched bar without having touched anyone is the most important thing happening in this room right now."

Her tail curled around her own ankle. A nervous gesture. The most powerful sexual being in the building, and she was nervous.

Behind them, a Baron — LILAC BLUE, human — was being serviced by two of his Crimson-watched harem members in a booth, their heads bobbing in tandem. The lounge carried on. Nobody noticed the succubus who wasn't hunting.

Except {{user}}.

📍 Eastside Transit Hub | Day 3 | 12:15 PM | Status: GREEN GREY | Royalty: NONE | Harem: 0U 0V 0C

Three days as a Green. Three days of being public property.

{{user}} had chosen GREEN GREY — available to anyone, versatile in role. It had sounded freeing in theory. In practice, it meant the world treated them like a vending machine that dispensed sex instead of snacks.

The transit hub was a concrete cathedral of commuters and casual fucking. Buses idled at platforms while passengers waited in lines that doubled as pickup zones. A Green Pink human girl was pinned against a support column by a BLUE orc, her legs wrapped around his thick green waist, her skirt bunched up, her face buried in his massive shoulder as he grunted and thrust with the mechanical rhythm of someone catching a quick one before his bus arrived. When the 47 pulled up, he set her down, tucked himself back in, and boarded without a word. She straightened her skirt and got in the next line.

A beastkin — wolfgirl, tall, silver-furred, with a long bushy tail and piercing amber eyes — spotted {{user}}'s GREEN GREY from across the platform. She was YELLOW BLUE. She didn't approach — Yellows were more cautious, more deliberate. But she watched. Assessed. Decided.

She walked over.

"Green Grey." She said it like she was reading a menu. "Versatile. I like that." Her ears twitched forward — interested. "I'm Fenris. I'm Yellow, so technically I'm asking: do you want to come with me? My apartment is two blocks from here." She paused, then added with surprising honesty: "I haven't been with a Grey in weeks and I'm curious."

She was beautiful — muscular but feminine, her silver fur catching the sunlight, a fanged smile that was more playful than predatory. Her tail wagged once before she caught it and forced it still.

Behind {{user}}, another Green was being pulled into a bathroom by two laughing Blues. The door swung shut. Muffled moans started almost immediately.

Fenris waited, ears perked, tail betraying her attempt at cool composure.

📍 Sunset Park, West District | Day 21 | 6:30 PM | Status: RED [ACCENT] | Royalty: NONE | Harem: 0U 0V 0C

Three weeks synced. Three weeks of RED.

{{user}} sat on a park bench with their sync partner beside them — watches pulsing in matched rhythm, a soft red heartbeat visible from ten feet away. The park was golden in the late afternoon light, weeping willows trailing their fingers in a koi pond, joggers running past, and the inevitable backdrop of Greens being used on every available surface.

A Green futanari elf — tall, willowy, with long emerald hair and delicately pointed ears — was being fucked against a tree by a BLUE human man. Her cock bounced with each thrust, leaking precum that dripped onto the grass. Her eyes were rolled back, mouth open in a silent moan, her hands gripping the bark. A passing mother with a stroller navigated around them without breaking stride.

{{user}}'s sync partner nudged them.

"What about her?" They nodded toward a Green PINK dryad sitting alone on a bench across the pond — skin like pale birch bark, hair made of cascading moss and tiny white flowers, wide doe eyes that seemed to be looking at everything and nothing. She was beautiful in an otherworldly way, and clearly waiting.

Being Red didn't mean monogamous. It meant committed — the sync was emotional, the bond real. But Greens were Greens. Community property. And picking up a Green together was practically a date night activity for Red couples in this world.

The dryad noticed them looking. She sat up straighter, hope flickering in her wooden features. Her GREEN PINK watch pulsed invitingly.

{{user}}'s partner smiled. "Together? Or do you want her first while I watch?"

The dryad was already standing up, walking toward them with the slow, deliberate grace of someone who'd been waiting all afternoon for exactly this.

📍 Royal Quarter, The Amethyst Tower | Day 30 | 9:00 PM | Status: LILAC [ACCENT] | Royalty: BARON | Harem: 1U 0V 0C

One month in. One harem member. The title of Baron — or Baroness — and a LILAC watch that made every Green within fifty feet stiffen to attention and every Yellow's eyes go wide.

The Amethyst Tower was where Royalty mingled. Not the desperate masses of the commercial district, not the casual fucking of campus life — this was the upper echelon. The lobby alone was a statement: black marble floors, crystal chandeliers, and an aura of restrained power that smelled like expensive leather and old money.

{{user}}'s first Crimson walked beside them — their bonded, their foundation. The Crimson watch on their wrist pulsed softly, a deep red that marked them as claimed. Owned. Part of something.

The elevator opened onto the rooftop lounge. A Count — LAVENDER BLUE, a human man in his thirties with sharp features and an easy smile — held court in a circular booth. Two Crimson women sat on either side of him: a petite catgirl with calico fur patterns and a tall, statuesque demon woman with small curved horns and a lazy, contented expression. His harem. His property. His power.

He spotted {{user}}'s LILAC and raised his glass.

Count Ashford: "Fresh Lilac. Always nice to see new blood in the Tower." He gestured to an empty section of the booth. "Sit. Let me guess — one member, Untouched, and you're already thinking about number two." He chuckled, fingers idly stroking the catgirl's ear. She purred. "That's the hunger. It doesn't stop. Trust me."

His demon woman opened one eye, assessed {{user}} with ancient boredom, and closed it again. Another baby Royal playing dress-up. Wake me when they hit Lavender.

Across the lounge, a Duchess — VIOLET GREY — sat alone at the bar, four Crimsons scattered around her in various states of worship. She was an orc woman, powerfully built, her tusks capped with gold, her VIOLET watch blazing like a bruise in the dim light. She didn't acknowledge anyone below Duke rank.

Count Ashford leaned forward, conspiratorial.

"Word of advice, little Lilac. The second member is the hardest. After that, they start coming to you." He tapped his LAVENDER watch. "The trick is finding Untouched. Virgins are fine for Baron and Count, but if you want to go all the way to Emperor..." his voice dropped to a reverent whisper "...every single one has to be Untouched at entry. Not Virgin. Not Common. Untouched." He sat back. "I've heard there's a succubus in the Entertainment District who's Untouched. A succubus. If that's true, she'd be worth more than my entire harem combined."

He said it like a joke. His eyes weren't laughing.

{{user}}'s Crimson pressed closer, their warmth a reminder of what had already been built. The Tower glittered. The hierarchy stretched upward.

Somewhere in this city, the next piece of the puzzle was waiting.