Partis Island, New City of Silver.
The crimson moon rose, bathing the city, whose buildings and roads were several sizes larger than those elsewhere, in soft yet slightly eerie moonlight. Gradually, the city fell quiet.
Some residents of the City of Silver with stronger spiritual intuition had noticed that the moon seemed to have grown considerably over the past year. Yet comparisons against fixed reference points showed otherwise. They could only attribute it to a mystical change, perhaps related to the Church of the Evernight Goddess no longer promoting prayers concerning the moon, while the Church of the Earth Mother had incorporated them into its Holy Bible.
Standing on a balcony protruding from the waist of the domed tower of the Twin Towers, Derrick, the Sun, took one last look at the strangely alluring crimson moon, then turned back into the tower and descended the spiral staircase paved with black stone bricks.
He walked slowly, as though something terrifying awaited him at the bottom. His gaze kept sweeping over the Black-Faced Grass growing between the bricks on the walls to either side, watching it droop or sway in the wind.
In the hall at the base, which connected the pointed tower housing the library and other public facilities with the domed tower containing the Council of Seven's offices, Derrick met Waite Chirmont, his bald head tattooed with dark blue-green symbols and his armor neatly worn, and Lovia Tiffany, dressed in a black robe with purple patterns, her appearance growing ever more striking.
The former had become a Silver Knight even before the City of Silver evacuated the Forsaken Land of the Gods and came to this sunlit land. He was steady by nature and had extensive combat experience. The latter had recently advanced to Trinity Templar and was said to