Author's note:

Welcome to The Ivory Promenade, where scavenging for magical junk is a terrible idea—but Lena does it anyway. She and Karis are just trying to survive in Starbridge’s ruins, but, as usual, things go sideways fast. Enforcers, ghosts, and an artifact that hums like it has opinions? Just another day in the Undercity.

If you like magic with consequences, characters who make questionable life choices, and a heroine that doesn’t know when to quit, you’re in the right place. Enjoy!

***

The Ivory Promenade. I once thought it was merely a boogeyman tale that aristocrats told to keep the underclass in line. But standing at its jagged edge, I knew better. This wasn’t a myth; it was magic, torn apart and stitched back together by someone blind, drunk, or both.

Karis and I slipped beneath the crumbling remains of a grand archway. The ward’s silver glow made my skin crawl, shimmering along the perimeter like a half-healed wound.

I swallowed hard, trying to ignore the wrongness of the place. The air was cold enough to steal my breath, as if we had stepped from Starbridge straight into a dream gone awry. I shivered, pulling my cloak tighter.

Broken columns jutted at impossible angles, and marble bubbled and twisted. The smell of sulfur, sharp and stinging, mingled with the sickly sweetness of overripe fruit. I gagged, waving a hand in front of my face.

Karis reached out, tracing a finger along a melted column, her expression unreadable.

“Close the ward behind you,” I said, keeping my voice low, needing the reassurance of that barrier.

Her lips parted as if tasting the air. “I can’t. It’s broken in too many places. The ley lines—they’re loud tonight.”

“Of course they are.” Cryptic warnings were Karis’s specialty, and I had gotten good at sifting through them for something useful. “Just make sure it doesn’t collapse and trap us in here, alright?”

Her gaze flicked to me, fear breaking through her eerie calm. I didn’t like that. Not at all. “They’re restless, Lena. Like they’re—” She stopped again, head tilted, listening to something I couldn’t hear. “Waiting.”

I turned away before she spiraled further. “Tell them to take a number. Come on, let's go.”

Muck tugged at my boots as we ventured deeper into the ruins, the damp air clinging to my skin like a second layer. The ley line tracker strapped to my arm flickered, its needle spinning in useless circles. Scavenging here wasn’t just reckless—it was a death wish.

Something shifted in my peripheral vision. Blurred shapes floated through the haze, edges soft and wrong, like half-finished paintings. My pulse spiked as I crept closer, but the figures dissolved into nothing, leaving behind only a brittle laugh that scraped against my nerves.

The Promenade had once been Starbridge’s crown jewel—soaring spires of white marble, enchanted ivy winding around latticed balconies, statues so lifelike they seemed to breathe. Now, it was a graveyard of grandeur, a mausoleum for the city’s arrogance. A place that whispered: this is what happens when you push too far.

But I wasn’t here to mourn ghosts or ruminate on Starbridge’s failures. I was here to scavenge for parts—real, tangible components I could trade for food and materials. Anything else was a distraction, and distractions got you killed.

“Lena,” Karis said, pulling me back. I glanced over my shoulder. She stood still, her gaze locked on the ruins.

My stomach twisted. “What's wrong?”

A humorless smile touched her lips. Her tone was light, but her eyes were anything but. “The ghosts. They’re watching.”

I rolled my eyes and kept moving. “They should enjoy the show, then.”

Karis followed quietly, her wiry frame moving with grace. “You don’t sass ghosts, Lena,” she said, as if we were chatting over tea instead of wading through a magical death trap. “You should befriend them… then ask nicely not to be eaten.”

“Good to know,” I muttered. “You work on your ghost etiquette, and I’ll focus on not getting us killed.”

The tracker crackled again, its needle jerking before settling on a faint glow beneath a pile of shattered marble. I crouched, gesturing for Karis to join me. My fingers skimmed the rubble's rough surface. “Footprints. Fresh, by the looks of it. Someone beat us here.”

“Scavengers?”

“If we’re lucky. If not…”

I let the silence fill in the rest. We both knew the Council's so-called justice was swift and brutal.

Karis’s light, singsong tone clashed with the tension in her stance. “Better move quickly, then.”

No argument there. I worked fast, prying loose chunks of marble until the glow intensified.

Then I saw it—a shard, crystalline and mirror-like, its surface rippling with light that twisted like liquid fire. My fingers brushed against it. Raw energy jolted through me, sharp and electric, leaving a metallic tang in my throat. Dust spiraled upward, the shard’s hum deepening until it resonated in my chest—a second heartbeat syncing with mine.

Karis staggered back, clutching her head. “Lena—” Her voice cracked, ragged and urgent. “That’s not scrap.”

The shard pulsed again, its fractured surface refracting silver light. Something stirred deep within, a faint whisper clawing under my skin. “Karis,” I said, my throat tight. My fingers itched to hold onto it, but every instinct screamed this was a bad idea. “What is this?”

She lowered her trembling hands, her eyes swirling with unnatural hues—violet, gold, silver. “Something dangerous.”

Another pulse, and the whisper grew louder. Closer. For the first time in years, I froze. Fleeting illusions shimmered across the shard’s surface—broken reflections of the Ivory Promenade, masked figures, splintered spires. Memories that felt stolen, or maybe never real at all.

A voice inside me screamed to drop it and run. People who touched things like this vanished, erased from Starbridge as if they’d never existed.

But another voice, quieter yet unyielding, cut through: You need this. If the shard held even a fraction of the power it radiated, it might stabilize my Ley Line Resonator. Maybe even perfect it. Risks like that were worth taking.

Karis's voice was strained. “Put it back. Can’t you feel it?”

The shard pressed into my palm, its jagged edges biting into my skin as if it wanted me to bleed for it. My hand shook, but I forced my fingers to close around it. Defiance burned in my throat as I slipped the shard into my satchel and snapped it shut.

"Lena, I’m serious. That thing’s not a prize. Can’t you feel how alive it is?"

My glare was sharp, my voice sharper. “It’s a tool, Karis. Not a curse.”

Her face twisted, tension crinkling her features, her calm crumbling into raw panic. “Tools don’t hum like they’re alive. And they sure as hell don’t—”

A shout cut her off, sharp and jarring. My stomach dropped.

Karis whispered, her voice barely audible over my pounding heart. “Enforcers.”

Of course. The Council’s dogs would come sniffing around the moment I touched something I shouldn’t. If they found the shard with me… I didn’t like my odds.

Adrenaline spiked. I jerked my head toward a half-collapsed column. “Move!”

We ducked behind the jagged stone, our backs pressed to its surface. The shard throbbed in my satchel, its pulse frantic, almost sentient, matching my wild heartbeat.

“Check that corner!” barked a gruff voice.

“Nothing here,” another snapped impatiently. “Our readings spiked—keep looking!”

I squeezed my eyes shut, forcing my breathing into shallow, controlled rasps. Of course, they’d felt the surge when I touched the shard. Great. Beside me, Karis trembled, her breath quick and shaky, tension radiating off her like a live wire.

Peering around the column, I spotted them—three Enforcers, their uniforms blending with the shadows of the Promenade. One carried a lantern crackling with ley energy. Another swept a baton through the air, sparks popping at its tip to detect magical signatures.

Fight or flee. Both options were lousy, but one was less suicidal. Fighting would get us killed. Running might not.

I caught Karis’s eye and nodded toward a narrow passage behind a fountain. She nodded back, her expression pale, and we slipped away, sticking to the walls like shadows.

“We need to move,” I hissed, my voice low and sharp. The shard’s pulse grew stronger. “If it flares again, we’re dead.”

Karis's voice wavered. "Stick with me. I can sense where the ghosts are. I'll keep us clear of them."

I shot her a look. "If we make it out of here, I'll even apologize for sassing them."

The corridor we entered had once been a private gallery, its frescoes faded, stagnant water pooling across the floor, faintly shimmering with ley line residue. Karis raised a hand, signaling me to stop. An Enforcer stepped into the corridor, the lantern glow slicing through the darkness.

My heartbeat thundered, each beat a drum in my ears. The shard pulsed again. The water rippled, illusions forming on its surface—masked figures waltzing in slow, eerie steps, their reflections cracked like shards of broken glass. The Enforcer froze, frowning as he raised his baton, scanning the air in deliberate arcs.

Karis nudged a chunk of marble with her foot. It skittered across the floor, the clatter echoing off the far wall. The Enforcer cursed and whirled, weapon sparking to life. I didn’t wait. Seizing Karis’s arm, I tugged her toward the passage. Relief surged as we reached the open plaza, but it vanished when two more Enforcers rounded the corner, weapons aimed.

“Run!” I shouted, my voice cracking. Bolts of crackling energy streaked past, one scorching the air near my head. I ducked, lungs burning, legs pumping. Karis stumbled with a sharp gasp. I halted and yanked her upright. A bolt slammed into a nearby statue, sending shards of stone raining down. Pain flared as one sliced my arm, but adrenaline drowned it out.

“Move!” I snarled, dragging her toward the exit. We reached the archway and dove through just as another blast scorched the air behind us. Heat licked my back, but I refused to slow until the Promenade’s ruins fell behind us, swallowed by the shadows of Starbridge’s outskirts.

We collapsed against the wall of a building, chests heaving.

Karis slid down the wall, her knees pulled tight to her chest. “That was close.”

“Way too close,” I agreed. I let my head fall back, staring at the smog-choked sky. Faint stars flickered through the haze, distant and indifferent. My fingers brushed the satchel at my side.

“I told you.” Karis straightened, her expression raw—a clash of fury and something I couldn’t name. “I told you not to grab that thing. It doesn’t belong to anyone.”

I met her glare, the shard’s pulse pressing harder against my ribs. “Yeah, well, it belongs to me now.”

Her mouth opened and then closed, her jaw tight as if she were swallowing a scream. Guilt gnawed at me, but I forced it down. “We’ll figure it out. Don’t worry so much.”

She said nothing, just stared, as if she couldn’t decide whether to fight me or walk away. Then, without a word, she turned, her shoulders rigid. I followed her deeper into Starbridge’s Undercity. The shadows of the Promenade faded, but the shard's pulse remained. If anything, it seemed to grow stronger.

***

I hope you enjoyed this first chapter! If you were in Lena’s place, would you risk picking up the magical shard or leave it behind? Let me know in comments!

Read chapter 2 here.

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