Page 5 of A Reign of Chromes & Shadows

And yet… this was only the beginning.

Before Rain had even begun to understand what it meant to be a receiver—someone who sensed and absorbed the emotions of others—his gift evolved again. A new ability surfaced, sharp and uncontrollable: projection. Suddenly, Rain wasn’t just feeling the emotions around him; he wasbroadcastinghis own. At first, it was accidental—his adolescent angst bleeding into the people near him. But soon, it became something far more complex. Every emotion he absorbed merged with his own and spilled outward, creating a volatile storm that engulfed anyone within reach.

Receiving. Embodying. Projecting.

A trifecta of empathic abilities that no child would have been able to nor should have been expected to manage.

The consequences were inevitable. His teenage years dissolved into isolation, the palace forced to contain the fallout of taboo incidents that no one dared speak of. Rain had spent years hidden away, not out of protection, but because no one knew what else to do with him. No one dared to linger in his presence.

Eventually—even reluctantly—his father intervened. He sought out aetherials capable of helping Rain control his abilities, and found Elder Isarion Vaelwyn of Eirwynia, the White Kingdom renowned for its empathic lineage. With Isarion’s guidance, and the support of a carefully assembled team, Rain finally began to make progress. Gaining control, Understanding and Healing. Slowly, painfully, he clawed his way back from the chaos of his own mind.

As Rain neared his twentieth birthday, something shifted. A new ability emerged; one that was physical this time. Energy manipulation. At first, Rain had seen it as a blessing, a reward from the Gods for surviving the worst of himself. But the truth revealed itself quickly: this power was a double-edged sword. His father regarded it with a mixture of pride and horror, seeing in it the potential for unimaginable destruction.

Rain saw only another burden.

Still, the ability had its uses. During parkour, it acted as a safety net—an invisible cushion if he misjudged a leap, a pull of energy to draw him toward a ledge. But Rain refused to rely on it. Using his powers in competition felt like cheating. He wanted to win through skill, not supernatural advantage. That mindset bled into every part of his life.

His training became relentless. Precision. Stealth. Tolerance. Strength. He honed his body into a weapon and his mind into a fortress. Butbeneath the discipline lay something darker: self-punishment. A distraction from the turmoil that rose whenever he was still for too long.

Snow worried about this aspect of him. She always had. But she also saw how far he’d come. She understood that training gave him purpose and distraction even if he sometimes pushed himself too close to the edge.

His twin was everything he wasn’t—open-hearted, warm, beloved. She was the light to his darkness. And she was the only person in the world who could be near him without consequence. One of her abilities made her immune to his projection, allowing her to stop him when he spiralled out of control. Her rare gift to nullify empathic abilities through touch had saved him more times than he could count. It was the only reason he’d been allowed – or forced before the public as a child.

Their father had insisted no one outside the palace could know of Rain’s lack of control. When they discovered Snow’s touch nullified his power, the twins were forced to attend royal events with their hands bound together in a gloved contraption. The gossip had been vicious whispers about inappropriate closeness, as if siblings shouldn’t hold hands for comfort.

Snow’s other abilities had manifested at puberty: Barrier Creation, a force field capable of protecting anyone within its dome, and weather manipulation—ice, snow, blizzards summoned from thin air. True to her name. Her physical ability had been present since birth, tiny flakes drifting from her fingers before she could even walk. Her empathic gifts, however, had remained hidden until they became Rain’s salvation.

The twins had known about their connection long before anyone believed them. A young Rain had tried to explain that Snow made him feel safe around others, but adults dismissed him as anxious and codependent.

As the border came into view, Rain slowed, shifting from speed to stealth. The slate-grey tiles beneath him were slick with evening dew. Hemoved low, each step deliberate as he approached the edge of Nilantra, the capital of the Blue Kingdom. One final leap would take him beyond the boundary—into enemy territory.

He positioned himself carefully, preparing to flip onto the guttering and drop three floors to the aerth below.

A prickling sensation crawled across his skin, pausing him in his tracks.

Someone was nearby.

Rain stilled, reaching out with his senses. Energy signatures flickered at the edge of his awareness—close, alert, multiplying.

Guards?

Green allies?

Most likely… Reds.

This border was a three-way fork where Blue, Green, and Red converged. The Greens and Blues rarely stationed guards at every crossing; their strength alone deterred most intruders. But the Reds? Their borders were always heavily guarded. Their hatred for Rain’s kingdom ran deep. Their people were known for their passion, their fierce love—and their equally fierce tempers. Two and a half centuries of war had carved that temperament into their bones. Every time peace settled, another conflict erupted. Since the Great Divide, the Red Kingdom had never known true rest.

Rain crouched low, senses sharpening, preparing for the threat to pass.

The Great Divide, as Rain understood it, was the catastrophe that shattered the utopia that once existed. In its wake, the realm fractured into eight isolated kingdoms. Little reliable knowledge of the era before the Divide survived; most of it had been lost, destroyed, or rewritten.

Aerth herself—sacred, ancient, and alive—held immense power within her depths. That power manifested as Aetherchromes: vibrant crystalline conduits of pure Aether, the spiritual essence of existence. They were said to form at celestial alignment points, where the cosmic breath of thefirmament seeped into the physical world and congealed into colour-infused clarity. Where starlight touched the bones of Aerth.

Each Aetherchrome cluster vibrated differently depending on its location, its hue reflecting the unique colour energy flowing through Aerth’s veins. These crystalline networks formed a vast, interconnected web of power. From them, the Aetherials drew their abilities.

The Aetherials—often called Royals—were a hybrid race believed to have evolved from mortals whose blood had been transformed by prolonged exposure to Aetherchrome energy. Their lifespans stretched five times longer than those of modern mortals. Their true origin, however, had been swallowed by time. Some legends claimed ancient tribes once lived deep underground among the crystals, their bodies altered by constant exposure. Others spoke of higher beings who shaped the Aetherials as guardians of Aerth.

Whatever the truth, their bloodlines became intrinsically tied to the colour energy of their native lands. A Blue Aetherial could channel only blue Aetherchrome, a Red only red, a Green only green and so on. Their abilities were bound to the land that birthed them. To leave one’s homeland was to weaken—to lose connection, to become vulnerable.