Commercial break on the infovision display:

"Safety is not a given. But we will take care of you."


Our units secure peace and order on the streets of Prim every single day. Thanks to effective oversight and the unwavering diligence of our Guard, you can live your life without fear. Because we are always one step ahead.


Support stability. Support the System.

The Beacon watches. The Beacon protects. The Beacon brings the future.



Ked, on the road to Prim


Ked sat buried in a comfortable seat, his eyes fixed on the flickering landscape beyond the window of the luxurious vehicle. He felt strange. It had been less than ten days since he walked into Gramps’s council, and in that time, he had drowned in doubts about whether his decision was truly what he wanted.


The man hiding behind the mask had turned out to be Councilor Brooks, as he had later introduced himself. Not that Ked had ever heard of him, but even someone like him, a complete hillbilly from Karhen Rouz, knew that being a councilor in Prim actually meant something. And that was precisely why he understood this journey wouldn’t be easy. Their lives and worldviews were entirely different, and on top of that, Ked would be the stranger in a world he knew nothing about. And it was abundantly clear that the councilor was well aware of that too.


The plan they put together seemed relatively simple at first glance. The Council would request a meeting at the Beacon, and Ked would attend it to meet with Ela. But everyone knew it wouldn’t be that straightforward.


First, the Beacon didn’t just let anyone past its walls. That meant Ked had to be given a new, believable identity. For him, that meant two major challenges.


The first was to stop looking like someone who had spent his whole life in the foulest pit imaginable, and the second was to stop acting like it. That was why they didn’t go to Prim right away but stopped for a few days in Oko Lahab, which, as the councilor explained to him, was technically a suburb, but one where people like him didn’t attract so much attention.


There, under the councilor’s supervision, Ked underwent a physical transformation at the baths. The local bathmaids scrubbed him with brushes so hard he felt like they were taking his skin along with the grime. And while his eyes were buried in their ample cleavages, he tried to focus on the councilor, who patiently and repeatedly explained what awaited him in Prim. Hours of terms, names, stories, half of which made no sense to him. In the end, he just nodded and hoped it would be enough. He knew they couldn’t afford a mistake. But he also knew that if he admitted he couldn’t handle it, they’d send him back. And he didn’t want that.


With the councilor behind him, he got his hair cut in the latest Prim fashion, which meant the shoulder-length strands were chopped and trimmed into a very short style. He didn’t recognize himself in the mirror, and the short hair fully revealed the ugly scars on his face. It was clear they could no longer be overlooked.


“Remember, if anyone asks what happened to you, those scars came from when terrorists detonated charges on the Terraces,” Councilor Brooks instructed him. “I guarantee no one will ask anything else. They’ll just quietly admire you for it.”


Then came new clothes. Light trousers, a loose tunic, a fitted shirt. Plain-looking but comfortable. But even clothes came with rules. On top of the list of where to look, how to walk, how to speak, came how many buttons to fasten and the fact that he wasn’t allowed to roll up his sleeves. More than once, he felt the urge to tear it all off and throw it away, but in the end, he swallowed the curse words and kept going. Brooks kept stressing that he had to look “presentable,” and that alone made Ked truly anxious.


Unlike his sister, he had always been just an ordinary boy from Karhen Rouz. His life until now had been a hole in the Fourborder, where all he had was a hard mattress occasionally shared with Jara. He was glad whenever he got to eat and survive another day. And now he was supposed to look like someone who had everything. It sounded easy, but it was the hardest thing he had ever done.


So now, sitting in the expensive car headed for Prim, with the councilor across from him and the small boy they had rescued from the ruins of a burned-out settlement, Ked felt his gut twist with nerves. One single thought kept spinning through his head. Could he really pull this off? Everything around him felt completely foreign, incomprehensible, and nothing like what he had imagined. On top of that, he felt the councilor’s pressure, watching his every smallest move and expression, constantly correcting and adjusting him.


That was why he focused instead on every detail he could see through the window of the moving car. He watched the vending booths on corners, the tiny food stands, the Guards checking entry points into buildings, and above all the ever-present flickering screens of infovisions in shop windows, constantly replaying their endless programming, interspersed with colorful ads for goods he often couldn’t even guess the use or function of. The embellished tones of the Beacon’s anthem buzzed through the air, ringing in his ears, even though it seemed the locals barely noticed anymore.



“Breathtaking at first sight, isn’t it?” murmured Councilor Brooks, sitting across from him.

He spoke coldly, without emotion, as if the world outside didn’t concern him in the slightest. And yet, a slight smile played on his lips, meant for Ked.

“Don’t be fooled. People see only what we let them see. You’re a smart boy, Ked, you know how it works. The outer facade matters more than the truth. And I’ll teach you how to walk the walk.”


Ked had no idea what to say. His fascination was laced with a gnawing sense that this city was hiding far more than it let on. And Councilor Brooks never missed a chance to remind him of that.


And then, his real goal surfaced in his mind. Ela.


He had tried to forget her ever since the day he left Karhen Rouz. Not just because he had betrayed her. He knew he had literally thrown her to the crowd just to gain Gramps’s favor. If he had kept his mouth shut back then, maybe none of what followed would have happened. Maybe Ela could have kept living her secret life with Reng. Maybe she would have even come home for him.


Instead, she had ended up in the Beacon.


But he had wanted to please. He had wanted to be important. And so he did what he did. And he got almost nothing out of it, except the scorn of those he had tried to impress, a filthy hole in the Fourborder, and cold Jara in his bed, who had originally been meant to make that damn Reng’s life miserable.


Screwed-up Fate.


And now he had to win his sister back.


For the future. And also for himself. Because if he failed, he would remain forever just the boy who betrayed her. And he would never be anything more.


So he had to play his role perfectly. Convince her that joining them was worth it. Even if it meant lying and pretending. He had to pull it off. Because this might be his last chance.


He shook his head to push away thoughts of the past, but the next moment it occurred to him that all of this might come back to haunt him. The truth was, he had no idea how Ela would react to him. He needed to bring her over to their side, which would have been difficult even back when things between them had been relatively normal. But now?


He glanced at Brooks, who sat across from him with an expressionless, pensive face. He wanted nothing more than to tell him to stop the car so he could get out and run. For a moment, he was once again convinced this couldn’t possibly work.


But then he clenched his fists and silently scolded himself.


She would understand. Deep down, they were the same.


In the meantime, the vehicle had wound its way through the city and was now climbing to its highest point. Ked already knew from Brooks’s earlier lectures that this area was called the Terraces. When he saw them for himself, he understood why. Towering buildings stretched out above the rest of the city, and the views from up there had to be breathtaking. He confirmed that very soon when he found out that one of those buildings belonged to his councilor. He was taken to a private apartment where he finally stepped up to a window and gazed in awe at the city sprawled beneath his feet.


What caught his attention first was the enormous structure dominating all of Prim. It arched over the very center of the city, and it wasn’t hard to guess that he was looking at the Beacon. He didn’t like it. He had imagined it differently, maybe more majestic, or perhaps like a slightly larger version of the one in Oko Lahab. There, too, stood one, with a solitary entrance, no windows, and no other features to disrupt the smooth surface of its tall tower. Compared to its surroundings, it looked odd, but in contrast to what he saw now in Prim, it had felt far more approachable.


This Beacon looked like something from another world, an alien organism born from bad dreams. It certainly didn’t leave a good impression on him, and he liked even less that his task was to get inside.


Brooks walked over to him and gave him one last once-over from head to toe. He was clearly pleased with the progress they had made together. Even so, he wanted to make sure Ked was ready to behave in a manner appropriate to the person he was supposed to represent in this part of the city.


“You understand why I brought you here, don’t you?”


“Yeah,” Ked muttered, fearing the councilor was about to launch into another round of lectures, but instead, Brooks simply furrowed his brow with concern.


“Keep in mind we didn’t come here for a casual chat with your sister. And you better not forget that she won’t be on your side. Maybe you grew up together, but now you’re standing on opposite ends.”


“You don’t need to remind me,” Ked snapped with a show of confidence.


It wasn’t like he didn’t know that. But he didn’t want to worry the councilor in advance. It had always been normal for him and Ela not to see eye to eye. In fact, it had always been rare when they did. Their meeting would just be a return to old patterns. The only difference was that this time, his real goal was to win her over to his side.


“Remember, she’s a mediator for one of those behind the modificants. That means she believes in the project. At first, she probably won’t want to hear what they really are and that what they parade as a triumph is, in truth, the loss of our humanity.”


Ked nodded without taking his eyes off the cityscape. “You don’t need to remind me. One of those Alters nearly shot my ass off.”


“Ked!” the councilor barked sharply, and Ked realized he had slipped back into speaking the way he always had.


“Sorry,” he muttered, lowering his gaze.


“Don’t apologize,” Brooks dismissed the apology. “But mind your tongue. That kind of talk is exactly what can draw the wrong kind of attention. You’re putting both our lives at risk. Do you understand?”


He only nodded, face flushed red. He’d messed up. Again. He cursed himself and started to feel real fear about the meeting ahead. He couldn’t afford a slip-up there. He had to become the young, promising assistant from a family closely connected to Brooks’s own.


“Ilon, is that you?” came an unexpected voice, and in the doorway appeared a young woman like a vision in a light dress that flowed around her generous figure.


Ked couldn’t help but notice that she was very pregnant.


“Kayla!” Ilon Brooks opened his arms and embraced his wife tightly, then kissed her warmly on the lips.


Ked shifted awkwardly. Until now, he had known Councilor Brooks as a relatively cold, pragmatic man. But it seemed he had another side. Ilon Brooks, loving husband and soon-to-be father.


The councilor then bent down and picked up the young boy he had brought with him.


“Allow me to introduce a new member of our family. His name is Hall, and this little treasure already has a deeply troubled past. I want to make up for that, so I promised him we would take care of him.”


The woman smiled warmly and stroked the boy’s hair. “It’s an honor to meet you, Hall.”


The boy stayed silent, stunned. Just like Ked, he seemed out of place in this house, so when the councilor set him down again, he visibly relaxed. And when he silently lowered his head, something stirred in Ked. The boy was just a tool. Just like him. And suddenly, Ked wasn’t sure whether he should envy his new life on the Terraces… or pity him instead.


“And Kayla,” the councilor interrupted Ked’s thoughts, “this is my new, temporary assistant Ked. At his family’s request, I agreed to let him spend a few days with me. He wanted to see what my work entails, and you know me. Who am I to stop young people from chasing their dreams?”


The young woman burst into bright laughter. Ked, at first stiff and unsure, gave her a respectful bow. “May Fate be generous to you,” he recited the greeting expected of him in his new role.


A satisfied gleam lit up Ilon Brooks’s eyes, and Ked realized that before they set off for the Beacon, he would first face a warm-up round here, in the councilor’s home, before the final act.