At dawn in Ironmist, children line up along the banks of the great river, laughing as the fog drifts over the water. Above them stretches the Bridge of Silvermist—an engineering marvel forged by the city's smiths and water evolvers, using reinforced beast bones and clever channeling of elemental power.
On market days, hundreds cross its span: traders carrying dyed cloth, fishmongers with spirit-fish, and the first "river pilots"—young men and women learning to guide barges powered by wind evolvers.Elder Zhen, the bridge's designer, stands at its center with his apprentices, teaching the mathematics of arches and the spirit flows that keep the structure strong. Children watch in awe, dreaming of someday building wonders of their own.
Far to the south, in the lush gardens of Verdant Haven, a healer named Lin Yue sits beneath a willow tree. With gentle words and the green glow of Life element, she soothes a fevered child, her touch weaving together flesh and spirit.A crowd gathers, offering thanks and gifts. Lin Yue, once a frightened refugee, now leads a school of healers—her own academy within the city walls.Her greatest pride is not her own fame, but the dozens of apprentices she's trained, each sent out to distant towns and villages, spreading hope where once there was only fear of sickness.
On the anniversary night, Sunspire's festival square explodes with color.Fire evolvers conjure arcs of flame, shaping them into dragons, eagles, and leaping stags.Children chase the fire's reflection across the marble, while elders sit and tell stories of the first beast wave and the legend of Ye Caiqian.Merchants hawk wares—Tier 2 beast bone pendants, glimmering iron tools, seeds from far-off Verdant Haven.Above, air evolvers craft wind tunnels for kites and lanterns, sending flickers of light skyward to join the stars.
In a frontier town two days' travel from Stoneveil, a young blacksmith named Qiu Mei holds a council in her barn.The town is small, but every voice is heard: the tanner, the baker, two farmers, and the old hunter who once survived the beast tide.They debate how to expand, what crops to plant, how best to defend against wandering beasts.Their inspiration is the city they've never seen—City of Beginning, whose library scrolls have reached even this far corner, brought by a traveling teacher.After the meeting, Qiu Mei dreams of her town growing into a city of its own.
Inside the Library of Wisdom, scholars from every city fill the reading halls.Bronze plates and paper scrolls fill row after row: histories, cultivation manuals, blueprints, maps, and poems from a dozen dialects.In the Hall of Questions, a group of children from different cities debate:
"Should we build a road through the Darkwood, or is it too dangerous?"
"Can two elements be fused to make a new art?"
"What would happen if a beast and a human learned together?"
A patient scribe records their questions, filing them for the council and scholars to consider.In another room, elders dictate their memories of the earliest days to young apprentices, ensuring no lesson is forgotten.Ye Caiqian himself sometimes walks these halls in disguise, listening and learning as much as he teaches.
On the tenth year, the Grand Council of Humanity convenes in Sunspire's crystal hall.Delegates arrive by horse, cart, wind-glider, and even river barge.The topics are many:
How to share the river's bounty among upstream and downstream cities.
The fate of spirit beasts found nesting near human settlements—are they to be driven away, destroyed, or studied?
The rights of mind evolvers and those with rare elements—are they subject to the same laws?
How to prevent the rise of tyrants or warlords in the growing web of towns.
Arguments are fierce but mostly respectful. Ye Caiqian sits at the center, guiding debate, but never imposing.Some worry that humanity is expanding too fast—that greed or ambition will sow division. Others, buoyed by recent peace, argue for more boldness, new alliances, and the exploration of the world's furthest corners.
A law is passed: no city may refuse refugees from beast-threatened lands, but every city must send teachers and guards to outlying villages.Another: the use of elemental power for crime is to be punished harshly, but the accused have the right to a trial by a council of elders and evolvers.The council ends with a celebration—a feast, music, and the symbolic lighting of a lantern from the Library of Wisdom, whose flame will be carried by runners to every city and town.
In the years since the beast wave, the extraordinary has become ordinary.Children grow up playing at "elemental tag" and "beast hunting," their games echoing the city's history.Farmers use earth evolvers to till rocky ground, and wind evolvers to dry the harvest.Smiths forge tools from Tier 2 and 3 beast bones and scales.Weavers mix water-treated spirit flax with ordinary cotton to make cloth as strong as leather.
Marriage festivals bring together families from three cities at once, with dancers from the Academy of Arts performing new forms inspired by the four basic elements.The Library's scribes record every innovation and story, sending them out to every branch and town.
Yet, not all is idyllic. In the city's shadowed alleys, rumors grow of secret societies seeking forgotten beast arts, or of wanderers who claim to have seen monsters unlike any in the codices.And always, there is the question: what lies beyond the horizon, in the mountains and forests yet untamed?
As the anniversary festival ends, Ye Caiqian stands alone atop the Library's highest tower.He looks down at a world transformed—at bonfires in distant squares, the sound of music and debate drifting on the night wind.
We have achieved so much, he thinks.A world united, a civilization that learns and questions, a people growing in strength and hope.
But his gaze lingers on the shadowed edge of the city, where the light of lanterns gives way to the darkness of the wild.He knows—better than anyone—that every age of peace is bought at a price, and that the future will ask more of humanity than ever before.
Still, with the dawn comes new courage.As the first rays of morning touch the Library's golden dome, Ye Caiqian allows himself a rare smile.
"Let this be remembered," he whispers. "We are only at the beginning."