He stood from the end of the bed, and walked to his bookshelf. Littered with training manuals for Theorom and stories of the fantasy creatures said to inhabit the mystic elven lands of Toron, it was quite large. Visitors to Arakias' home always found it a bit strange that the bottom shelf was empty, while books were stalked atop one another on the floor next to the shelf. He'd tell them he just hadn't gotten around to putting them back up, but it was a blatant lie. He removed the bottom shelf and retrieved an old, leatherbound book. He'd forgotten how heavy it was!
Encrusted with diamons and emeralds, and older than his family name, it was a very special book. The first half, told of his planets earliest days, illustrated by only primitive drawings. As he flipped through the pages, the drawing were slowly replaced by more and more text, accounting the history of his world. Finally, towards the end of the monstrous book, he found what he'd been searching for. A picture of his family. His father, mother, and two sisters, smiling happily at him. His expression grew cold, as the memories flooded his mind.
Arakias family had been killed when he was very young, a tragedy that he was reminded of everytime he met Kariyanna at the outerwall on the edge of Toron, just as he had earlier this night. Before Mechina's ever existed, before the first mechanical soldier was created, Toron was a beautiful city, glowing with sunlight that seemed to pour on forever into the streets of the shining city.