The city of Basalt Towers had always seemed monotonous to Julian. The same cobbled streets he had been taught to avoid at night, and the rows of almost identical tenements under the watchful eye of lanterns warmed people with a familiar, if somewhat bland routine. Yet no one spoke of these streets, which appeared only to some. Julian, a lonely seventeen-year-old with a penchant for drawing, began sketching a familiar passageway in Raven Square one evening. The shadow falling from one of the wrought-iron gates looked different from usual - too dense and moving against the direction of the light. As he came closer, the features of the old iron fence momentarily merged with his own shadow. He felt cold, as if someone had poured icy water over his collar. For a moment he hesitated to go back, but reason lost out to curiosity. Beyond the gate, a corridor awaited him that had never been here before. A staircase, winding sharply downwards, seemed to lead beneath the city. Julian looked around - passers-by in the square did not react to his disappearance, as if he had suddenly ceased to exist in their world. His hands slipped along the cold handrail. Down below, a light shimmered, purple and blue and quite different from anything he had known from the Basalt Towers. At the end of the stairs he saw the city below - a maze of streets where the air vibrated with magic. Winged messengers floated above the rooftops, and whole squares pulsed with light created by the inhabitants themselves. Julian felt that here, even his thoughts were visible, as if they flashed a spark overhead. A girl with hair the colour of silver and a gaze that pierced through his uncertainty emerged from the crowd. - 'Here you can't stay invisible,' she said, stepping closer to him. - Light and shadow do not allow for indifference. Before he had time to reply, a bang echoed through the stone walls. The townspeople rushed to flee, and a light so intense that Julian had to shield his eyes flashed across the square. Amidst the chaos, he noticed that the gate through which he had come began to vanish into thin air....