Chiara Tanzanight’s primary objective was clear: ensure the mines turned a profit, extracting the maximum amount of ore at the minimum expense – a task that demanded shrewd judgment at every operational turn. The Tanzanights had acquired these mines a decade ago, a bribe, essentially, for their defection during the civil war, for joining forces with the Northern and Western families. Chiara hated this truth, hated that they had betrayed the Eastern families, their former allies. To this day, the other noble houses of Cape Lumous harbored a deep distrust for both the Tanzanights and the Veilstorms, the other Southern family that had also defected. Technically, they were supposed to share the mines with the Veilstorms, but the Tanzanights had, with relative ease, bought out their share. Veilstorms, it seemed, liked coin; they just didn’t like working hard for it.

  Chiara had grown up in these tunnels; she knew them intimately. Under her recent leadership, however, output had slowed, and operations were faltering. The Gnome Diggers, automated and steam-powered, had begun to malfunction, and the once-rich iron deposits were steadily diminishing. In desperation, Chiara had partnered with Bravira Vicinage, whose mining expertise was legendary, tasking her with exploring a new, untouched area of the mine. A loud, insistent knock on the door jolted Chiara from her contemplation. She rose to open the door, expecting Bravira with a report. If it wasn’t good news, she wasn’t sure how she would face her sisters; the Tanzanight family funds were dangerously low.

  Chiara opened the door, and as expected, Bravira stood there. What Chiara didn’t expect, however, was the joyous embrace Bravira engulfed her in. Her arms wrapped around Chiara, squeezing tight, and she let out a triumphant shriek of celebration. It didn't take Chiara’s genius to realize this was excellent news, and so she barely registered the grime and dust rubbing off Bravira onto her clean white shirt.

  “Did you find more iron?” Chiara asked, still not quite matching Bravira’s emotional fervor.

  “Chiara, we’ve found something better!” Were those tears of joy in Bravira’s eyes? As they streaked down her cheek, they carved clean paths through the layers of dust on her grimy face.

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  “Seriously? What could possibly be better than iron?” Chiara’s anxiety spiked. They needed iron to stay afloat. Bravira finally revealed her discovery: a glowing purple rock. Chiara snatched it. Though it was only a short distance to her desk, where her specialized diagnostic equipment lay, she could feel it: this rock was different. It thrummed with raw power.

  The archaic machine puffed out a hiss of steam, its old dials quickly providing an output. Chiara meticulously jotted down the readings. “What does it mean?” Bravira moved closer, peering over her shoulder.

  “I’m not sure. I’ve never seen anything like this before.” Chiara couldn’t believe it. Perhaps her machine was malfunctioning, just like the Gnome Diggers, because these readings suggested a substance of impossible power.

  “Why don’t you send it to my sister Nikola?” Bravira suggested. “She’ll figure it out.”

  Chiara felt a familiar prick of annoyance. Her genius, she knew, would forever be overshadowed by the formidable intellect of the great Nikola. She didn’t want her newfound prize, this potent mystery, to fall into the hands of an intellectual rival. “I want to run a few more tests on this first. But I’ll send her a letter with these results.”

  “Come on, Chiara,” Bravira urged, her excitement undimmed. “There’s a lot of this stuff down the mine. I say we send samples to everyone! Let’s share this discovery with the rest of the city.”

  Chiara offered a faint, knowing smile at Bravira’s naivety. Bravira might be a brilliant miner, but she utterly lacked entrepreneurial spirit. This new substance, Chiara realized, could be the cornerstone of a new business empire. “Bravira, I want you to focus on mining as much of this as possible. When it comes to figuring out what to do with it, leave that to me.” Chiara gently guided Bravira out of her office, like a teacher dismissing a student.

  Once the door clicked shut, Chiara returned to her notes. She began drafting a letter to Nikola, detailing her findings, when a sinister thought slithered into her mind. She paused, then deliberately changed the plus sign of one crucial output reading to a minus. Ha, thought Chiara, a dark satisfaction blooming in her chest. Let’s see Nikola figure this substance out now.