The Cost of Midnight

At 11:30 PM, Kaelen wakes on the freezing floor of a shack in the Dregs, the sound of his sister coughing static filling the silence. The protective wards holding back the Abyssal Void have failed, and the tide of darkness is rising from the cliffs below. With only thirty minutes until midnight and three copper coins in his pocket, Kaelen must race to the market to buy a Mana Crystal—but the price of magic in the Dregs is higher than gold, and the only currency he has left is his past.