Timeline: TC1853.01.29 (Afternoon)
Location: Last Light Town, Federation Border
The town wore abandonment like poorly fitting clothes.
Last Light—aptly named for being the final Imperial settlement before Federation territory—should have bustled with border trade. Instead, half the buildings stood empty, windows dark with accumulated dust. Market stalls that once hawked goods from both continents sat collapsed, canvas rotting on skeletal frames. Even the town's central square showed neglect—cobblestones cracked and unrepaired, fountain dry despite underground springs that should have kept it flowing.
And the banners. Federation flags hung from guard towers with fabric so tattered they looked like funeral shrouds. Blue and silver colors faded to gray, technological emblems barely visible through holes that wind and weather had carved over months of neglect.
