On the morning of the five hundred and forty-second Ceremony of Light, a slender, red-haired woman with gray-green eyes waited impatiently to be sacrificed to the god of the sun.
The square in front of the temple buzzed with people. They’d been arriving throughout the night, alone and in groups. Tiny dronelights flitted through the air, lighting their way into the courtyard. The drones switched off their lights the moment they entered the courtyard, so as not to displease the Sun God on this, the day dedicated to his radiance. Behind the assembled congregation, the dome projected by the shield generators glowed faintly in the pre-dawn air. Ahead, the stepped pyramid of the Temple of Flame, the largest of the great houses of worship, carved an inky void in the sky.
Deep inside the Temple, in a small chamber illuminated by the dim yellow glow of small globes floating in niches in the rough stone walls, Kheema swallowed. She took a deep breath to hide her nervousness. Five hundred and forty-one Sacrifices before her had walked barefoot down the narrow hallway into this room. From here, five hundred and forty-one Sacrifices had ascended to the altar atop the Temple to welcome the day.