Chapter 13. Zahra Nasri (Diligence & Sloth)

There was a time when Zahra Nasri dreamed.

Of a small house near the mountains, where laughter spilled from open windows and the scent of roasted tea filled the air.

But those dreams had faded, buried beneath double shifts, aching joints, and sleepless nights.

And then, one day, she simply didn't wake up.

Now—she did.

Her first breath in Auron was cold and sharp like winter wind cutting through the soul. She gasped, sitting upright beneath a canopy of shimmering crystal trees. The light above her flickered in warm blues and soft golds, refracted through glowing mineral canopies that pulsed like living things.

Zahra blinked at the strange sky. Her body didn't ache. Her breath came easily. Her skin, once dry and cracked from labour, now glowed with a soft bronze tone, faintly etched with swirling sigils that shimmered when she moved.

She stood slowly. Her clothing was strange—part armour, part ceremonial robe—stitched with midnight threads and golden threadwork shaped like cogs, wheels, and moving parts. When she flexed her fingers, she could feel the energy buzzing just beneath her skin, like gears clicking into place.

She had been changed.

No longer human.

She was now Velari—a race known across Auron for their relentless stamina and connection to elemental motion. The Velari were builders, inventors, and labourers by nature. They moved endlessly—unless their rhythm was broken. Then they could sleep for weeks.

It fit. Too well.

"Welcome, child of the forge."

The voice was deep and sonorous, belonging to an elderly woman cloaked in robes of copper and soot. Her hands were rough, her eyes glowing with pale orange light.

Zahra looked at her warily. "Where am I?"

"The Emberstride Expanse," the woman replied. "And you have been called."

Zahra opened her mouth to ask more—but the pressure at her throat tightened, a divine hush sealing her voice before the words could form. Anything about the board, the game, the gods... forbidden.

Her silence was understood.

"Then walk with me," the woman said.

As Zahra followed, her steps felt lighter. Her muscles remembered exhaustion, but now they surged with untapped force. She could feel it—pulsing like a second heartbeat.

Power: Eternal Engine – Zahra required no rest, no sleep. The more she laboured, the more power she generated. Her body functioned like a living machine, ever-churning, ever-building. But it came at a cost: should she push too far without pause, she would enter a "burnout" state—an unconscious trance where only muscle memory and instinct remained. She would become a tool of momentum, unable to stop herself until her energy finally drained.

It was a gift. And a curse.

Just like before.

But this time… she would learn balance.

Zahra looked up at the glowing towers in the distance—massive structures under construction, gears and scaffolds weaving into the sky.

She tightened her gloves.

She would build a life here.

And this time, it wouldn't kill her.