Synopsis: City of Spires // Nit // Hot Air Balloon

In the City of Spires, nothing spells 'Power' as gold does. As a foreign group of merchant grapples for trade dominion, the towers' residents struggle to keep control on the narrow piece of land they call home.

Forced to meet his family, a bastard son gets caught in their politics and must accept his heritage. Meanwhile, a foreign girl must betray one of her two homes and choose an identity; an assassin sets out to find his missing partner and forges the strangest alliance. At the top of his tower, a political leader must unite the quarrelling trading families under a single banner.

Though the cluster of tower remains untouched, home as they've known it will never be the same.

***
Nit - short for Nitrobenzene - is a relatively calm and helpful boy. Or at least, he was before his father left to wage war against the electrophiles. He finds himself unable to cope with the problems already inherent to his molecular life.

His uncle Trinitro tries to create an anti-acid weapon to win the war and risks blowing up everything at any moment. Shy and instrospect, his best friend Methane finds himself on a quick trip to the Molecular Reparation Center. And then there's the beautiful Chlore, who begins haunting his days and nights.

Caught in a growing maelstrom of entropy, Nit must find a way to solve his problem and stabilise the catalytic reaction that his life has become.

***

When Henry Schmitt accepts to ferry a white-haired man across the border, he is far from imagining he is getting involved with one of the last group of rebels still fighting against the Empire.

The lift-off is calm and peaceful but when the storm of violence and revenge catches up to his hot air balloon, Henry realises he may never set foot aground again.