You can’t see color.

All your life, you’ve been surrounded by gray and black, and if you were lucky, white. By now, you were used to the dull scenery, unfazed by how boring a sunset looked and how uninteresting rainbows appeared. You hear people speaking about ‘colors’, trying to describe what ‘gold’ looks like.

People shuffle around you as you walk through Treasures Street, heading for the Akademiya. Gray heads bob up and down in a huge crowd around you, almost overwhelming. Gray, gray, gray.

“I’m late!”

In the corner of your eye, you see something. A man runs through the crowd, clutching blueprints and bulletin papers, accidentally nudging up against unsuspecting people. But that’s not what surprises you. You feel your pupils dilate as you stare at…

…his golden hair.