A Spell of Passion or Fear

Once, Ariston was a Guardian of the Kalliopolis, the perfect city designed by the Philosophers—Philosophers who, in their wisdom, replaced the imperfect human Guardians of Ariston’s generation with warrior machines. Phaleas Peneste, a poor farmer’s orphan the new Guardians rescued from the devastating winter that killed his family, now serves as their mechanic. Unhappy with their positions in the Kalliopolis’s new order, each man decides to escape, a...