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This story began as something else entirely. It emerged during an early draft of the second Valorium novel - one I ultimately chose not to keep. That version of the book was expansive, ambitious, and fun to write, but it leaned too far into excess. It relied on unnecessary leaps, too much spectacle, and ideas that felt ungrounded. In the end, it didn’t ring true, so I let it go. Almost all of it. What remained was a single idea - one that fit thematically, but not contextuall