In a world where aura abilities dictate status and power is currency, John "Carbonator" Stith and Ludwig "Musician" Beethoven graduate aura school with a bang—literally. Their raucous celebration leaves a city block in fizzy ruins, saddling them with crippling debt and a reputation as walking disasters. Vomen Lumen, the continent’s enigmatic protector and perpetual second-best at everything. He offers a deal: erase their debt if they shadow Friddo, a pacifist wanderer who has forbidden knowledge