A wide smile appeared on Cain's face as he surveyed the state of Aether from his vantage point high above the world. There was conflict all around the globe, but it was the kind of conflict that spurred growth—fights between different types of organizations, all of them striving to improve while surpassing others. That type of competition was normal and, in fact, natural in the great order of things. It drove innovation and excellence, with the strong prevailing and the weak vanishing. However, what Cain did not see anymore were racial conflicts.