Fallen Star

by Ivan Kal

  Still, she doubted that they would catch them—and she pitied them if they did.

  “He will be stronger the next time we meet,” Lei said at last. “We will need to train far harder if we are to catch up.”

  “We will,” Ming-Li said. “We have a way forward now, a path to explore.”

  “Will Narzarah send us after him?” Ashara asked.

  Lei took a deep breath. “Doubtful. If he manages to escape the Lashian armada, he will be outside of our reach. Narzarah will want us to help the Lashians.”

  Ming-Li spit down into the street. “They are arrogant, and largely unworthy.”

  Ashara glanced at the woman, seeing the dark look on her face. It was one thing that she hated about Ming-Li and Vin, them looking down on others who were weaker. She had struggled with the same during the war against the Úlfriir. But Lei had shown her that she could be stronger than others without feeling like she was better. She understood just how easy it was to look down on those who were weaker than you. She tried to separate the feelings of superiority from her actions, as Lei had taught her. She didn’t want to end up like Ming-Li, who she was certain sneered at everyone who wasn’t at least as powerful as her.

  “We follow Narzarah’s orders. We are Arashan now,” Lei said, turning to look Ming-Li in the eyes. Ashara was certain that the woman understood what he was saying. She had spent the last five years alone on this world; she hadn’t been a true part of the Arashan Host. Ashara saw her frown, but she didn’t say anything, the look in Lei’s eyes making her reconsider.

  Ashara knew that look well. Lei never raised his voice, and he was always respectful, but every time she looked into his eyes, she could feel a weight that made her think that she was small.

  “Vin has Kyarra with him, the Eternal Soul. Perhaps we should speak with Narzarah,” Ashara interjected. “They are dangerous.”

  “A fragment-bearer,” Ming-Li said derisively.

  “I am certain that Narzarah knows,” Lei said. “And it would be best if you didn’t underestimate fragment-bearers, Ming-Li. Narzarah is one himself, and I assure you, he is very powerful.”

  Ming-Li huffed but didn’t argue.

  Ashara turned her eyes to the fleeing ships, wondering how long it would be before she met Vin again—and how she would react to seeing Kyarra after all this time. A part of her continued hating them for pushing her away, for making her feel like she wasn’t equal to them; but another still loved them, and she wanted to show them both what she had become, how strong she was. Vin had, however, shown her that she had a long way to go before she could stand next to him as an equal.

  Ashara felt a fire start burning deep inside of her chest. She would become stronger still, and show them just how worthy she truly was.

  EPILOGUE

  The great golden halls of the Nexus, the city of the gods that existed in the upper plane of this universe, were empty. There were no gods walking through its golden arches leading to other halls, no gods bringing mortals to show them the wonders that they could aspire to. Not a soul was there to see a single arch, silver in color, unlike the others, tremble.

  It was larger, more intricate than any other arch in the Nexus—its purpose unknown by the gods, as only their Mother, the one who created this place, knew where it led to. The arch had been used only once, and it was long before the Lifebringer decided to raise mortals to become gods.

  The arch lit up, and was suddenly filled with power. A slash in the air heralded a rift and it widened to fill the archway, creating a doorway to some place far away. A being stepped through, wearing strange clothes and walking on tentacle legs. It had a human-looking torso with two arms, and a triangular head above it with no mouth. Over its head, an additional third arm hung over the being growing from its upper back. It stepped through and looked around, and a moment later its form shimmered and it appeared as a human.

  The being, now looking like a man, walked through the halls of the Nexus, his steps sure and his heading precise. The man navigated the streets of the Nexus quickly, and then after a long while of walking arrived at his destination. It entered a room and found it already occupied.

  The man hunched over a round table that above it showed several planets twirling was not human. He looked more like a wolf than a man, with snow-white fur. At the man’s coming, the wolf man stood upright. The god, Vanagandr, didn’t turn as the stranger entered, as engrossed as he was with what he was doing; his ears twitched, however, as he did hear someone arrive.

  “Sao Ban! It is good you finally answered my call. You won’t believe what Khalio has been doing—” Vanagandr turned and stopped speaking as he realized that his visitor was not his brother. He looked at the man closely, not recognizing him, which was impossible. He knew all the gods, and only gods could enter this place. But there was something about the man that made Vanagandr halt his first instincts to lash out. The man was strong, and his power familiar to him.

  It almost reminded him of his mother.

  “Who are you?” Vanagandr asked.

  The man tilted his head and Vanagandr felt a wave of energy spread through the room, then subside. “Where is she?” the man asked.

  Vanagandr was many things, but stupid wasn’t one of them. “I don’t know who you are looking for.” he answered truthfully. If the last demonstration was any indication, this man was far more powerful than Vanagandr himself.

  “Your mother,” the man said. “I need to speak with her.”

  Vanagandr frowned. A million thoughts went through his head. A strange and powerful being coming to seek his mother. For a moment he thought that perhaps he had finally found the one who murdered her, but Vanagandr could detect no lie in the man’s tone—he truly didn’t know.

  Vanagandr replied truthfully in turn. “Mother is dead. She has been for a long time.”

  The man frowned and then walked quickly to the table. Vanagandr tensed, but the man simply put his hand on the table. It rippled outward in a way that Vanagandr had never seen before, and the images he was viewing disappeared. Instead, an image of a black-skinned human man appeared, dressed in strange, tight-gray clothes.

  The image of the man spoke. “Authorization confirmed. Welcome to the Nexus, Lurker of the Depths.”

  “Show me the last known location of the Architect,” the stranger, Lurker of the Depths, asked.

  “The Architect’s last known location was on a planet designated Eos, preceding a Chaos infiltration and its subsequent catastrophic destruction.”

  Vanagandr watched in fascination; he had not known that the table could do that.

  “Status of the Architect?” Lurker of the Depths asked.

  “Status critical, life signs minimal,” the floating image said.

  Vanagandr’s eyes widened as he realized what the image had just said. “Mother is alive?”

  Lurker of the Depths glanced at him, then back at the image. “Tell me her location.”

  “Unable to comply. Signal strength too limited for determining location,” the image said.

  “This isn’t good,” Lurker of the Depths said. “Status of Chaos infestation?”

  “Last detection of Chaos signature eleven thousand six hundred and four years ago.”

  “That is when Mother died—or we thought she did,” Vanagandr said quickly.

  Lurker of the Depths frowned. “How many Chaos signatures did you detect?”

  “One,” the image said.

  Lurker of the Depths released a sigh. “So it is not here yet… But how…” He turned to look at Vanagandr. “You are going to tell me everything that has happened both prior to her disappearance and after. I need to know everything.”

  Vanagandr didn’t know who this person was, but if there was even a chance that Mother was alive, then he would everything in his power to find her. “Who are you?” Vanagandr asked.

  “I guess you could say that I am your mother’s mentor,” Lurker of the Depths said, and then he took a seat at the table and leaned f
orward. “Now, you may begin.”

  Thank you for reading!

  Hello!

  I have a short message for you all. Many of you already know this, but this is for the people who are not aware. All of my books take place inside a shared multiverse, and some characters crossover from series to series. But it is not required for you to read all the series in order to understand what is happening, each series has its own set of characters and storyline which is contained inside of that series. The multiverse stuff is mostly background and side stories, and I will always explain everything that is relevant in every series, so you will never feel like you are missing out. Reading the other series might give you some insight into the characters that appear across different series, but it will not give you all the answers as every series takes place at a different point in time, with thousands of years and sometimes more in between the events. Every series is also a different genre, and while the overall rules of the multiverse are the same, each series has its own feel, and you should not feel the need to read something in a genre that you don’t enjoy! Don’t worry, everything will always be explained where necessary and you will not miss out on anything!

  In case that you do want to check the other books out, here is a rough timeline of the multiverse:

  Rise of the Empire (space opera, sci fi with fantasy elements in the second half of the series)

  Chaos and Order trilogy (coming soon! This trilogy will have the multiverse stuff as the main storyline and will set the stage for the background conflict)

  Universe on Fire (sci fi-fantasy)

  Eternal Path (mix of eastern and western fantasy)

  Tower of Power (LitRPG, fantasy)

  You are of course not required to read them in chronological order to understand things. The multiverse threads are mostly background in every series so far, but the characters that are crossing over do originate in a few of these series, and you might learn more about their origins. That’s it! Thanks for reading!

  If you liked this book, please consider leaving a review on Amazon. Honest reviews of my books help greatly by bringing them to the attention of new readers. I would be grateful if you could spend a few minutes writing a short review (a few words is fine) on Amazon.

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  Tower of Power book 1—Guild Master

  CHAPTER ONE

  Morgan Newton looked around in confusion, not really understanding what had happened. One moment he was crossing the street on his way to class at the community college, and the next thing he remembered was being here, wherever here was. Looking around, he noticed that he appeared to be in some kind of a cave, or a tunnel of sorts. The walls around him were gray and made out of a smoky, mist-like substance. He reached out with his hand to touch one of the walls and his fingers sank into it just a bit before encountering a solid wall. The mist curled around his hand and he jerked it away, feeling a coldness that cut to the bone. Morgan looked around again. Behind him there was only darkness, and somehow he could tell that the darkness was a wall, one that he couldn’t pass through. In front of him, however, stretched a tunnel, and out in the distance he could see a bright light.

  Morgan covered his face with his hands and shook his head as he remembered what had happened. He had been on his way to class, hurrying along and thinking about the raid he had scheduled with his guild in the MMORPG The Braves that very night. The Guild was attempting its seventh run against the latest expansion’s last raid boss, hoping to finally take him down after almost three months of trying. They were a semi-hardcore guild, but a core of the guild was a group of pretty intense players set on getting every boss before the next raid came out. He had been running the strategy they devised for the boss through his head all week. It was probably why he had been so absent minded, and why he hadn’t seen the red pickup truck until it was too late.

  “Crap, I’m dead, aren’t I? My guild mates are going to kill me,” Morgan said out loud, and immediately chuckled at his own expense. It wasn’t like he could be any deader, but it did tell a lot about him that the first thing that popped into his head as he realized that he was dead was concern for his guild. The Braves had been a large part of his life; all of his friends played it, and he spent almost all of his free time on the computer playing it as well.

  Tanya. He suddenly remembered the hot brunette from his world history class and that he had made plans with her for tomorrow evening. God damn it, Morgan cursed inwardly. The two of them weren’t precisely dating but they were getting there. Plenty a man had tried to get sweet Tanya to call them their boyfriend, and he was fairly certain that he would be one of the few to have that privilege. I bet that Hank will jump in before my body even gets cold. He shook his head. The two of them had been vying for her attentions for the better part of the semester. And seeing as he hated that jackass, Morgan had been really looking forward to rubbing his victory in Hank’s face. It was ironic in a way that he had ended up dead because he had been too consumed with a video game just as he was about to get somewhere with a girl. Not that he hadn’t had any girlfriends before, but Tanya… Well, it didn’t matter now anyway. His mom had always told him that he should stop staring in that damned monitor so much.

  “Fuck me sideways,” he breathed out. It figured that he should die on the day of his twenty-second birthday.

  “Sorry, I don’t do requests.”

  Morgan jumped at the unexpected voice. A small and completely undignified squeak escaped his mouth as he turned around and looked straight into a man leaning on the wall, mist curling away from him, as if it was afraid to touch him. The man chuckled at Morgan’s response.

  “Who the fuck are you?” Morgan asked, trying to gather his wits. He wouldn’t admit it out loud, but if he hadn’t been dead already, he just might’ve had a heart attack from that.

  The man tsked. “That isn’t really a nice way to speak to strangers, now is it? I’m sure that you were raised better than that—but considering the circumstances, I will let it slide. ”

  Morgan gulped nervously, which in itself was completely bonkers. I am dead. How in the hell can I still do that? As the man spoke, Morgan had a chance to take a look at him. The man was of an average height, average looks, short hair, with light skin which was perhaps just a bit tanned, but it was hard to tell in this light. He wore strange clothes, unlike anything he had ever seen before; it kind of looked like he was wearing a wetsuit with a long, dark coat over it.

  The man clapped his hands and pushed off the wall. “Now, I don’t have a lot of time, so we should really get this started. First, you are dead.”

  “Yeah, I kinda figured that one out already, Sherlock.” Morgan cringed inwardly as he realized what he had said. He could’ve kicked himself for being so stupid. God, I really can’t keep my mouth shut sometimes.

  “Har, har, har. A wiseass. Of course you had to be a wiseass.” The man rolled his eyes and stepped closer. Morgan fought the instinct to take a step back and instead stayed his ground, trying to project the image of calm confidence as his sensei always told him to do if he ever got cornered with no way out. Not that Morgan thought that it was going to do him any good; one look into the man’s eyes told him that he knew everything there was to know about Morgan. There was a weight behind that gaze, an eternity.

  “Where are we?” Morgan asked.

  “Think of this as a place between life and death,” the man told him.

  “Wait, if I am in between, can I go back?” Morgan asked hurriedly.

  “Not a chance. Well… Okay, that isn’t really true. It is possible for a soul to go back, but not for you.” The man shrugged, almost as if he was saying sorry.

  “What do you mean not possible for me?” Morgan took a step back. This guy is going to eat my soul for sure. Morgan tried to look around to find a way to escape, but the only path available to him was toward the light, and h
e wasn’t just yet prepared to go there.

  “Oh, don’t be such a wimp. I’m not the reason you can’t go back to your old life. That is your fault. You lack the knowledge and power.”

  “Well, I’ve never heard any credible story of someone coming back to life. Forgive me for not going out of my way to learn how to raise myself from the dead,” Morgan said—and then a thought came to his mind. “Wait, who are you? Are you God?” Morgan asked in a whisper.

  The man tilted his head, seemingly amused. “Sure, from your point of view I might as well be God.”

  One look at that grin and another thought occurred to Morgan. “Oh my god, you are the devil, aren’t you? I knew that I shouldn’t have stolen that piece of bubblegum when I was kid, but Marcus kept pressuring me. Please, it’s not my fault! He made me do it!” Morgan said as he took a step back, his eyes opened wide.

  The man rolled his eyes. “I’m not the devil! Seriously, man, get a hold of yourself.”

  Morgan straightened his posture and tried to compose himself by straightening his clothes. “Cool, cool, cool, cool, cool… So you are God, then? Or an angel or something?” Morgan asked, relieved—he really didn’t want to go to hell. He knew that he would just hate the heat.

  “If you mean to ask if I am the God… Well then, the answer is no. I don’t really know for certain if a god really exists. What I do know is that if you go over there toward the light, you will find out. I guess that I am technically a god, little g, but not really… It’s complicated. Also for the purpose of this meeting, you may call me Oxylus,” the man said with a grin.