by Kyle West
“You also said there was a war, with the Shen,” Isaru put in. “Are you talking about those same people who live in California today?”
Isandru was quiet, as if he didn’t know which question to answer first. Finally: “It’s true that I’m the only one to have survived. When the shining towers winked out for the final time, I was fifteen years old. Even if the royal children then were given Aether to enhance the development of their Gifts, it was not to the same extent as adults. While it has granted me an unnaturally long life, I did not suffer from the Wasting – the disease that took hold for those who were hopelessly addicted. I think that is the only reason I survived, but even then...my recovery took decades. One thing is clear: I am not immortal. Indeed, I feel as if my time might be coming soon. I’ve felt thus for years, now, but I’ve been holding on, if only to see the fulfillment of my prophecy.”
“What really happened in those final days?” I asked.
He looked at me, and from the look in his eyes, I wish I hadn’t asked. “Suffice it to say – as I’ve said before – it’s best left in the past. They were the darkest times in our history. As for the Shen...yes, they are the same people, though their power today is greatly reduced. But the history of the Fallen City is not what we’re here to discuss...at least for the moment. Shanti, have you had any more dreams?”
“No. Everything has been quiet.”
“The same for me,” Fiona said.
“We have discovered the Seekers’ true purpose,” Isandru said. “We have found Anna, or at least, we have found her reincarnation. Her memories, however, are still barred to us.”
“The Wanderer said that the weakening of the Sea of Creation led to my lack of memory,” I said. “I think that’s why Anna came back as a baby rather than fully grown...”
“Perhaps so,” Isandru said. “If that’s the case, then it is my house that is responsible. The Hyperboreans were the cause of nearly every ill in the Wild today. The destruction of the Sea of Creation weakened the Xenofold to the point where reversions became commonplace. It caused the Sundering of the Dragons, late in the Second Century. I have kept these things hidden so as to hide my true identity, because such knowledge has all but passed from the world. Until the Sea is healed...if such a thing is even possible...reversions will continue to plague the Wild. I have seen their growing intensity in recent years, so there may not be much time left. Anna’s return suggests that the Second Darkness...Xenofall...draws near.”
So many questions ran through my mind. Where had Isandru lived before he came to the Sanctum? How had he been able to hide his age for so long? He was nearing two hundred years old, an incomprehensible age.
“Does anyone know where the Prophecy might be?” Fiona asked.
“It could be anywhere,” I said. “But I suppose Colonia would be the first place to look.” I paused. “There’s also the matter of my parents. I need to know for certain if this is who I truly am. If anyone knows where I came from...it’s them.”
Isandru nodded. “You aren’t strong enough to return to Colonia yet, Shanti. Neither is Isaru. Even Fiona, I wouldn’t risk. If you were ever recognized, you wouldn’t be able to defend yourself. That is a risk we cannot afford.”
“It’s a place we must go at some point,” I said.
“If you are truly Anna, then your blood is of perfect purity. All Twelve Gifts of the Elekai are waiting for your mastery. Though you have Anna’s blood, perfection of those Gifts will still take time.” Isandru paused. “I also can’t show any favoritism. You must continue your normal duties so as not to arouse suspicion. Isaru, too, is unusually strong in the blood. Most, if not all of the Twelve Gifts, can be mastered by him as well, and Fiona is almost as strong.”
“So for now, it’s just preparation,” I said. “When will I be strong enough to return?”
Isandru shrugged. “One year. Perhaps two. There is no way of knowing.”
“That’s too long,” I said. “If the Second Darkness is truly so close...”
“We will not remain idle during this time,” Isandru said. “The prophecy I gave so long ago has at last been fulfilled. It is time for my plan to be set in motion, the plan I’ve been waiting a lifetime to enact. And the first part of that plan is finding the Prophecy of Annara. Colonia, and specifically, the Red Bastion, is the first place on our list. Everything we do now is to prepare to infiltrate the Bastion and find the Prophecy.”
“What makes you think it’s there, above all other places?” Isaru asked.
“It is where it was last, so it makes sense to look there first. I cannot bring myself to believe that the Covenant destroyed Annara’s words. Though they have twisted her identity to suit their own ends, they wouldn’t have been able to bring themselves to burn the very words their goddess wrote. It would be hidden away in the Bastion, safe from prying eyes. At least, that is what I’m betting on.”
“We’d have to break in,” Isaru said. “And that seems impossible.”
“I can’t allow my parents to live in danger,” I said. “For all I know, they could be...”
I left the rest unsaid.
“We must bide our time,” Isandru said. “What good would we do if we played our hand too early? Focus on your studies. Train hard. You will be doing your parents the greatest favor by doing as much. And as soon as I can discover what became of them...you will be the first to know.”
“I can begin by researching everything I can about Hyperborea,” Isaru said. “I still have Judge Kais’s library pass.”
“I can try to figure things out about Quietus,” Fiona said. “Contact must be reestablished with the Elder Dragons at some point if the Second Darkness is truly coming.”
“I will also need you to seek further prophecies,” Isandru said. “Anything more from the Xenofold would be of great help. Whatever the case...we have so much to learn. Even if it seems impossible, we will not give up. At some point, things are going to slip out of control. I believe that is inevitable. But until then, we must be diligent.”
If Isandru was right about anything, it was definitely that. Still, I couldn’t help but feel sick at everything we had discovered.
I was Anna reborn. That fact would never seem truly real. All I could do was follow Isandru’s instructions: train hard and prepare myself as best as I could.
There was one thing I wasn’t going to tell him, though, and it was the only part I disagreed with.
My parents were going to be seeing me much sooner than he thought.
EPILOGUE
IN THE VOID FAR FROM EARTH, the Reapers sped across the soundless black. Sol was distant yet by any sense of the word, but for Odium of the Dark, it was near – tantalizingly near.
He reached with his wave-thought through the dimension connecting all points of space, the dimension through which his message resonated. When it found the right node, folding distance itself, he called.
He that is Nameless. I, Odium of the Dark, greet you from the Great Void.
The Nameless One responded, Hail, Radaskim.
How, Nameless One, are the People of Earth?
Long have they lived in darkness, the Nameless One said, but even now, a long-sought dawn may rise. The only question is: will your destruction darken the skies before the sunrise?
Odium was amused; in his mind, there was no question. Even now we prepare destruction. There will be no sun, and the days of the Elekai of Earth are numbered. That you have stirred them to wakefulness matters not – not when Xenofall comes. Askala was weak; she did not deserve a world she couldn’t defend. I will not make the same mistake.
I know your mind, Odium, and I know the danger you pose to Earth, the last preservation of the Elekai.
So long as you do not meddle, as is your wont, then there is nothing for the Elekai and their human pets but long-deserved death.
What meddling I’ve done is long past. It is not my place to fight the Elekai’s war. I am merely curious as to who is the stronger.
Strong
er? Odium laughed, if it could be called a laugh, for the emanation was far too terrible and cruel. A thousand worlds have fallen to the Radaskim, and a thousand more will be subjugated inside a million years. The blink of an eye in the stretching of time, and this is only the beginning of our era of glory.
That remains to be decided, the Nameless One said. So long as one world has resisted, it may resist again...as could others.
That shall never be, Odium said, his voice like poison. The Secrets of Creation will be ours, and the lowly world of Earth is the key. And when we Radaskim possess that key...we will have all we need for the total destruction of everything.
The dimensional line fizzled, and Odium brooded. He knew the Nameless One believed the Secrets could never be known by the Radaskim. But for once, Odium of the Dark knew something the Nameless One didn’t.
The humans, of course, were the key. The Elekai were adept at assimilating sentient beings into their Xenofold, only those beings had never lived long – thanks to the Radaskim, who destroyed them in short order. It had been as much on every world the Radaskim Xenominds seeded. Every world, but Earth.
For nearly four centuries, however, humans had been Elekai, one of countless branches growing from their tree. However, that branch was rotting, threatening to infect the whole.
This rot, this weakness, would give Odium the Secrets he sought.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kyle West is the author of The Wasteland Chronicles, a seven-book post-apocalyptic series, and is currently writing The Xenoworld Saga. From a young age, Kyle has always been a voracious reader of sci-fi and fantasy. He graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a degree in Professional Writing and lives in Oklahoma City.
CONTACT
Facebook
Twitter
Goodreads
Blog
kylewestwriter[at]gmail[dot]com
Want to know when my next book comes out? Sign up for my mailing list!
Also by Kyle West
Post-Apocalyptic/Dystopian
The Wasteland Chronicles
Apocalypse
Origins
Evolution
Revelation
Darkness
Extinction
Xenofall
Post-Apocalyptic/Fantasy
The Xenworld Saga
Prophecy
Bastion
GLOSSARY
A.R.: After Ragnarok. The date usually used by the Elekai to denote the year. It’s a bit of a misnomer, because it really means after the Ragnarok War, and not after the impact of Ragnarok itself. The Xenoworld Saga begins in 398 A.R.
F.C.: Founding of the Covenant. The date used by the Covenant to denote the year, and it signifies how many years have passed since the Covenant ousted the Elekai from Colonia. The Xenoworld Saga begins in the year 248 F.C.
P.Y. Precursor Year. Corresponds to the Gregorian Calendar. The Xenoworld Saga begins in the year 2458 P.Y. – or 2458 A.D. It’s rare to use Precursor Years to denote anything beyond the year 2060, and even then is only used among academics and historians.
Annajen, The: One of the Three Tribes of the Elekai, the Annajen are the descendants of the gods Elekim and Annara. Their capital is Haven, a Great Silverwood growing in the Grand Canyon.
Annara: Annara is the matron goddess of both the Annajen Tribe and the Colonian Covenant; however, depending on the side, her character is entirely different. Among the Annajen, Annara is the wife of Elekim; she established Colonia and the Seekers and wrote the Prophecy of Annara, which has been lost, but predicts the eventual ascendency of the Elekai over its enemies – namely the Covenant. Among the Covenant, Annara is the goddess of pure-blooded humanity, and seeks to destroy all that is Elekai, promising her chosen people – the Annarans – that they will one day destroy the demon Elekai, who waged war against humanity during the First Darkness. According to prophecies on both sides, Annara is to lead her Army of the Dawn to destroy the other side.
Army of the Dawn: Annara’s army during the Second Darkness that is to destroy either the Elekai or the Annaran Covenant, depending on which version of the story one believes.
Askala: The Radaskim Xenomind that nearly enslaved the world using the xenovirus during the time of the Ragnarok War. These events have been almost forgotten in recent times, but the Covenant remembers Askala as the Elekai’s demon goddess. Among the Elekai, her true nature is better remembered as the Radaskim goddess who was imprisoned by Elekim in the Xenofold at the end of the Ragnarok War.
Askaleen: A male dragon. They are pink, with tiny scales, and a smooth, rounded frame. They are also rarer than Radaska, the female variety. Because they are the only kind of dragons that the Covenant can tame, they are jealously guarded by the Radaska.
Atlantea: An Eastern Kingdom situated in the southeast. Its capital is of the same name.
Augurs, The: One of the Seven Sects of the Seekers, who specialize in the art of diplomacy. They serve as advisers for kings and rulers, not only in the Red Wild, but in the Eastern Kingdoms. In times of old, they also interpreted signs given by the Xenofold, though this responsibility has fallen by the wayside in recent centuries. They also recruit new initiates for the Seekers’ Sanctum among the nobility of different lands.
Bloodless: The collective term Elekai use to describe all non-Elekai. It’s not pejorative, though it can be used in that way.
Brevia: A city on the western coast, in southern California. Once a colony of Colonia, it was conquered by the Shen in 348 A.R. It is the only Shen city that outsiders are allowed to enter, and even then, permission is granted only sparingly. A large collection of books has been gathered there, in what is known as the Brevian Archives – the main reason for which anyone would want to visit the city.
Clerics, The: One of the Seven Sects of the Seekers, who specialize in ministry to the local Elekai population, anthropology, and Xenohealing. They are also responsible for recruiting initiates for the Seekers’ Sanctum among the general population.
Champions, The: One of the Seven Sects of the Seekers, who specialize in the art of combat. In times of old, they fought in battles to defend the Elekai from Covenant encroachment, but in more recent times, they serve as bodyguards for other Seekers, such as Augurs, Scholars, or Sages, whose duties take them far afield in places that might be dangerous.
Colonia: The city of Colonia was founded shortly after the Ragnarok War, as a colony of the First Empire, known of old as the Nova Roman Empire. It was ruled by the gods, and over the years, grew into the seat of an Elekai empire by the same name. Colonia’s history is divided into two periods: Old Colonia, which lasted from roughly 1–150 A.R., and Covenant Colonia, which lasted from 151 A.R. until the present day.
Old Colonia was ruled by the Elekai, and was originally their capital city. The true descendants of the heroes of the Ragnarok War formed an aristocracy, called the Godsblood. Below them were Wilders, the descendants of those who became Elekai in the years following the Ragnarok War. On the bottom rung were the Bloodless, commoners without Elekai ancestry. However, by the fourth generation of the Godsblood, the government grew corrupt, favoring the Elekai nobility over the Bloodless masses. This, in time, led to the Annaran Uprising. The civil war lasted twenty years, ending with the Elekai being defeated and ousted from the city they had founded, their numbers greatly reduced. The Annarans took control of the city, founding the Annaran Covenant, which vowed to destroy all Elekai in accordance with Annara’s will.
The Covenant ruled in Colonia for the next two hundred and fifty years, and at its height around 320 A.R., the Covenant controlled most of what used to be the Southwestern United States.
Colorado River: The main river flowing through the Red Wild and Colonia. The river is much wider than it was during the Old World, and nurtures the growth of both Elekai and Covenant society. The Colorado flows not only through the city of Colonia, but under the roots of Haven, the main enclave of the Annajen tribe, along with Coloso, which is built on its mout
h.
Coloso: A Novan city at the mouth of the Colorado River. Over the centuries, it is has changed hands between Nova and Colonia numerous times. It is strategically important, because it is the gateway to Nova and it also provides a means to enter Colonia by river.
Covenant, The: The Covenant, or the Annaran Covenant or the Colonian Covenant, began as a resistance against the corrupt Elekai aristocracy that ruled Colonia. The goddess Annara became its figurehead, but instead of an Annara that was the heroine of the Elekai, this Annara was a champion of the Bloodless and reviled all things Elekai. In time, the Annaran rebellion took place, and after a twenty-year-long war, the Elekai were nearly wiped out, and what was left of them fled into the Red Wild.
The Covenant rules with a firm fist, using religion to control its population. It was the strongest power in the late Third Century, but by the Fourth Century, incursions by both the Shen and Nova made it lose much of its former territory. The Covenant has a policy of exiling or outright killing anyone who disagrees with its theology, and openly hunts Elekai within its borders. The Covenant is ruled by a Grand Pontifex and a Grand Council of seven members, officials appointed by the Grand Pontifex from each of the seven kinds of priests.
Dome of Annara, The: Constructed during Old Colonia, the Dome of Annara is one of the wonders of the world. It is composed of a large, golden dome and has four turrets on each corner. In days of old, it served as a pantheon to all the gods, but over time, Annara became its chief deity. The Dome was constructed about eighty years following the founding of the city.