by Ivan Kal
“You really think that a mortal could’ve seen something that we could not?”
“All of us had been mortals once; the only difference between us and them is that we have more knowledge and power. And the human that had made these prophecies was very powerful.”
“The others won’t give credence to mortal prophecies. You know that. Nor will they care, particularly, that Khalio is conquering worlds. Not unless he hits their own prime worlds, and even then it’s a coin toss. He is still only one god, and no matter what the gods of the lower plane believe, he can’t possibly threaten a pantheon. Not unless he somehow managed to unite the courts,” Vanagandr said.
“Will you help me?”
Vanagandr sighed. “Of course, old friend. What do you need me to do?”
“I was hoping to warn all the pantheons, but they don’t like me all that much,” Sao Ban said wryly. “Nor do they care for anything outside of their realms and mortal territories, as you said. But if the prophecies are right, then the next world the Arashan will attack is Enosia, a neutral, unclaimed world that I had been spending some time on. But if Enosia falls… Well, the future the seer saw is grim. Khalio is abiding by Mother’s rules, which means that I can’t interfere too much, but rather only nudge and guide. I don’t want to risk interfering directly and provoking Khalio to act in person. I have no idea what that would do to the future.”
“So, what, you want me to go around Enosia, nudging people to go where you want them to?”
“Well, you aren’t really subtle enough for that task,” Sao Ban said sheepishly, “but there is something else you can help me with. I need you to go to the lower plane and see what you can find out among the courts. About Khalio and his expansion and anything else that seems strange.”
Vanagandr smiled, showing the rows of his sharp teeth. “That I can do. I haven’t had a good fight in centuries.”
“Thank you,” Sao Ban said, and he meant it. Then, after a moment, he looked back at the battle still raging on the small world. “There is something else I would like to show you.”
“What?”
“Look at the battle again, at the people fighting the Arashan.”
Vanagandr again turned his attention to the battle, anima flowing from him to sense the surface of the world more clearly. He both looked and felt the battle, seeing the Arashan rally against the strange warriors, their numbers pushing them back. With each passing moment the Arashan were nearing victory. And Vanagandr saw it—he discovered the same thing Sao Ban had several days ago when he first found this world.
Vanagandr sucked in a quick breath. “What is that?”
“I don’t know,” Sao Ban admitted. “I have never seen anything like it. Their world has so little anima that magic is virtually impossible; none of them can cast spells. Not how we understand them. Yet they have power. The anima inside their bodies is different. They are doing something to it. And they can somehow take the anima from magical beasts and infuse it with their own.”
“That shouldn’t be possible.” Vanagandr leaned down toward the table, focusing the scene on the warrior with the spear of light. “There is no spell-construct that I can see and no anima is spent from around him. And those weapons, they are infused with something anima-like…”
“I know. It think that I might have seen something similar, long ago,” Sao Ban said.
“Where?”
“On Eos, with Mother. She always had powers we didn’t understand; we assumed that she was either different than us, or just much more knowledgeable. But there was one moment when she moved so fast that I couldn’t follow her. There was no spell-construct, of course—she rarely needed such things. But it still felt different from what she usually did. That moment reminds me of what those warriors are doing, of how they are moving.”
“Why haven’t you gone down to try and learn what that is?”
“I found the world only a few days ago, and they have been fighting the Arashan for years. There has been no time.”
“You could’ve interfered. You said yourself that the Arashan need to be stopped.”
“Yes, but if the one future in which we have the chance to stop what the seer saw is to occur, then that world must fall. I couldn’t risk it,” Sao Ban said sadly.
“A shame. It has been a long time since I’ve had the chance to learn something truly new,” Vanagandr said.
“Yes, truly a shame,” Sao Ban whispered, as the last warrior on the small world faltered. The Arashan overwhelmed his force by sheer numbers, and he was defeated–the golden light of his spear abating. Sao Ban and Vanagandr watched as the unconscious warrior was chained and dragged away.
“What now?” Vanagandr asked.
Sao Ban turned to look at the man who was one of his oldest friends. “Now, I start meddling,” Sao Ban said, looking at the table.
Glossary
Cast of Characters
Empire
Adrian Farkas-Reiss — Human; Lord Sentinel of the Empire; Dal A’sha to Kar Daim Anessa of the Shara Daim. Known as the Heart of the Mountain.
Ryaana Farkas-Reiss — Half human, half Shara Daim; Sentinel of the Empire; Daughter to Adrian and Anessa.
Elias Bakas — Human; Leader of the Hand of the Empire.
Jacob Kelly — Human; Inquisitor of the Hand of the Empire. Former leader of Earth resistance.
Nkiruka — Human; Inquisitor of the Hand of the Empire.
Tomas Klein — Human; Emperor of the Empire.
Seo-yun Hyeon — Human; Minister of Science; Tomas’s partner.
Laura Reiss — Human; Fleets Master of the Empire; Adrian’s adoptive mother.
Nadia Wilson — Human; Minister of Civil Service.
Aileen — Human; Sentinel of the Empire
Oswald Mein — Human; Commander of Fleets.
Nair Hakeem — Human; Fleet Commander of the First Fleet.
Johanna Stern — Human; Fleet Commander of the Third Fleet.
Gotu — Nel; Administrator of Sol system.
Isani — Nel; Leader of Clan Warpath.
Jusan — Nel; Leader of Clan Dai Ven.
Shara Daim
Anessa — Kar Daim of Shara Daim; Dal A’sha to Lord Sentinel Adrian Farkas-Reiss.
Kane — Dai Sha of the Shara Daim; Son of Anessa and Adrian.
Vaana — Dai Sha of the Shara Daim; Daughter of Anessa and Adrian.
Garaam — Dai Sha; Commander of the Shara Daim Legions.
Karoom — Dai Sha of the Twenty-Second Legion.
Horas — Dai Sha of the Twenty-Fifth Legion.
Arisak — Do Sun to Dai Sha Garaam.
Erasi
Valanaru — Gatrey; Ancient of the Erasi. Known as the Weaver.
The People
Axull Darr — Ultimate ancestor of the Human, Nel, and Shara Daim races.
Ullax Darr — Axull Darr’s twin sister, life partner to Waiss Gast.
The Enlightened
Waiss Gast — Once best friend of Axull Darr. Later becomes Aranis of the Enlightened.
Eroill Noust — Scientist of the People. Later becomes Doranis of the Enlightened.
Nariax Oera — Scientist of the People. Later becomes Loranis of the Enlightened.
Races
The People — The first intelligent race in the galaxy.
Human — Genetic descendants of the People, engineered by Axull Darr and left on Earth to evolve. Founding members of the Empire.
Nel — Genetic descendants of the People, engineered by Axull Darr and left on Nelus to evolve. Founding members of the Empire; former members of the Consortium.
Shara Daim — Genetic descendants of the People, engineered by Axull Darr and left on Shara Radum to evolve.
Guxcacul — Arthropods, subterranean. Former members of the Consortium; members of the Empire.
Sowir — Aquatic- and land-based race. Former members of the Consortium; members of the Empire.
Trivaxian — Mammalian. Members of the Empire.
Furvor �
�� Avian. Members of the Empire.
Uvaramo — Members of the Erasi. Formerly called the Loraru; former members of the Union.
Gatrey — Members of the Erasi.
Ssarath — Members of the Erasi.
Krashin — An Enigmatic race with territory in the Outer Arm on the coreward border of the Erasi territory.
Hasre — Mammalian; bipeds. Territory in the Outer Arm on the anti-spinward border of the Krashin.
Ships
Empire Warships
Empire Fleet — The modern Empire fleets consist of 1200 missile cruisers, 1000 battle cruisers, 600 battleships, 400 dreadnoughts, and 800 drone carriers, for a total of 4000 warships. In addition, every fleet has 600 auxiliary vessels, which include: repair ships, construction ships, ammo ships, military transports, and stealth scout ships, for a total of 4600 ships per a single fleet. The Empire possesses sixteen Sovereign-class warships.
Drone -class warships
Appearance — Sleek blades.
Size — 300 meters long, 100 wide, 150 tall.
Weapons and defenses — High-powered proton beams, ion beams, plasma turrets. Shields.
Missile cruiser -class warships
Appearance — Rectangular platforms.
Size — 1400 meters long, 400 wide, 200 tall.
Weapons and defenses — Proton beams, s-missile launchers, antimatter torpedoes. Drone point defense systems, shields.
Battlecruiser -class warships
Appearance — Resemble sleek talons.
Size — 1000 meters long, 350 wide, 550 tall.
Weapons and defenses — Proton beams, ion beams, molecular disintegration beams, s-missile launchers. Drone point defense systems, shields.
Battleship -class warships
Appearance — Overlapping carapace-like plates, turtle-shell design.
Size — 2200 meters long, 1300 wide, 600 tall.
Weapons and defenses — High-powered proton beams, ion beams, molecular disintegration beams, plasma turrets, s-missile launchers. Drone point defense system, shields, shimmering field.
Dreadnought -class warships
Appearance — Arrowhead design.
Size — 3200 meters long, 2100 wide, 750 tall.
Weapons and defenses — High-powered proton beams, ion beams, molecular disintegration beams, plasma turrets, high-powered kinetic turrets, antimatter beams, s-missile launchers. Drone point defense system, shields, shimmering field.
Command -class warships
Appearance — Arrowhead design.
Size — 4200 meters long, 2300 wide, 850 tall.
Weapons and defenses — High-powered proton beams, plasma turrets, high-powered kinetic turrets, s-missile launchers. Carries two Frigate-class vessels. Drone point defense system, shields, shimmering field.
Drone carrier -class warship
Appearance — Open ribcage design.
Size — 4200 meters long, 3000 wide, 1800 tall.
Weapons and defenses — Proton beams, drone control teams. Drone point defense system, ability to power both the shields and shimmering fields at the same time. Carries forty drones and drone repair facilities.
Sovereign -class warship
Appearance — Depends on the generation. All are some variant on the World-ship Enduring and its six-sided pyramid shape.
Size — Depends on the generation; all are between 48 and 58 kilometers long, 18 and 24 kilometers wide/high at the widest/highest point.
Weapons and defenses — Proton beams, ion beams, antimatter beams, molecular disintegration beams, xa-nan turrets, high-velocity kinetic turrets, plasma turrets, s-missile launchers, antimatter torpedoes. Carries six Frigate-class vessels. Drone point defense system, shields, shimmering field.
Shara Daim warships
Shara Daim Legion — The modern Shara Daim Legion consists of 1000 missile cruisers, 1200 battlecruisers, 600 battleships, 800 super battleships, and 400 carriers for a total of 4000 warships, plus another 600 auxiliary vessels, for a total of 4600 ships per single fleet. The Shara Daim possess twelve Sovereign-class warships.
Drone -class warships
Appearance — Sleek blades.
Size — 300 meters long, 100 wide, 150 tall.
Weapons and defenses — High-powered proton beams, ion beams, plasma turrets. Shields.
Missile cruiser -class warships
Appearance — Pillar shaped.
Size — 1300 meters long, 600 meters in diameter.
Weapons and defenses — Proton beams, s-missile launchers, antimatter torpedoes. Drone point defense systems, shields.
Battlecruiser -class warships
Appearance — Pillar shaped.
Size — 1200 meters long, 500 meters in diameter.
Weapons and defenses — Proton beams, ion beams, molecular disintegration beams, s-missile launchers. Drone point defense systems, shields.
Battleship -class warships
Appearance — Pillar shaped, with a widening at the middle of the ship in a shape of a rectangular box.
Size — 2600 meters long, 800 meters in diameter (pillar), 1500 meters wide and 900 meters tall (middle part).
Weapons and defenses — High-powered proton beams, ion beams, molecular disintegration beams, plasma turrets, s-missile launchers. Drone point defense system, shields, shimmering field.
Super battleship -class warships
Appearance — Pillar shaped, with a widening at the middle of the ship in a shape of a rectangular box.
Size — 3600 meters long, 880 meters diameter (pillar), 2400 meters wide (middle part), 1200 meters tall (middle part).
Weapon and defenses — High-powered proton beams, ion beams, antimatter beams, molecular disintegration beams, plasma turrets, s-missile launchers, antimatter torpedoes. Drone point defense system, shields, shimmering field.
Drone carrier -class warship
Appearance — Half-sphere design.
Size — 3800 meters in diameter, 2000 tall.
Weapons and defenses — Proton beams, drone control teams. Drone point defense system, ability to power both the shields and shimmering fields at the same time. Carries forty drones and drone repair facilities.
Sovereign -class warship
Appearance — Depends on the generation. All are some variant on the horseshoe or narrow-arch design.
Size — Depends on the generation; all are between 48 and 62 kilometers long, 24 and 32 kilometers wide at the widest point, and between 4 and 10 kilometers tall.
Weapons and defenses — Proton beams, ion beams, antimatter beams, molecular disintegration beams, xa-nan turrets, high-velocity kinetic turrets, plasma turrets, s-missile launchers, antimatter torpedoes. Carries six Frigate-class vessels. Drone point defense system, shields, shimmering fields.
Erasi warships
Erasi Fleet — The modern Erasi fleets consist of 2500 destroyers, 1000 light cruisers, 600 heavy cruisers, 800 battleships, and 600 super battleships, for a total of 5500 warships, plus 600 auxiliary vessels, for a total of 6100 ships per single fleet.
Destroyer -class warships
Appearance — Saucer shaped.
Size — 900 meters in diameter, 180 tall.
Weapons and defenses — Particle beams, s-missile launchers. Point defense, shields.
Light cruiser -class warships
Appearance — Saucer shaped.
Size — 1200 meters in diameter, 200 tall.
Weapons and defenses — Particle beams, s-missile launchers, molecular disintegration beams. Point defense, shields.
Heavy cruiser -class warships
Appearance — Saucer shaped.
Size — 1500 meters in diameter, 300 tall.
Weapons and defenses — Particle beams, molecular disintegration beams, ion beams, s-missile launchers. Point defense, shields.
Battleship -class warships
Appearance — Saucer shaped.
Size — 2800 meters in diameter, 580 tall.
Weapons and defenses —
High-powered particle beams, molecular disintegration beams, plasma turrets, ion beams, s-missile launchers. Point defense, shields.
Super battleship -class warships
Appearance — Saucer shaped.
Size — 3200 meters in diameter, 800 tall.
Weapons and defenses — High-powered particle beams, molecular disintegration beams, hir’sa beams, plasma turrets, ion beams, s-missile launchers. Point defense, shields.
Devastator -class warships
Appearance — Elongated saucer shaped.
Size — 33 kilometers long, 18 kilometers wide, 2.8 kilometers tall.
Weapons and defenses — High-powered particle beams, molecular disintegration beams, hir’sa beams, plasma turrets, ion beams, s-missile launchers. Point defense, shields, skim-field neutralizers.