by J M D Reid
“What is so Storming urgent you summoned me from my daughter’s recital?” the investigator demanded as she stomped in.
“Oh, my, was that today?” The Philosopher frowned. “My deepest apologies, but I have just uncovered the most fascinating paper. A colleague discovered it rifling through the archives.”
“You brought me here to talk about a Theisseg-damned paper?” Archene took a deep breath, struggling to control her irritation.
“This paper is startling in its perception,” Duthan continued, excitement animating his wrinkled features. She’d witnessed the same eager delight while he’d tortured Nianie and Chone. “It boldly questions many assumptions while hinting at heretical writings that may hold the keys to our understanding of Theisseg and her Stormriders.”
“And?”
“I need to know more. The man was thrown out of the university for penning this paper. It’s borderline blasphemous. He held back his knowledge. He was testing the winds, seeing how committed his fellow Philosophers were to discovering the truth.” Duthan snorted. “He learned the hard lesson; it’s not truth most of my colleagues seek, but patronage. And you do not receive patronage questioning the Church.”
Archene ground her teeth. Shuthaye was singing right now. “Why am I here, Philosopher?”
“He must be found at once.”
“Who?”
“Why, Fehun Rlarim.” The Philosopher’s green eyes locked on hers. “I need you to find him at once and bring him here. Leave immediately. What this man knows could be the key. He never should have been banished.”
The investigator bit back a groan. “I will begin the search immediately.”
“Good, good,” the Philosopher nodded. “On your way out, will you have them bring in Chone? I have more questions for him.”
The Stormtouched need to be studied. The secrets to defeating the Cyclones must be learned.
*
Ianwoa, The Skyland of Ulanii
Uarioa scooped up Iiwroa’s book from its crystal plinth into her half-naked wings. The mottling had entered the final stages. Within days, the archbishopress would be unable to use her distal feathers. Iiwroa was right; it was time for Riasruo’s golden daughter to be born again.
Two thousand years ago, Iiwroa had made this same choice. When the skylands were first raised, the Luastria, Humans, Gezitziz, and Zalg needed guidance. They needed a symbol, a living embodiment of Riasruo to guide them. So Iiwroa had become Lanii, claiming to be Riasruo’s daughter. On the easternmost skyland, she had hatched from a golden egg and founded the Dawn Empire.
A new Dawn was needed to reunite the skies. A new Empire to unite the fractured nations. Now a war brewed between the Vaarckthian Empire and the Autonomy of Les-Vion while the real threat, the Cyclones and their Stormriders, swelled in power. The lie had to be maintained, or all life in the skies would perish.
Uarioa’s talons clicked as she strode across the round table that sat at the heart of the Synod. She hopped off the edge and landed on the stone floor, wincing as her aching knees bent. She rested the book on the table and opened the faded, red cover. She flipped through the brittle pages until she found the Song of Embodiment. Her gizzard tightened about its stone.
Uarioa’s rebirth into a divine body awaited.
Harmony learned, Uarioa Sang. The room hummed with the power of the melody. Her voice trilled, allowing the very powers of Creation to pour through her. A Song birthed the universe and its notes still reverberated to this day. She merely had to attune herself to them and channel it, to let the notes flow through her body. Liquid energy flowed around her body, caressing her denuded flesh, spreading across her entire form.
The Song embraced her.
The world grew dark as the energy consumed her. It seized her, lifting her from the ground. Reality melted away as the Song drew her flesh into the immaterial world. The realm of the Goddesses. She felt herself become as ephemeral as the air swirling through the room and . . .
She floated in a void, her half-plucked wings spread out before her, her mostly featherless body naked here. She had passed through the veil. Trembling, still singing, she waited for the change to sweep over her, the incubation that would see her reborn as “Riasruo’s Daughter.”
When I hatch from the golden egg, I will have a perfect body.
Something moved in the void. Something immense. Her soul quivered. The Song quavered, but the energy flowing through her was too great to be damned by her beak. She couldn’t stop being a conduit to Creation as a great, crackling consciousness surrounded her.
Fear quivered through Uarioa’s gizzard. Her heart pumped screaming blood through her veins. The great awareness pressed in on her, guided by the melody. Pain pulsed at her from all sides. Agony consumed her as the powerful consciousness of an alien presence squeezed her from every side. A new Song reverberated, resonating with the voice of a Goddess.
The Goddess who Uarioa served.
Uarioa’s feathers crisped to ash. Her bones melted into wax. Blood flash-boiled into steam. Uarioa cooked. She screamed out as every nerve burst into needle pain. Never had such harm inflicted her body. No injury, no sickness, no malady ever caused her more hurt than this. The essence of her body became dust swirling through the void, buffeted by the Goddess’s harmony. Her soul clung to the remains of her flesh, holding onto it as it swirled, guided by the Goddess’s Song. Uarioa couldn’t lose it. She had to grip it so she could be reborn.
The Song attacked her soul. The melody assaulted her with pricking notes and dissonant chords. They flailed against her immaterial consciousness, driving her from the billowing remains of her flesh. With greedy fear, Uarioa clung to her vaporized body as the Goddess’s awareness flowed into the swirling cloud of particles.
Uarioa clung as she warred with the great consciousness invading her dissolved body. But the Goddess dwarfed her. The Goddess channeled far, far more of the Song of Creation than the fraction Uarioa could.
She lost.
“No!” Uarioa screamed as the Goddess expelled her soul into the void. “This isn’t what Iiwroa promised!”
“Iiwroa never promised you anything,” the Goddess answered. “You sang the Song. You gave me your body, just like Iiwroa did all those centuries ago.”
“But . . . I was to be reborn. I was to be Riasruo’s living daughter. Just like Iiwroa!”
The Goddess laughed, cruel and mocking. “Yes, Iiwroa was just as confused as you are. My Sister seeks to escape her prison, and my Church has failed to stop Her agents. But do not worry, I will set everything right.
“All will once again love me.”
Uarioa could only scream, reduced to an impotent soul while the Goddess stole her body. She drifted through the void as her flesh became a golden egg around the consciousness of the Goddess. The egg pulsed with a heart.
The Goddess incubated inside, soon to hatch upon the world.
*
“She’s coming!” screamed Theisseg the moment Ary entered the void. The glowing Storm Goddess thrashed in her lightning chains, wings spread wide. “She’s coming! My Sister is coming! Too late! You are too late!”
“What?” Ary demanded. “What are you talking about?”
“She comes!”
Then as quickly as she had summoned him, Theisseg’s screams hurtled Ary from the void. He plunged back into his body and sat up, sucking in deep breaths. Chaylene stirred beside him, her breath sour with wine.
“Huh?” she muttered, rubbing at her head.
“Something’s changed,” Ary said, his heart racing. Theisseg’s terror filled his mind.
“What?”
“I think . . . Riasruo’s coming.”
Chaylene shook her head. “What?”
“I don’t know. Theisseg was frantic.” Ary swallowed. “I need to go with Estan. I need to figure out what all this means. These dreams. What She wants with me!”
Chaylene hugged him. “You have to. We’ll never have a normal life so long as Theisseg hau
nts your dreams.”
She trembled.
He pulled back and looked into her eyes. There was something in her gray depths. “What?”
Chaylene swallowed, her eyes clearer than they had been hours ago. “It’s just . . . Estan.”
“What about him?”
“How far will he go for knowledge, Ary?”
The END of Book Two of THE STORM BELOW
Author Note
It's release day!
I am so nervous right now. Book One has been out for three months. People have read it, reviewed it, and enjoyed it! This has been quite a rush for me. It’s been a five-year journey to get here, and I’m just getting started!
I’m shaking with nerves. I just have to finish writing this note, then add it to the book, and upload it to Amazon. I’ll have to through the “review” process. Amazon will scrutinize it, make sure they like it, then release it to the world.
Isn’t it amazing where we are? That we have this ability to self-publish books and bring our works to our fans directly. It takes a lot of work to produce something that can compete with the big publishers. I hope I have brought a story with the quality that will wow you!
I hope you will let me know what you liked. What you hated. Did the book shock you? Amaze you? Did you think the Dauntless would be destroyed? Did your opinion on any characters change? Do you like them better? Hate them? Who was your favorite character? Your favorite moment?
I want to hear back from you.
That is why I write. I want to share stories with people. I want to entertain people, to take my readers to new universes. I think it’s a powerful thing to do for people. We all have stresses in our lives. Problems. Concerns. We all need that break.
We’re blessed with our imaginations. It’s a joy to use mine.
The tension is building in my stomach. That hollow pit, that mix of excitement and fear, is swirling. It’s time to get this book published. Hopefully, within the next twelve hours from the time I write this, it will be available for sale.
It will be in your hand to enjoy.
I hope you have an awesome day!
JMD Reid
Sitting at my desk in Tacoma, Washington on January 21st, 2019 while listening to Dr. Becky talking about “Unsolved Mystery in Physics | Fast Radio Bursts” (check her out on YouTube).
Glossary
Creation: In the beginning, all was darkness. Priopii, the Sky, found her existence dreary and lonely. Everywhere she existed was the same—a black, empty, void. Out of her loneliness was born a world for her to gaze upon, a single, round gem floating at the heart of her—Welkinia. But Welkinia was a dead world. Priopii’s loneliness intensified.
She desired to create life.
To bring and sustain life on her dark world, Priopii sang into being two daughters: Riasruo the Sun and Theisseg the Storm. Riasruo’s warmth and light shone down on Welkinia while Theisseg’s Storm spread sustaining water about the world. Priopii sang into creation all the plants that grew green across the brown world, and populated the earth with animals, the skies with birds, and the seas with fish. To light the night sky, she sang into being the twin brothers: Twiuasra the Swift Moon and Jwiaswo the Graceful Moon.
Last, Priopii, Riasruo, and Theisseg sang life into the five Mortal races: the bird-like Luastria for the mountains and skies, Humans for the plains, the serpent-like Szezziith for the forests, the mole-like Zalg for the earth, and the crab-like Threv for the waters. Later, Riasruo created the lizard-like Gezitziz from the Szezziith.
The Blessings of Riasruo: Across the skies, except the Petty Kingdoms of the Agerzaks, the citizens are granted one of four powers by the Sun Goddess on the Summer Solstice. Every citizen who reaches the age of majority (seventeen for Humans, twenty-three for Luastria, nineteen for Zalg, and fifteen for Gezitziz) gather at the nearest Temple to receive their Blessings.
No one understands why Riasruo gives certain Blessings to certain individuals or why some Blessings (Wind and Mist) are more common than other Blessings (Lightning and Pressure). Each Blessing can come in one of three strengths: Minor, Moderate, or Major. Most individuals receive a Moderate and a Minor Blessing. A few receive a Major blessing along with one or two lesser Blessings, and someone may even receive only a single Minor or Moderate Blessing. Without the Blessings, life in the skies would be far more difficult.
The Blessings were first given to help the Desperate Alliance defeat the tyrannical Wrackthar.
Blessing of Lightning: The second rarest blessing. Most commonly used in military and law enforcement where discharged lightning can stun or kill an opponent.
Minor Lighting grants a person immunity to lightning.
Moderate Lighting allows a person to generate a discharge of electricity at a touch.
Major Lightning allows the person to discharge actual lightning bolts.
Blessing of Mist: The second most common Blessing behind Wind. Helpful on arid skylands and necessary to operate the Weathertowers.
Minor Mist allows a person to peer through smoke, clouds, fog, and other hazes without hindrance.
Moderate Mist allows a person to precipitate water out of the immediate air. With this blessing, a person can, on average, produce enough water in an hour to sustain five people for a day.
Major Mist can precipitate even more water, causing limited rain to fall, or the conjuring of a large fog bank.
Blessing of Pressure: The rarest blessing. Allows the riding of various species of flying beasts by generating more lift so the mounts can carry increased weight. Useful for couriers and scouts.
Minor Pressure grants a person immunity to pressure changes.
Moderate Pressure allows a person to change the pressure, often dramatically, in a small bubble around them.
Major Pressure allows a person to control the pressure of the air around them at both a greater volume and at a greater distance.
Blessing of Wind: The most common Blessing of Riasruo and the most necessary for life among the skies. The engines of ships are powered by this Blessing.
Minor Wind allows a person to fall slowly, drifting down like a feather.
Moderate Wind allows a person to see the wind, witnessing how it flows and eddies around object, as well as controlling the wind in a small radius.
Major Wind allows a person to generate great gusts of wind strong enough to propel ships.
The Ages of History: Scholars divide the world’s history into Ages.
The Age of Mist is the oldest and most dimly remembered. This was a time when fantastical monsters and great heroes roamed the world. This Age ended with the conclusion of the Sisters’ War, caused when Theisseg was imprisoned on Mount Wraiucwii and Riasruo retreated to her fiery sun.
The Age of Dirt followed the Age of Mist. The mortal races founded kingdoms, tribes, nations, and flocks upon the ground. Peace reigned until Kaltein freed Theisseg and, with her Blessings, conquered most of the world. But with Riasruo’s intervention, the free races defeated Kaltein. This Age ended when Kaltein summoned the Storm.
The Age of Dawn began on the Summer Solstice when Lanii, daughter of Riasruo, hatched fully-grown from a golden egg and founded the Dawn Empire. The Age of Dawn was marked by a thousand years of peace. It ended when the Great Cyclone tore out the heart of the Dawn Empire.
The Age of Isolation began as the Dawn Empire fractured into a myriad of nations. With the skyland of Swuopii lost, no new ships could be constructed. As the nations warred and the years passed, the ships dwindled through attrition until most skylands lost all contact with each other. During this Age, the Agerzaks appeared, occupying the eastern skylands and exterminating the original inhabitants.
The Modern Age, also called the Age of Strife, began when the Vaarckthians discovered a new way to build ships. This Age is marked by the rapid domination of the Empire of the Vaarck, who at first alone possessed ships, then the slow collapse of the Vaarckthian hegemony as rebellious peoples gained their own ships.
The
Calendars: When Lanii founded the Dawn Empire, she established a new calendar with the first year starting on the day she hatched. This calendar became known as the Skylands Rising (SR) calendar. It divided the 416-day solar year into thirteen 28-day months: Yruoujoa, Coajyoa, Aernoa, Isamoa, Lheshoa, Haashoa, Mehnetoa, Nmiozhoa, Bwuovoa, Amechoa, Neiddoa, Lsaapoa, and Hruvvoa. She established a five-day week: Dawnsday, Redday, Starday, Blueday, and Skyday. Traditionally, a new day starts at sunset. Each day is divided into 24 hours.
The Skylands Rising calendar ended with the Great Cyclone, and people began counting years from that dominant event, using AF (After Fall) to denote years.
When Emperor Zhnavth I Ckaeqoigk founded the Empire of Vaarck, he started a new year count beginning with the first Summer Solstice of his reign. The Vaarck’s Founding (VF) calendar became used across the entire sky as the Empire’s hegemony grew. It is still used by the breakaway nations of the Empire out of convenience.
A
Agerzak Humans: A race of Humans characterized by white skin, dark brown to black hair, and brown to amber, slanted eyes. They dwell in the eastern skies amid the fractious Petty Kingdoms or in the Autonomy-conquered Fringe. Considered uncivilized barbarians by the rest of the skies. Unlike Vaarckthian or Vionese Humans, the Agerzaks were not lifted up into the skies by Riasruo. They are theorized to be colonizing Stormriders who conquered the eastern skylands during the Age of Isolation.
Agerzak Pirates: There is no organization to the disparate bands of pirates raiding the skies. They use the Petty Kingdoms as bases of operation to predate on the shipping lanes of the Esti Sky, the Thugri Sound, the Great Empty, and the Euqovth Strait. The pirates ride across the sky on horses, using strange magic, to raid passing ships. Eschewing the worship of Riasruo, they lack Her Blessings so cannot operate the engines powering flying ships. The most successful pirate's names are fearfully remembered: Zeibn the Yellow-Eyed, Paanch Hooknose, Seven-Fingered Tseizen, and Thunch Ironclaw.
The Autonomy of Les-Vion: A large nation that dominates the southern skies. Little more than a hundred years ago (296 VF), the Autonomy won their independence from the Empire of Vaarck. The population of the Autonomy is dominated by Vionese Humans, with a significant population of Agerzak Humans dwelling in the Fringe. Every five years, the Autonomy elects a president. In 398 VF, Jordyn Kalthin assumed the presidency. The Autonomy’s flag is a gold, two-headed griffin on a field of blue and red.