Incarnation: Wandering Stars Volume One

by Jason Tesar

INCARNATION

  WANDERING STARS VOLUME ONE

  JASON TESAR

  __________

  Fourshadow Publishing

  Copyright © 2012 by Jason Tesar

  Scripture Quotations from the Authorized King James Version, Public Domain, 1611

  Quotations from the Book of Enoch, Not in Copyright, Translation by R. H. Charles, 1917

  Quotations from The Prose Edda of Snorri Sturlson, Public Domain, Translation by Arthur Gilchrist Brodeur, 1916

  Cover design and artwork by Mike Heath | Magnus Creative

  Maps and diagrams by Jason Tesar

  Incarnation is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locations is entirely coincidental.

  Sign up for Jason’s email list (https://eepurl.com/-PPGX) to get free stuff, behind-the-scenes info on his fictional worlds and characters, exclusive content on his writing and publishing adventures, and to be notified of new book releases.

  Grace, my reading companion

  I will always treasure the magnificent journeys we took

  Venturing into other worlds through the pages of a book

  CONTENTS

  Map of Human and Angelic Civilizations

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Books by Jason Tesar

  How You Can Help

  How You Can Connect

  About the Author

  Glossary and Pronunciation Guide

  References

  Map of Bahyith

  Map of Mudena Del-Edha

  Diagram of Semjaza’s Fortress

  Concept Art: Sariel in Battle Armor

  Acknowledgments

  MAP OF HUMAN AND ANGELIC CIVILIZATIONS

  … the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day … wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.1

  CHAPTER 1

  THE BORDERLANDS OF THE ETERNAL REALM

  Shards of light were scattered like wounds across a crimson sky, converging over the western horizon. The vibrant display was all that remained of the Holy One’s manifestation in this place along creation’s spectrum. Somewhere beyond those jagged peaks, past a multitude of worlds invisible from this perspective, the city of the Holy One marked the end of the Eternal Realm where the blazing illumination of His righteousness dwelled. But here, on the Borderlands of the Temporal Realm, the nothingness of the Evil One cloaked the land in darkness.

  The desolate terrain below passed by in a blur. Ahead, the glowing forms of the winged Iryllurym moved silently through the mist clinging to the recesses of the landscape. Their ethereal bodies were nearly motionless, gliding with a gracefulness that defied the blinding speed at which they flew.

  At the rear of the formation, Sariel nodded to his own soldiers, giving the silent order to ready their weapons. Through the eye holes of his sleek helmet, he inspected the indistinct structure of his gauntlets and breastplate. At other points along the spectrum, the luminescent armor would have a more substantial existence. The Borderlands, however, had long ago become a place of loosely-contained shapes and colors. Reaching to the small of his back, he unsheathed a pair of vaepkir, the famed weapon of the angelic soldiers of the sky. Each elegantly curved blade now ran across the outside edge of his forearms, extending beyond his clenched fists at the front and his elbows at the back.

  All around him, Sariel’s soldiers indicated their readiness, but he could feel uncertainty hanging in the air like a suffocating fog. Their unanswered questions still rang in his ears and they were looking to him now to make sense of what they were about to do. One wing of Iryllurym, forty-nine in all, had been assigned to this joint operation. They were to fly low and fast into enemy territory and come about to approach the demons from behind. Meanwhile, the ground forces of the Anduarym would meet the enemy head on. It seemed simple enough. But Sariel’s seven-member team was normally assigned to smaller, strategic missions. Their quick-strike capability was better suited for removing enemy sentries and laying the foundation for advancing ground troops, not for a standard military action such as this. Like many recent orders he’d been given, he knew it wasn’t an intelligent one.

  The larger formation began banking to the left and Sariel followed, struggling to shove his emotions and insubordinate thoughts back into a place where no one could see them. What his soldiers needed now was confidence and assurance. Behind the protective barrier of his helmet, Sariel opened his mouth. The air around him seemed to come alive as a single tone, crystal clear, grew in volume until it filled the spaces between him and his soldiers. One by one, each winged angel added a harmonic tone, joining the skalagid, a Song of Understanding. Immediately, their thoughts were melded together in a form of group-communication far more efficient than words.

  “Stay close to me,” he told them. “Do what you do best. Fly fast. Strike hard. Eliminate the enemy. Give them a taste of your vaepkir and let the Marotru regret their unfaithfulness to the Holy One!”

  At once, the spirits of his friends were lifted. Their wings seemed to move with greater agility. The tension drained from their muscles, even as the grip on their weapons tightened. And now it was Sariel’s turn to experience the benefit of empowerment that came with shared understanding. For ages, they had relied on one another; fought side by side in countless battles. Through it all, the strength of their conviction and the solidarity of their purpose is what had kept them alive. Sariel now felt invincible, just as they did. Up ahead, the mist parted into two swirling vortices in the wake of the wing leader, an instant before the remainder of the attack group entered the cover of darkness.

  For a moment, all seemed silent and still.

  When they exited the concealing fog, the stillness was gone. The rear lines of the demonic army could just be seen across the wide valley. Their writhing mass appeared as a blotch of shadows, consuming any remnants of ambient light that struggled for existence in this harsh environment. In stark contrast, the radiant forms of the Anduarym shone through the enemy silhouettes like a sunrise in the Temporal Realm. The wingless ground soldiers were already engaging the demons.

  At the center of the enemy formation were the Nin-Myndarym. Protected by lesser demons on all sides, these Unshapers were the heart of the army’s power, the dark fulcrum around which every shadow pivoted. As the polar opposites of the Myndarym, Sariel reserved a special hatred for these evil creatures. He locked his eyes on his objective and brought his arms forward, clasping his vaepkir together into a rigid, bladed frame that would act as a ramming weapon.

  In seconds, the warriors of the sky closed the distance. Keeping low to the terrain, the formation of Iryllurym struck at the center of the Marotru a
rmy, banking left and right at the last moment to fracture the rear guard in two. The ranks of lesser demons parted like a cleft in a mountain, exposing the Unshapers.

  Sariel braced himself.

  His arms jolted violently as his vaepkir sliced through alternating spaces of air and the negative mass of the Nin-Myndarym bodies. Each density change brought a rapid succession of glaring lights that illuminated grotesque faces, crooked limbs, and gaunt torsos. With his momentum slowing and his weapons threatening to tear away from his grip, Sariel pulled up just before reaching the front lines.

  His massive wings now stabbed upward, seizing large quantities of air before thrusting them downward, propelling his body into the sky. The other six members of his team followed closely as they gained altitude and readied themselves for the next attack. Below, traces of light still lingered, marking the path of the Iryllur attack. They appeared as a braided cord of pale colors, unraveling at one end, with the individual threads radiating outward along the rear of the enemy ranks. Hundreds of demons had perished in a matter of seconds. Some were still disappearing into brilliant explosions of whiteness.

  Gradually, but with an exponential increase in volume, a low rumble emerged from the sounds of battle. It rose quickly to a thunderous roar, drowning out all others. The chaotic jumble of light and shadows on the battlefield below seemed to calm as soldiers on both sides of the conflict ceased fighting.

  Then the Anduarym began to fall.

  The ground beneath their feet dissolved, opening into a gaping hole like the mouth of a colossal monster. It started at the back of the angelic force, rippling forward to engulf the soldiers, and finally the front lines of the demonic horde as well. When the last angelic points of light were swallowed into the belly of the earth, Sariel realized that the battle was over.

  In just a few seconds, the entire Anduar army had vanished.

  Only when he saw movement at the edges of the crater did Sariel realize what had happened. At first, a dozen tentacles appeared. Then it was thousands, as the Nedaret began crawling from their subterranean domain. The massive demons moved with an unnatural gait. Folded, snakelike appendages shot out, then unfurled to the extent of their reach, heaving the weight of the demons’ upper bodies along the ground. It was disgusting enough to encounter these burrowing abominations in their own domain, even more so above ground.

  With his eyes fixed on the swarming shadows emerging onto the battlefield, Sariel didn’t see the counter attack until one of his soldiers abruptly plummeted from the formation, spiraling downward in the smothering embrace of a winged demon. Looking up, he only had time to flinch as the descending cloud of fangs and claws engulfed all that remained of the angelic forces.

  * * * *

  SEDEKIYR

  THE TEMPORAL REALM

  The sky overhead loomed black, fading to the deepest blue as it reached the horizon. The dark silhouette of mountains marked the end of one realm and the beginning of another. All was enveloped in a blanket of silence. Within the endless expanse of the firmament, small points of light pierced the darkness. Scattered against the backdrop of nothingness, their light swelled in intensity until their multitudes covered the heavens. Their brilliant whiteness pulsed, sometimes in unison, sometimes individually. In the moments between pulses, hints of color played around their edges.

  Gradually, some stars dimmed, showing their distinct colors as their brightness decreased. Drifting closer to each other, they began to draw inward and spiral around a vortex; their speed increasing with proximity to the large, fiery star at their center. Quickly, they coalesced into one multi-colored orb.

  In reaction to this movement, the remaining points of light parted and momentarily hovered as if confused, making way for this new spectacle. They encircled the orb from a safe distance and were joined, one by one, with white stars from farther away. Slowly the stars arranged themselves in concentric circles around the rapidly spinning orb.

  And still, all was silent.

  The core of the orb flared red with fire, seeming to issue a challenge to the hovering circle of stars as it expanded to occupy more space.

  The challenge was answered by a collective brightening of the white stars, driving back the darkness of the night and washing the sky with their intensity. Altogether, their brilliance was twice that of their dimmer counterparts.

  Without warning the orb burst, scattering millions of prismatic colors in all directions.

  At the same instant, the Bright Stars converged upon the Dim Ones, moving to swallow the force of their expansion. At the moment of impact, the two groups became one. Time, itself, seemed to stretch out as if all of creation held its breath.

  In a blinding flash, the explosion sent a bolt of light to the earth. Sparks were hurled in all directions; skipping across the ground, arcing through the air, burning through everything in their paths and leaving charred wounds upon the soil and vegetation. Ages seemed to pass until the remnants of the Dim Ones faded entirely and only blotches of shadow endured; holes in the earth that appeared darker than the nothingness of the sky, now ashen by comparison.

  But the deadly shadows were not defeated. They changed shape, attaching themselves to the trees and animals of the earth. Everywhere they touched, darkness spread like a poison. Every being they touched became withered and distorted, perverted from its original form by the hatred of the Dark Ones.

  And the earth trembled.

  The righteous wrath of the Bright Ones flared. Heat radiated from their blinding light as they descended to the earth.

  The wicked fury of the Dark Ones seethed. Bitter cold emanated from their nothingness as they moved to intercept their descending enemies.

  Dark Ones were incinerated in flashes of light, and Bright Ones were engulfed in shadow, never to return.

  In the distance, almost unnoticeable at first, more Bright Ones descended. Separated from the battle, they came to the earth gently, taking the form of creatures that move through the land, sea, and sky. Everywhere they touched, the spreading flow of poison from the Dark Ones was stemmed. The earth began to heal as its form was altered. When their work was complete, the stars ascended into the sky while the battle raged on the horizon.

  And the earth shuddered.

  But not all ascended. Some stayed behind, wandering among creation, continuing their work. And as their light began to dim and spread throughout the earth, it enveloped creatures of the land, sea, and sky, swirling into disparate bands of color. From within the dance of vibrant hues came billowing clouds of darkness that grew into new beings, large and powerful. They emerged in somber colors that defied the light from which they were born. Their forms were twisted perversions of the creatures of the earth. They opened their mouths and began to feed upon the world as their very existence depended on laying waste to creation and consuming the creatures of the land, sea, and sky.

  The people fled in terror, their cries rising to the sky as smoke. And, as the people perished, their blood spilled onto the land, flowing to the low places, seeping into the cracks and crevices.

  And the earth shook.

  And the shuddering increased until the foundations of the earth collapsed. Where blood had flowed, great cracks now opened, releasing the fountains of the deep. The land was suddenly lifted to the sky and the earth was rent in two. The waters of the abyss escaped from beneath the earth and covered the sky with darkness, raining down in torrents. On the horizon the shadow of the abyss rose like mountains and swept across the land as an insatiable demon, devouring all created things.

  Growing.

  Moving closer.

  Rising until nothing else could be seen.

  Enoch sat upright and inhaled sharply. His heart beat loudly in his ears, a stark contrast to the surrounding silence.

  “Are you alright?” came a weary whisper from his left.

  Enoch simply exhaled, trying to calm himself.

  “What’s wrong?” the voice repeated, clearer and louder this time, but crac
king slightly at the edges. “Was it a vision?” asked the voice, after a long pause. This time, the words were steady.

  Enoch turned to his wife, Zacol, and nodded, still not ready for words of his own.

  A soft whimper came from the other side of the room and Zacol rose to check on their son. She carefully pulled a cover over the boy and waited to make sure he fell asleep again. When the small room was silent once more, she turned and walked quickly out the door.

  Enoch hunched forward and put his face in his hands, gently massaging his eye sockets with his fingertips.

  After all this time, her first reaction is still anger. I thought we had grown beyond this!

  Enoch opened his eyes slowly and let his hands slide down his face. With a deep breath, he rose to his feet and followed Zacol outside.

  She stood with her arms crossed, her back to him.

  Enoch ducked under the edge of their thatched roof and stepped out into the night. Over Zacol’s shoulder, a broad expanse of grasslands extended as far as the eye could see. A short distance away, hundreds of tiny huts, just like their own, were huddled in the bright moonlight. Theirs was the only one separated from the rest of the tribe.

  “Why won’t He leave you alone?” she said softly without turning.

  Enoch walked forward a few steps and clasped his hands behind his back. “It’s a privilege that He speaks to me at all.”

  Zacol’s head dropped. “It feels like a curse sometimes.”

  Enoch gritted his teeth to keep from saying something that would only make the situation worse. Looking down at the blades of soft grass between his toes, he had to admit that his wife was only saying what he sometimes felt himself. By the time his clenched jaw finally relaxed, he was able to say the words that they both needed to hear.

  “He speaks out of love for us, even if the message is not always pleasant. And we know the consequences of ignoring what He reveals are borne by everyone.”

  Zacol turned around slowly. Instead of a stern expression, she had tears in her eyes. “What did you see this time?”

  Enoch took a breath, then reached up and gently wiped the tears from her check with the back of his fingers.

  “Something bad?” she probed.

  Enoch simply nodded.

  “And what are you supposed to do?” she asked, trying as always to get to the point as quickly as possible.

  Enoch glanced down at the grass again, suddenly unable to look into her eyes. He wished he didn’t have to say it. “I have to go away for a while.” A moment of silence passed before he looked up again.