by M. S. Dobing
Consensus Breaking
The Auran Chronicles Book 2
M. S. Dobing
Text Copyright © 2016
M. S. Dobing
All rights reserved.
***
For Holly & Lucy
The Auran Chronicles:
Message Bearer
Consensus Breaking
Short Stories:
Mirror Man
Coma Companion
The Reality Trip
Cogito Ergo Sum
Shattered Realms (Compilation)
Contents
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
CHAPTER THIRTY
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
CHAPTER FORTY
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
EPILOGUE
From the Author
CHAPTER ONE
The tower, forged in another age, in another realm, loomed in the distance. Gold lightning split the sky, spearing through the cloud and striking the ground far below.
Seb squinted into the murk as he flew. He channelled Avatari, the magical school of the self. It enhanced his vision, allowing him to see beyond the limits of normal human sight. As the seconds passed, the opaqueness reduced, allowing him to see beyond the clouds that surrounded the tower.
The landing platform jutted out as before, beckoning him in. With a final burst of speed, he soared on, guiding his astral self to a smooth landing on the rust-coloured stone.
The wind was lesser here, some kind of invisible force keeping the worst of the elements at bay. Unfortunately, the rest of the structure was not as well cared for. The flagstones, once polished and flat, cut to neat angles, now lay crooked and cracked. Strange weeds, red in colour, forced their way upwards through the gaps. Similar foliage grew across the walls, obscuring what had once been magnificent stonework. As he walked forwards, he caught sight of the massive iron door, where many months earlier he’d seen the serpentine warrior emerge. Back then, the door had stood tall, unyielding. Now it lay rusted and warped, a black void in its wake.
What had happened here?
There didn’t seem to be any immediate danger, but Seb raised his defences regardless, and the air shimmered around him as he moved forwards.
He reached the open doorway. A spiral staircase led both up and down. Sensing out, he received a faint response from above. With a destination in mind, he stepped into the tower.
Minutes later he stopped at a wooden door that was soft with damp and hanging off rusted hinges. He pushed gently, and the door grudgingly swung inward, revealing a circular room that had once been a study, but now resembled one that had seen the insides of a tornado.
A fire burned in the hearth, spitting and crackling in the gloom. The purple flames cast a comforting hue, and as Seb watched, the image of chaos dissipated, revealing a scene he assumed was much more reminiscent of the tower in its better days. A desk stood at the far end of the room, clear of clutter. A thick rug covered the stone before him, and in a massive chair, facing the fire, sat the serpentine creature he’d met on his very first Weave-walk.
‘Mageling, it is good of you to return. It has been too long,’ the creature did not turn as it spoke. Its red eyes simply stared into the fire.
‘Has it? I thought it was just months.’
Seb found another seat, strangely the right size for him, and sat down. The light from the fire bathed him, the Weave pulsing from it, filling his veins.
‘You drink deep, yes?’ the creature said.
‘It feels good,’ he admitted.
The creature turned in his direction. Red eyes bored through his defences. He didn’t flinch; instead, he simply allowed the scrutiny. For the creature’s obvious power, he did not sense any obvious danger.
‘You have developed quickly,’ the creature said after a time, returning its gaze to the fire.
‘I had to. Marek and the sheol attacked the Magistry.’
‘I am aware. Many lives were lost.’
Images of Caleb and Cian popped to mind. Seb swallowed hard. ‘Some good people.’
‘Yet you survived?’
‘I was lucky.’
‘You do yourself a disservice. You fought hard. You studied. You learned. You showed resilience. Luck naturally follows these things.’
‘Perhaps.’
‘What brings you here, mageling?’
‘To be honest I’m not sure. You seemed to recognise me before, when I last came here. You implied that you knew me.’
The creature chuckled, the noise like gravel being shovelled. ‘Knew you? I suppose that’s a logical statement, from your perspective.’
‘I don’t understand.’
‘No, you don’t. Not yet.’
The creature rose from its seat, towering high above him. It went to a balcony that Seb hadn’t noticed previously.
‘Look, Seb, tell me what you see.’
Seb crossed the room and joined the creature. He looked out across an expanse of red-pink cloud that extended as far as the eye could see. Far in the distance he could just make out the swirling vortex that he assumed was the access point he’d used to enter this realm.
‘Well?’
‘Clouds. Lots of clouds,’ he said, knowing this was not what the creature was getting at.
‘Your eyes do not lie. But look, see again. Use those fledgling abilities of yours.’
Seb channelled Sentio. He sensed out again, seeing with the Weave, not with his eyes. A new veneer dropped over his vision. The clouds remained, but they were no longer opaque. He could see beyond them now. He could see down, beyond the mountains from which the tower was constructed.
Right down to the enormous cracks that cleaved the land as far as he could see.
‘What are they?’
‘The first signs. Cracks in the Weave.’
‘I’m guessing that’s not good?’
‘The Weave is unbalanced. Recent actions have caused fractures in the very fabric of reality. So, to respond to your question, it is definitely not good.’
A thought hit him like a hammer. ‘It’s me isn’t it? I did this.’
The creature let out that gravelly chuckle again. ‘No, Seb, you did not do this. Your definition of recent and mine are very different. Did your actions feature in this? Yes, they did, but they are o
nly one in a series of thousands of actions that have spanned time and space for many centuries. No, it is your future actions that will play a much bigger part in how this turns out.’
‘What? If reality is breaking up, what can I do about it?’
The creature sighed and turned. ‘You still do not see.’
‘I see the cracks, but that’s it. I don’t have the benefit of all this power and knowledge that you have.’
‘Not yet, you don’t. But you will. It is inevitable.’
‘Don’t talk in riddles to me again. Inevitable? What is? Why can’t you do something? You’re obviously more connected to the Weave than I will ever be.’
‘Not riddles. When you have learned you will understand. When you remember.’
Seb looked back at the cracked earth and frowned. He pressed his hands on the balcony, gripping the cold stone. ‘So then, what can I do about it? I was hoping you would help me, not the other way round.’
‘You will see, Seb, that what you seek, and what is required to save the Weave are much more intertwined than you realise.’
‘So what do I do now, then? Can you give me anything?’
The creature smiled and lowered itself down on one knee, its head now only just above Seb’s.
‘Do not despair, mageling. I sense your frustration. Continue on your path of discovery, I am confident that progress is just around the corner. When the time is right, when you are ready, you will return, and we will take the next steps together.’
The wind was growing in strength, whatever force protecting the tower weakening to such a degree that Seb was forced to step inside. The fire was out now, the room back into its former state of disarray. Behind him the creature remained on the balcony, facing inward, but its form was already fading.
‘Wait! Don’t go, not yet!’
‘I must…’ the creature whispered. My form cannot maintain…more.’
‘What are you? At least tell me that?’
A gust of wind billowed through the room, sending sheets of dried parchment fluttering in the air. A voice drifted across, dancing on the swirling currents.
‘Parathi.’
***
Seb opened his eyes. The clouds and storms from the Weave-walk vanished into memory. A fire of the real world burned before him, the dying flames crackling in the night. On the other side Sylph lay asleep, her eyes twitching from no doubt another of her nightmares.
Seb stood and stretched out tired muscles. He walked away from the fire, to the perimeter of trees that surrounded their campsite. Cade’s aura glowed in the dark, and Seb joined his friend in the shadows.
‘Find anything?’ Cade said.
‘I found it. The Tower I mean. But aside from that, not really. I’m not sure. I need to think on it a bit.’
‘And the plan. You still want to go through with it?’
‘I don’t think we have a choice. Do you?’
‘I guess not.’ Cade nodded towards the fire. ‘Shall I wake her?’
‘No, not yet. She needs the sleep. This will be harder for her than any of us.’
The men fell into silence. Seb channelled Sentio and scanned the structures below. Invisible to normal eyes, yet hidden in plain sight for the Aware, the castle loomed amongst the everyday buildings. He’d been debating this as an option for months now, when all other avenues of acquiring knowledge had failed. The fabled Families hadn’t appeared. With the Magistry destroyed, he was left with only one other place he knew existed that could contain the information he sought.
Haven. Marek’s lair.
CHAPTER TWO
They gave Sylph another hour before Seb made the call to wake her. It was only a couple of hours until daybreak when the Unaware would rise and go about their daily routines, making accessing the magical fortress exponentially more difficult. They trudged down the steep hillside that abutted the back of the ruin, edging sideways on the damp grass to avoid tumbling to the bottom. Eventually the hill levelled out and a narrow path formed in front of them.
‘I never thought I’d come back here again,’ Sylph said. She drew her jacket tighter around her.
‘Me neither, I was hoping it was a kind of once-in-a-lifetime thing,’ Seb replied.
They ducked under a gap in a broken fence, taking the same route Seb and Sylph had taken months earlier. Ascending the embankment, they moved along the wall until they found what they were looking for. A crack stood before them, just wide enough for one person at a time.
‘Home sweet home,’ Sylph murmured.
‘You okay with this?’ Seb said.
‘Let’s just get on with it.’
Darkness filled the crack, but it didn’t matter, each of the group had their own abilities that allowed them to see beyond the normal spectrum.
‘There are sheol ahead,’ Cade said, pausing, his head tipped to one side.
‘Several. Probably just ferals scavenging around the site. It’s still strong in the Weave, even after all this time.’
‘Marek left quite a presence here,’ Sylph said.
‘Indeed.’
They spilled out on the other side of the wall, emerging into the grounds. A field of knee-high grass lay before them, terminating at the rear of Haven, the coal-black walls infected with cracks stuffed with moss and lichen.
It was a miracle that the place was still standing.
Seb sensed out again. Eight sheol in total. Ferals, no doubt near-mad with starvation. Most would have fled in the weeks before, their host needing sustenance and the parasite inside needing to satisfy its urge to kill. The fact that they were still there, near death, meant that their minds were barely coherent, almost mindless husks drawn for reasons unknown.
Not unlike himself, a year earlier, he thought.
‘Where is Marek’s study?’ Seb said.
‘First floor. Up the central staircase and go straight ahead. His study is at the end on the right.’
‘Should we expect anything else? Booby traps?’
‘Not to my knowledge. I borrowed things before without any incidents.’
They stopped at a door that was formerly used to take in deliveries. Rust had claimed most of the steel, only a feeble hinge and a padlocked chain holding it closed. Cade stepped up first and drew his pistol. He aimed it at the chain and looked back.
‘We ready?’ he said.
‘We all know what we need to do?’ Seb said.
‘Find anything relating to the Families, anything that will let us find them,’ Sylph replied.
‘Good.’ He turned back to Cade and nodded. ‘Okay, do it.’
‘Be ready. They will hear, and they will come.’
Seb channelled Avatari. The energy swelled in his muscles, his awareness heightened, the world suddenly appearing with enhanced clarity. Next to him Sylph drew back, vanishing into shadow.
‘Let’s get this over with,’ he said.
Cade fired. The gunshot echoed around the yard. Seb winced, sensing the sheol as they all froze, their heads rising, turning towards the disturbance. As one they abandoned their mindless foraging and surged to the door. He stepped back and drew his rattan sticks.
‘They’re coming.’
Cade holstered his pistol and unsheathed his favoured twin swords, the runes on the blades glowing in the dark. With a shimmer he vanished from view, hidden beside the door.
‘You okay?’ Seb said. He’d felt Sylph’s channelling, weaker than his own, but there all the time. She was crouched low in a combat position by his side.
‘Yeah, just, this place, you know?’
‘I know.’
The door burst upon and two sheol barrelled out. The first slipped on the wet grass and slid downward to where Sylph was waiting. Before it could even react a sword tip pierced its throat. It shuddered once and fell still.
The other fared slightly better. It managed to remain upright, sliding to a stop just behind its companion. Seb struck out with his rattan, one strike dropping the fiend to its knees. A second
sent it sprawling face down into the mud, unmoving.
More sheol emerged from the doorway. They formed a huddle as they advanced, their black eyes glinting in the moonlight. Viscous saliva hung from their jaws, the prospect of food almost unbearable. They took one more step forwards before a shadow moved between them. Cade appeared. Runed swords struck out in all directions. Black blood squirted, the daemons howling as muscles were sliced and arteries severed. Four dropped almost instantly. The fifth reached out with lethal talons but Cade simply ducked under the clumsy lunge, the creature falling face first into the ground. Cade dropped on one knee onto the creature’s back, thrusting his blade under the base of its skull, killing it instantly.
‘One more,’ Cade said. He stood and wiped the blood on his sleeve.
‘It’s mine. I know this one.’
Cade stepped to one side as Sylph lunged forwards. The last sheol emerged, not quite as emaciated as the rest, its host still recognizable as human. It paused for a moment at the door, its pale brow furrowing as it took in the woman before it.
‘Sylph?’ it said, the voice stilted, as if speech was a forgotten skill, rusted from underuse.
‘Luchar. Looks like you got your wish after all.’
‘You betrayed Marek.’
‘He betrayed us all.’
Sylph leapt forwards before the Luchar-fiend could even react. They fell to the floor as one, Sylph’s daggers raining down. The fiend tried to parry but Sylph, fuelled by rage, smashed its arms out of the way as she tore into its chest. In moments its arms stopped flailing, no sounds coming but the squelch of steel puncturing flesh.
‘Sylph, he’s d-’ Seb began, before Cade stopped him.
‘Let her. She needs this.’
Seb stepped back as Sylph hacked at what had once been her friend. She was slowing now, her breaths becoming shorter, more ragged.
‘Sylph,’ Seb whispered. ‘He’s gone.’
Sylph came to, looking at her blood-soaked hands before glancing down at the bloody pulp. Her shoulders slumped.
‘You knew him?’ Seb said. He held out a hand which she took.
‘I knew who he was. Before he was possessed.’
‘You did him a favour.’