Visions of Chaos

by Des Pensable

  Miranda stood wondering how she had got it wrong. She had carefully and specifically asked the Lady to make him the same kind of creature as her. That way they could fulfil the second condition for lifting her cursed tattoo. Then something dawned on her. Aquitain had examined her tattoo and said that it was very complex and seemed to be a weave of two or three different magic effects. One was a death word, but he couldn’t be sure of the others.

  She tried to remember what Alpha had said. It said they could never be the same kind. Was it because she was different, not him? She never knew her father or her real mother as her mother had been reincarnated. What if her mother wasn’t a newman before she was reincarnated as a nymph? What if her mother had been a Llanllean? What if the unknown effect in the tattoo was to stop her from changing into a spider form? It made sense. The goddess was telling her what she really was by changing Aquitain to the same form.

  She wondered how he would feel, being a Llanllean spider. What would he think of her? Would he still love her? Did Llanlleans really love each other? Would she have to lay eggs to have children? Would her hatchlings fight and cannibalise each other like other spiders? She was horrified at the prospect. She would have to face her mother and find out. Allalanllea had been her nanny and was like a second mother to her. Maybe she was her real mother. She had so many questions her head ached.

  ‘We’re leaving,’ she said suddenly. ‘I need a charged teleport ring. Let me swap mine for yours,’ and she held out her hand. He opened a small leather bag held by a leather thong around his neck and swapped rings with her. She gently picked up the dizzy, confused and tired Aquitain who was about as big as a medium sized dog, gathered in his legs and tucked him under her arm, and glared at Quab.

  ‘Find out who is behind this foul attack, Quab. We will have their heads!’ and she teleported away.

  If ever Quab had any doubts that the Time of Chaos had come they were now dashed. For twenty-two druids to band together to assassinate anyone in a sanctuary of the Lady was a crime beyond imagination. Miranda had indeed fulfilled the letter of the druid’s law and delivered the death sentence to all but one of the perpetrators. However, perhaps it would have been better if the Council had delivered the death sentence rather than Miranda.

  The repercussions of this deed would herald outrage and trouble throughout the land. He fell to his knees and prayed to the Lady to have mercy on Miranda, for he was terrified that this deed could transform her from the beautiful carefree princess that he secretly loved to a Queen of Vengeance.

  End of Book 1

  The revelations continue in The Divinity Seeds Part 2 as Aquitain in his new guise as a Llanllean spider travels to the dark world of Moonmist, which is magically linked to Mudrun through a mysterious gate world called Astaria.

  GLOSSARY

  People (book 1)

  Aquitain (Rob), a young mind wizard and magic item maker, the hero.

  A.G., Aquitain’s missing father, a powerful mind wizard.

  Allalanllea, Queen Snowbelle’s female Llanllean (spider) wizard

  Alin Amber, a mystical Yith druid and agent of Aquitain’s father.

  Alpha, Aquitain’s sentient memory crystal, a walnut sized construct.

  Beatrix, Queen of the Crin.

  Belloe, mercenary fighter, leader of Zephira’s expedition.

  Bhopingar, Barra herder from the great swamp little people.

  Curbut, Senior Wizard, Featherdown’s second in charge, Unity spy and assassin.

  Daisy Theolaur, Aquitain’s grandmother, a weak mind wizard.

  Erastius, chaotic spirit mind wizard inhabiting the Mask of Chaos.

  Facit Dodecoid, Logicon spy and Aquitain’s shape change trainer.

  Featherdown, Archwizard and Lord High Wizard of Mudrun.

  Gaston the Great, wiry old wizard in Zephira’s expedition.

  Goth, a large metal construct used by the Theolaur family.

  Granddad, Sol Theosaur, Aquitain’s grandfather, a powerful wizard and mind wizard.

  Granwell, Archwizard and Conjurer, friend of Featherdown.

  Ishteth, Yith high priest.

  Jacintra, the Chaos Cat, chaotic spirit Power.

  Jaztrix Boonswoggle, female gnome illusionist, Featherdown’s apprentice.

  Kelnor, newman high priest of the Temple of the Spiritual and Financial Harmony

  K’wala, the totem spirit of the bear people

  Loma, chief of Barra tribe of reptilian little people.

  Mask of Chaos alias Jacintra’s Image, powerful sentient magic mask designed to cause trouble, occupied by the spirit of Erastius a chaotic mind wizard.

  Melanie Darmon, alias Zephira, Rob’s cousin’s name on Panmagica.

  Miranda, a young druidess, Aquitain’s girlfriend, Princess of Argenta.

  Peter Darmon, Aquitain’s uncle, Melanie’s father, a merchant wizard.

  Quab, Senior druid for area around Twin Towers, Miranda’s mentor.

  Sanson, Crin Enforcer, Captain of Queen Snowbelle’s guard.

  Snowbelle, a powerful nymph druidess with a strange past, Queen of Argenta.

  Squalash, Elder Water elemental and Wave rider of the Great Sea

  Rob Theolaur, alias Aquitain.

  Rori, courageous young assistant shaman in Jeti tribe of reptilian little people.

  The Orc, tough alien fighter in Zephira’s expedition.

  The Lady, The Lady of the Jungle, The Goddess of Nature. The druid’s deity.

  The Omen, a magical wand of great power in the possession of the Barra people.

  T’Kwala, translates as The Enlightened one; the name of the Bear of Chaos.

  Tina Theolaur, Aquitain’s mother, a powerful mind wizard healer.

  Whooshoo, Elder Air Elemental, Master of the East wind

  Xentos, Crin Taskmaster, friend of Miranda.

  Zephira, alias Melanie, a young female newman fighter, Aquitain’s cousin .

  Terminology

  aberration, a hybrid creature resulting from interbreeding of two greatly dissimilar creatures.

  Agent of Chaos, a creature employed to perturb the balance of nature.

  antimagic zone, an area in which magic effects will not work.

  aura sight, a magical ability that allows a creature to see the spirit aura of another creature.

  Barra, a large two pace long vicious predatory fish.

  Barra people, a clan of reptilian little people whose spirit totem is the Barra fish.

  body container, a creature’s body that houses its spirit.

  buckler shield, small shield about size of a dinner plate often fixed to forearm.

  chaos matter, also called mind clay, a clay-like material that can be mentally manipulated by mind wizards to form objects. Its origin is unknown.

  charm, magical way of influencing another person’s actions to your advantage.

  collector, a long-lived sentient creature who exists to collect and compile data and knowledge but is unable to use that knowledge for themselves or others.

  construct, a magically created living machine, often newman shaped, that is capable of following simple instructions (a living robot).

  Creator, the being responsible for creating the universe.

  creature, an autonomous living unit comprising a sentient or non-sentient spirit occupying and controlling a body container capable of independent movement and decision making.

  Crin, a species of newman-sized sentient ant-like creatures.

  crystal sight, ability to see through rock similar to the stone sight of stone elementals.

  dead magic zone, an area made of rock that avidly absorbs magic essence.

  dispel magic, an antimagic effect that causes other magical effects to be countered, removed or terminated.

  Divine Power, a god-like Power or deity.

  Divinity Seed, a small piece of divine knowledge forbidden to mortals.

  domination, magical way of taking absolute control of another person’s mind so that you may force t
hem to do your commands.

  draconic, language used by the dragons, language in which magical effects and powers are written.

  druid, a sentient creature devoted to preserving nature especially animals and plants. A servant of the Goddess of Nature locally called the Lady of the Jungle.

  Druid Council of Mudrun, the governing body of Mudrun.

  elemental, a creature whose body container is composed of fire, water, stone or air and uses magic essence as food.

  elements, the five elements, fire, water, stone, air and ectoplasm.

  fey, an organic creature that can use magic essence as food.

  fairie world, alternate trivial name of Moonmist.

  Fount, also Fount of Wisdom, legendary creatures with strange powers.

  gateway or gate, a magic portal allowing instant transport to a second portal located on a different world. Permanent gateways are hugely expensive to create and are closely controlled with restricted access. Temporary gateways require great magical skill to open and only exist for very short durations.

  gate world, a miniature world created by a Power, hosting permanent gateways to several locations.

  gatherer, a non-sentient creature or plant that exists to gather raw data.

  hive mind, an innate telepathic method of communication similar to a mindlink used by the Crin allowing them to be in continual contact with their Queen.

  isoform of magic, one of the four physical states of magic essence.

  innate ability, a magical ability that all individuals of a specific, often non-sentient creature type are born with and can use for offence or defence.

  Little People, several clans of different coloured small sentient reptilian people with a mysterious past.

  jeti, a sleek black jungle cat.

  Jeti people, clan of little people whose spirit totem is the spirit jeti, Jacintra.

  llanllean, a sentient shape changing spider that lives on Moonmist (pronounced thanthean ie ll = th).

  Logicon, a newman sized sentient intelligent slime creature that has evolved a complex logic based society and uses polyhedral mobile body shells as a mode of transport, protection and status.

  magic essence, a form of energy/matter that can be manipulated to do work. It exists in gaseous, liquid, solid and ectoplasm isoforms.

  mask, alias Mask of Chaos alias Jacintra’s Image, powerful sentient magic mask designed to cause trouble.

  memory crystal, a small walnut sized crystal that contains a small bit of the users mind.

  memcrystal, an abbreviated name for a memory crystal.

  mantras of Yith, seven sacred methods of mind manipulation. 1st mantra is a method of remembering, 2nd mantra is a method of forgetting.

  meta-elemental, a creature showing mixed elemental and organic features.

  mind clay, also called chaos matter, a clay-like material that can be mentally manipulated by mind wizards to form objects. Its origin is unknown.

  mind wizard, magic users who have the ability to use their minds to control magic essence drawn from an internal font called the source, to create magical effects called powers.

  mindlink, a mind wizard method of private bi-directional mental telepathy.

  mindspeak, local name for mental telepathy, unidirectional mind to mind communication.

  Moonmist, a world linked to Mudrun via a permanent gateway.

  Mudrun, a world of vast oceans and two continents covered in jungles with a mysterious past.

  newman, race of human-like people excelling in magic technology that spread throughout the universe in search of the ultimate knowledge.

  nymph, an alluring sentient female fey creature reputed to lure unwary male newmans to their deaths by excessive sexual activity.

  organic, creatures that can live without magic essence, most animals and plants.

  owl-bear, an magically engineered monstrous aberration.

  Panmagica, the city-state of knowledge, hub of the universe.

  perturber, an Agent of Chaos, a creature employed to upset the balance of nature.

  power, a magical ability; a magical effect produced by a mind wizard.

  Power, a sentient creature of great magical ability.

  powerstone, a storage crystal containing one or more powers that can be mentally discharged by a mind wizard. Similar to a scroll used by wizards.

  preserver, a creature devoted to preserving the balance of nature (eg druid).

  priests, members of religious orders that use magical powers derived from Divine Powers via prayers.

  prime directive, the most important rule set that governs the life of a Logicon.

  psions, also called mind wizards.

  reincarnation, the process of rejoining or rebirth of a newman spirit in the body container of an animal.

  resurrection, the process of rejoining a spirit with a new or repaired body container of the same kind.

  seeker, a sentient creature that is free to discover and use any knowledge they find. Newmans and Yith are seekers.

  scroll, a piece of paper, cloth or skin used to store a written version of a single power that may be discharged by a magic user with the appropriate knowledge.

  scry, to use a magical power to create a remote eye (like a camera) that can be used to observe distant events.

  scrying pool or crystal, devices used to receive the signal from the scrying eye.

  sentient, a creature that is self-aware, that can think and reason.

  skill crystal, a crystal used to store knowledge of a skill.

  source, the font of magic essence held within the spirit of a mind wizard.

  spell, a recipe or set of instructions used by sentient creatures to control the effects of magic essence.

  spell-like ability, a natural ability under conscious control that uses magic essence in a similar way to a spell.

  spirit, an autonomous membrane-thin sack made of ectoplasm encoded with the instructions for controlling a body container.

  spirit aura, the visual image of a creature’s spirit.

  telepathy, locally called mindspeak, mind to mind communication.

  teleport, a magical essence driven method of instant transport from one location to another within the same world. Generally expensive and limited to higher level wizards and mind wizards.

  teleport marker, a stone marked with magical symbols of the teleport coordinates of a location. It allows error free teleport to the marked location.

  Unity of Wisdom, council of wizards and religious faiths that govern Panmagica.

  wand, a short rod containing several powers of the same type that may be discharged by a magic user with the appropriate knowledge.

  wizards, magic users who use learned magical effects derived from experimentation to control the effects of free magic essence taken from the environment.

  Yith, a sentient but violent militaristic lizard race.

  Yithmardu, a Yith druid.

  About the Author

  Des is a person who has travelled widely around the world on both business and pleasure, seen a lot and is somewhat philosophical about our future. Regardless of the state of the world he enjoys life and love and especially enjoys a bit of humour and satire about the establishment and some of the craziness that seems to abound in our western society.

  He has studied and worked in many areas including government, private enterprise and university teaching and published in a diverse range of areas. He has good academic qualifications. He currently has a keen interest in story telling, writing, poetry, philosophy and social commentary.

  Des is an avid scifi and fantasy fan. He has watched most of the scifi and fastasy films produced over the last 40 years and read countless books on the genre. He played AD&D with his kids and friends for many years, loves computer based RPGs like Baldur's Gate, Never Winter Nights and Dragon Age and has spent many late nights playing World of Warcraft and Rift.

  Des's Divinity Seeds trilogy draws on a wide knowledge of scifi and fantasy stories, a
love of RPG action and an avid interest in philosophy of the mind. The story considers what could happen in a world where duality of mind and body is a reality. It would be scary!

  Des doesn't believe in dualism and is more comfortable with a physicalist view of mind (anomolous monism sounds suitably chaotic.) He sees fantasy as a way to explore dualist concepts and show the problems that can arise under such models of reality.

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