The Lost Sun Series Box Set 1: Books 1 and 2 (Lost Sun Box Set)

by Riley Morrison

  So that was how the ancients made the highway so smooth. Aemon studied Kara's—Imogen's—face in the red glow of the passkey. She looked as beautiful as ever and it was a struggle not to reach up and put a hand on her cheek so she would look down at him and smile the way Kara had once done. Never forget who this is. She stole Kara's body!

  "Where is Kara now? Is she truly dead?"

  Imogen's gaze snapped down to him. "Don't talk about her again. It is you and me now."

  Aemon let his breath out slowly. He wanted to know more about Imogen and how she came to be in Kara's body, so he decided to push forward with his questions and risk angering her. "How did you take control of her?"

  "She was made for me." Imogen began digging her nails into his arm.

  He gritted his teeth. She will not kill me. She said she needs me. "You have carried me for hours. How is that possible? Kara was weak at the end and suffering from her wounds."

  The nails dug deeper. "Are you going to keep hurting me by mentioning her name?" Imogen bared her perfect teeth. "Fine. Now shut up and listen, for I'll only tell you this once." Imogen withdrew her nails. "The people you call scions were created for the elites of my world to inherit once we died. Our consciousness—or souls as some called it—would be transferred to an empty scion host in the event our original bodies died. A sort of immortality, I suppose, though inferior to the one my children enjoy."

  She lifted him above her head and he cried out, "Hey, what are you doing?" Is she going to drop me?

  Thankfully, she lowered him and held him close. "As you can see, we designed these biological hosts to be stronger, more resilient, with better eyesight and hearing than normal humans. An ascension above the flaws of the normal human biological condition."

  "Being human is not so bad," Aemon said.

  "For you maybe, but some of us dream for better."

  "What about Kara's visiondreams? How could she see things others could not?"

  Imogen chuckled. "Ah, the names such primitive minds give things that go way above their intellectual understanding. What Kara experienced was no dream. It was an immensely complex computer simulation using biological neural synap—" She sighed. "You don't understand anything I'm saying, do you?"

  She was right. "I... think I understand some of it."

  "I won't bore you about the reason it was created, but the thing you call the visiondream was a useful tool for us technocratic elites, and one of our most glorious inventions." Her eyes blazed. "Hosts, like Kara, were born with the power to access it at will. However, until she had been ascended with my consciousness, she should have only seen images and experienced simple thoughts and feelings—yet she seemed to have full access."

  "What do you mean?"

  "Kara should've been able to access the World Simulator from early in her life cycle, but only at a rudimentary level. She should never have been given full access until I came along."

  "Could it be because of the passkey?"

  "You mean my genkey." Imogen's eyes narrowed. "Someone or something has tampered with the code, and I'm certain Ryhana and my brother had something to do with it."

  This was getting stranger and stranger. "Who is Ryhana?"

  "Oh, just some gutter snipe who threw in with my brother. Don't worry about her. She's been dead longer than I have."

  Moving on, Aemon said, "Kara was born in the capital. How could your people have made her?"

  "The scions were created to be able to breed so that we didn't have to expend resources growing them in our labs. They can live normal lives like humans, but they must strive to keep their bloodline pure by only breeding with other scions. Kara's bloodline is weak, as it contains outside genetic variances that could have affected the viability of this host's enhanced strengths and abilities. Lucky for me, it hasn't seemed to have caused any detectable weakness." Her face hardened.

  For a brief moment, Aemon thought it was Kara.

  "It's not fair!" Imogen shrieked. "My brother gets a pure-blood host and all I get is this." She glanced down at herself, her lip curled. "If only I could have returned as a life-infused machine!"

  There is nothing wrong with Kara. She is the most beautiful person I have ever known.

  Imogen was silent for a time, her face troubled. Aemon fought the urge to reach up and brush her cheek with his hand. His fingers hungered to touch Kara again, to bury his face in her hair, to feel her lips on his.

  Sometime later, they passed the building where Aemon and his companions had spent the night. It felt strange being back there already, after all the climbing and fighting they had done since then. So much time and effort could have been saved had the highway been clear.

  Aemon glanced up at Imogen. "What are you going to do about the broken bridge?"

  "My children will rebuild it. There are hundreds more harvesters and Secondborn behind us that will help in the task. Already, they carry the equipment we need."

  Aemon shivered. "Hundreds? Where did you get all the people to make them?"

  "Some were with me long ago. Others my loyal servant Ardamus acquired from a place you know as the Limestone Caves. I think he said they were traders. My harvesters on the other hand are pure machine, though nothing like my Firstborn."

  "So... this Ardamus was behind the missing caravans on the way to Deep Cave?" Aemon peered off into distance. He had assumed Kahan had been behind them, but now he thought about it—why would the Knives of Dwaycar bother attacking caravans in the Limestone Caves before Kara had gotten there?

  "We do what we must to save the human race," Imogen replied. "Sacrifices are sometimes necessary if the greater good is to prevail. Besides, their sacrifice wasn't really one at all. They are now better than they've ever been, and once this war is over, I can remake them into something beautiful."

  "What are you going to do to the rest of us?"

  She gave him one of Kara's radiant smiles. "I'm going to save you. What do you think I'm going to do? Turn you into my machines?"

  Aemon stared at her for as long as he could, trying to read her thoughts. But she hid them behind that lovely smile. He turned away. It looked too much like Kara. I love you, Kara. I will always love you.

  When they reached the bridge, they found some of her children had already climbed to the opposite side of the chasm and were scouting it. A rotund, pot-shaped Secondborn came up to them and bowed to Imogen. A heart beat in a window in his chest and one eye was still human, the other an elongated yellow bulb. The rest of his face was devoid of any other features except for a hole where his mouth should be.

  "What is your name, my baby?" Imogen asked, with a mother's sweetness.

  A deep mechanical whine emitted from the Secondborn as it said, "Agricola, Mother. I oversee the engineers that will rebuild this bridge for you."

  Imogen handed Aemon to Indalius, who took him without comment. She kissed Agricola on his metallic face, then skipped after him like a child as he led her to the edge of the chasm. Asura flew after them and perched on Imogen's shoulder.

  Indalius did not follow. "She is beautiful, this mother of mine," the machine-man said. "Though colder than the iciest of winters."

  Aemon was surprised Indalius would be able to find a human attractive, and even more surprised the machine-man had spoken to him at all. Up until now, the Secondborn had acted like he did not exist. As if the metal man knew what Aemon was thinking, he added, "I was once human and came from a great city on the surface. Do you know what that is?"

  "Yes. Kara, the woman who Imogen..." Aemon had to word this carefully, to avoid insult. "Inherited her body from... went there in a visiondream. She told me of snow, the sun and stars."

  "I do not dream. Not anymore." Indalius stared back up the highway. There had been an almost melancholy note to his monotone voice. Was he capable of feeling sorrow? Did he long for his lost humanity?

  "How long have you been—" Aemon did not know what to call it. "Well, as you are now."

  "War Commander of Imogen's
Secondborn?"

  That was not what Aemon had meant, but he let it slide.

  Indalius turned to study Imogen as she skipped around, observing her children's labors. "Many, many years. How many, I do not know. Once, I was a commander of worthy men and women, and greatly honored to have served directly under Grand General Lyndon himself in the wars on the surface. Like many other brave warriors, I fell in the fighting in Annbar and woke in this wretched body she had forged for me."

  Suddenly, a tremor passed through the machine and he almost dropped Aemon. "But I thank Mother for it," he quickly added. "Now, I will live forever." The shaking stopped and Indalius straightened again, eyes glowing bright.

  "Are you hurt?" Aemon asked, intrigued by what had happened.

  "No. Thinking ill thoughts of Mother pains me. Best we speak of it no more."

  Aemon studied the machine's hideous metallic skull-face. Could there still be a man inside there? A man with human emotions, empathy and freedom of thought within his own mind? What the machine had just told him suggested there could be. It also seemed there was some resentment in Indalius toward Imogen. Perhaps if Aemon found a way to befriend the machine-man, he might become a useful ally. But Aemon would need to be cautious. Imogen clearly held sway over Indalius and anything they spoke about might find its way into her ear.

  What were her intentions? Had she truly meant it when she said she had come to save humanity?

  The prophecy had warned of the harvesters and Imogen had a lot of them. His stomach felt like it had become a lead weight. Did she intend to unleash them on the people of Stelemia and turn them into more of her hideous and twisted Secondborn? Aemon could think of no worse a fate.

  What can I do? What if she intends to kill us all?

  He briefly thought of Wrynric and the words the old man had spoken to him the night they had spent inside the building beside the highway. "I know you're more tired than you've ever been, but there comes a time when a man must rise above himself and do things he never dreamed he could. You have reached that moment."

  It was as if the old man was speaking to Aemon now. Aemon knew what he had to do, but did he have the strength to do it? If Imogen became a threat, the Scion of the Prophecy, then she needed to die. And I might be the one that has to kill her.

  The thought of what he might have to do terrified him. He pictured Imogen's bloody corpse lying at his feet and sobbed. It looked like Kara—it was Kara. His heart trembled. Kara is gone. I made a promise to her if she ever became a threat, I would kill her.

  If Imogen proved she was a danger to Stelemia, he had to put aside his grief for Kara and find a way to kill her.

  Kara would want him to. She would understand.

  Imogen returned and told Indalius to set Aemon down at the edge of the highway. "It will take twelve hours for my children to complete their work," Imogen said. She glanced down at Aemon's leg. "How's your pain?"

  In truth, he had forgotten the pain in his leg. His mind had been elsewhere. "It hurts, but I will be all right."

  Imogen took out the box with the red cross on it and filled a syringe with the liquid pain-relief concoction. "I will give you this to help you sleep."

  Before Aemon could stop her, she jammed the needle into his leg. "When you wake, we will be over the broken bridge and on the road to Stelemia."

  Aemon felt a wave of drowsiness. "Where will you head first?"

  "To the temple, where they have my armor."

  "What will you do to the Order of Ibilirith?"

  She grinned. "Make them give it back to me."

  CHAPTER 10

  KARA

  An inhuman wail of pain snapped Kara to attention. Power filled her right hand, ready to hurl at the shadow beast. Semira grabbed Kara's arm and dragged her back forcibly. Kara tried to break free, but her sister kept dragging her away.

  "Get back," Semira shouted above the wail.

  Then Kara saw what was happening. The shadow beast had landed atop one of the servants and pinned it to the floor, where it wailed in pain and terror. The other servants flocked around, crying out to one another in a strange buzzing language.

  Some raced at the monster and began flailing at it with makeshift weapons of metal and stone. The shadow beast swiped left and right with its black claws, its aura of foggy darkness spreading out and engulfing all around it.

  The three companions quickly fled toward a set of stairs leading to the upper level, the light from Sasha's oil lamp swinging wildly. As they neared the steps, a servant burst from between two tanks and launched itself at Semira. She kicked it viciously with her heel and it staggered backward into one of the tanks. A man-like face appeared in the black mist that seemed to pass for its body. The mouth opened wide as Semira lunged forward and kicked it a second time, then a third.

  Kara pulled Semira back and finished the servant off with a bolt of energy, and it dissolved at her feet in a cloud of dark dust.

  The shadow beast roared as it dug its claws into one of the servants. The hapless servant was torn apart, its body fading away like smoke blown in the wind. Then the monster's eyes fell on Kara as she made her way up the stairs. Two of the servants continued to attack the monster as the one crushed under its foot ceased to wail.

  Buy us time, Kara silently begged the two remaining servants. Buy us time to get away from here, for I don't think I have the power to stop the beast.

  The two sisters followed Sasha up the stairs. At the top, the boy hurled his oil lamp down at the shadow beast. It exploded into a ball of flame, but fell short of the mark. One of the remaining servants was doused in burning oil, and ran around screaming. The shadow beast flicked the wounded servant under its foot into the flames with a claw, then raced out of view.

  As they moved away from the fire, the light died and Semira slowed her pace. Kara grabbed her and led her forward, using her dark-vision. Sasha was a few steps ahead, his little feet clanging on the metal walkway. The tingling sensation made Kara's arm feel like it was having a bad case of pins and needles. The longer the feeling remained, the worse it seemed to get.

  Sasha screamed as he came to a sudden halt. "What is it? I can't see," Semira cried.

  One of the servants raced along the catwalk toward them. It stood six feet tall, and appeared little more than a black silhouette in Kara's dark-vision. She shoved Semira against the railing and thrust her hand over the boy's head and let loose a bolt of energy. The servant flew backward with a garbled cry and toppled over the edge of the catwalk and landed on top of a metal tank with a great thud, before rolling off the side.

  Kara urged the boy on. "Keep moving; find your mother."

  He nodded once, his face determined. Leading them along the walkway, he threw open the door to an upper-story office and ran inside. Semira followed him in, and Kara went last. A faint glimmer of dawn reflecting off a distant line of glass towers caught Kara's eye. She stopped a moment to look.

  Sunrise. At last it had come.

  When she entered the office she found the other two at the back of the room. Semira turned to her, breath coming fast. "He says his mother is here right in front of us, but I can't see anything. It's too dark."

  Kara's heart lurched. She couldn't see anything either. Other than a broken desk and the remnants of a wooden chair, the room seemed empty. Had Sasha led them into a trap?

  "She's right in front of you," the boy wailed. "But she's trapped in a veil of shadow."

  Something heavy landed on top of the catwalk. Semira swung her head to face the door. "Well, free her from it so we can get out of here."

  "But I do not know how." He glanced up at Kara. "I brought you here so you could save my mother."

  Kara narrowed her eyes at him. "How can I free your mother if I can't see her?"

  He threw his hands up in the air. "But she is right in front of you!"

  "There's nothing there." Semira looked like she wanted to throttle the boy.

  Sasha reached out and stroked the air with his hand. "Mo
mmy, I brought Imogen who is Kara, but she doesn't know how to free you." He cocked his head slightly, then nodded vigorously and turned to Kara. "Mother says you have the power to free her. Give me your hand."

  After a moment's hesitation, Kara gave it to him. He pulled her over to where he had been stroking the air and made her reach out. To her surprise, her fingers touched something that wasn't there. She shuddered. It felt like cold, dead human flesh.

  "You are touching Mother now," Sasha said. "Use your power to free her."

  "How? All I've been able to do with it is hurl invisible bolts of energy."

  He paused, then said, "Mother says gather as much of it as you can in your hand, then gently send it forth to envelop the shadow veil."

  "But I can't control it like that."

  "Yes, you can. Focus."

  There was definitely something big moving along the catwalk toward them. I have to hurry.

  She closed her eyes and concentrated. The tingling feeling remained, but it was at the back of her head. She willed it to move down her arm and she caught her breath. It obeyed her. As it moved along her arm, it gained in potency. By the time it reached her closed fist, it was ready to be let loose.

  This time she had to hold it back to stop it shooting forth. She shaped it with her mind then slowly let it spread out from her and press up against the shadow veil. A veil she couldn't see...

  "Hurry," Semira whispered, almost breaking Kara's concentration. "It's coming."

  Taking a deep breath, Kara willed the energy in her hand outward and let it spread over the invisible veil in front of her. Once the energy had fully engulfed the veil, Kara saw an image of it in her mind. It appeared as a solid bubble of purple-black with seemingly no way to break into it.

  Instinctively, Kara molded her energy tendrils into claws. She had no idea where the knowledge to do any of this came from, but right then it didn't matter. She dug the claws into the bubble and tore it open. A woman spilled out and flopped onto the floor.