Empyreal (The Earthborn Series Book 1)

by Spencer Helsel

  “Elder Castus, I demand you reconsider!” Heman barked from his place.

  “You may demand all you like.” Castus dismissed. “I call for a vote of this Council. She has our mark, despite its location. She has our abilities, despite being not of our number. She is a woman; not mandanus, not gifted. We must decide her fate. Will you send someone to their death on suspicion alone? Or will you allow a person’s actions to speak for themselves?”

  Every Elder had a different expression, but no one spoke. Some avoided Dani’s gaze. Some avoided Castus’s. Jeduthun and a few others nodded in agreement.

  Heman and his group, however, weren’t done.

  “Her presence will disrupt the order of our society.” Another Elder further down the line proclaimed, seeming to ally with Heman and his group. “What will happen? There are unforeseen consequences to allowing this,” he sneered the word, “woman to stay.”

  “Again with the names.” She muttered to herself.

  “How will our newest recruits—how will our veterans for that matter—be able to focus with her here? She is a distraction that could cost lives.”

  Jeduthun didn’t even bother to look at the man when he said, “Are you saying that you allow others to determine what you do and how you act, Elder Berith?”

  The man looked insulted. “I was speaking on behalf of our men.”

  “Are you saying we do not train them well enough to think for themselves?” This time Jeduthun did look at him and it was unfriendly. “That would call into question the soldiers that you have trained. That calls into question our very existence. One woman can undo the divine destiny of this city?”

  “How dare you doubt my abilities!”

  “How dare you allow doubt.” Jeduthun shot back. “You say your men cannot control themselves? That one woman,” he looked almost apologetic to Dani, “determines how someone would act? We do not train dumb animals here, Elder Berith. We train warriors. Warriors whose ranks dwindle of late. I would never question their abilities, or the abilities of our fellow Elders, but you seem to. Or do you wish to change your demands?”

  Berith reddened to match Heman’s shade, but he didn’t dare speak. He sat, not looking at anyone, including Dani. Now she understood why Judah thought highly of him.

  “I call for a vote.” Castus declared. “Who concurs?”

  Jeduthun was the first to raise his hand and with him, nearly every Elder. Heman, Berith and two others noticeably did not.

  “We have majority.” Castus announced. “Daniella, welcome to the city of light.”

  Chapter Ten

  Released by the Elders, Dani, Ethan, Hermes and Nathaniel left the Throne Room. She chanced a glance back as the door shut and caught eyes with Elder Jeduthun, who gave a small nod in her direction.

  “Well, that was exciting.” Hermes grinned.

  “Thank you for all you did.” Ethan said.

  “Quit thanking me or I will hit you.” Hermes threatened lightly. “Or

  she will. And I have a feeling her patience is not as unending as mine.” “Thank you all the same.” Ethan shook his hand.

  “I’m sure I will see you later. Nathaniel, m’lady,” he tipped his hat to

  them and then with a flap of his tiny wings, took off.

  “So,” Dani said, gaping at the unbelievable city around her, “what do

  we do now?”

  “Like every other Novice: I take you across the Vale.”

  “The Vale?”

  He pointed to the massive valley that bordered the city. “Why?”

  “Sanctuary Hills and Novice Village.” He said. “It’s time to see your

  new home.”

  ______________________

  “Empyrean is divided in two.” Ethan explained, leading them across the massive bridge that stretched the distance of the wide valley. The tall, stone supports disappeared into the teeming gorge below. A raging river glistened in the light as it flowed underneath.

  “For millennia, those hunted by demons have sought refuge in Empyrean and places like it. The Vale acts as a border and the bridge connects the Numen Citadel, and the Keep where the Throne Room is, with the Sanctuary Hills on the other side.”

  As they crossed, Dani passed two women on their way to the Citadel. They smiled tightly but avoided her gaze. When she glanced over her shoulder, they looked back at her, but then quickly looked away.

  “You said there were no female Numen.” She remarked. “They’re not. They’re gifted.”

  “Gifted?”

  “Those with special abilities—either by birth or by trade; seers,

  alchemists, vilas, Tuatha De Danaan.”

  “Am I supposed to know what those are?”

  He smirked. “No. Just think of them as special. Demons are attracted to all manner of supernatural creatures. They kill them. That’s why most gifted don’t live on Earth anymore. They fled here and the other angelic cities for protection. The Council allows them to live,” he pointed ahead, “in the Sanctuary Hills.”

  The opposite cliffs stretched up in either direction, dotted with homes. Some looked like old-century hovels or earthen mounds, while others appeared to be group homes made of the same white stone. There were sparse trees here; not the Redwoods of the Citadel, but she could see some that appeared to be tree homes. And as they got closer, she could see men, women, children.

  “Novices live on this side of the Vale.” He told her, pointing to a collection of buildings farther uphill. “That is Novice Village. Each Novice lives in one of the twelve barracks as part of an aerie. It’s an old word for ‘flock.’ They live here until trained and brought into the city to join the different ranks of Numen.”

  “Flocks? Like, what, we’re birds?”

  He laughed. “I like to think of the Novices as little lost lambs in need of shepherds, actually. This is where Guardians come in. We live with and train our Novices. The training is overseen by the Elders. Once you’re accepted, you become a full Numen warrior.”

  Dani understood. “And since I h ave no Guardian, I have no aerie. No flock.”

  Nathaniel attempted a half-hearted joke. “You’re flocked. Or is it unflocked? Deflocked? Flocked up?”

  “Shut up Nate.”

  “Twelve spots in each aerie,” Ethan confirmed, “and there are twelve aeries. All aeries have every Novice they need. So, yes, that’s what I’m saying.”

  “Great.” Dani shook her head. “So even though I left Earth, I’m still homeless.” Homeless and in a place that thought she was a monster. Awesome. “So there’s no other place for me?”

  “There’s someone who lives over here in the Sanctuary Hills. Shea. He knows the area. We might be able to find you housing.”

  “I could live with someone?” she asked half-hopefully.

  He shook his head. “Intermingling between Numen and gifted is strictly forbidden by the Elder Council.”

  “Has it ever happened?”

  He avoided the question. Instead, he said, “Much of your training happens in the Hills, the Vale or the Citadel—specifically, the Keep. The Vale stretches up towards those cliffs you see in the fog. It’s the source of the Crystalline River.”

  “Where does the river come from?” she asked.

  “Excuse me?”

  “The Crystalline River: where does it come from?”

  He pointed up river into the fog at the top of the Vale. “That area is called The Dalles. No one’s ever been able to make it all the way up. The Vale is,” he seemed not to want to say, “dangerous, so no N umen or gifted venture that way.”

  “So you don’t know where it comes from?”

  “Something about the Dalles limits our abilities. The fog you see is difficult to navigate. Crossing the terrain in that direction is nearly impossible.”

  “And if you all—I mean, Numen—built this city, then why don’t you know more about it?”

  Ethan shrugged, passing other traffickers. “Because we didn’t build it.”
>
  “What?”

  “The story goes that the angels built the city.” He turned, walking backwards as he spoke. “This whole city isn’t on the same plane of existence at the rest of the world. There are several places like it; the seven celestial cities and a few others. The same thing that stops mundani from seeing us is the same thing that makes it possible for a city to exist above Los Angeles.”

  “That’s total bull.”

  “Ever heard of a seven-forty-seven colliding with a mountain in the sky?”

  Obviously, she hadn’t.

  “It’s the same with the Hellfire Club: it’s not really there but it is. Don’t think of it as being in the same place as everything else. Think of it as existing,” he thought for a moment, “beside it; there but not there.”

  “So no one’s explored parts of Empyrean?”

  He shrugged. “As I said, Empyrean was built by angels, but the Dalles? No. I’ve heard stories of Numen running away up there, but I’ve never known any. And all the Numen since then have died.”

  “Died?”

  “We live for many, many centuries but we can still die. A lot die in battle or on demon hunts. Those who aren’t warriors like Naturals and Alchemists disappear; killed by demons when they travel to Earth on mission. Earth is dangerous for our kind. Our numbers are dwindling. Demons are more active now than ever before. The cities crawl with them.”

  Dani could tell Ethan wasn’t ready to talk about it. Instead, she asked, “And all of this was possible because of angels?”

  He nodded. “That’s what our books say.”

  She glanced around at the entirety of the Vale and Empyrean. A celestial city in the clouds, wrapped up in its own mystery. “So were you kidding about flying?”

  “No, it’s real.”

  “And can you fly?”

  Ethan grinned. With a single step, he floated forward about three feet from them in a single bound. “What do you think?”

  At the other end of the Vale Bridge was a village comprised of a small marketplace and homes. Dani marveled at people with strangecolored eyes, fiery jinn and cynocephali mingling amongst one another while Numen guards acted as border security; stopping people at the bridge and checking to see if they could pass over into the Citadel. Above their heads, Dani spotted what looked like human-shaped wisps of air dancing in the air. Fairies?

  “Sylphs.” Ethan told her. “Empyrean is full of elementals.”

  “Elementals?”

  “Sentient nature; sylphs in the air, gnomes in the ground, undines in the water and salamanders in the fire.”

  “Salamanders? Seriously?”

  “If you think that’s interesting,” he smirked, “you should see the giants that live in the upper hills.”

  “No way.”

  His eyes sparkled like crystalized honey, chuckling. “Come on: I’ll introduce you to Shea. And we’ll get you some provisions for tonight at the market.”

  They passed a hairy creature that could have, for all she knew, been Bigfoot. The Chewbacca look-alike shopped at the market like anyone else. Ethan first stopped off at a vendor’s tent, removing some coins from a pouch on his belt and trading them for some wrapped up meats, vegetables and a couple vials of different-colored liquids and put everything into a canvas bag.

  “You can buy almost everything you need here.” He told her. “Empyrean’s markets trade all over the world. Numen do business with the gifted. You just have to find things of value.”

  “What are those?” she asked, pointing to the coins.

  “Shekels.” He held them out. Each coin was the size of a silver dollar and made from different colored metals. He pointed them out. “The gold- looking ones are Orichalcum—Atlantian gold—and the brass-looking ones are Corinthiacum—Corinthian brass. The silvery ones are Adamant. The black ones are Hepatizon. Orich, Corinth, Adamant and Hepa; traded metals in the supernatural world. You can trade gold and silver, too. Up here there isn’t a set money system. You barter everything. The shekels just have to be officially stamped with Empyrean’s seal, or the seal of any celestial city.”

  He showed her the coins, which were stamped with the concentric fiery rings of his uniform; seal of Empyrean.

  “Who is this?” asked a voice.

  A woman, maybe in her sixties, approached. She wore a simple, oldcentury dress with a shawl. Like many of the gifted, which Dani assumed she was, her eyes were the color of emeralds and she spoke with an Irish accent. The lines around her eyes crinkled when she smiled.

  “Adare, this is Dani.” Ethan introduced.

  “Aye, I heard there was a female Numen.” She said, taking Dani’s hand kindly in both of hers. “You’ve caused quite a stir, young lady.”

  “I didn’t mean to.” Dani answered wryly. “And how did you hear about me? You got a cell phone in that dress?”

  Adare laughed happily. “My dear, a cell phone wouldn’t work here. And no. Our community has its own way of communicating.”

  “Magic?”

  “Would that surprise you?”

  “No.”

  “I like you. You are forthright.”

  “Is that good?”

  She patted her hand and let it go, addressing Ethan. “This one, Ethan: she’s a keeper. Have you found everything you want?”

  “Your prices are always best, Adare. Is Shea here?”

  “He’s back at the house. You know him: always busy. He’s trying to get some fern flower to replenish our stock. Why?”

  As Ethan and Adare spoke, Dani spotted a pair of bright blue eyes peeking from behind a shelf. As soon as she looked, they disappeared. A second later, they popped back up. Dani looked again and again, they disappeared with a wave of blonde hair.

  Dani wandered over, glancing around the shelf, but the owner of the eyes darted away. Weaving through the shelves, she eventually found the owner: a small girl in an ankle-length dress with blonde braids and blue eyes, all of six or seven. She grinned sheepishly.

  “Hello there.” Dani knelt. “What’s your name?”

  “That’s Korë.” A dark haired girl her age—a gifted with bright violet eyes—stood behind her with a basket of fruit.

  “Nice name.” Dani stood. “And yours?”

  “Roxelana.”

  “I’m—.”

  “Daniella. Yes, I know.” She extended her hand.

  Dani shook it. “Word travels fast. And it’s just Dani.”

  Roxelana fluttered her hand over the fruit basket. Some purple, apple-like produce—but what apples were purple?—floated from the basket and over to the shelf with a wave. Despite the amazing ability, she acted as if it were natural.

  “How do you do that?” she asked.

  “I’m a vila.”

  “A what?”

  She shrugged. “Nymph, fairy; we get called all kinds of things. But we’re human…sort of.”

  “You’re gifted, you mean. And Korë?”

  “She’s adorable.” Roxelana pointed.

  When Dani turned, the little girl held out what looked like a doll made of grass. When Dani reached for it, the doll moved, making her jump. Korë giggled.

  “Making friends?” asked a third voice. The next gifted, this one laying out a basket of fresh bread, looked more super-model than supernatural. Long, leggy, blonde, she had the perfect runway scowl. One hand on her hip, she asked, “Is that her?”

  Dani never instantly disliked someone before. First time for everything.

  “Adare wants us to make sure the new stock is out.” The girl told Roxelana. “Maybe Korë could help. Earn her keep.”

  “I’ll help.” Roxelana told her. “Just a minute.”

  “Fine.” The girl departed.

  “Don’t put too much stock in what Airlea says.” Roxelana told Dani. “She’s…she’s just Airlea. Come on. Your Guardian friend wants to introduce you to someone.”

  Roxelana, basket in hand, led Korë up the hill. Dani followed. Away from the market was a grass-and-moss roofed ho
me. Larger than most, the steps lead up to a garden around the entryway. Korë ran inside. Ethan, Adare and another man waited out front.

  “Dani, this is Shea.” Ethan introduced.

  Shea shook with a steely grip; someone who worked with his hands. His eyes were emerald like Adare’s. He was tall, muscular, bearded and smelled of fresh earth.

  “I hear you need a place to stay.” He said. “I may know somewhere.”

  “A house?” she asked hopefully.

  His smile twitched. “Well…”

  Chapter Eleven

  “They called this place the Arn.” Shea told her, standing in the courtyard. “Arn is an old word meaning ‘eagle.’ It’s also the name of the people who used to live here—a group who could speak to birds called feathertongues—but as you can see that was a long time ago.”

  The Arn used to be a gifted village of some kind; rundown homes built of the same white stone as the rest of Empyrean, but they’d long since become little more than ruins. They bordered three sides of a brick square with a small fountain, while the fourth contained an open-air pavilion Shea brought her to see. It was spacious, but empty. The entire village was overgrown by moss and grass. Vines crept up the columns, with spreads of beautiful flowers decorating the remains.

  Dani sighed. “I’ve lived in worse.”

  “You want her to live here by herself?” Nathaniel shook his head.

  “She’s almost a mile from anyone. She’ll be alone.”

  Dani murmured to herself, “I’m used to it.”

  “There isn’t any other choice.” Ethan pushed on the rim of the

  empty, moss-covered fountain. A fracture of stone fell loose. “She can’t stay with the gifted. There’s no room at Novice Village. Difficult circumstances or not, all Novices live on this side of the Vale. It’s either here or she sleeps on the ground.”