In Creation's Heart
Page 15
Seph smiled warmly. It wasn’t the dazzling smile that had first attracted Jak to him, but for some reason it filled her with love, and with confidence. They had a unique opportunity here, where the entire population of a planet, small though it was, respected her as its leader.
Division would come among the people eventually, but for now they were united in purpose, and there was much Jak could do to progress their civilization from its outset. She was young yet, but she would have counselors and advisors. And Seph would be with her. And the ancestors willing, she would have many years ahead to turn Illadar into a thriving world.
And so the legend of Jak was born, the first queen of Illadar, and the greatest Oren the planet would ever know.
Within a few years, she and the people of Illadar cut off all communication with Earth, choosing instead to focus on their own growth and healing. Laws were made, local governments were organized, Illadar was explored. Occasionally, there were disputes between cultures, between Fae, yet all eleven races forever recognized Jak as their queen, the only ruler to achieve such unity in all the history of Illadar to follow.
Seph, the Dragon Shifter, ruled by her side until that fateful day when she mysteriously disappeared. Her husband would always insist that his wife was not lost, nor was she dead. He continued to rule in her stead, his dragon nature giving him supernatural long life. But even on his deathbed, surrounded by his great-great-grandchildren and their posterity, he would never admit that his wife was dead. “She passed on,” he would say, which many took to mean the same thing as death, even when Seph would correct them. Yet despite all their searching, no one ever found the site of her grave.
The Pillars of Eternity remained in Seph’s possession until his death. In his lifetime, no one besides Jak or Naem were able to use it, but they remained heirlooms of the kingdom long after Seph had passed on.
And so, Illadar began to flourish, and in time, Jak’s memory faded to legend and myth. Even her full name of Jakniteksnewodheghoma eventually disappeared from all but the most ancient of texts. Forever after she became known only as Jak, the first and greatest Queen of Illadar.
Epilogue
Marek sat in the cockpit of Cain’s old starship, the very one that had first brought Adam and Eve to Earth nearly five thousand years previously.
He had laid near the starship until the cave began to collapse. In a last-ditch attempt, he flung himself into the ship and activated its feeble yet sufficiently powerful shields. All before the dragon or anyone else from Jak’s party had managed to notice.
It would not have been enough, however, had the dragon not burst through the rubble above. If not for that, Marek would have remained buried under tons and tons of rock forever. He would have died there.
But that was not in his fate. As the dragon escaped the rubble, Marek had turned on the engines that had not seen flight in centuries. He had followed the dragon out of the mountain, hiding in its wake until at last reaching the light of the sun.
He was sure the dragon and the others had not seen him, assuming the others had even survived the cave-in. He had skimmed the mountains to the south, moving far beyond their line of sight before rocketing into the sky.
The ride was bumpy. Cain had built the ship to escape Earth’s atmosphere, but Marek wasn’t sure how far it could go. Perhaps it could get him as far as Illadar. Something about the planet called to him. Its formation was wonderous enough, but to have an entirely new world to explore, to conquer. That would be something special.
Of course Jak would defeat Cain, he had no doubt of that. And when she did, she would return to Illadar, the Fae would join her, and magic would likely fade into superstition on Earth. Illadar was the land of opportunity.
Marek fiddled with the controls. Despite the bumpy ride, the ship still performed properly. And as the blue sky faded to black, he saw the most impressive sight he had ever seen.
The stars winked at him, in quantities he had not thought existed. There was a whole universe more than he had even considered. What it would be like to visit every one of those stars. Relics like the Pillars of Eternity would make such a thing possible. And perhaps one day they could translate those abilities to technology like this ship. After all, their distant ancestors, even before Adam and Eve, had used such ships to navigate the stars. Or so Cain had told him. His old master had been fixated on finding the homeworld of his forefathers. But that was short sighted. Why reach for your home when there were countless other places to visit.
Yet he could not do that from this simple starship. Now that he had escaped Earth’s atmosphere, he would need to find a way to Illadar. He would start there, and perhaps someday he could continue on. He would learn all there was to learn about this vast expanse.
He pulled up a map, one that displayed the entire solar system. Cain had shown him this earlier, and it had become a source of enjoyment to look up each orb of light, representing the eight inner planets, and even more of the outer ones.
Yet now, there was one more planet to add to the list, one on the exact opposite side of the sun from Earth. Illadar.
Setting a course, he engaged the engines once again.
Something exploded behind him, throwing the ship forward in a lurch that would have flung Marek out of his seat if it hadn’t been for his restraints.
His heart dropped in his throat, and he glanced out the side window to see something venting out of the rear. A slight hissing noise and a feeling of pressure around his ears only confirmed the worst. He was losing atmosphere. One of the engines must have exploded.
“No, no, no!” He checked the navigation. He was losing fuel, fast. At this rate he would never get to Illadar. And without air, it wouldn’t be long before he suffocated.
But perhaps it didn’t have to be that way.
Maybe he could return to Earth, crash land and find another way to Illadar. But even if he could survive reentry, without the Pillars of Eternity, it was unlikely he would ever see Illadar. There was no way he could rebuild technology like this, and humanity was far behind any hope of creating such wonders for millennia to come.
The ship was equipped with safety mechanisms to survive crashing back on Earth, but they might have been damaged by the exploding engine. He couldn’t rely on them.
A thought occurred to him. There was one last option.
He turned to consider the cryo chambers in the back of the ship. What if he froze himself? The Cryochambers could function without oxygen. He could survive for countless years.
The ship rumbled again, as if trying to get him to speed up his decision. He was adrift now, but the ship’s solar receptors should be enough to keep the cryo chambers active. Cain had kept them running with nothing more than the thermal energy from those cave crystals.
There was still risk. What if his ship drifted into the sun, or another planet. There were a million ways that he could still die.
But perhaps, millennia from now, humans would develop the technology to find him, and bring him back safely, or perhaps the same would happen for the people of Illadar.
Yes, this was the only option. And if he died, he would never know it. But if he lived...well that meant, to his perspective, the future was only moments away…
The End of the Roots of Creation
Author’s Note
Let me start off by saying, thank you. If you’ve come this far, it means you’ve read my entire series (at least I hope you have. If you haven’t, that means you’re probably very confused right about now).
This has been an incredible journey so far. Roots of Creation was my very first series, and sometimes when I go back and read the early novels, I cringe a bit. But I learned so much in writing it, and the character of Jak will always be very important to me.
Will we see her again? Well, let me first say that this is the end of this series, and her main story is over. But…that doesn’t necessarily mean she won’t show up in other character’s stories. There are more tales to be told in the fantas
y world of Illadar. But I will say this: if we do see her again, it probably won’t be how you expect it.
You might also be wondering about Marek. Will we see him again? Well let’s just say that there’s plenty of room for it (windy face). In fact, I’m just going to tell you: yes, we’ll see him again.
But for now, their stories are over, and I am moving on to other things. Next on the list is another YA fantasy series set in Arthurian Britain. In fact, I’m not the only one writing a series in that era and in my universe. Yes, I will be working with a number of authors to create a sort of shared universe of Arthurian literature. You can learn more at ArthurLegends.com.
And that will do it for the Roots of Creation series! Thank you again for tuning in this long. I can’t wait to share more novels with you in the future. There’s a lot coming from the Argoverse. Just wait and see.
About the Author
Jason Hamilton is an unapologetic nerd of all things science fiction and fantasy. He is the author of multiple fantasy series, as well as the Creative Director of the Arthurian Legends Universe.
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Also by Jason Hamilton
Roots of Creation
A New Light (short story)
Out of Shadow
Growing Ripples
Through Fire
Into Storm
To World’s Above
As Winter Spawns
Seeds of Hope
In Creation’s Heart
The Faerie Queen
A King Revealed (short story)
Knight Rising
Knight Purged
Knight Spellbound
Knight Fallen
Knight Broken
Knight Awakened