Fragments of Light
Page 1
Table of Contents
COPYRIGHT
Map of Arcadia
Map of the United Kingdoms
Map of the World Sectors
Dedication
PROLOGUE
Excerpts
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
Princess Emerald
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Sorceress Ikaria
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Prince Derek
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Kyle Trancer
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
Empress Ayera
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
CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
CHAPTER FIFTY
High Priest Auron
CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE
CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR
CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE
CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX
CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE
Drew Napoli
CHAPTER SIXTY
CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE
CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO
CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE
CHAPTER SIXTY-FOUR
CHAPTER SIXTY-FIVE
CHAPTER SIXTY-SIX
CHAPTER SIXTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER SIXTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER SIXTY-NINE
CHAPTER SEVENTY
CHAPTER SEVENTY-ONE
CHAPTER SEVENTY-TWO
Telly
CHAPTER SEVENTY-THREE
CHAPTER SEVENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER SEVENTY-FIVE
CHAPTER SEVENTY-SIX
CHAPTER SEVENTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER SEVENTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER SEVENTY-NINE
CHAPTER EIGHTY
EPILOGUE
Acknowledgments
About the Author
FRAGMENTS OF LIGHT
Copyright © 2018 by Beth Hodgson
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the copyright owner except for the use of brief quotations in a book. Requests for permission should be addressed to the publisher.
Fragments of Light is a work of fiction. Names, organizations, places and incidents portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual, events, locales, or persons is purely coincidental.
Interior character portraits and cover art by Mansik Yang
Interior map and character illustrations by Beth Hodgson
Map cartography by Doug Turner
Edited by Crystal Watanabe
www.thespectrumofmagic.com
First edition: November 2018
In loving memory of my dear sister,
Karis Mae Heapy-Hughes.
(1974–2009)
May you live on in the spectrum as light orange.
PROLOGUE
Geeta, where are you? What era did you run off to?
A multitude of stars and galaxies encompassed Suresh as he stood studying the countless time portals that hung in the starry sky like floating mirrors. The glowing, swirling whirlpools rippled with blue magic, mesmerizing Suresh with their magnetic power.
His green eyes wandered, taking in the beauty of the glowing paths in the space-time continuum. They were like bright pebbled tracks, scattering colored stars throughout the galaxy. No matter how much he traveled, it never got old.
Some trails were much more vibrant compared to the older ones, which had faded over time. All were colored in violets, greens, or blues. The purple and green tracks were obvious—those were his and Geeta’s. But whose were the blue ones?
He didn’t know how long he had been searching for Geeta throughout the flow of time, but he was sure it had been at least eight years, perhaps even nine. His straight, forest-green hair was starting to get longer than his liking, over three inches or so. The bland gray tunic he wore was now torn and in desperate need of mending, but he hadn’t bothered to fix it. He had to find Geeta.
Suresh had always been one step behind Geeta, their paths never crossing. He kept up the pace, but every time he gained on her—or so he thought—Geeta happened to skip to another time or place. And now, he felt completely lost. Every path at that moment intersected and intertwined, and he could no longer tell which violet path was the most recent.
Frustrated, Suresh sat down among the paths, examining them intently. Rolling up a sleeve of his tunic, he massaged his distorted arm, pitted with scars that resembled a wild animal bite. Even though he’d healed it with his green magic years ago, he wasn’t fully able to restore the broken flesh to its original state. Every so often, it burned with a tingling sensation.
Memories of that day flooded him. He never liked thinking about that day, but it was the day that he made a paramount decision, one that he’d questioned every day for the last eight years. He had consumed another gifted’s blood in an attempt to aid Geeta in finding her “Ghost Man.” Blue-gifted blood. And now he was cursed by the gods, as he had done the one thing that was forbidden by them.
Geeta’s image on that fateful day remained crystal clear to Suresh, as clear as the day it had happened, the moment she walked into the temple that set everything in motion. Her long, cascading violet hair falling to her sides as she moved, with a red scarf gracing her head. Her golden tikka glittering in her hairline, capturing the light’s essence. Her violet eyes shimmering brightly.
That image contrasted very much with the memory he had from when she unleashed her violet magic—hair wild, dress ripped, her jewelry matted in her hair, and all the while her body writhing on the temple floor from the effects of the new magic settling in her body. And her ferocious deep-violet eyes… so unforgiving. There was no one that could read Geeta’s expression like Suresh could, not even her husband. And on that day, her face was masked with pure hatred, something Suresh had never seen in Geeta before.
Whatever vision Geeta had about the Ghost Man, Suresh knew that she wouldn’t have fought with her husband, Vihaan, unless she was wholly convinced that the dream came from the gods themselves. Suresh doubted this, but he never doubted Geeta’s faith in the gods.
I will never forgive you… Those had been her sharp words to her husband, the words she spoke before she consumed his blood.
Suresh shuddered at the thou
ght, not wanting to spend any more time dwelling on the past. No sense in it.
In the corner of his eye, something caught his attention. A sudden burst of energy. A white twinkling comet streaking across the sky. It burned Suresh’s retinas, causing him to squint. In the comet’s illuminating tail, a new path burned with white energy, beautiful as a shooting star.
Suresh glanced at where the path ended and saw more portals far across the space-time continuum. The new set of portals caught his attention, appearing like larger stars, only these rippled with magic instead of light.
I should be looking for Geeta and her Ghost Man, he thought. But there was something different about this path. The magic within him stirred, and Suresh couldn’t help himself; his curiosity got the best of him.
Following the path for some time, Suresh finally came upon the new batch of blue glowing portals. One in particular was smaller than the others, and a much lighter blue.
It appeared that the portal had been activated by someone recently. Was it Geeta? There were no violet tracks…
Pausing for a moment, Suresh studied the portal, calculating his next move. Making a decision, he boldly took a deep breath, then stepped through the magical gateway.
Galaxies dissolved, the star-speckled space melted, and a blur of bright blue magic surrounded him. The blue magic pulsated as Suresh fell through an endless glowing blue eternity. The magic flowed faster around him, swirling with a white-hot tint to the azure magic, until everything was one solid blur.
When he was about to pass out from the drop, the blue energy began to ripple and form all around him like a tidal wave over his whole body. As the magic pulled away, it started making shapes through its power. Details of a bedchamber appeared around Suresh, forming into familiar shapes, colors, and patterns. White walls came into his vision, and gold crown molding outlined the room while white-marbled floors with golden flecks appeared under his feet, capturing the brightness of day.
Suresh gathered his senses, leaning against one of the walls for support. Time travel always disagreed with him, and it always made him feel slightly woozy. He wasn’t meant to travel. He was green-gifted; he was meant to bring forth life, restoring and renewing one’s body. Only the blue-gifted were meant to travel, as they were masters of the time and space dimensions.
Something caught his eye, causing him to gasp in amazement. It wasn’t the ornate details of the room; they were wondrous enough. No, it came from outside the window.
Peering out from the oversized glass, Suresh took in a massive city with imposing buildings that rose to the heavens, thrusting into the clouds. The city was built with machinelike metal, and glowing images scattered its skyline. Machines dotted the skies, flying to and from the buildings. Suresh had traveled into the future before, but not this far. It was truly awe-inspiring, and at the same time, terrifying.
Breaking the silence, Suresh heard a woman’s soft cries from within the room.
Glancing around, Suresh immediately noticed a marbled platform, with stairs leading up to it. A huge canopy bed sat at the center of the platform. Sheer lilac curtains surrounding it wisped delicately back and forth.
Agonizing cries of pain came from behind the curtains.
Slowly, Suresh made his way up the stairs to investigate. He could see outlines behind the sheer curtains.
There lay a pregnant woman, appearing to be in her last month. She had long wavy hair the color of snow that rested delicately on the pillow, framing her pale dainty face. Her swollen belly seemed unfitting for her thin body, which was dressed in a silver silk gown.
The woman scrunched her face, crying again as tears flowed from her shut eyelids.
Suresh took a clumsy step and made a loud scuffling sound against the marbled stairs.
Startled, the woman glanced through the transparent curtains, then gracefully pulled the curtains back to have a look. She gasped, then desperately grabbed her blanket as if it were a barrier of protection between them. Her white eyes immediately focused on his, then she turned to gaze at his hair. She smiled weakly as she put down the blanket, recognizing who he truly was—gifted. She held out her hand, offering it to him.
He accepted, embracing it. As he did so, she squeezed it desperately, clearly hoping that his touch would offer some comfort. He felt the flow of magic throughout her body, like a gentle summertime wind.
“You are like me,” she whispered as tears streamed down her face.
Good, he could understand her dialect. The more Suresh traveled throughout time, the more languages and dialects he began to master, but it seemed this language had become popularized over time.
Suresh nodded, inspecting her. She was gifted, just like him. But she was unlike anything he had ever seen.
She had the gift of the white.
Suresh never knew that the gift of the white existed. If anyone would know about the gift of the white, it would be him, Geeta, and the others from his era. The gods of the Spectrum bestowed gifts of color to mankind from the birth of the world, when time began on Earth. Only a few select peoples of Earth were born with the gift. The gods chose inhabitants of Earth to bless them with their powers, to be their champions.
Red, representing the elements: earth, wind, fire, and water. Orange, the gift of illusion and transmutation. Yellow, prophecy and protection. Green, the gift of restoration, renewal, life, and rebirth. Blue, space and time. And violet… Geeta’s color. Force and control over mind and objects. But the gift of the white, what was that? There was no god or goddess of the white. Was it a complete accident?
The gods don’t make mistakes, he told himself.
Removing himself from the woman’s grip, Suresh laid his hands upon her belly. Her womb stirred as the baby inside thrived, kicking and turning. However, the woman was dying.
Gazing into the endless whites of her eyes, she told him silently what he already knew.
Holding his gaze steady on her face, Suresh focused on the life deep within his soul. His fears flooded him, haunting him as he called forth his magic. Fears of not finding Geeta, fears of this poor woman dying from complications due to the baby. Fears that the future of Earth would fade away, and it would be no more without finding the Ghost Man.
The power fed on his fear and began to surge through his body, jolting through his veins. A warm green glow appeared within his hands as he summoned the magic. His power swelled at his fingertips as he gently laid his hands on her body once more. The magic transferred to the woman’s body, enrapturing her as he released the magic from his hands. His vision went dark for a moment, then an intense sweat formed over his body, causing him to shiver.
When he regained his sight, Suresh was stunned. The woman no longer had her icy hair or her pale eyes. They had both turned green, matching the vibrancy of an emerald gemstone. Suresh gasped, taking a step back. She’d somehow absorbed Suresh’s magic, giving it to herself. The woman’s face was revitalized, and she appeared to have no pain.
She sat up in her bed, taking notice of her newly green locks of hair, then began to weep.
“I never knew what my gift was until now,” she breathed, tears filling her eyes. Wiping them away, she asked hesitantly, “Have you come to take me home?”
“Home?” Suresh looked confused, shaking his head.
With hard realization, she began to sob. “They told me they would come back for me. They promised me,” she wept, wiping her tears. Locks of green hair fell in her face. Noticing the color again, her eyes expressed sheer panic. “I can’t let him find out. I just can’t!”
Her face hardened as she closed her eyes, and her muscles tensed along her limbs.
With a loud cry, she threw back her head, almost as if she was going to birth the child, but instead, Suresh saw all the green magic leave the woman, gathering at her belly. Then suddenly, with a white flash, the green magic was gone, and the woman’s white features returned to her.
Afraid for the life of the child, Suresh urgently placed his hand on the wom
an’s belly. The baby’s heartbeat was still strong and healthy, and its blood radiated with life magic. The woman had somehow transferred the green magic to the baby.
There was a knock at the door, and the woman looked at him with alarm.
“Please, hand me that golden case over there on that nightstand,” she requested, pointing to a small box.
Suresh retrieved it, then handed it over to her quickly.
“Queen Elyathi, are you quite well?” a voice called out from behind the door. “I heard a noise…”
The Queen sat up in the bed, opening the golden box. She grabbed a small pale-blue clear circle, then placed it on her right eye, then did the same to her left eye. She gazed at Suresh with the fake blue eyes.
“Please, you must leave,” she begged. “The King has become obsessive with the Spectrum of Magic. He has had delusional visions, ones that should not be taken into action. And if he were to find out about you, he would surely find out about me and make those delusions reality. I can’t let that happen, especially since there are those greater than he who seek my power.” Elyathi waved Suresh away urgently.
“Are you going to be all right?” Suresh asked sadly, aware of her circumstances. It pained him to leave her, as it was apparent she was entangled in a great many things.
Elyathi’s false blue eyes sparkled with tears. “Yes, quite sure,” she said softly. “I have handled myself for many years alone, I can continue to do so.”
Suresh bowed to her, then stepped away. “Goodbye…”
“Elyathi.”
Suresh gave her a sad smile, then bowed to her, closing his eyes. He summoned the melancholy feeling that the Queen radiated, the emotion needed to call forth time. A deep greenish-blue flow of energy surged from his body and surrounded him, flashing with brilliance.
“Please, tell them that I am still waiting for their return,” Elyathi said, her voice trembling, mixing in with the sounds of pounding on the door and muffled yells.
“My Queen, the door is locked! Please, open up!” a woman’s voice yelled from behind the door.
“Who’s them?” Suresh called out from the enrapturing green-blue magic that jolted with bright flashes of energy streaks.
“The future.” Elyathi’s voice echoed in his ears as the room melted away.