Fourth World

by Lyssa Chiavari

  We didn’t know how long it would take us, but we knew when we would return. Gitrin programmed the key to bring us back three minutes after we departed. Once the stable connection to the postern in Isaak’s time was established, we could pass freely between the two timelines. To the people of Elytherios, it would be as if we never left.

  But I wondered how much time it would be for me.

  The morning of our departure was cold and damp. The clouds hung low over the village, shrouding the trees and buildings with white mist that I could barely see through. The shipping postern was located on the edge of the village, where the buildings began to give way to crops. As we passed, people watched us from the doorways of their houses, silent and stony-faced.

  When we arrived at the postern, there was no one to see us off apart from Marin. I wondered if any of the Elytherioi expected us to return, or if they were hoping this was the last they would see of us.

  “Are you all ready?” Marin asked us.

  I glanced at Ceilos. I didn’t feel ready, but if I wasn’t by now, I was never going to be. He smiled back at me, and I turned to Marin and said, “Yes.”

  Isaak’s father said something in English. I couldn’t quite catch the meaning, but Emil snorted and Isaak shook his head. “We’re ready, too,” he said.

  Marin took a shaky breath. “Well,” she said. “Safe travels to you. You’re sure you won’t need anything for the journey?”

  “No, we have stuff in my time. We’ll be fine,” Isaak said. Under his breath, he muttered, “I hope.” I don’t think he meant for anyone else to hear. I shivered, looking down at the cold ground and trying not to worry. The breath came out of my nostrils in steamy puffs.

  “Now, remember—” Marin began, but she broke off. In the distance, there was the sound of the gong. It rang out three times before falling silent.

  “What is that?” Gitrin asked.

  Marin frowned. “I’m not sure. Forum isn’t until tomorrow.”

  “Should we go check on it?” Ceilos asked. His voice sounded oddly strained. I furrowed my brows at him—something seemed different about his face, but I couldn’t quite place it. He seemed off, somehow.

  “No,” Marin said. “You go. I will go check. If all goes well, I will see you again in just a few minutes.”

  She hurried back down the path toward the village. I watched her go, an anxious knot forming in my stomach. From the village, raised voices rang out, but I couldn’t hear what they were saying.

  “Maybe this isn’t such a good idea,” Isaak started.

  “What’s going on?” his father interrupted in English. “We’re not backing out, are we? Because I’m not sticking around here any longer.”

  Isaak clenched his jaw. “No, Dad, but don’t you hear—”

  “Let’s go,” Ceilos said firmly. I looked at him in surprise. “Marin is right. We’ll be back in just a few minutes. Whatever is going on in the village, they can handle it.”

  “I don’t like it,” said Gitrin. “But I’ll leave it up to you, Nadin.”

  “Me?” I looked around at the group, then turned to face the postern. The sounds from the village had faded slightly. Maybe it was nothing. And, after all, we were not citizens of Elytherios—yet. We still had to prove ourselves.

  I looked at Isaak for a long moment; then at Ceilos, his expression firm. “I… I think we should go,” I said at last. I held the posternkey out to Isaak.

  “You want me to carry this?” he said in surprise.

  I nodded. “Yes. Keep a firm grip on it. We can’t break our links, or we’ll get separated.” I reached out for Ceilos’ hand, and he took it, wrapping his fingers tightly around mine. Gitrin took Ceilos’ left hand, and Emil’s in her own. The old man’s face flushed, and Gitrin smirked.

  Raymond hooked his hand around Isaak’s elbow. “Hold on tight, Dad,” Isaak told him in English. Then he turned to me. “You ready?”

  The postern began to glow, tracks of light forming geometric patterns between the stacked stones.

  I nodded and reached for Isaak’s hand.

  The light of the arch grew brighter and brighter. The doorway was opening.

  “All right, everyone,” Isaak said. “Let’s go.”

  We stepped forward, and the world exploded.

  It wasn’t just the force of the postern. We hadn’t passed through the arch yet, but the ground beneath my feet began to rumble. My ears were filled with the sound of an explosion. Then something thrust me forward, knocking me into Isaak, and we toppled into the light.

  I opened my mouth, but no sound came out. My voice was ripped from my throat as my atoms began to disassemble themselves.

  The last thing I felt before being torn into nothing was Ceilos’ hand slipping through my fingers.

  As always, traveling through the postern was about as pleasant as getting squeezed through a meat grinder. I gasped for breath as my atoms reassembled themselves, agonizing pain giving way to normalcy. I was just about to congratulate myself on managing to not collapse after rematerializing this time when a body staggered hard against me, knocking me over. I slammed into Dad and the group of us tumbled onto the ground.

  “What the hell was that?” Dad muttered, rubbing his ribs.

  “He let go.”

  I lifted my head to look at Nadin, splayed sideways over my chest. She shakily pushed herself up onto her knees, looked around the empty crater around us. “Ceilos?!” she called.

  I sat bolt upright. We were in one of Erick’s dig trenches, but the excavation crew was nowhere to be seen—even their equipment was gone. But that’s not what caught my attention.

  It was that there were only three of us.

  “Where are the others?” I asked, dreading the answer. “Emil? And Gitrin and Ceilos?”

  Nadin’s eyes were frantic. “Isaak, he let go.”

  “Who let go?”

  She swallowed. “Ceilos. He had my hand as we were stepping into the postern, and just as I passed through, just when I heard that noise… he let go.”

  “What’s she saying?” my dad demanded.

  I ignored him. “What does that mean?” I asked. “Where did they go?”

  “I don’t know,” Nadin said, her voice breaking. “If the postern closed before they made it through, they’ll still be back in Elytherios. But if Ceilos let go of my hand after they were already in the postern…”

  Silence hung over us for a long, grim moment. Then Nadin leaped to her feet, ripping the posternkey out of my hand. “We have to go back!”

  “How are we supposed to do that? First we have to get to that cave that my dad and I—”

  “Then let’s go!” She pulled me up to my feet, frantically dragging me over to the trench’s edge.

  “It’s not going to be that simple,” I argued. “Emil said that GSAF—”

  “Freeze. All three of you.”

  The voice came from behind us. I recognized that voice. It was the last person I ever wanted to see again—the one whose unnerving eyes had been haunting my nightmares for the last month.

  Slowly, we turned to see Joseph Condor standing above us, looking down into the trench. On either side of him was an armed suit, pointing a military-style weapon at us.

  “Well, well,” Condor said, his mouth twisting up into a grin. “Isaak Contreras. Just the person I’ve been looking for all this time. And if there was ever such perfect timing, I’ve never seen it.”

  I couldn’t say anything. My tongue felt like it was made of lead.

  The two GSAF agents gestured with their guns, indicating a rusty metal ladder leading out of the trench. Slowly, I trudged over to it, Nadin and my dad following close behind. Even behind his aviator sunglasses, I could feel Condor’s eyes on me, never leaving my form for a second.

  As I climbed off the ladder, Condor grabbed my elbow, pulling me uncomfortably close to him. “You’re just in time for your own party,” he hissed in my ear.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked,
but he didn’t reply.

  The three men led us down the familiar path of Erick’s dig site, over to the wide open area where the shuttles always used to park. As we walked, I could hear a tinny voice, echoing as if from a loudspeaker. I couldn’t catch most of the words, but I realized with alarm that one word popping up with regular frequency was my own name.

  Then we rounded the corner, and I sucked in my breath.

  A huge crowd filled the former parking area. Many of them held posterboard signs saying things like Free Mars and End the GSAF Coverup. But the one that made my heart stop was the huge banner with a pixelated image of my face on it—a printout of my last yearbook photo—that read, “WHERE’S ISAAK?”

  A makeshift stage had been erected along the viewing area that looked out over Tierra Nueva. A man wearing a faded t-shirt with a nice-fitting suit jacket over it was standing at a podium, addressing the crowd. He had a stocky build, with deep brown skin and short-cropped black hair. Neatly-groomed stubble lined a jaw that had become defined and square, and uncannily adult.

  When our eyes met, the man froze mid-sentence. We stared at each other, silent, neither able to believe our eyes. It couldn’t be him. He couldn’t have changed this much in the few weeks since I’d seen him last.

  But it hadn’t been just a few weeks for him. And that’s when the full impact of what Emil had been trying to tell me all this time hit me—the time I’d lost, I could never get back. I’d stayed the same, but they’d all moved on. And there was nothing I could do.

  “Isaak?” Nadin said in a soft voice. “What’s wrong? Who is that?”

  I couldn’t answer. I couldn’t find the words.

  The man at the podium was Henry.

  Isaak and Nadin’s story continues in

  New World: Book Two of the Iamos Trilogy

  Available now from Snowy Wings Publishing!

  ◦ • ◦

  But before you dive into New World,

  learn what happened to Henry and Tamara

  while Isaak was missing in Different Worlds,

  an Iamos novella, available now!

  * The events of Different Worlds feature heavily in New World, so be sure to read this special "Book 1.5" in between Fourth World and New World!

  ◦ • ◦

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  to get my latest news as well as extra goodies,

  like a short story about how Marin and Eos

  first came to Elytherios.

  ALOS/ALIN – an affectionate term for a child

  ANNUAL – birthdate

  ELYTHERIOS – a word in the old Iamoi language, dating to before the Progression. It means “freedom.” The Liberator’s faction has co-opted much of the old language, including this word.

  ENILIKIN – a person’s eighth annual (approximately sixteen in Earth years), signifying the transition from childhood to adulthood. A person who is now an adult is called an enilin or enilos.

  ESOTOI – the middle caste of the Iamoi, who work alongside both patroi and plivoi

  FRAOULOI – known in Isaak’s time as the “spider weed”; a resilient, woody black plant that can grow in almost any condition

  GEROI – the governors of a citidome (singular: gerouin [feminine], geros [masculine])

  GEROTUS – the united body of all geroi on Iamos and Hamos

  HAMOS – Venus

  HAOI IFAISTEOI – “The Three Mountains”; the Iamoi’s name for the three Martian shield volcanoes we know as Elysium Mons, Hecates Tholus, and Albor Tholus

  IAMOS – Mars

  KYRIOS/KYRIN – a formal term of address, its closest English equivalent being “lord” or “lady”

  PATROI – the most prestigious caste of the Iamoi

  PLIVOI – the bottom caste of the Iamoi, considered to be the “drudges”

  S.C.D. – “System Collective Date”; the annual-count system of the Iamoi, dating back to when the System estimates human civilization first arose on Iamos

  SIMOS – Earth

  YACUNOS/YACHIN – beloved, sweetheart

  First and foremost, I want to thank my family for all their love and support. An enormous thank you especially to my sister, without whom this book never would have happened. If it weren’t for her talking me through the rough spots, brainstorming with me, and making me “Mars-flavored” smoothies at the drop of a hat, I never could have done it. Thanks also to my mom, who has been my diligent first reader and copy editor for my entire life and still hasn’t disowned me yet.

  I also want to thank my best friend and fellow writer, Selenia Paz. She has seen almost as many different versions of this story as my sister, and she remained supportive of the book even when I was positive that it was completely terrible. Once again, without her, this book never would have existed.

  Thank you to everyone who has helped made this book a reality. Thanks especially to Ayah Assem for all her support, from coordinating writing sprints to talking me into joining the Camp NaNoWriMo cabin that finally got this book finished; to everyone at Snowy Wings Publishing for providing such an awesome community and home for the series; to Rose Anne Roper and Brenda J. Pierson for their editorial feedback; to Elise Marion and the amazing team at Mosaic Stock, who were able to find fantastic models to match my vision for Isaak and Nadin; and to Najla Qamber, for the beautiful cover design—it came out so much more spectacular than I ever could have hoped, and I couldn’t be happier.

  A huge shout-out to my fellow ace authors at The Pack of Aces, for supporting my writing as well as the creative ace community in general: Claudie Arseneault, Joel Cornah, Darcie Little Badger, and especially Lauren Jankowski, who brought us all together in the first place. They are all awesome and you should check out their books, I’m just saying.

  And finally, the biggest thanks of all must go to my former students at Lawrence Elementary School. Your love of science—and especially of Mars—is what put the idea for this book in my head in the first place. I wrote this story for all of you, and I can only hope that it’s something you will enjoy. Keep reaching for the stars, because I believe that each of you has the ability to change the world.

  Lyssa Chiavari is an author of speculative fiction for young adults, including the critically-acclaimed Fourth World (Book One of the Iamos Trilogy) from Snowy Wings Publishing, and Cheerleaders From Planet X, a quirky sci-fi romance published by The Kraken Collective. Her short fiction has appeared in Ama-gi magazine, Wings of Renewal, and Brave New Girls: Tales of Heroines Who Hack. She’s also the editor of the anthologies Perchance to Dream and Magic at Midnight. When she’s not writing, you can usually find her exploring the woods near her home in the Pacific Northwest or losing an unreasonable number of life balloons on Donkey Kong. Visit Lyssa on the web at lyssachiavari.com.

  ◦ • ◦

  t h e • i a m o s • t r i l o g y

  Different Worlds - An Iamos Novella

  Available now!

  New World - Book Two of the Iamos Trilogy

  Available now!

  One World - Book Three of the Iamos Trilogy

  Coming soon!

  “The Choice” - An Iamos Short Story

  Available for free to newsletter subscribers!

  “Sea-Stars and Sand Dollars” - An Iamos Short Story

  Available now in Brave New Girls: Tales of Heroines Who Hack

  o t h e r • n o v e l s

  Cheerleaders from Planet X

  Available now!

  s h o r t • f i c t i o n

  Gale: A Sci-fi Novella

  Available now!

  “Seven Years Among Dragons”

  Read for free now!

  “CinderellA.I.”

  Available now in Magic at Midnight: A YA Fairy Tale Anthology

  Love short stories? Be sure to check out my Patreon, where I regularly post exclusive shorts and sneak peeks at my upcoming books!

  ◦ • ◦

  If you enjoyed Fourth World, check out these other great
sci-fi and dystopian titles from Snowy Wings Publishing!

  ◦ • ◦

  Starswept by Mary Fan

  Some melodies reach across the stars...

  In 2157, the Adryil—an advanced race of telepathic humanoids—contacted Earth. A century later, 15-year-old violist Iris Lei considers herself lucky to attend Papilio, a prestigious performing arts school powered by their technology. Born penniless, Iris’s one shot at a better life is to attract an Adryil patron. But only the best get hired, and competition is fierce.

  A sudden encounter with an Adryil boy upends her world. Iris longs to learn about him and his faraway realm, but after the authorities arrest him for trespassing, the only evidence she has of his existence is the mysterious alien device he slipped to her.

  When she starts hearing his voice in her head, she wonders if her world of backstabbing artists and pressure for perfection is driving her insane. Then, she discovers that her visions of him are real—by way of telepathy—and soon finds herself lost in the kind of impossible love she depicts in her music.

  But even as their bond deepens, Iris realizes that he’s hiding something from her—and it’s dangerous. Her quest for answers leads her past her sheltered world to a strange planet lightyears away, where she uncovers secrets about Earth’s alien allies that shatter everything she knows.