by Kaden Reed
Contents
Dedication
Prologue
1 - Chapter One
2 - Chaper Two
3 - Chapter Three
4 - Chapter Four
5 - Chapter Five
6 - Chapter Six
7 - Chapter Seven
8 - Chapter Eight
9 - Chapter Nine
10 - Chapter Ten
11 - Chapter Eleven
12 - Chapter Twelve
13 - Chapter Thirteen
14 - Chapter Fourteen
15 - Chapter Fifteen
16 - Chapter Sixteen
Epilogue
This one is for you dad.
Prologue
What Comes
My people have no recollection of a time before our being, or our birth - we just were. As far back as we can remember we have traveled across the void for eons in search of the energy, the mana, that would sustain us upon our exploration. Drawn ever onward, we went from planet to planet, pulling the needed life-force from them and then continuing on our journey in perpetuity.
We have danced on the edge of a black hole, rode the wave of a giant supernova, heard the birth pangs of stars and glided through the serene embrace of nebulas beyond counting. The need to see, to know, what was and what would be, nestled in the minds of each of my brothers and sisters. To discover was both our purpose and our joy. Perhaps it was that purpose that beckoned to us from the beyond, luring us ever in the direction of the inevitable.
Like a distant flame on a cold night, we were aware of the quickening on a level that superseded the mundane. Energy, mana, our life-sustaining nectar called to us from beyond the horizon. Whispers of the abundance, the riches if we but reached out and grasped it, toyed with us on the solar winds like a coy lover. Racing onward, my people gave chase as only those that have embraced a new love for the first time could hope to understand. Faster and faster we sped, until the glow in the distance transformed into a brilliant star, and we sped even faster. And then we arrived.
I have no recollection of the time we spent merely staring in wonder at what was before us. Time ceases to have any definable meaning when you measure your life against those of the stars themselves. All I know was that it was the most glorious spectacle that my people had ever seen. Crossing the barren world in a web of ley lines that seemed to have no beginning, nor end, the energy flowed unwaveringly. Mana in a dizzying array of colors that we had not thought were even possible, danced in an abundance never considered to be imaginable.
As beings of pure mana, we had no need of the material, yet we had an inherent respect for the planets and stars that gave us life. We only took as much energy from a source as it could impart. Because of this, we were a race of vagabonds - until that very moment in time. There was so much mana in that world that my people, the eternal wanderers of the space between stars, stopped traveling for the first time in our lives.
Basking in the ambient sustenance provided by this fountain of life over the span of thousands of years, the desires of the many gradually began to diverge. What was once forged with bonds thought unbreakable, my brothers and sisters gradually started to drift apart. Some wanting to resume our journey across the heavens, others desiring to stay at this world we had started to consider our home.
I don’t think we knew what we were doing when we decided that, as a people, we would go our individual ways. But, as I found often happens to those cursed with the burden of consciousness, that fateful decision is one that will forever plague my kind.
As creations made entirely of mana, our community was one of thought, and as such it was no great inconvenience to have thousands of minds come and go as they pleased. No, it was the lifetime of being inseparable that forced my people to develop something that I would later come to recognize was entirely unique to us. Despite our thousands of individual personalities, all of my people shared one thing in common - all of us shared a single heart. And, to my infinite sorrow, the only way to separate a heart is to break it.
To a core, our heart shattered. The breaking of which threw some of us into the grip of insanity. Now no more than feral beasts, they were consumed by their base natures of feeding upon the abundant wellspring of mana this world continued to offer. In their rage they turned upon each other, envious of their neighbor’s energy and fought viciously for the right to claim it.
However, the majority of my people fell dormant wherever they were on the world. I still have not figured out why, but I suspect it was a self-preserving instinct due to the immense shock that the shattering inflicted upon us. If it was not for the fact that I noticed they were still passively consuming small quantities of mana, I would have feared they had ceased to be.
Although I was overcome by grief at losing the bonds I had with my people, something achingly beautiful arose from the tragedy. The essence that was lost from us when our cores shattered mixed with the abundant energy from the world spurred something truly surprising to come to fruition. Forests, rivers, deserts, and great oceans all sprang into existence in the brief span of several millennia. And eventually emerging from the chaotic mana, material life took its first steps into the galaxy.
I do not know why I alone remained sane through the shattering, and I doubt I will ever find an answer to this mystery, but I have vowed to watch over my brothers and sisters. To wait patiently for when they can return to me. My people came from the stars, to which I hope someday we may return. Until then, I would do what I could to shepherd these creations, my people’s tragic descendants on this world, our home - Ignotia.
- Anasazi, The Journey to Home
Day 1 of the Arathmis Cycle, also known as the end of the Age of Monsters and the beginning of the Age of the Khanri
Slipping through the undergrowth along a deer trail with practiced ease, trained from boyhood the young hunter made no discernible sound that didn’t blend with the natural sounds of the forest. Wearing mottled brown and green leathers, his form seemed to meld with his surroundings, making his passage difficult to follow without a trained eye. Having run nearly all day and night, he scampered up a tree to get his bearings and catch his breath. Gazing between the pine leaves, the man, his shoulder-length black hair uncut to signify a warrior of his people, searched along the trail he had been traveling for any signs of his pursuer. Not seeing anything by the light of the moon, he strained his ears but all he could hear was the vague thunder from the waves crashing along the beach to the west. Far in the distance in the opposite direction, he could faintly see the light from several cooking fires with their trails of smoke weaving through the boughs of the forest, revealing the location of his village, Telenor – the only sign of habitation on this side of the peninsula.
The snap of a broken twig near to his tree startled him so much that he nearly lost his grip. Holding on tightly with his pulse racing, a new surge of adrenaline focused his mind and he saw the slight rustle of leaves marking the location of what had been hunting him all night. Slipping down the tree as quickly as he could, he landed on the ground harder than expected. Stifling a groan as he got back on his feet, he lurched off through the forest, desperation coloring his frantic movements.
The sounds of something giving up all pretense of stealth and noisily chasing him, spurred him to even greater speed. Dodging past trees, he tried to listen for any signs of what was hunting him, but the sounds of his own noisy passage filled his ears. After about a mile he was sure that he had managed to shake his stalker. Determined to put more distance between them, he plowed through the bushes that his mottled brown and dark green hunting leathers seemed to blend into with nearly perfectly and barely managed to gasp in surprise before he collided with a boulder that was suddenly in front of him. Turning his shoulder just enough to
receive most of the impact, he bounced off the large rock and slammed on to the ground.
"Okay that hurt," groaning, he shook his head to try to clear the ringing in his ears brought on by the sudden sensation of attempting to move an immovable object with his face. "That is definitely going to bruise," he moaned as he pushed himself to his feet and looked around. Recognizing that he had entered the area of the peninsula that was shunned by his people. The Telenor village elders disagreed with his assumptions that the stones here were likely from a forgotten civilization. But he had spent a lot of his free time searching through this area looking for hints of his people’s legacy. The pieces of stone with timeworn carvings, some as large as a hut, were strewn haphazardly throughout the area, as if some forgotten catastrophe befell this ancient town.
He climbed up the large boulder that he had bounced off a moment before. His right shoulder ached slightly but he eventually reached the top. Breathing heavily, he lay flat on his belly and looked around. As late in the night as it was, a thin mist was pulled from the ground which made it difficult to see any signs of his pursuer, but the young hunter was sure that it wouldn’t be long. As if he possessed prophetic insight, before he had time to catch his breath the slight sound of the bushes rustling that grew ever nearer at an alarming rate.
Slipping as he jumped down from the boulder, he gave an involuntary, but masculine, squeal of pain as he flopped onto the ground. In desperation he pushed passed the flare of agony that he didn’t have time for right then and promptly took off in the opposite direction of his stalker like a scared rabbit.
Quietly repeating his mantra of "oh shit, she is close," over and over under his breath, he shimmied around several more boulders that rose in his path. When a yawning dark hole opened before him, he skidded to a stop clinging to the base of a tree, barely in time to prevent himself from plummeting in.
Gasping in fear and cursing his luck, he cowered behind the tree that recently doubled as his savior. Trying desperately to catch the breath that was heaving loudly in his ears, the hunter listened to his surroundings, acutely aware that he had reached the end of his trail. If she wasn't here already, she would be very soon.
A slight rustle in the bushes to his left forced his attention in that direction. Holding his breath as he peered around the tree, waiting for her to show herself. The hunter wasn’t sure if his eyes were playing tricks on him, but he thought he could see the barest of outlines within the bushes as they swayed in the wind.
Now in a slight panic, he grabbed a small rock and threw it in the bushes behind him. Hoping against hope that she would take the bait, he shrank down behind the tree in stark terror, knowing that the end was near. He had no more tricks to play, if she doesn't follow that noise, he was done for.
After a brief pause that seemed to last an eternity, he heard her quietly slipping through the undergrowth in the direction of the rock he threw. Not able to believe his luck, he took a couple of moments to try to get his hands to pause from shaking so much, then he peered in the direction she went. Seeing nothing but the bushes gently undulating in the winds, he rose to his knees and prepared to slip out, heading in the opposite direction. That was when hunter felt the prick of something sharp at his back and froze instinctively.
"Don't make me chase you any further Clay, I have caught you," the confident voice of his pursuer said behind him, "you have lost. Accept your fate."
"Or what Briar? Will you slay me right here?" Holding his head high, the hunter whispered back to his captor with ice in his veins. Clay knew he had lost but he couldn’t pass up the opportunity to goad her one last time.
"Must I slay you for you to admit that I have caught my prey?" She purred at him in triumph.
"Do what you will. I admit defeat by your hands," he said as he gazed forlornly at the trails of smoke rising from the cooking fires of his village in the distance.
Clay heard her pulling something out of her backpack and then felt the cold touch of metal around his neck. She cinched it down until it was snug with his skin then stepped back, "as the stars as my witness, I have hunted you across the peninsula on the last day of Eventide. Having caught you, I have marked you with my Sorah. Clay, from this day onward, I claim you as mine. You will be my husband," she declared triumphantly.
"Always so formal Briar," he shook his head ruefully, and turned around to see a grin on her face, "are you pleased with yourself?"
"I will be when you say the words," Briar looked up at him expectantly. At over six feet tall, he was one of the tallest men in his village. Being selected at a very young age to apprentice with the hunters, his childhood training had refined his youthful strength with the readiness of a warrior born to live within the forests surrounding Telenor.
"Do I really need too? You know as well as I do, that you have been planning this since we were kids," Clay said while he looked her over. Years spent running around the forest had honed her body to a supple tautness. When she moved, the grace of her stride distracted many of the young men in his village, his included. Briar was about a head and a half shorter than him with black hair that hung to her shoulders which framed an oval face with eyes that were perhaps just a tad too close together. However, rather than detracting from her beauty it seemed to direct your attention to her eyes which were a startling lavender in color. It was those eyes that ensnared the hunter now.
"Say it Clay," she growled at him.
"As you wish," he said with a smirk, "I stand claimed by you Briar. I will wear your Sorah until I die, so that all men, women and children, shall know the purity of our bond. I will be your husband and will know no other touch but yours."
With his final words Briar melted slightly, "oh Clay, I am so happy," she squealed while wrapping her arms around his neck. "I have been practicing the hunt for the last three seasons so I could claim you. Now that it is done... Now that you will be mine," she trailed off with tears in her eyes.
"Hey, there wasn't any doubt here that you were going to catch me. There is no other woman on this peninsula, or beyond the horizons, that could possibly put up with me. Let alone, actually want too," he chuckled mirthlessly.
Briar reached around and slapped him across his chest, "yeah, you are probably right. By this time next year, I will probably regret my words and wish that I broke an ankle or something," she sighed in feigned resignation.
"Ouch," he put his hand over his chest like he had been wounded, "but consider yourself forewarned, I have been told I snore."
Laughing loudly, Briar tightened her arms around his neck, "you are mine."
He sighed contentedly, "yes, I am yours."
They just held each other in quiet contentment for a while, rocking from side to side slightly. "It will be full dark soon, we should head back to Telenor," he whispered into her ear.
She released a long sigh and unwrapped her arms from around his neck, "yeah, I know, the rights must be observed. I don’t want any of the gossip mongers thinking we lack honor. There are some glow potions in my pack. I don't want you falling into a crevasse on the way back now."
She grabbed two glow potions and gave one to him. He shook it vigorously until it started emitting a faint glow that built up over half a minute. Each potion provided about as much light as a torch but lasted about three times as long. Their village alchemist stumbled on the recipe to make them a few seasons ago and the hunters in the village have been stockpiling the ingredients so the village can take a large shipment to trade with the other nearby villages this summer.
In the light of the potion, he looked around his surroundings. As the light fell on the edges of the hole near the tree, curiosity gripped him. After retracing his steps, he cautiously approached the area that he first encountered it and saw the empty blackness that formed the hole into the earth become more defined the closer he approached. Feeling carefully with the toe of his boots for firm footing, he made his way to the edge of the hole and knelt next to it. Holding his hand with the glow potion over the edge,
the hunter worked it around the opening but wasn’t able to see any more details than inky blackness that seemed to stretch on unending.
"This one looks deep," he muttered as Briar crawled up beside him carrying a small rock.
Tossing it into the hole, they both held their breath, waiting to hear the sound of the stone hitting the bottom. They waited for a long time before Clay released his breath. Shrugging he looked at Briar, "there is probably mud or something at the bottom of this hole. That would muffle the sound and would be why we didn't hear anything.”
"Yeah, you are probably right," she muttered distractedly while still searching the inky darkness.
Getting to his feet Clay reached down to help Briar up. Smiling up at him, her hand froze in midair as she quickly turned back to the hole in shock, "did you hear that?"
"Hear what?" The hunter asked while looking from her back to the hole in confusion.
"I just heard a voice, it was really faint, but I think it might have been asking a question," Briar said while she resumed sprawling next to the hole, cocking her head to the side to try to hear the mysterious voice.
"I didn't hear anything. Are you sure it wasn't the wind in the trees playing tricks?" He quietly asked her.
"Clay, I know what I heard. I think it came from down there," she answered him a little sharply while gesturing down into the depths below.
Concern evident on his face, Clay knelt next to Briar for some time. Lost in thought, she startled the hunter when she abruptly came to a decision and she yelled down the hole, "I hear you but can't make out what you are saying! Can you yell any louder?"
Holding their breath again, they strained their ears to catch any sound. As the silence seemed to stretch unendingly, the only response they received was the wind softly blowing in the trees which was barely audible above the blood pounding in their ears.
"I don't hear anything Briar," he put his hand on her shoulder, "let's go home. We have a lot to celebrate tonight."
