[The Legend of ZERO 01.0] Forging Zero
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Also! I’m prolific! I have several other sci-fi/fantasy series that my fans like just as much as (if not more than) ZERO:
Outer Bounds: Fortune’s Rising (On an ancient alien graveyard where intelligence is a renewable resource, a ruthless child ignites an interstellar war to liberate her colony).
Sunny, with a Chance of Monsters (A former Alaskan EMT finds herself cursed, forgotten, and penniless. With no hope and nothing to lose, she launches into a deadly game of cat-and-mouse with a dangerous man on the country’s Most Wanted List, only to find out he’s not a man at all).
Alaskan Fire (A six-foot-tall redhead escapes the chaos of the city by purchasing a fishing lodge in the Alaskan Bush, only to find out that her backwoods neighbors are straight out of myth and legend, and they’ve already ‘claimed’ the land she just bought…)
Millennium Potion: Wings of Retribution. (A group of career criminals and hunted fugitives band together to steal the cure for immortality.)
Thanks for reading!
-Sara King
-END-
About the Author
My name is Sara King and I’m going to change the world.
No, seriously. I am. And I need your help. My goal is simple. I want to champion, define, and spread character writing throughout the galaxy. (Okay, maybe we can just start with Planet Earth.) I want to take good writing out of the hands of the huge corporations who have had a stranglehold on the publishing industry for so long and reconnect it to the people (you) and what you really want. I want to democratize writing as an art form. Something that’s always been controlled by an elite few who have (in my opinion) a different idea of what is ‘good writing’ than the rest of the world, and have been feeding the sci-fi audience over 50% crap for the last 40 years.
To assist me in my goals to take over the world (crap, did I say that out loud??), please leave a review for this book! It’s the first and easiest way for you guys to chip in and assist your friendly neighborhood writer-gal. And believe me, every review helps otherwise unknown books like mine stand up against the likes of the Big Boys on an impersonal site like Amazon.
Also, I have an email! (Totally surprising, I know.) Use it! (Don’t you know that fanmail keeps writers going through those dark times when we run out of chocolate???) I love posting letters on Facebook—gives me something fulfilling to do with my time. ;) Shoot me a line! kingnovel@gmail.com
You can also SIGN UP FOR MY MAILING LIST! Seriously, I give away free books, ask people to beta-read scenes and novels, and give updates on all the series I’m currently working on. Stay informed!
And, for those of you who do the Facebook thing, check me out: http://www.facebook.com/kingfiction (personal) or http://www.facebook.com/sknovel (my author page) or stay up to date on continuous new ZERO publications with The Legend of ZERO fan page: http://www.facebook.com/legendofzero
And lastly, my website. www.kingfiction.com
Afterword
In case you hadn’t guessed, this is the first book in a (very) large, sprawling sci-fi world. More ZERO stories are coming out very soon, if they haven’t already, and I will very likely write more novels in this world, simply because I’ve been told to. Repeatedly. By people with that crazed, hungry look in their eyes. (Shudder.) These are the ZERO books and materials currently on my plate:
The Legend of ZERO: Zero Recall. (It’s a play on Forgotten.) 53 turns after Forging ZERO, Joe Dobbs is recalled to fight a war the likes of which Congress has never seen.
The Legend of ZERO: Zero’s Return. 20 turns after Zero faces off Forgotten in Zero Recall, he returns to Earth to fight a new kind of war—the kind that will determine the future of the Human race.
The Legend of ZERO: The Many Misadventures of Flea, Agent of Chaos. If you enjoyed Flea from Book 2, this is the one for you. A Trith is out to trigger a universal war, and only one bug can bring him down.
The Legend of ZERO: The Scientist, the Rat, and the Assassin. Rat and Sam have to survive the alien apocalypse (and each other) in this 85,000 word novella. (It’s actually the size of a lot of people’s novels, but it’s half the size of a normal ZERO novel, so I’m calling it a ‘novella.’)
The Legend of ZERO: Zero’s Redemption. There’s an ancient chaos brewing in Congress, and the lives of both the Jreet and the experiments hang in the balance. Can Joe and his old friends stop the dominoes from falling fast enough to save Congress?
The Legend of ZERO: Legacy. After preserving Earth’s most precious resource from the hands of the Huouyt, Joe and his friends must now work together to survive this new post-apocalyptic world—and find the People a home.
The Legend of ZERO: Forgotten. A Sacred Turn after Zero returned to Earth, his descendants seek out his ancient nemesis with a bargain Forgotten cannot resist: Remove Earth from Congress without a single death, and Humans will give him his freedom.
The Complete ZERO WorldBuilder: A complete(ly massive) glossary, fun facts, timeline, illustrations, and cool details that I couldn’t pack into the books.
The Moldy Dead: A story about the Origins of the Geuji, one of whom plays a dominant role in books 2 and 4. The Moldy Dead is easily one of my best short stories.
Opening Night at the Naturals Preserve: A story about Congress’ discovery of the Baga, one of whom plays an important role in book 2.
Planetside: A fun story about how the Ueshi earned the right to fly.
The First Gods of Fire: The story of how Congress was formed.
Breaking the Mold: How the Geuji were betrayed by Congress (again).
Beda and Shael: A Jreet love story, a la Romeo and Juliet. Except this time, it’s Vorans and Welus. Yeah, sparks fly. And blood. And scales…
Parting Gift: The Vanun struggle to escape the Huouyt, both of whom evolved on the same planet. (Vanun on land, Huouyt in the sea).
Syuri: Everybody loves lackeys. Here’s how Forgotten got his.
And keep your eyes open for more, as I will keep putting them up whenever I have time. Just search “The Legend of ZERO” on Amazon. Also, if you liked ZERO, you’d probably like Outer Bounds: Fortune’s Rising. It’s another character sci-fi that’ll rock your world.
And guys? Thanks. You are freakin’ awesome.
Other Titles by Sara King
Sunny Day, Paranormal Badass: Sunny with a Chance of Monsters
Guardians of the First Realm: Alaskan Fire
Guardians of the First Realm: Alaskan Fury
Millennium Potion: Wings of Retribution
Outer Bounds: Fortune’s Rising
Outer Bounds: Fortune’s Folly
Terms of Mercy: To the Princess Bound
ZERO: Forging Zero
ZERO: The Moldy Dead
ZERO: Zero Recall
ZERO: Zero’s Return
ZERO: The Scientist, the Rat, and the Assassin
ZERO: Flea, Agent of Chaos
ZERO: World Glimpses
Coming Soon:
Guardians of the First Realm: Alaskan Fang
Guardians of the First Realm: Alaskan Fiend
Guardians of the First Realm: Fury of the Fourth Realm
ZERO: Zero’s Redemption
ZERO: Zero’s Legacy
ZERO: Forgotten
Terms of Mercy: Slave of the Dragon Lord
Aulds of the Spyre: The Sheet Charmer
Aulds of the Spyre: Form and Function
Outer Bounds: Children of Fortune
Mini Glossary
(i.e. the So-You-Don’t-Lose-Your-Mind Tiny Version)
Glossary – Dhasha Terms
Glossary – Huouyt Terms
Glossary – Ooreiki Terms
Glossary – Universal Terms
Glossary – Species
Glossary – Measurements
Glossary – Ranks
Dhasha-specific:
Ka-par (ka-par) – The predatory game of wills that older Dhasha play with worthy prey creatures or other ancient Dhasha. A stare-down until one contestant submits.<
br />
Ka-par inalt (ka-par in-alt) – ‘I submit.’
Ka-par rak’tal. (ka-par rak*tal) – ‘duel accepted.’ *is used to denote a guttural, back-of-throat, almost hacking sound.
Mahid ka-par (ma-heed ka-par) – ‘may it begin.’
Vahlin (vah-lin) – the legendary leader of the Dhasha, prophecized to be ‘dark of body’ and lead them to independence from tyranny.
Huouyt-specific:
Breja (bray-shjah) – the quarter-inch long, downy white cilia covering a Huouyt’s entire body. Extremely painful to be pulled or mutilated, as it is basically raw nerves.
Zora (zoh-rah) – the red, wormlike, many-tentacled appendage that exits a Houyt’s forehead. Much like a fleshy form of coral in appearance when fully extended. It is the zora that allows a Huouyt to digest and analyze genetic material to take a new pattern.
Ooreiki-specific:
Adpi (ad-pee) – Three ceremonial ruvmestin caps on the tips of the fingers of an Ooreiki’s right hand that signify an Ooreiki of the yeeri caste. Silver caps laced with Celtic-type knots. Must be removed in order for a yeeri to join the military.
Ash/soot – a disgusting, unclean substance
Ashsoul – the most extreme insult in the Ooreiki language. Also translates to ‘lost one’
Ashy – shitty/gross/disgusting/awful
Burn/burning – used much like Human fuck/fucking
Charhead – dumbass, someone stupid, alternatively: someone with an unclean/dirty mind
Furgsoot – bull, bullshit, horseshit, crap, yeah right
Hoga (ho-ga) – An Ooreiki caste, one of 4—yeeri, wriit, hoga, vkala. Hoga are the Ooreiki upper-middle class. They consist of scribes, scholars, and scientists. The intellectuals and inventors, second only to the yeeri.
Niish (nish) – Ooreiki child, also used to describe a form of larvae.
Niish Ahymar (nish ay-a-mar) - An Ooreiki ceremony to determine caste where a red-hot brand is pressed into a child’s skin. Vkala do not burn, and are then cast to onen. The traditional Ooreiki ceremony of adulthood.
Oorei (oo-ray) – the Ooreiki term for ‘soul.’ It is the name of the crystalline sphere carried within every Ooreiki and removed by Poenian yeeri priests at their death. Emotional/psychological experiences throughout life change color of crystal. Considered to be the highest crime of Ooreiki society to harm an oorei.
Asher – much like ‘asshole,’ but with an aggressive, fighting connotation
Shenaal (She-nahl) – Mark of the Pure. The burn left when Ooreiki niish are tested during the Niish Ahymar.
Sootbag – someone disgusting, unprepared, unequipped
Sooter – disgusting, unclean person; bastard, dumbass. Less aggressive connotation than ‘asher,’ though similar use.
Sootwad – degrading, denotes disrespect, a useless person
Vkala (vah-ka-la) – Fire Gods, the lowest caste of Ooreiki. Considered unclean, are generally killed in adolescence during the Niish Ahymar. Some Ooreiki vkala children survive their bouts with the onen, though never without great scarring, which forever marks them as the lowest class of Ooreiki. Vkala gained their ill repute in the formation of Congress on Vora, when the Ooreiki delegates were genetically modified to withstand fire in order to attend the peace-talks on the often-fiery Jreet home-planet. All vkala are direct descendants of the original Ooreiki delegation that helped form Congress, and whom returned as heroes and were offered many breeding opportunities. Unfortunately, the peace-loving Ooreiki, expecting the formation of Congress to lead to a permanent end of war, were appalled when their new nation discovered its first heavy resistance and had to institute the first Draft. Once hailed as heroes, those who now carry the genetic modification protecting them from fire are despised as having ancestors who betrayed the Ooreiki race. (See The Legend of ZERO Additional Materials.)
Wriit (wri-it)– An Ooreiki caste, one of 4—yeeri, wriit, hoga, vkala. Wriit are the Ooreiki craftsmen, workers, and artisans; the Ooreiki middle class.
Yeeri (yee-re) – An Ooreiki caste, one of 4—yeeri, wriit, hoga, vkala. Yeeri are the Ooreiki’s artists and priests, renowned throughout congress as the creators of the most magnificent art in the universe. The highest Ooreiki caste, very pampered and educated. Yeeri are also the priests who attend the oorei in temples on Poen.
Universal words:
Akarit (Ack-are-it) – Expensive, golden ring-shaped signal-scrambling device used by insurgents and assassins.
Ekhta (ek-tuh) – Planet-killer. The most destructive bomb in the Congressional arsenal, one of the many great inventions of the Geuji during the Age of Expansion. Like all Geuji technology, the manufacture is so complex that it is un-reproducible by any other mind, and Congress simply follows the steps outlined by the Geuji to create it. (For more info on the Geuji, check out ‘The Moldy Dead’ and ‘Breaking the Mold’ in The Legend of ZERO Additional Materials.)
Ferlii (fur-lee) – The massive alien, fungus-like growths covering Ooreiki planets whose reddish spores turn the sky purple. Used as a unit of measurement: One ferlii-length is similar to a human mile.
Furg – A short, squat, very hairy alien that is as ugly as it is stupid. A tool-user, but too primitive to use anything other than sharpened rocks. Think a stocky, 2.5-foot-tall Neanderthal who breeds fast enough to replace numbers lost to stupidity. Darwinian law does not apply.
Furgling – A younger version of a furg. Shorter, hairier, and stupider than its parents.
Haauk (hawk) – skimmer, the floating platforms used as personal planetary transportation
Jenfurgling – One of the most blatantly stupid creatures in Congress. An evolutionary offshoot of furgs arriving on an island where the population underwent a severe bottleneck and had no predators. They delight in beating their hairy faces against the ground and playing with their own excrement.
Kasja (kas-jah) – Highest congressional war-medal. Awarded to a very few, very highly esteemed.
Kkee (ca-ca-ee) – yes
Ninety Jreet Hells – The ninety levels of pain and unpleasantness that a Jreet warrior must pass through upon death in order to reach the afterlife. (See The Legend of ZERO Additional Materials.)
Nkjan (naka-john) – war; also: “Evil”
Nkjanii (naka-john-ee-ay) – “Evildoer” – battlemaster
Oonnai (oon-nigh) - hello
Oora (oo-ra) – “Souled one” - sir
Otwa (Aht-wha) – A ceremonial rifle that the Ooreiki used to fight the first Jreet invasions, before the formation of Congress. To the Ooreiki, it represents a time when they gave up their ideals to survive. Now considered the ceremonial rifle of Congress, used for important gatherings, presentations, and parades.
Peacemakers- the governmental, semi-military authorities who are autonomous in judging, monitoring, and policing the populace. Their main task is to make sure nobody has seditious thoughts, symbol is an eight-pointed star with a planet balancing on each tip. Their base planet is Levren, but they also maintain the Sanctuary on Koliinaat, which is the only place on the planet that is inaccessible to the Watcher.
Planetary Ops (also: PlanOps) – symbol is a single sphere, half red, half blue. Tattoo is of a green, single-moon planet with a headcom, a PPU, and a species-generic plasma rifle leaning against the debris ring. The tattoo glows slightly, a cell-by-cell gene modification that causes the tattooed skin to bio-luminesce.
Ruvmestin (ruv-meh-stihn) – A whitish, extremely heavy metal with a greater density than gold. The most valuable metal in Congress. Used in Geuji technologies, esp. nannites, like biosuits and spaceships. Does not oxidize in air. Mined on the government planets of Grakkas, Yeejor, and Pelipe. Once ruvmestin is discovered on a planet, Congress immediately claims the planet for the common good, removing it from the Planetary Claims Board queue.
Sacred Turn – Time period. 666 turns.
Tribunal – The three members of the Regency chosen to represent and make judgments for the whole of Congress. The Tribunal are the power-memb
ers of the Regency, usually occupied by members of the Grand Six. Aliphei is First Citizen, and has maintained a seat on the Tribunal for the entire duration of Congress. The symbol of the Tribunal is three red circles inside a silver ring, surrounded by eight blue circles formed into two sides facing off against each other.
Zahali (za-ha-li) – I’m sorry
Species:
Dhasha (Dah-sha) – One of the Grand Six. Very dangerous, violent beasts with indestructible metallic scales that shine with constantly-shifting iridescence. Big, crystalline, oval green eyes, long black talons, stubby bodies, sharklike faces with triangular black teeth. Their nostrils are set beside their eyes. Females are golden instead of rainbow, males have two layers of scales, indestructible metallic on top, gold underneath. Gutteral, snarling voice. Laugh by clacking their teeth together. Grow continuously throughout their lifetimes.
Huouyt (sounds like: White) – One of the Grand Six. Three-legged, ancestrally aquatic shape-shifters. Bleed clear mucous. Breja - Downy white fluff covering body. Tentacle legs and paddle-like arms. Cylindrical torso, enormous, electric-blue eyes, and a triangular, squid-like head. Zora- red, wormy gills in upper center of Huouyt heads that allow them to take the genetic patterns of another creature. Huouyt have a bad reputation in Congress. They are cunning, sneaky, adaptable, and excellent mimics. Considered to be psychopathic by most species in Congress.
Jahul (Jah-hool)– One of the Grand Six. Sextuped empaths with greenish skin and a chemical defense system of releasing their own wastes over their skin.