Mary watched as the star rose beyond the distant crystal peaks, each housing thousands of her brethren. Now they would rise up to do their final bidding. Their fate had been sealed countless ages ago, and each knew their purpose. The Unwinding was upon them.
Mary knew all of this, as she was now Iskios, one of the Ancients. As the first rays of light cast themselves over her, she raised her hands toward the heavens. Power crackled throughout her. She smiled as useless human tears spilled down her cheeks. Black mist rose from the ground, from the crystals. Each buried Iskios was released from their resting place and combined together, forming a swirling vortex of energy and supremacy.
Different colors from the crystals merged with the immense cloud of swirling black mist, the pigment of the stones adding to the influence of the Iskios vortex.
Mary felt the entire world in her body. Her family was with her once again. Black energy coursed through her, mist clinging to her hair and clothing as she floated off the crystal pyramid and into the air. Higher she flew. A bubble of atmosphere circled her as she entered the blackness of space. The vessel needed oxygen to live, and the Iskios wouldn’t let the vessel come to any harm.
Mary could feel the life inside her for the first time. The spawn she and her mate had created was strong. It added to her own strength, and Mary understood the importance of this. She was the True. She and her child together were the True.
She floated on, higher and higher, Lainna becoming smaller with each passing minute. The vortex of mist followed her, swirling ever larger, until every inch of the world below became colorless. Each crystal was now tint-free. Where they were once a kaleidoscope of color, they were now clear.
The vortex spun powerfully, and as it passed Lianna’s closest moon, Mary watched the huge chunk of rock pull off its axis, breaking free from the confines of gravity. The rock broke apart, devastated and consumed by the vortex before it. It was frightening and glorious.
Mary smiled widely. Yes. She was the True. The wielder of the Unwinding.
The End of The Ancients
The Survivors Book Four
BY
NATHAN HYSTAD
Copyright © 2018 Nathan Hystad
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law.
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
Cover art: Tom Edwards Design
Edited by: Scarlett R Algee
Proofed and Formatted by: BZ Hercules
Prologue
The destruction was palpable. Life forces were snuffed out as the fabric of their reality was sucked into the swirling, ever-growing vortex.
Mary stood on the farthest moon in the solar system, its cold surface hard against her boots. From there, she could see the Unwinding’s unforgiving power; but more than that, she could feel every ounce of energy pouring into it as entire planets were devoured.
She’d started with the system’s star, and what a rush of adrenaline that had been. She felt the vortex slowly growing with every planet’s addition. Each entity and consciousness it ate fed the annihilation, and Mary knew she was accomplishing the Iskios’ goal even faster than they’d originally expected.
As the colorful vortex continued through the system, it came into view, and tears spilled down her mortal face inside her atmospheric bubble. Tears of joy. Of accomplishment. Of sadness.
Mary shook her head, trying to clear out the never-ceasing voice of reason that lingered in the back of her mind: a tiny pecking at her brain, telling her this wasn’t right. That she could stop all of this, that she just needed to concede to the voice, to give it back control.
Images of another human mortal flashed into her mind: short dark hair, graying at the sides, a smile that made her heart warm. A name. Dean Parker.
“Begone!” she screamed. Her hand rested on her belly, where she could feel a change. The spawn was growing inside her, and she could feel its energy already spanning into her bloodstream. There was no time for this vessel’s motives.
The Unwinding was upon them, and they had a lot to do.
Mary watched as the last planet in the solar system was swallowed by the gaping, swirling maw of the vortex. She floated off the small lonely moon toward the next target, staying just long enough to see the moon ripped apart before she closed her eyes and vanished.
One
“I need to see Sarlun,” I said to the paisley-robed guard approaching me in the Shimmali Shandra room. As always, the stark whiteness of the chamber reminded me of a hospital room. If I closed my eyes, I could hear the soft beeping of the machines Janine had been hooked up to all those years ago.
The guard’s elongated snout twitched. “He’s not available.” The translator I was wearing allowed us to speak to one another with ease.
“Then make him available!” I shouted, not willing to put up with any barricades today. Mary’s loss was still fresh. The void left from her abduction by the Iskios had burrowed deep into my soul. Nothing was going to keep me from getting back to her.
“I’ll see what I can do,” he said, his tweets and chirps sung in a staccato tone. He left the room, leaving me alone in the white space, making it feel even more like a hospital waiting area.
Magnus was going to be angry I hadn’t brought him along. When I’d woken up in my house alone a couple of hours earlier, I’d decided I needed to see Sarlun one-on-one. He didn’t know Magnus well, and I wanted him to be as open as he could be. As a Gatekeeper, he wouldn’t share any inside knowledge with someone not sworn in.
The doors slid open, and Suma came rushing forward. She wrapped her little arms around me, as had become her custom when seeing one of us. I held her tight, trying to understand the translation of the erratic noises she was making.
“Calm down, Suma. What is it?” I asked.
She separated from me and stood back. I noticed how much taller she was, and that her eyes were damp. She was nearing adulthood for a Shimmal, and I was proud of how smart and caring she was.
“Is it true?” she asked.
Word had somehow gotten around. That was interesting. I nodded. “It’s true. They took her.”
“How? I don’t understand.”
We moved into the hallway, and she led me toward her father’s office. “I was told he wasn’t available.”
“He’s here. They’re always told to say that to any unscheduled visitors.” Suma was greeted by a few other Shimmali people as we wound our way around the building.
We arrived at his office doors, and Suma typed in a code on a panel; the doors slid open after the console beeped and turned green. Sarlun sat behind his desk, staring out a window at the lush landscape below.
He jumped when I cleared my throat, like he hadn’t even known someone had entered his space. When he saw us, he stood, his snout drooping low.
“Dean. I’m surprised to see you,” he said, motioning for me to have a seat. “Suma, can you leave us, please?”
“Father, I want to stay. I can help.”
“Suma…”
I cut him off. “Let her stay. She’s old enough, and she’s one of the few I actually trust around here.”
Sarlun cringed and twitched before speaking. “Fine. Suma, remain silent.”
“Yes, Father.” She sat in a chair, her legs just long enough for her feet to touch the ground.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked.
Sarlun watched me closely, and I could see his brain calculating what I was leaving out.
“Damn it, Sarlun, we’re on the same team. Why didn’t you tell me about
the Iskios?”
He’d been holding a glass, and he dramatically let it slip from his grip, shards shattering against the stone-lined floor. We all watched as the red liquid rolled toward the edge of the room.
“Iskios!” he shouted, standing up once again. He turned his back to us and looked out the window. His hands flicked open and closed. “This can’t be. You must be mistaken.”
It was my turn to stand up. Blood boiled throughout my body, and every inch of me flushed in an instant. “Must I? Must I be mistaken?” I crossed the room in seconds, grabbing the Gatekeeper by the short collar, and I shoved him harder than I intended against the wall. “Tell that to Mary! Tell that to my wife, who’s now possessed by them!”
“Dean! Stop!” Suma was at my side, trying to pull me off her father.
I looked to her worried face and back to Sarlun, who was staring at me with wide black eyes. He didn’t try to fight back or yell at me; he just stood there, taking the abuse.
I loosened my grip, and he slumped away from the wall. Suma was gaping at me with fear, and she backed away. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what to do,” I said.
“Dean, tell me what happened.” Sarlun had come forward, and he set a hand on my forearm.
The fight drained out of me and I sat back down, elbows on my knees, hands on my face. “They took her, Sarlun. It was them all along. The artifacts, the challenges. It was them, not the Theos. They were looking for a vessel. They found her.”
Sarlun leaned against the front of his desk. “No.”
“Yes. We were so blinded by the idea of finding the Theos, we didn’t even think there could be anyone else behind it,” I said.
Suma crossed the room and grabbed me a glass of red liquid, bringing it back in two hands. I accepted it with a forced smile and took a long drink. The fruity sensation hit me, and I perked up as the natural sugars flowed into my bloodstream.
“The Iskios…” Sarlun said quietly.
“I assume you’ve heard of them.” I knew he would have, and initially my anger at not knowing about them was directed at him for withholding the information. As I sat talking with him, I was no longer mad. He likely hadn’t thought discussing them was important at the time. Now it was a matter of life and death.
“I have. Long ago, and I mean long ago, before the modern expansion of the universe, there were two races. They lived in separate corners of that chartered galaxy, and it’s said they didn’t even know of one another for a millennium.” Sarlun got himself another beverage and settled in behind his desk to tell the tale. “Eventually, one of the races became advanced enough to begin exploring space. Rumors say the Theos learned it first, but other texts claim it was the Iskios. No one really knows.”
I made a mental note to take every file, book, or drawing Sarlun had access to on the topic.
He continued. “They worked together, the races similar, yet so different. Eventually, the Theos found out their new expanded family was to be feared. As they explored the universe together and came across newly-evolved races, the Iskios only wanted to exploit them, to mutilate and adapt the beings to their needs. It went against everything the peace-loving Theos had built their history on. One particular time, it’s said, the Iskios enslaved a race in secret and forcefully adapted them to become a food source for the rich. The Theos found out and abolished their treaty, and warned the Iskios to cease their destruction. They threatened war against the other side if they so much as interfered with another race.”
Suma sat forward, listening intently to a story she hadn’t heard before. I was on the edge of my seat too, wondering where it was all going.
“Years passed, and centuries turned to millennia. The Theos lost communication with the Iskios as they set forth and colonized countless worlds, leaving the strange beings to their own devices. The Theos were tactful and tried to not interfere with new races. Eventually, they heard more terrible tales of the Iskios destroying worlds and trying to harness the power of the black hole in order to threaten entire solar systems. That was it. The Theos were powerful. They had technology unlike anyone had ever imagined. Humans would consider them magic wielders, but it was not trickery. It was pure science and energy manipulation that they dealt in.
“The story goes like this: the Theos created the portals, or Shandra, on any known world the Iskios had set foot on. They then manufactured a device that would identify every Iskios in the universe, using a functional DNA detector. From there, they roamed for centuries, capturing each and every Iskios out there. It took the Theos countless years, but they did it, and from there, no one knows what happened.”
He took another swig from his glass, and his snout rose as he kept talking. Suma and I sat in silence, letting the Gatekeeper convey his story.
“The Theos themselves disappeared after that. No sign of them either. Rumors say they destroyed each other in an epic battle of all battles. The Ancients, they called them: Theos versus Iskios. The Ancients destroyed one another, leaving the universe without the first two races that ever existed.”
I leaned back, trying to take it all in. “So the Iskios knew what was coming? They had time to make this crazy plan of finding a vessel?”
“I suppose anything is possible,” he said before adding, “I can’t believe I hadn’t considered the Iskios being behind this. Especially after seeing that shadow. They were known for their theatrics.” His tweets and chirps were slowing down, and I could see the strain on him as he sat there, slumping in his chair. “Dean, I’m sorry about Mary. We’ll do anything we can to help find her.”
“Thanks, Sarlun. And I’m sorry about…” I paused, and he just waved a hand in the air, dismissing it.
“There’s something else I have for you.” He flipped the screen on his wall from artwork to a map. With a few taps of his hand, he inputted coordinates into it, and the map zoomed into a faraway world. A familiar symbol appeared beneath it, identifying the planet as a portal world.
“What is it?” Curiosity raced through me, mixed with urgency to get back to the crystal planet where I’d been forced to leave Mary behind.
“This is Bazarn Five, a world of intellectuals, arts, and fine dining. It’s a destination for anyone with enough means to visit,” Sarlun said.
“I’m not in the mood for philosophical discussions with the galaxy’s elite right now.”
“It also houses the universe’s largest library. There you can find… anything about anything. Scholars have spent thousands of years researching and collecting information on every corner out there, and if you’re to find where the Theos are hiding, that’s the best place to start.”
Suma was on her feet, interest piqued at the idea of such a place.
“Why would I be looking for the Theos? I want to find Mary.” Sarlun’s train of thought was veering off the track.
He stopped fidgeting with his glass and looked me in the eyes. “You think you can just find Mary and bring her back? They have her.”
I gulped, my throat raw and dry. Before I could get my two cents in, he kept talking. “If you found her now, she would be nothing more than a vessel. She’s now a harbinger of destruction. She wields the Unwinding.”
“And just what is this Unwinding?” I asked, knowing I wasn’t going to like the answer.
Sarlun paused and looked at his daughter. He reached over and grabbed her hand, pulling her into a hug. He rested his chin on the top of her head as he spoke. “It’s the end of everything. It’s the Iskios using the theory of the black hole to destroy all life and matter in the universe.”
The idea that Mary was wielding anything like that made my skin crawl. “But I have to find her. I have to try.”
He nodded. “So you do. But know there’s only one way to get her back and to stop the Iskios.”
I considered this. It was obvious, but I had nowhere to start. My plan had been to find the insectoids, then find the crystal planet. What if she was gone already? What if they wouldn’t help me? I needed the big guns. Sarlu
n’s story about their detection invention stuck in my mind. “I find the Theos, they find the Iskios.”
His head bobbed up and down again, and Suma broke free from his embrace. “Father, I want to go with Dean to Bazarn Five. I can help research.”
I was about to decline the offer, to save Sarlun from looking like an unsupportive father; then I remembered how intuitive and resourceful the small alien had been when Slate and I first met her in that abandoned city. Without her, we could still be wandering around the desolate world. “Suma, I’d love your help.”
She chirped in excitement, and Sarlun’s eyes went wide. “Very well. But take care of her.”
“I’ll be back for you, Suma. I have something to do first. I have to know.”
I needed to see if Mary was still on the crystal world, or if she was gone. Then, and only then, could I start my real search for the Theos.
Two
My house had turned into a war zone. Maps covered screens, and printed papers were layered over the table with coffee-cup ring stains all over them. Leonard leaned against the kitchen island, sketching our meeting. Natalia held her baby, Patty, bouncing her on an arm while singing a Russian lullaby softly as the rest of us discussed the plan.
Magnus pushed back in his chair. “Why didn’t Sarlun run this Theos quest you guys went on by the smarty pants at Bazarn before you went?”
“We’ve been through this. We’d likely have been killed just for having it. Then the map would have gone to the highest bidder. We couldn’t trust anyone.”
“And we can now?” Slate asked. Denise was there with him, though she hung at the edge of the room, uncertain what she could do to help. She glanced at her new boyfriend with loving eyes, and though it was obvious to me, I didn’t think the big lug even noticed.
“No. But we aren’t going to tell our contact at Bazarn anything. We’re historians, nothing more,” I said, imagining the likes of Magnus and Slate arriving there, muscles bulging and pulse rifles hard in their grips, looking so unlike historians. “They don’t know anything about humans, so what objection will they have?”
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