Star Magi: A Space Opera Fantasy Adventure (Star Magi Saga Book 1)

by Andrew Dobell

  Amanda sighed and nodded. ‘I just hope that this will be the only price and not the beginning of a greater cost to Magi and Riven life.’

  ‘Me, too,’ Rane agreed, but Amanda could hear the doubt in her voice. Rane knew, just as Amanda did, that this would be far from easy.

  ‘You don’t sound convinced.’

  ‘Heh,’ Rane laughed. ‘You noticed did you?’

  Amanda shrugged.

  ‘Well, no, I’m not. We’ve been dealing with the Nexus and the Dynasties for years. If it wasn’t for the fact that the Protectorate is deep in Foundation space, I don’t think we would have remained untouched for as long as we have done.

  ‘Tell me about this Foundation,’ Amanda asked.

  ‘Okay, well, you’re aware that the Nexus Arcadia is an organisation formed mainly of Magi Dynasties. It doesn’t really have a territory as such, it’s like a club, and all members agree to some basic tenets and it serves as a meeting ground where the Dynasties and other groups can meet and discuss things, right?’

  ‘I get that, yes,’ Amanda answered.

  ‘When the Nexus was first formed, the Dynasty founders chose one of their number, the most trusted and neutral of them to run this neutral meeting ground. That was the Tempus family. They created the Foundation, an area of neutral space centred on Earth and Axia about two hundred and fifty light-years across. This sphere of space is the hub of the Nexus, the neutral meeting ground.’

  ‘Are they sympathetic to Earth?’ Amanda asked.

  ‘They have been, yes. Thousands of years ago, the Sentinels visited the Foundation leadership and convinced them to create the Sol Protectorate. They installed us, the Ormonds, a small family at the time, at Sol Prime to watch over the Earth for the Foundation. Something we have obviously recently failed at.’

  ‘Don’t beat yourself up over it,’ Amanda said. ‘Come, let’s sit,’ she said, and walked with Rane over to the nearby sofas. ‘So, who runs the Foundation now?’

  ‘Elden Tempus. He’s actually one of the good guys. You shouldn’t have a problem with him. He’s close to the Sentinels and sympathetic to Earth, so, I think he’ll accept the Terran Alliance. It’s everyone else I think you’ll have a problem with.’

  ‘The Dynasties,’ Amanda muttered.

  ‘That’s right. Some of them more than others, but they all have the potential to be… difficult, shall we say.’

  ‘One thing I’ve been wondering about,’ Amanda said. ‘These Dynasties, they’re families of Magi, right?’

  ‘Correct.’

  ‘But... how is that possible? Magi on Earth don’t usually have Magi children.’

  Rane nodded. ‘Aaah, yes, I understand. The reason for that is the Sundering.’

  Amanda knew what Rane was talking about right away. Over ten thousand years ago, the Archons, when they still ruled the Earth, enacted a ritual to try and wipe out the growing number of Magi who were fighting them. The ritual tried to separate all Magi from their Magic, turning them into normal Riven humans with no Magical ability. It didn’t work. At least, not fully. The Magi’s connection to Essentia and Magic was weakened, but not severed.

  ‘The Sundering?’ Amanda asked, wondering why that would be the reason.

  ‘Prior to the Sundering, all Magi children, especially those where both parents were Magi, had a very high chance of being a Magus themselves. The Sundering changed this. Before the Sundering, new Magi were either children of Magi or appeared randomly. Following the Sundering, Magi found they could no longer have Magi children, or, at least, very rarely. The founders of the Dynasties, however, left before the Archons enacted the ritual. They escaped its effects, and they, in time, had children who were also Magi.’

  ‘And they formed the Dynasties,’ Amanda interjected.

  ‘That’s right,’ Rane smiled.

  ‘So, tell me about these Dynasties.’

  ‘I won’t go into too much detail, but there are eleven main dynasties. The Palashain, the Valk, Solidaire, Aristax, Larzentus, Arcturus, Traxeler, Dimande, Wraxleith, Bellaxon, and the Septhian Dynasties. There are countless other, smaller families of Magi around, littered around the edges of Dynasty space, but they’re small and usually only have a handful of systems in their territory. There are other organisations as well, such as Concord Prime, the Exemplar Order, the Templar Knights…’

  ‘Templars?’

  ‘That’s right, they’re a curious group. Apparently, some Magi Templar’s fled their group's persecution on Earth and moved to the stars. For such a late addition to the sector, they’ve done well. Their territory includes many systems between the territories of the Arcturus and Larzentus Dynasties.’

  Amanda sat back for a moment and thought back. Hundreds of years ago, she’d helped liberate a Magus Templar and some of his allies from a dungeon in Paris during the persecution that led to the order’s downfall. Her friend Astrid had then taken them away from Earth on her Aether ship. Was this the same group of people? If they were, they had been more successful than she had ever expected them to be.

  ‘Everything okay?’ Rane asked.

  ‘Yeah, I’m fine. I just had some dealings with some Magi Templar’s once, just wondering if it might be the same people,’ she mused, wrinkling her nose in thought.

  ‘That would be amazing,’ Rane said. ‘Speaking of old friends, have you seen or heard from Astrid recently?’

  ‘No,’ Amanda answered, smiling at Rane’s mention of Astrid, having just thought about her herself. ‘You?’

  ‘We’ve crossed paths. She’s still at Sirius, commanding the Wraiths.’

  ‘The mercenary company she set up,’ Amanda said.

  Rane nodded. ‘She's doing well, I think.’

  ‘I’m going to have to pay her a visit sometime,’ Amanda said. ‘I’ve just been so busy back home.’

  ‘Hunting Nomads and Archons?’

  Amanda smiled. ‘Something like that. There was a Nomad who was somewhat obsessed with me… Well, with killing me, anyway. She was the one who released the Archons. I had no idea it would lead to this.’

  ‘The life of a Magus,’ Rane murmured.

  ‘It’s never dull, that’s for sure.’

  ***

  The Arkady dropped out of Flux about an hour after leaving Sol Prime. The planet Axia shot out of the black and came to a halt before them as their ships slowed before making their final approach. The Zephyr was beside them still, a result of them having matched their speed on their approach.

  Sitting in her captain’s seat on the Arkady, Amanda felt a pulse of Essentia from Ylena on the Zephyr. She opened the Link to her.

  ~We’ll deal with the port authorities; just be ready to present your Indicia when asked,~ Ylena instructed her.

  ~Will do,~ Amanda answered moments before the Link muted.

  As Amanda waited, she gazed out the window, enjoying the view of this magnificent planet. Axia was a city planet, with much of the surface covered in urban sprawl. Just a few small seas were left, but even those were criss-crossed with structures. But the biggest and most striking features were the planet's rings.

  Three huge artificial rings encircled the planet. The first and outermost aligned perfectly with the equator. The other two inner rings were tilted in opposite directions to each other. There were more rings besides these three huge ones, but they looked like fine silvery strands compared to the three big ones. Below the rings, on the surface, huge spires reached out into space, rising well beyond the cloud cover and up towards the rings. Some of them had platforms atop them where ships could dock. At the northern pole, a huge platform rose proudly above the cloud tops, held aloft by more of these spires and space elevators. It looked like a giant insect with the spires beneath acting as its spindly legs. This was the Red City, the home of the Nexus Council at Axia. She had visited it before, many hundreds of years ago, but it was still breathtaking.

  Around them, countless ships, thousands of them, zipped around local space. She could see Warp Gates n
earby and ships queuing up to use them, jumping lightyears across the stars to distant destinations.

  She’d never used a Warp Gate. They were typically only used by Riven ships that were powered by conventional thrusters, meaning they were unable to embark on interstellar journeys. Only the Aetheric Craft of the Magi could reach superluminal speeds.

  The ship’s core alerted Amanda to an incoming hail.

  ‘Aetheric Craft Arkady, welcome to Axia. Please present your Indicia for inspection,’ said a voice over the ships comms.

  ‘With pleasure,’ Amanda answered and directed the Arkady to send the ships Indicia.

  ‘Identity confirmed, standby for docking instructions,’ the voice said, and moments later, the ship informed her that they had received the coordinates for the docking bay and the course they were being asked to take to reach it. Amanda checked it over, and double checked it against the coordinates that the Zephyr had received. They matched, as she had guessed they might.

  Happy with the directions, she set the ship to follow the Zephyr and to auto dock when the time came.

  ‘I never bore of seeing this place,’ Rane commented as the ship sped through the ships in the vicinity of Axia, banking around freighters and destroyers and zipping between corvettes, shuttles, and yachts like the Arkady.

  ‘Yeah, it’s stunning,’ Amanda answered, marvelling at the view as the ship approached the planet, rising up to pass over the rings as it approached the Red City platform.

  ‘Have you been here before?’ Valerya asked as the city grew in the main viewer before them.

  ‘Once, a long time ago,’ Amanda said as the ship slowed. Buildings reached up towards them as the ship followed the Zephyr towards the large central building in the city. It was a huge dome, kilometres wide, with a tall spire on top of it that reached up into space. Following the Ormond’s ship, the Arkady dropped down to the ring of landing platforms that surrounded the dome and veered off slightly to land on the one next to the Zephyr. Landing lights blinked on the platform, helping to guide the ship in, but Amanda let the ship’s autopilot handle the landing.

  Bumping gently down, the Arkady came to a rest and began to power down as Amanda rose from her seat. ‘Right, here we go,’ she said as she moved towards the stairwell leading to the lower decks with Rane, Valerya, and Aris in tow.

  ‘Are you nervous?’ Rane asked.

  ‘A little, I guess,’ Amanda answered. ‘But only because I want this to go well. I want to do the Council justice and leave with a successful result for them.’

  ‘The Dynasties can be intimidating, and they see Earth Magi as being both short-sighted and weak,’ Rane explained.

  ‘Then let’s go and prove them wrong,’ Amanda said.

  Rane smiled and nodded as Amanda glanced back.

  Before long, they were walking down the ramp and out into the crisp, clear air of the Red City. Before them, the vast dome of the Nexus Council rose up before them, the massive spire disappearing into the sky high above.

  Nearby, Ylena made her way over with a retinue of Ormond representatives following behind her, along with a small group of guards. Amanda raised her eyebrows. She had not expected to see the guards, but she guessed it made sense. They were away from the home of the Ormond family, and there would likely be threats here who would like to see Dynasty leaders like Ylena dead.

  She might be a Magus, but that didn’t make her invulnerable.

  The guards, she noticed, were also Magi, and well armed with a small armoury of Magical weapons and armour. They would be formidable.

  ‘Pleasant flight?’ Ylena asked.

  Amanda nodded. ‘Yes, thanks, it’s good to be back here,’ she said. The flight from Sol Prime to Axia was only an hour’s trip using the Flux Drive, and that had passed quickly.

  ‘It is an impressive place,’ Ylena agreed.

  ‘Matriarch Ylena! It’s so lovely to see you again.’ Amanda looked up to see a mature man, maybe in his forties or fifties with silver hair leading a large entourage over towards them, which included guards and others. She guessed they were his aids or other diplomats from the Nexus.

  Ylena looked up at this Magus, who was glowing in Amanda’s Aetheric Sight and smiled from ear to ear.

  ‘Elden, my dear friend, it’s nice to see you, too.’

  ~That’s Overseer Elden Tempus,~ Rane commented through their Link. ~Leader of the Axia Foundation and Speaker of the Nexus Council. He runs the meetings of the Nexus, and he’s usually sympathetic to Sol.~

  ~Thanks for the heads up,~ Amanda answered as she watched Ylena hug Elden.

  ‘It’s been a few months, hasn’t it?’ Elden asked.

  ‘Something like that yes.’

  ‘We should catch up. I have a bottle of Septhian wine that I’ve been keeping for just such an evening.’

  ‘That sounds lovely. Maybe later?’

  ‘Of course,’ Elden said and nodded to one of his aids, who acknowledged the gesture. Amanda noticed with interest that this aid appeared to be an android or robot of some kind. ‘Now, I believe you have brought a guest with you?’

  ‘Indeed, I have. This is Representative Amanda-Jane Page of the Magi Council of Earth,’ Ylena replied, introducing her.

  ‘From Earth? How wonderful. I so rarely get to meet Earth Magi, even though it’s so close to us,’ he said, stepping towards her and offering his hand. She took it, and he placed his free hand on the back of hers as he smiled warmly. ‘We extend our warmest welcome to you, Amanda of Earth.’

  She couldn’t help but smile back at him. ‘Thank you, it’s a pleasure to be here.’

  ~I think he likes you,~ Rane commented in her mind.

  ‘Tell me, how is Earth? It’s been a while since I was there. You visited your moon recently, didn’t you?’

  Amanda grinned. ‘The Riven of Earth have visited the moon, yes, and sent probes through our solar system.’

  ‘How wonderful. I’d love to hear more about this. Have you visited Axia before?’

  ‘I have, yes. Once, around seven hundred years ago, I think. It’s still as stunning now as it was back then.’

  ‘That’s wonderful, I hope you had fun.’

  Amanda smiled, remembering her fleeting visit. She’d done a little exploring when she’d been here last time and ended up being confronted by a Riven gang on the planet below the Red City platform. She’d handled it without any issue, but the memory made her smile. ‘I guess so,’ she answered him.

  ‘Good. So, what brings you here to Axia?’

  ~He’s not heard?~ Amanda messaged to Rane, Valerya, and Aris over their joint Link.

  ~I’m not surprised,~ Valerya answered.

  ~Me neither,~ Rane agreed.

  ‘I need to address the Nexus council on matters that concern us all. I’ll be speaking on behalf of the Magi Council, of course.’

  ‘Of course. Well, I’m sure we can fit you in,’ he said, looking to his robotic aid.

  ‘The meeting after the gala has space,’ the aid answered.

  ‘Perfect,’ Elden exclaimed. ‘In which case, I’d like to invite you to the gala ball as well. You can meet some of the ambassadors there and get a feeling for the audience you will be speaking to. I must say, I am intrigued as to what you will have to say.’

  ‘Oh, really?’ Amanda asked, and noticed Ylena smiling at her behind Elden.

  ‘But of course, I don’t remember the last time a representative from Earth addressed the Nexus Council. I’ll make it known you will be speaking to us. I think we can expect a good turn out to that meeting,’ Elden said before he turned to his aid. ‘Make a note of that, will you? I need to have a look at what bills and issues we have coming up if we’re to have a good turnout that day.’

  ‘Yes, sir,’ the android answered.

  ‘Do you have a place to stay?’ Elden asked.

  Amanda glanced at Ylena and the others. ‘Um, no, we don’t.’

  ‘Then we will arrange suites for you here in the Union Building. Yasha, see to
that, will you?’ he turned and asked a different aid. She nodded to him and smiled at Amanda and the others.

  ‘So, tell me,’ Elden continued as he indicated that Amanda and the others should follow him into the building, ‘What’s been happening recently on Earth? Anything of interest?’

  Amanda smiled. ~You said he’s sympathetic to Earth, right?~

  ~I did, and I think you can tell him what happened. Get him onside early.~ Rane answered.

  ‘Well, that has to do with why I’m here, actually,’ Amanda continued aloud. ‘The Earth was recently attacked by Void Dragons.’

  ‘What?’ Elden said, stopping and looking at her. ‘Void Dragons?’

  ‘That’s right,’ she answered.

  Elden started off walking again. ‘Fray me, I had no idea. What happened?’

  ‘A large group of Dragons, maybe fifty or more, attacked New York City on Earth. They killed hundreds before leaving.’

  ‘Are you sure? I mean, that these were actual Void Dragons? From the Crux?’

  ‘Quite sure,’ Amanda answered, her voice stoic.

  ‘Is this true?’ Elden said to Ylena.

  She nodded. ‘We have one of the Dragons captive at Sol Prime.’

  ‘How did they…?’ Elden asked.

  ‘They attacked Sol Prime and Ultima Thule at the same time. Diversionary tactics designed to divide our forces and to hide their true intentions.’

  ‘Which was?’

  ‘Liberation of the Archons from Earth.’

  ‘The Archons broke free?’

  ‘They escaped their prison in the Aetheric Realm, and it seems like the Crux were ready to bring them to the stars.’

  ‘By the Aether, this is a nightmare. Alright, then yes, I can see why the Earth Council would want to speak to us. Look, I’d love to speak to you more about this and find out exactly what happened, but I am sorry to say I am needed elsewhere. Yasha here will see you to your rooms, and I suspect I will see you at the gala ball tomorrow night.’

  ‘You will,’ Amanda said with a smile.

  ‘Elden,’ Ylena said, stepping closer to him. ‘Don’t go telling the other Dynasties about the attack yet; leave that for Amanda to do at the meeting, okay?’