All of that was troubling enough, but what really raised Teg’s hackles was the hulking steel frame to his left near the end of the room. He’d seen pictures of similar racks in histories of the Purges—specifically those dealing with Guild interrogations of captured Gen.
The torture rack was facing away from Teg. He could see that someone was shackled to it, but not who.
Gien stood beaming amid the shambles at the center of the room.
“What happened here?” Teg asked him.
“Shaiel wanted Smith to make a souldancer. They decided to use Celwen since her father made a good one. I helped, but when we cut out the soul fragment, something pushed back from the Stratum on the other side, like there was already a soul merged with it.”
“Another soul?” Teg asked numbly.
Gien nodded. “Then the father of thunder was here. His eyes are like pearls on black velvet. He took the vas and cut Shaiel’s shadow from the Void. He said I could become Celwen. I asked him before he went after Smith.”
Izlaril’s words came back to Teg: “She opened Bifron’s door—the black one—and entered.”
Teg’s stomach turned. Celwen called down Bifron’s curse, but I led her to his door; just like I led her into Vaun’s hands.
With heavy steps, Teg moved to stand before the torture machine. He expected to find the body bruised and burned. What nearly made him vomit were the clear signs of gnawing on the surprisingly little of it that remained.
“You ate her,” Teg said more to himself than Gien. “She helped save us all, and you butchered her.”
“No!” said Gien. “She’s part of me, now. I became her!”
Teg left the two bodies in the room where Celwen had died and met up with Astlin and Xander in the main lab. Their faces looked as haunted as Teg supposed his did. The door to Kairos was gone.
Teg wiped his splinterknife on a swatch of green silk that he let fall to the cluttered floor.
“I’m done here,” he said.
The months flew by, as time did when Teg kept busy. He and the other Zadokim had plenty of work to do healing the scars of the Cataclysm on Keth—not to mention destroying all of the verdilaks. But many hands made for light work, as Teg’s mother had often said, and a day came when he stood with Astlin near the fountain in the small Northridge park where they’d been children.
“It’s too quiet around here,” said Teg.
A half-smile raised the corner of Astlin’s mouth. “There were less than a thousand survivors on the whole sphere. We’ve practically got the place to ourselves.”
“Don’t get me wrong,” said Teg. “Quiet is better than a horde of dead folks giving me false weather reports.”
He looked to the sky overhead. Fittingly, it was a clear sapphire blue.
“So,” Teg asked, facing Astlin again, “What’s next for you?”
“Xander wants to rebuild his tribe,” she said. “The Theophilus survivors already declared us their king and queen.”
Teg raised his eyebrows. “The ruler of eight whole people. Don’t tell Nakvin. She might get jealous.”
Astlin laughed, and Teg realized it was one of his favorite sounds. I bet nobody in the next world laughs like that.
“I don’t plan on ruling anybody,” said Astlin, “just teaching them how to reach the light. Hopefully they’ll teach others.”
“The Nesshin can spread the word faster than you could by yourself,” said Teg. “Smart. Have you chosen a spot for all this nation-building?”
“The population we’ve already got is from Tharis,” Astlin said, “so we’ll start there.”
Teg sucked air through his teeth. “The universe hands you an almost unlimited selection of real estate, and you pick a noxious ball of asphalt that was a desert before the Cataclysm?”
Astlin’s expression became somber as she looked at the empty buildings surrounding the park. A breeze carried the scent of violets.
“Tharis is Thera’s sphere,” she said. “There should be at least one good thing with her name.”
“Yeah,” said Teg. “I miss that.”
Astlin looked at the green grass under their feet. At length she said, “We could use another set of hands—a mercenary who knows Tharis and can reshape matter and space at will.”
“I’ll pass the offer along if I run into someone who fits the bill,” said Teg. “Me, I was just passing through on the way to my next job and thought I’d look in on the old neighborhood. Running into my childhood friend is enough to change my mind about Providence.”
Astlin’s face was grave when she looked up. “You’re going back, aren’t you?”
Teg shrugged. “I was in a hurry on my last visit to the light. Figure I’ll take my time; see this other world everyone’s gushing about.”
Astlin stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him. The black silk of her dress was smooth against the cotton shirt under his open jacket. Her hair smelled like roses.
Teg gave Astlin a squeeze in return and patted her once on the back. They let go at the same time, and he started down the concrete walk toward the park gates. But curiosity got the better of him when he was halfway to the exit, and he stopped.
For a moment, Teg was afraid that he’d look back to find Astlin gone, but there she stood on the grass by the brick fountain, as regal as any great lady from an opera. She gave him a forced smile, and he hoped that her story wasn’t a tragedy.
Teg asked the question that had haunted him for months. “That guy in black from the door to Kairos—who was he? What did he say that left you and Xander so spooked?”
Astlin looked like Teg was standing on her grave. “He said he was Almeth Elocine. He said we’d undone everything he’d set in motion to fix his mistakes, that Zadok’s universe is in our hands now, and that he can’t help us anymore.”
Teg mulled over Astlin’s words. He considered turning back, joining Astlin and Xander on Tharis, and helping the other Zadokim run the world.
Then he thought of Tefler’s last words to Vaun, and Gien’s last words in that cursed room in the Void.
There’s not much time left for this place, he concluded. And besides, there’ll be more coming after I’m gone.
Teg walked through the park gates and into the boundless light.
Glossary
Anomians: Beings without definite qualities descended from an order of transessists who sought to free themselves from the limitations of human nature. Constantly modifying their own essences cost the Anomians their souls, and they became a plague scouring the cosmos for new living and nonliving properties to exchange with their own.
The old gods banished the Anomians into the outer darkness, where the Night Gen later encountered them and spent centuries driving them even further from the light of the stars.
Atavists: A sect of Zadok worshippers denounced as heretical by the Nesshin. Atavists believe that all creatures are fragments of the one divine Nexus. Individual existence, which Atavist doctrine calls an illusion, is responsible for all suffering, sin, and conflict. Thus, the chief spiritual aim of every Atavist is to return to a state of oneness in the Nexus.
Avalon: The Light Gen’s home in exile. Originally confined to the Sixth Circle of hell ruled by Mephistophilis and Zebel, Avalon was freed from the baals’ soul tithe by Zebel’s daughter Nakvin. The Light Gen’s domain has since expanded to include all of the former Nine Circles except for the Ninth.
Bhakta: The lowest rank of Shaiel’s priesthood. The literal translation is “retainer”.
Cardinal Spheres, the: Numbering four, these worlds were the wealthiest and most powerful planets before the Cataclysm. In descending order of prestige the Cardinal Spheres are: Mithgar, Keth, Temil, and Cadrys.
Cataclysm, the: A universal conflagration that swept through the ether, burning the cosmos from the inside out. Its cause remains unknown, though the point of origin seems to have been in the ether over Mithgar. The only survivors were those occupying prana-infused, elemental fire-resistan
t, or ether-partitioned locations.
Dawn Tribe, the: A collective term for Gen who remained on Middle Stratum spheres during the Purges. Surviving in isolated pockets, the Dawn Gen emerged from hiding after the Cataclysm destroyed the Guild. Their culture has regressed to a pre-industrial lifestyle led by shamans.
Ether, the: A universal medium through which light travels. “Ether” is used when referring to a quantity of this substance, while “the ether” refers to the region it occupies.
The ether boasts a number of extraordinary qualities. It has practically no mass or viscosity and allows objects traveling through it to exceed the speed of light. Ether is also highly volatile and combustible.
Ether-Runner: A ship built to travel quickly through space by traversing the ether. Almost all ether-runners are piloted using a sympathetic interface called the Wheel.
Factor: The user of a Working; named for the act of fashioning prana.
Faerda: A primordial animistic deity worshiped by Gen in ancient times and, by the Dawn Tribe after the Cataclysm. Outsiders misinterpret Faerda as the divinization of the White Well, but her followers claim that their goddess is present in all life, everywhere, and at all times.
Gen: An immortal race of the Middle Stratum holding a place in the hierarchy of being one step above humans. “Gen” is the word for “people” in that race’s tongue, and is both singular and plural. The word’s pronunciation varies between Mithgarders, who render it “Ghen”, and Kethans, who prefer “Jen”.
Greycloaks: Properly, Lawbringers; members of Shaiel’s priesthood identified by their eponymous uniform. They wield shadow swords and the power to manifest the Void.
Guild, the: Properly, the Sublime Brotherhood of Steersmen. Though it was a private professional fraternity, the Guild acted as a self-appointed regulatory agency. Its primary functions were advancing the science of ether-running and regulating the construction of ether-runners and Wheels. The Guild’s authority was thought to rival the combined power of all current and former political bodies.
Human: The race holding the middle position in the whole hierarchy of being. Called the clay tribe by the Gen, humans possess intelligence but have limited life spans.
Isnashi: A sect comprised of Night Gen who perverted Faerda’s gift of skin changing to serve Shaiel.
Kost: A kost (pronounced “kosht”) is an evil undead being that survives death by transferring its soul into a Malefacted object called a vas. A kost can possess the body of a living or once living being in the vicinity of this vessel. Even if the host body is slain, the kost’s soul will return to its vas, making the kost incredibly difficult to permanently kill.
Light Tribe, the: Members of a Gen enclave that survived the Purges by taking shelter in hell’s Sixth Circle. Descended from the nobility of the more refined tribes, the Light Gen took their name from their self-imposed mission to keep the flame of civilization alight.
Malefaction: An effect produced by fashioning Void according to the user’s thought patterns. The practitioners of such techniques, called “Malefactors”, have attained infamy belying their historically small numbers.
Midras: A god whose cult gained dominance in antiquity. The ancient dualistic faith associated Midras with the sun, life, fire, compassion, and virtue. The god of light’s priests were famous for traveling the countryside dispensing justice in lawless lands.
Mystery: One of the ancient liturgical rites of the Gen, whose shamans practiced the first known systematic tradition of fashioning prana.
Necromancer: A common derogatory term for a disciple of Teth, though in practice the term has been applied to social pariahs of varying backgrounds. The study, manipulation, and attempted reversal of death is but one branch on the Way of Teth.
Nexism: A cosmic mechanism for manipulating space, time, matter, and thought by will alone. Properly the domain of higher beings, nexism is rare among the Gen and all but unknown to humans.
Nexus-Runner: A spacefaring vessel resembling an ether-runner in general function but powered and operated by nexism.
Night Tribe, the: Descendants of refugees from the Guild’s Purges (mostly Gen, but encompassing many races) who fled into the emptiness beyond the Middle Stratum’s last stars. Living in darkness for millennia has strengthened the Night Gen’s will to survive and hardened their hearts against the peoples who cast them out.
Nine Circles, the: Hell; variously described as either a place or state of torment reserved for the wicked after death. Ancient peoples’ concepts of hell differed between religions and even among sects of the same faith. Few cults lacked such a notion entirely.
Prana: This primeval force is the basic building block of matter and the animating principle of all living things. Also called the light of the White Well.
Princes of Hell: Three surpassingly potent and evil beings who ruled the Nine Circles following the departure of hell’s creators. Once human, their unrivaled wickedness earned them infernal honors outranking the baals; and dread curses whose corrupting effects birthed nightmarish plagues among mortals. The three princes, in ascending order of rank, are Tzaraat, Hazeroth, and Lykaon.
Shadow Caste, The: A secret order of powerful human Factors who stole the gifts of immortality and nexism from Gen prisoners of war. After clandestinely seizing control of the Guild, the Shadow Caste grew restless in their search for purpose. They finally decided to end the universe, setting in motion the creation of the souldancers, the Arcana Divines’ expedition to hell, and the Cataclysm itself.
Following this failure, the Shadow Caste set themselves up as the ruling Magisterium of Temil and resumed their apocalyptic schemes. The order’s current members are Magists Kelgrun, Vilneus, Zoanthus, Belar, Rathimus, and Gien.
Snare, the: Pejorative term for those realms created by the old gods to capture their followers’ souls, thus preventing them from rejoining the Nexus after death, e.g. heaven and the Nine Circles.
Sons of Haath: An elite enforcer company employed by the Guild during the Purges and patterned after the legendary spy and mercenary Haath. Although the Guild’s Transessists failed to duplicate Haath’s nexism, they imbued his namesakes with other, equally formidable abilities.
Sphere: An inhabited world of the Middle Stratum, synonymous with “planet”.
Steersman: The pilot of an ether-runner (the term is gender neutral) who can control a ship through the Wheel. When describing an individual with Guild training, the term became a capitalized proper noun. Most Guild-trained Steersmen were powerful Factors.
Stratum: A discrete region of the cosmos. Except for the Middle Stratum, all Strata are defined by their uniform composition.
The Strata are arranged in descending order of potency, beginning with the Fire Stratum located just below the White Well, proceeding downward to the Air, Middle, and Water Strata, and ending at the Stone Stratum located just above the Void.
The Middle Stratum is the balancing point of these forces and is synonymous with mundane space. The ether is not a Stratum, but surrounds and permeates all Strata. The realms of the Snare are sometimes called Strata, but this usage is not technically correct.
Telepathy: The power to nexically perceive, alter, and even control others’ thoughts. Telepaths are as feared and distrusted among nexists as necromancers are among Factors.
Teth: An esoteric concept describing the flow of prana from the White Well into the Void. The principle defies easy definition, since its followers claim that Teth encompasses all areas of cosmology, philosophy, morality, and natural science. One of the major tenets of Teth is the dominance that entropy exerts upon all things.
Thera: A primeval entity alternately worshiped and despised in a number of ancient faiths. Theological opinions on Thera’s nature vary, though most cults thought her a goddess. Necromancers consider her a personification of Teth. The Nesshin styled her the daughter of Zadok and queen of demons who brought evil into the world through her patricide.
Transessence: The process of exchang
ing the properties of substances through Workings.
Void, the: The lowest region of the cosmos, where prana flowing from the White Well settles once it has lost all of its potency. The Void is a nearly infinite abode of darkness and absolute cold where life cannot exist.
Wheel, the: A sympathetic control interface allowing a steersman to merge his awareness with an ether-runner.
White Well, the: A vast concentration of pure prana located in the ether above all of the Strata. The Well provides the raw material for all energy, matter, and life; as well as Workings and Mysteries. Some religious traditions equate the Well with Zadok’s divine power, which was separated from the creator upon his death.
Working: An effect produced by fashioning prana according to the user’s thought patterns, particularly via any method among a number of systems developed by the Guild.
Zadok: Nesshin creator deity worshiped by other faiths under different names. Killed at the beginning of time by Thera, his daughter and first creation, Zadok is prophesied to rise at the eschaton and judge every creature.
Zadokim: Souls who have escaped the Nexus and returned from the light beyond the cosmos by Zadok’s leave. Unlike the shards of Zadok, Thera, and Shaiel, Zadokim exist of and for themselves, independent of any nexus.
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