by Riley Tune
WARPER: ECHOES OF ETANGRIA
By
Riley Tune
WARPER: ECHOES OF ETANGRIA 1st edition
Copyright 2017 by Riley Tune
Cover Design by Isikol
Edited by Carol Tietsworth
This novel is a work of fiction created by the author, and is not intended to reflect any actual person, place, action, or event. Any resemblance to any of the mentioned is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the written consent of the author, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
To my relatives who watched me grow up, but were unable to see me make it this far: My Granny, Aunt Elaine, Uncle JC, Uncle Larry, Uncle Mac, Uncle Levi, Shana, and any others I have left out. I love and miss you all. This one's for you.
I can’t thank you enough for buying this book! If, after reading, you find that you enjoyed it, please leave a review on the site from which it was purchased, or any other book review site. I’d love to hear what you think. Also, if you would like to be added to my email list for updates on new projects, cover art previews, and bios of new characters, please see the link below:
http://eepurl.com/coooRH
If you want to learn more about me, and witness my attempts at blogging: www.rileytune.weebly.com
Table of Contents
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Prologue
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
Epilogue
Prologue
“Just how long is this supposed to take?” Vida asked as we walked down the palace corridor, side by side. I shrugged slightly as I adjusted my shirt. I was still getting use to dressing in nicer clothes and this elegant blue shirt felt awkward, as did my black trousers. While my clothes were uncomfortable, Vida seemed at ease being dressed like a Noble. Her shirt was loose and white, and her trousers fit her very well.
“I’m not sure. Jolin just asked us to meet him in the study on the fifth floor. Outside of that, I’m as lost as you are.” I told her as I opened the door.
I looked inside the room slowly. I had never been inside this study before. The palace was so large, even though I’d lived here the last few months, I still hadn’t seen it all. As one could expect from a palace, the room Vida and I currently occupied was on the larger side.
Stone walls ventured up over twenty feet before forming a domed ceiling. On those very same walls were what seemed like limitless bookshelves, filled with books of all shapes and sizes. This was a room that Remy would envy.
A circular table, surrounded by chairs, sat in the middle of the study on top of a thick red and blue rug, just directly below a hanging chandelier. Light shone inside from large windows around the room. Even from here I could easily see the snow falling outside. Near perhaps the largest window, just directly beside the fireplace, stood Jolin. He was accompanied by an older bald man who was slumped over, and a very tall young lady with white hair.
“Mr. Lox, please have a seat. I’ll be done in a moment,” Jolin said as he glanced in the mirror. I nodded and, followed by Vida, had a seat at the table. She sat down beside me and exhaled as she got comfortable.
As I sat here, I realized two things. One, was how far I had come in such a short time) that in such a short time I had come far. From the poor part of Thera to living in a palace was no small feat. The other thing, was that even Ember would be proud of me. My legend wasn’t as famous as his, but it had slowly started to grow.
Ember. My mentor, friend, and only person who understood when I thought I was going crazy when my powers first manifested . Ember, like me, was a Warper. People born with the ability to travel large distances in the blink of an eye. As long as we could see where we were going, we could warp there. Along with this, we were natural born killers.
It was a part of myself that I once hated, but now I had grown to almost enjoy. Our last job together had sent Ember on a trip around the kingdoms to find information, but Ember never returned from that trip. I didn’t know if he was alive or dead, but when I would try to find him by using our bond, nothing happened.
Every Warper has a bond to their mentor. It’s an unseen force that allows us to feel where they are. I always assumed that the mentors had a bond feeling of their own, because Ember found me when I needed him the most, on some random street in Thera.
It’s been a few months now, and Ember still hasn’t shown up. With the fall of the Emperor, and Rema Thorne, it was safe for him to return if he could. I let out a sigh as my fingers twitched on the table. Everything seemed so different now, though.
In the months that passed since the fall of the Emperor and Rema Thorne, people of the Prime Sovereignty had whispered of how everything wasn’t as we had tried to make it seem.
Remy had gone through great trouble to spread word that Jolin alone had found the secret of the Emperor’s immortality and of the secret crimes he had committed with Rema Thorne. Yet , the people still didn’t completely believe. Some thought that King Jolin wasn’t the man responsible for the events that had happened.
Even though we were careful, some people still made claims of a Warper being involved. A powerful Warper that could not only warp himself, but others as well. A Warper so strong that his abilities weren’t confined to the same laws as the Warpers that had come before him. How right they were.
“Mr. Lox how does this look?” Jolin asked as he stood in front of a mirror that was over six feet tall. His question jerked me out of my daydream and back to the present.
Vida was already laughing quietly under her breath beside me. I eyed him standing there, twisting from side to side looking at himself from different views. He was wearing gray from head to toe, and the entire outfit was trimmed in gold. Over his back was short red cape that was attached over his shoulder by a pin that stuck to his upper chest. Just below that were various medals of different shapes, colors, and sizes.
Each medal was awarded to Jolin after he took the throne. Large gold medals were there for the honor he displayed. Medium red and white medals were for his dedication to his land, even while his family was stripped of their nobility, Finally, he had silver small medals. Each about the size of a fingertip. I couldn't remember what these were for, but he had more of them than any other medal.
“I think you look very royal. Your majesty,” I added with a slight laugh that I tried to hide in my hand. “Let’s not forget about that very royal cape Jolin,” Vida added as she burst out laughing and made no actions to hide it. “I mean your royal highness,” she said as she placed her arms on the table before her and continued to laugh.
Jolin looked at the two people standing beside him. He didn’t look directly at them, more at their reflections in the mirror. His tailor, a man whose name I still couldn’t remember, was the first to speak in his high-pitched voice. “I think the cape-,” Jolin rolled his eyes as he raised a hand and the man stopped talking immediately. As if he could read Jolin’s mind, he quickly walked behind h
im and removed the cape pinned to his shoulder.
“That looks perfect my love,” the white- haired lady said softly. Yes, Jolin’s girlfriend was very supportive of him losing the cape. She towered over him by several inches, and held some of her white hair back as she leaned down and kissed his cheek.
From what I had gathered, she was a native of Galcon, and had a very unique name. So unique that most people couldn’t pronounce it well. She simply went by Cloud. A name she said she picked up when she was younger due to her odd hair color.
Jolin and Cloud met each other not long after he took the throne and seemed inseparable ever since. It was one of those random, by chance, luck type of meetings. They both just happened to be in the same place at the same time. The rest was love at first sight, or so I have been told.
Vida scoffed at this sign of affection. A kiss on the cheek wasn’t that bad, was it? “Stop,” I hissed to her. She shrugged and opened her hands as if she hadn’t done anything. “Maybe you should start calling me your love, or kissing me on my cheek,” I said back to her.
She leaned over to me. “Who says I love you, Warps?” Her voice whispering in my ear made my hair stand on end and gave me goosebumps. She continued to whisper in my ear. “As for a kiss on the cheek.” She stopped talking suddenly, and followed up with her tongue licking the upper part of my neck.
I could feel my eyes get wide as I breathed in deeply. She pulled back from me with a smile on her face. Yes, Vida Orax was going to be the end of me, but I couldn’t think of any better way to go. She was the one of the best parts of that job we had together. Like, me she was recruited for her talents. Vida, was a Changeling. A person, with the very rare gift, to shift into the form of any person they had seen in their lifetime.
I looked at her as she sat beside me, and couldn’t see myself without her now. My moment of bliss was cut short as I felt a pain in my stomach. Instinctively, my hand shot to it as I groaned some. Vida didn’t miss this. “Stomach still bothering you?” she asked as she looked down to my stomach. I nodded my head. “I’ll be fine.”
“Gives us a moment please. Royal court business.” Jolin said slightly as he bowed to the old man and then held Cloud’s hand as he placed a kiss on it. The Royal Court, his name he had selected for Vida, Remy, and I when we came together to discuss one thing or another.
“I’ll see you soon.” Cloud said as she turned to walk away followed by the old man. “Bye guys,” she said as she walked by the tabled we were sitting at. I waved, and Vida, in a voice that was clearly in a mocking tone said “Bye sweetie.”
Jolin walked to the table and took off the top part of his suit. “Must you tease her Ms. Vida?” he asked as he sat at the head of the table. “I wouldn’t be a good friend if I didn’t test your lady friends,” she replied.
She rubbed her chin for a moment as if in thought. “But, if it displeases the king-” Jolin burst out laughing and cut her off. Vida and I both joined him as our laughter echoed in the domed room..
“I hate to stop the fun, but why did you need to see us?” I asked as we all began to calm down. Jolin nodded and leaned on the table.
“I have a meeting in a few moments, and there is a slight chance I will need extra protection. With the current crisis going on in the Prime Sovereignty, guards are all spread thin.” “Sounds good,” I said as I stood up. “I just need to grab my cloak and weapons.” Finally, an excuse to get out of this shirt, I thought to myself.
“Not you, Mr. Lox.”
I turned to him slowly with my face twisted in surprise. “Ms. Vida will be accompanying me on this meeting.” I turned to Vida, who had already begun to change form. Where she once sat was now a large figure dressed in black. Against my continuous request to stop, she had taken the shape of a Battle Born. A monstrous, human hybrid of sorts that had almost killed us both several times a few months back. She turned to me slowly and allowed those glowing purple eyes to look at me.
“Hello, my love,” she said from behind the monstrous mask of the Battle Born. “Funny,” I said as she laughed slightly. I turned to Jolin again.
“Then what do you need me for?” I asked slowly. Jolin cleared his throat. “Well, you see Mr. Lox, there is a larger issue at hand that I need you to address.” As he spoke, Jolin made an effort not to look me in the eye. Never a good sign, regardless of who was doing the talking.
“What larger issue?” I asked with my brow raised. He sighed. “According to reports, there is a Clipasie army being formed in the outskirts of Galcon, just beyond the Thera border. I would like you to handle it.” I stood silent. Did he just say a Clipasie army?
My stomach started to feel off, and not from just the pain from earlier. I instantly remembered the last time I saw a Clipasie. It was with Ember in The Clarkton, a bar that served anybody who came, and it had taken both of our efforts to stop that Clipasie, and that was only one.
Clipasies were pure, unchecked rage and just happened to stand on two legs. He was asking me, a single Warper, to take on an army of near invulnerable, supremely strong beings that stood well over seven feet tall?
“Well, I guess I’ll be getting my gear now. Keeper be with me,” I groaned as I turned to exit the room.
1
By normal standards, I usually got dressed for a job pretty fast. Even a job the likes of which Jolin had just requested didn’t slow me down from getting ready.
It wasn’t that I was eager to face an army alone, it was just that I loathed my new room, and as such, I didn’t want to spend much time in there. One of the first things Jolin tried to do when he became king was to make my family name a noble one.
Had we allowed this, the Norcross name would have held as much weight as the Thorne name, or any other in the kingdom. He offered the same thing to Vida as well. I was all for being considered a noble. Just because I was a Warper, didn’t mean I couldn’t be a noble one.
My mother, and Vida, however didn’t share my enthusiasm. No, Shorn Norcross had no intentions of being a noble and I wasn’t sure why. Instead she opted for simply having a new home for herself and my siblings. She requested to live in a nicer part of Thera, closer to the palace, and Jolin delivered on the request.
He didn’t find her a home near the palace, he actually allowed us all to live in the palace. Vida included. My mother and the twins had very nice living quarters that came complete with everything a home could need
Their quarters had its own kitchen, washroom, and sleeping areas. It was like a home within a room. On top of that Jolin gave her a job at the personal grow shelter of the palace. This worked well for her. My mom had a history of working in grow shelters, the structures used to monitor the food grown for the kingdoms, and it was one of the few things she was able to do well.
She still doesn’t work often but on the rare occasions that she does, she is allowed to bring the twins with her. My room is close to theirs but far enough that I can have some privacy. The down side to my room, and the reason why I hated it was that it’s just so large.
I was more familiar with having a small room once before, that I shared with the twins, and after finding out I was a Warper, I didn’t have a room at all. I lived with Ember at that point mostly, and he didn’t give me a room. Just an area on the floor or ground where I would sleep. Now, my room was so large that my old home could almost fit inside, comfortably.
At a glance, it seemed like a room worth envying. Large, and certainly expensive, paintings hung on the walls, my bed could easily hold up to five people, I had a wardrobe full of expensive but uncomfortable clothes, and a fireplace that was about five feet tall. To the normal person, this should have and would have been great. Apparently, I wasn’t normal.
Unbeknownst to my friends, I barely even used the room. Sure, I slept in it, but that was about it. Instead, I had turned a corner of the massive room into my own personal shelter.
I had a blanket and pillow hidden under my bed that I would use at night to sleep o
n. My cloak and weapons were in a special place inside the wardrobe, and my practice dummy was located in its own corner, and was about the only part of my room that felt right.
I had hoped that after a few months I would have adjusted as well as my family and friends have, but sadly I hadn’t.
The only place I ever seemed to feel at ease or at home now was inside my cloak, or when I was with Vida. She wasn’t here now, but my cloak was.
I put my bracers around my wrist and secured them. Moving my arms some to make sure they were on good.
These were another item Jolin offered to replace. He wanted to give me all new armor, but this I refused. I like my own armor and it had seen me through some tough times. The leather had signs of battle, and for some reason that comforted me.
I placed my grieves around my leg, and like my arms, I moved my legs some to make sure they were secure. My belt rested on a chair nearby. I raised my hand effortlessly and the air around the belt shimmered as it warped out of existence, and reappeared in my hand.
After my belt was secured around my waist, I placed three throwing knives and my dagger in their designated spots. While I turned Jolin down on the armor, I did allow him to supply me with a new set of weapons, and a new water- resistant cloak.
The cloak was a little longer than my old one, and like almost all cloaks, it was an ash black color. Besides the length, there was no noticeable difference. My dagger and knives were a bit of a different story. Both were crafted out of the finest black steel in Thera, and each knife alone cost a few bronze yolars. I had been saving these for a special occasion, and this seemed fitting.
I could have chosen to save these blades and kept them in my growing collection, but they were just too tempting. I wanted to use them, not simply have them to admire. This thought was funny to me. Once, I didn’t even want to kill. I ran from what I was, and now I look forward to the blade I get to use to take a life, when I have to.
