by Bob Craton
Journey to Light
Part I of
The High Duties of Pàçia
By Bob Craton
Copyright 2011 by Bob Craton
Registered with the U.K. Copyright Service
(Registration # 284655025)
All Rights Reserved
Preface
Long ago in a time known as the Anziên age, people lived in a complex and vibrant society which reached levels of technology and genetic engineering unimaginable to anyone now alive. Then 3,500 years ago, the Anziên era ended abruptly and traumatically. Why? No one knows but the downfall left survivors in a world of strife and hardship. This world badly needed peace and tranquility.
The only bright spot came in a land called Pàçia. Physically separated from the rest of the world by high mountains, the gentle nature of the Pàçian people set them apart from all others. They built the beautiful city Abbelôn and chose the wisest and kindest among them as leaders. These selected few had no power or authority. They could command no one and certainly were not monarchs. They did not rule; they fulfilled duties – the High Duties of Pàçia. The High Protector kept peace through persuasion; the Benevola cared for and comforted everyone; and the Keeper protected the people from harm. Generation after generation, they made the world a better place. But their strength gradually weakened and three and a half millennia is a very long time.
Outside Pàçia, the population grew and cities, both greater and lesser, arose. The Great Cities were ruled by powerful despots who increasingly ignored lessons of peace and goodwill. Worse, new enemies invaded part of the land. But were they really new or were they terrors returned from a forgotten past?
In this environment, the story begins.
***
Cast of Characters
Sistére Graice Nínjìng: A young woman of unusual appearance. Small in stature but powerful in effect, her level of ability and talent at such a young age is unprecedented in the history of the Sistéria.
Holder: A man who suffered a head injury twelve years earlier and remembers nothing before that time. Since then, he has worked for trading companies on caravans along with his older friend Dimas. As the story begins, Holder has just lost both his friend and his job.
Caelia: A girl living in a hidden community. Despite her youth, she is widely loved and respected by the people of her home. Her name comes from heroic legends dating back in antiquity to the first post-Anziên days.
The Boy: A lad raised in secret who as a child is aware only of life with his Grammi and Pappi in a remote cottage. They and his Aunt are the only family he knows.
Other Important Characters:
Madrére Sybille Sabidora: Most Senior Madrére in the Sistéria and mentor of Graice.
Rafe (a lupun) and Belo (a kiropteran): Two friends who have been forced away from their home in Hinterland.
Ignacio: Long-time assistant and friend of Sybille.
Euclind Eudoxio: Mayórę of the city of Lucidus. Also a scholar, inventor, and gatherer of secret intelligence; he is widely referred to as the Wise One.
Radbert: Euclind’s reliable and dedicated assistant.
Patron Edric and Patroness Gildea: Royal sovereigns of Matik.
Escol Chancelar: The Dozent of a colony of researchers living and working in a hidden place and de-facto leader of others sheltering there. Father of Caelia, husband of Binah.
Binah Emerick: Counselor, healer, comforter. She is a descendant of one of the five Honor Families of Pàçia. Wife of Escol, mother of Caelia.
The Zafiri (also called the men in gray): Mysterious men who took over the remote region of Zigor a century earlier, forcing the native population (and many others kidnapped elsewhere) into harsh slavery. The Yuzoi and Sarkonians are minions of the Zafiri.
