The God in the Shadows (The Story at the Heart of the Void Book 1)

by TorVald, Nikolas

  Selth tried to keep her eyes open, she didn’t need another dream like that, but it was too much work. Whatever had happened in the forest had exhausted her completely and she dropped back to sleep before she could stop herself.

  The next time she woke it was because Aren was prodding her with his staff. “Get up, sleepy.” he said gruffly but there was genuine concern in his eyes. When he saw that she was awake he moved to her side and muttered under his breath again. Her legs became unstuck from her horse and with a cry she toppled forward into his arms. Kant moved up behind her as Aren set her on the ground and the two of them helped her over to where the fire was flickering. It felt as though she was wearing lead bricks on her feet but she managed to make it to a comfortable spot on the ground before she dropped down. She didn’t think she’d be able to walk another foot to save her life.

  Before she could fall asleep Aren moved around in front of her, “Still don’t remember anything from the forest?” he asked in a whisper. Selth shook her head but he talked over her, “That’s fine. Something definitely occurred though; I’ve never seen you this out of things. I’m going to try a few pieces of magic to see if I can puzzle things out and if you remember anything let me know right away. Keep quiet about it to Kant and Mattle though, I’d prefer to figure this out on my own without an Inquisitor making notes about the process every time he has a moment to spare.” Selth nodded her head, exhausted, and Aren began muttering under his breath. Every so often the gem in his staff would glow brightly but otherwise nothing happened that she could see. Finally, he lowered his staff, sweat beading on his head. He looked down at her, puzzled, and finally spoke, “I don’t understand, you’re fitter than you’ve ever been and you’ve got more energy flowing through you than you did this morning. You should be jumping up and down from the trees, not barely able to stand.” he gave her one last look then shook his head in confusion, “Let’s give this the night and see if anything changes. Sometimes magic does strange things and all that’s left is to wait and see what happens.”

  Selth started to nod an agreement but before she could she fell into sleep and darkness closed in all around her. She opened her eyes and found herself surrounded by beams of light in a world of darkness. It wasn’t like the light of the day when the sky was blue and the light seemed orange. This was pure white light, pure . . . energy. It was the light of the stars. As she stared into that light she began to feel recharged. The stars flared in her eyes and channeled their power directly into her. It was as though she had passed eternity in that field of darkness with its beams of light. The darkness which was every bit as wonderful as the light was. Cool refreshing darkness, concealing darkness. Darkness which showed just how beautiful the light was and light which showed just how beautiful darkness was. Everything was lying in balance all around her and Selth felt as though she had discovered the missing piece to a puzzle she hadn’t even known she was trying to complete. Memories came flooding back to her, everything that had happened in the forest with Cereus. The things he had said and how she had reacted, falling into the pool of power and what had happened when she came back out of it. Shock flashed through her and the light and darkness all around seemed to shudder, blending together briefly in a mockery of what they were meant to be, blending into shadow, before coming apart again.

  Slowly the lights faded and with a sense of loss Selth watched them go. In a flash she found herself lying on the ground in the campground from the night before. Kant and Mattle were asleep close by but Aren was sitting on a rock with his staff across his knees looking pensive. With a gasp, she pushed herself to her knees. It felt as though she had been infused with the energy of a thousand suns, like she would never have to sleep again. When she moved Aren stood up lightning fast and ran towards her. Moving his free hand in a complicated pattern and muttering a few words under his breath Selth felt her arms clamp to her sides and her body smash into the ground, unable to move. “What happened?” Aren demanded, bending down to glare at her.

  “The lights,” Selth mumbled incoherently, “It was in the forest.” she struggled weakly against her bonds.

  “What in the forest!” Aren said, even more insistently than before.

  “It was Cereus, I met him again in the forest. He gave me back my power, we had a lovely discussion. I thought you knew about it . . . or I suppose I didn’t think that. I’m not exactly sure what happened. Weren’t the lights beautiful last night.” Selth smiled as she finished, it felt as though cotton balls were crowding her head and she couldn’t think to save her life.

  Aren looked at her as though she’d gone insane, “What? I don’t know what you’re talking about but the same magical surge I felt yesterday in the forest happened again when you went to sleep last night. So what happened.”

  “I was with the stars.” she said, not sure how else to explain what had happened, “I was with the stars and I had the most wonderful time and then I remembered what happened yesterday.” As she kept talking her head slowly began to feel better.

  “And what happened yesterday?” Aren asked, barely holding on to his patience. Selth took one look at his face and recounted everything she could remember from her meeting with Cereus. Several pieces of the time were still hazy, and her explanation was jumbled, but she did her best. Finally Aren nodded his head, “I have to think about this.” he said before stalking off towards his rock and sitting down, with a wave of his hand Selth felt the bonds that held her down disappear and she sat up slowly, rubbing at the spots where his magic had pushed against her.

  Slowly the other two members of their band got up and began preparing breakfast for the whole group. There wasn’t much to eat since neither Mattle nor Kant had had time to hunt the previous night but they made do with hard tack and water to wash it down. When they had finished Kant picked a practice sword out of his bag and threw it to Mattle. The two of them began sparring for close to an hour and Kant wouldn’t stop despite Aren’s insistence on a hurried start to their travels. Selth felt no desire to move any time soon, she felt better than she had in her life and more than that the sword fight was fascinating her. The last time the two of them had sparred she hadn’t been able to tell what was going on, it just looked like a whirl of blades and wonderful motions to her. This time was different, she could tell every time Mattle made a mistake which allowed Kant to knock him to the ground. She even saw mistakes that Kant didn’t take advantage of as the two of them moved back and forth in a lightning array of motions.

  As the session came to an end, Selth started walking towards her horse but a call from Kant stopped her. “You’re practicing next,” he said, “you may be handy with your daggers but having an extra sword around will help if we get into a fight far more than a pair of pig stickers.”

  She bristled at the implied insult but kept her feelings to herself, instead she swung around and, with a mocking tilt of her head at Kant, picked up the practice sword he tossed towards her. “As you wish.” she said with a sneer. Mattle took up a place opposite her and mouthed the word ‘sorry.’ At a motion from Kant the two of them closed.

  Holding the blade as though she had no idea what she was supposed to do with it Selth stalked towards Mattle who closed with her quickly. Raising his blade for a quick stroke to end the fight before it began he swung at her but she was already moving. The sword was an extension of her arm and Mattle was as slow as a tortoise in its old age. Sweeping around him before he had a chance to react she smashed her practice blade against the back of his knees causing them to buckle. As Mattle hit the ground she drew her blade up against his throat and with a gloating chuckle said, “dead.”

  She removed her blade and looked around to find that Kant and Aren were both staring at her in shock. Mattle leapt away from her and gave her a similar look as he rubbed his throat sorely. “How did you do that?” he asked in a shaky voice.

  Selth shrugged her shoulders, “you’re just slow, it’s not my fault. Maybe next time you shouldn’t leave your whole body exp
osed when you go for a killing stroke.”

  “It was more than that,” Kant said, breaking in to their conversation as he walked over, “Mattle’s not slow nor is he an unskilled swordsman. You moved faster than anyone I’ve ever seen in my entire life.” he bent down and picked up Mattle’s practice sword from where it had been dropped. Selth looked at him and cocked an eyebrow in surprise but took a ready stance. “Go.” he said and closed like lightning.

  As soon as he started moving, it was as though he had slowed to the speed of a snail in the eyes of Selth. Stepping to one side she readied her practice sword and as he moved in she smashed it into Kant’s chest. He flew backwards fifty feet and hit a tree going faster than anything she had seen in her life. As he fell to the ground time sped back up around her and she saw Aren rushing to where Kant was lying in a heap, barely moving. She ran to his side and knelt beside him, Aren arrived a second after her and with hurried words he began waving his staff and free hand in complicated patterns. The tip glowed brightly and did not dim as he worked. He stayed that way for twenty minutes and, by the end of it, he was sweating so profusely Selth was afraid he would have a heart attack. But Kant was able to drag himself to his feet and he moved off to his packs muttering about willow root to kill the pain. Aren sank back on his knees and gave Selth a baleful look, “It’s not exactly fair to fight people if you can move at the speed of light, is it? How will you ever find out if you have any skill with the sword that way?”

  Selth looked at the ground uncomfortably, “I don’t know,” she said, “I didn’t have a choice though, it was as though as soon as Kant attacked things just slowed down. I didn’t think my strength would be similarly expedited. I don’t know why that practice sword didn’t shatter on the impact.”

  Aren laughed a bit, “Well, it may have set us back a day, I’m certainly not going anywhere and Kant can’t either, but I’d say it was worth it just to see that. We’ll have to conduct a few tests to see what else we can find out about these powers you’ve just gained.” Shaking his head Aren moved back to his rock.

  15

  Memory

  The first major conflict has now occurred. I believe Az’emon was shaken. He proved victorious but it took him a millennium to throw us back. If we continue to advance as we have been we will prove victorious.

  – Speech by Tel’arib to the Armies of Order

  Thinking deeply, Selth moved off to one corner of the campground and threw herself onto the ground where nobody could see her. After the Shadow had flown into her, what felt like ages ago, she had been able to see shadows in a new way. She had been able to see their inner dimensions and the possibility for power that they offered. Her dream of light, and the darkness that spread around it, gave her a similar idea.

  Reaching out with her mind she tried to touch the streams of light which fell through the air all around her. With a gasp of surprise she did so, feeling a flow of possibility, a flow of power spread through her. She grinned and began a simple project. It was one of the first exercises she had done with Shadow, after Aren knocked her into the endless pit several times. She began to bend light so that it looped around her hands and arms, swirling in a complicated pattern that was reminiscent of the tattoos which covered her. Suddenly she gave a scream of pain, it felt as though a massive claw was ripping into her, tearing her apart from the inside out. The same claw which had ripped through her the previous day when Cereus led her to that pool of endless power. The pain was greater than anything she had felt previously, though, and unlike the last time it didn’t stop. The trees, the forest, the whole sky faded into nothing as the pain continued to rip up Selth’s stomach and through her spine. She tried to let go of the light she had bent around her but it was impossible to concentrate with so much pain pulsing through her.

  With a final scream, she ripped herself free of the power that was coursing through her and the invisible claw vanished. She rolled onto her side, gasping for breath and white faced from terror. It felt as though she had just spent the night being burned alive but barely thirty seconds had passed. Aren and Mattle were running towards where she lay and even Kant was struggling to his feet. Holding her stomach as though to prevent her guts from spilling out onto the ground Selth staggered to her feet. She started walking towards where Aren and Mattle were running to reach her but the pain flared across her whole body and she collapsed to the ground before she made it five feet. Aren was the first to reach her and he put a hand across her brow muttering under his breath rapidly. Mattle was close behind him and he stood just over Aren’s shoulder looking worried. That was all Selth managed to see before she faded into unconsciousness.

  Images flashed through her head at the speed of light, but she was light and it felt as though she was facing each image for an indefinite time span before moving onto the next. There were scenes where she was stealing priceless artifacts from easily fooled men and scenes where she was running for her life through narrow corridors but those weren’t the scenes that interested her. Instead she drifted towards scenes of pure magic, power cascading in waves from everything present and the flow of creation resounding in waves across the multiverse. Selth stared in shock at scenes she couldn’t understand, she only knew that somehow she was a part of each of them. As soon as a scene had faded she forgot it and moved towards the next one. There were scenes where planets had been created in the blink of an eye. Scenes where battles had raged across an expanse she couldn’t comprehend. Scenes where an entire universe had been destroyed in a war between two entities. Scenes where universes sprang into existence as though all the effort that had been taken was that of a quick sketch. There were other scenes too but Selth couldn’t focus on them. Scenes of primordial entities and powers that spanned beyond comprehension. Whenever one of those came before her eyes it felt as though a gray cloth had been dragged over everything, as though she didn’t possess the capabilities to even acknowledge what she was seeing let alone try to process it.

  There were scenes of betrayal and horrors so profound that Selth had to close her eyes and look away before they had finished playing through. As she felt her mind losing its strings on sanity, one last scene flashed before her eyes. It was the same scene she had dreamed a year and a half ago in the slums of Redtower. Atlatraigan and a traiganidorian were chasing her and then the traiganidorian stabbed her, straight through the back and out her stomach, the same place the pain had smashed into when she tried meddling with light. Cereus’s voice echoed through Selth’s head, reiterating his warning about ‘a traiganidorian wound.’ A wound which would not heal until the wounder had been killed. A different voice echoed through her head, a rich, melodic voice, “We are not ready to come back to what we once were. The traiganidorian has a part of us now and it must be destroyed before we can reassume the power we once held. Do not attempt to use the ancient powers until the beast is dead.” The voice began to fade away, “You have been warned.” then everything turned to black and Selth fell into the grip of unconsciousness.

  She sat up with a gasp, it was full dark out. What had happened was barely a half-remembered dream. She wished she could recall what she had seen but all that remained was a sense of that ghostly voice with its warning echoing through her head.

  Aren was standing over her when she pushed herself to her feet, a concerned look stretched across his face. When he saw that she was awake he leaned down and placed his hand on her forehead. They stayed that way for ten minutes before he leaned back with a heavy sigh of relief, “You’re fine, now, but you gave us quite a scare. Screaming like that and then you pass out for eighteen hours straight, Kant and Mattle had to be convinced you were even still alive.” A sharp look entered his eyes, “Did you know that boy before he became an apprentice? He seemed very concerned about your state of wellbeing?”

  Selth pushed herself up, bracing for a flash of pain but none occurred. She breathed a deep sigh of relief before responding, “I don’t know, his face is familiar but otherwise I have no idea who he co
uld be. Maybe he was someone I knew from the slums.” she broke off with a thoughtful look. “No,” she muttered to herself, “that can’t be. He went off and died somewhere outside of the city.”

  “Who did?” Aren asked, curiosity flashing in his voice.

  “This boy I lived with when I was stuck in the slums all those years. He went out of the city one day and never came back. I just assumed he had died, or been sent to the war and didn’t have time to come back to me. His name was Matt,” she whispered, a mixture of hope and wariness entering her voice.

  Aren smiled thoughtfully, “I’ll ask Kant about it tomorrow but you need to sleep or you won’t have the energy to get started. And I won’t brook another day wasted on this journey. I want to get to the mountains as soon as possible and no random magical occurrences are going to stop me this time.”

  Selth rolled her eyes at him but walked over to a comfortable looking spot on the ground and pulled her cloak around her. Curiosity as to whether or not Matt and Mattle could be the same person prevented her from sleeping for almost twenty minutes but as she stared up into the stars overhead she felt herself pulled away from her body and for the next five hours she danced among their light. Whatever it was that had hit her after attempting to twist light held no sway here and she let herself burn in the glory of starlight until Aren prodded her awake with his staff.

  The sun shone brightly despite its low position in the sky and no clouds were visible as Selth pulled herself to her feet. Kant and Mattle had already broken down their sparse camp and destroyed all signs that humans had even been there and Aren’s and Selth’s horses were both saddled. “Come on then,” Aren said merrily, “lots of ground to cover today and we can’t have one sleepy person holding us back.” Selth glared up at him but he just laughed, “Well you did manage to incapacitate yourself, Kant and me all within twenty minutes of each other.”