As Winter Spawns

by Jason Hamilton

  As Winter Spawns

  Roots of Creation Book 6

  Jason Hamilton

  Story Hobby Media

  Copyright © 2019 by Jason Hamilton

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  An Argoverse Novel

  www.argoforce.com

  Story Hobby Media

  www.storyhobbymedia.com

  Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.

  Cover art by Vanesa Garkova.

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Epilogue

  Author’s Note

  About the Author

  Also by Jason Hamilton

  1

  The cold sunk into Jak’s body, consuming her right to her bones, like the stomach acid of a large predator slowly digesting its prey.

  The portal shut behind her the moment she passed through it. After Marek had thrown her through, that is. She still couldn’t get it through her head. Why had Marek done that? Well, that wasn’t exactly the right question. A better question was how had Cain gotten his hands on her best friend and turned him against her. That had to be the explanation. Marek wouldn’t betray her of his own volition. Cain was making him do this.

  The sun was high in the sky, and Jak had to cover up her eyes as its reflection off a vast field of snow nearly blinded her.

  “Jak, what happened? Are you okay?” Seph was clutching her shoulders, giving her a small shake. She blinked as she realized that he was there. She had been so deeply entrenched in her shock that she hadn’t even realized what was going on around her.

  “I’m…” She almost said ‘I’m fine’ but quickly realized nothing could be further from the truth. She glanced down at the back of her right arm. There sat a new brand, one she would never have given herself, three circles contained within themselves. A Void brand. The brand to negate all other brands.

  Seph saw it too, and his eyes widened. “But how?”

  A clink of armor sounded behind Jak, and she turned to see Skellig standing there. “We need to get everyone to the mountains. I don’t suppose you could…” she trailed off as she caught sight of the expressions on Jak and Seph’s faces, not to mention the fact that they were lying on the snow-covered ground. “What’s wrong?”

  “Marek betrayed me at the last moment.” Jak said. She offered up her arm to show the Void brand. “He gave me this, and took the Pillars.”

  Seph said nothing but his grip on her arm tightened. Color drained from Skellig’s face. She bent closer, lowering her voice. “You can’t use your brands?”

  Jak felt deep within her, searching for those wells of power that signaled the presence of a brand. But none existed. She shook her head, slowly.

  Skellig took a deep breath and glanced around hastily. “Better keep that covered as best you can. We can’t let everyone know that you’re defenseless. There will be panic.”

  Jak agreed, though she knew it wouldn’t stay secret for long. Especially when others spotted her without the Pillars of Eternity. Questions would be asked, and speculation could sometimes be worse than the truth. Though how could anything be worse right now? She began to shiver.

  “What do we do?” said Seph, bending over to cradle Jak’s body and warm it with his own. How come he wasn’t so cold? He was just as powerless as Jak.

  Skellig faltered for a moment. Jak and Seph joined Skellig in looking at the mass of people who stood ahead of them. Seven thousand people, most of them human, but with a few hundred Fae mixed in. Giant trolls lumbered on around the edges of the group, the only ones who seemed unaffected by the cold.

  They were stranded, all of them, on the planet Illadar. Just moments ago Jak had held more power than a human could possibly wield. It had been impossible, something that shouldn’t be allowed to happen. Yet she had done it. She had created this very world on which they now stood. But it was only now becoming apparent just how much they still needed magic. Apart from their own group, there was no life visible in any direction. No trees, no animals. Nothing.

  All that power that she’d held, gone. She had nothing now. She was as powerless as the morning before receiving her first brand. That had been the day that Cain had first come to see her, though she hadn’t known who it was at the time. She’d woken to a dark force in her room that prevented her from moving. She had little more power now.

  “I suppose we have to move towards the mountains,” Jak struggled to her feet, feeling every muscle protest as she did so. “Find some kind of shelter.”

  Skellig nodded. “Yes, that should be our first course of action. And we’ll need to take stock of our resources. The livestock won’t last long in these conditions.”

  “We’ll need them for food,” said Jak, though it pained her to say it. But she had grown up raising sheep. There always came a time for the slaughter.

  “I suppose so,” Skellig surveyed the crowd. Many were drawing closer to them. Eager to know more about what they would do next. Most had excited looks on their faces. They were expecting Jak to have a plan. She had brought them this far after all. They didn’t know that she was suddenly more powerless than they.

  “Skellig. You need to take charge,” she said through increasing shivers. “I...I can’t do this right now. Use the gnomes. And find someone to watch out for the Water Fae, to keep the water in their wagons from freezing.”

  Skellig didn’t hesitate. She gave the briefest of nods, straightened, and began giving orders.

  While Skellig shouted out their next steps, Jak turned to Seph, who still wrapped her in a warm embrace. Well, relatively warm at least. He was shivering too.

  “What are you going to do about that?” he said, motioning to where her Void brand was hidden by her sleeve.

  “As far as I know, no one has ever removed a brand before. But at least I still have my sanity. I’m not turning into a demon or anything.”

  “I suppose that’s something,” said Seph, but his face didn’t look all that relieved. “Perhaps Gabriel could tell you more.”

  Jak nodded. “Yes, let’s see if we can find him.” Maybe Gabriel could help. She wouldn’t last long without her powers. And even if she could survive, Cain would come for them eventually, wielding the Pillars of Eternity. Jak had no doubt of that. Cain would find a way to break them, to mold them to his will. And the moment he did, he would wipe this little planet out of the stars. He could do it too. Jak knew all too well the type of power those Pillars contained.

  No, she had to get her powers back. That was simply how it must be. She would talk to Gabriel and find a way, no matter what.

  Skellig called for the gnomes and Flamedancers to assemble at the front of the army. They didn’t have many. In fact, most of their seven thousand people did not have bra
nds, since they came from far distant countries. But there were a handful of Flamedancers. Together with the gnomes, they began clearing the snow in front of them.

  To Jak’s relief, at least one gnome remained with each wagon carrying a Water Fae. Those particular wagons were covered in pitch, to help them hold water. The gnomes used their Fae abilities to keep the water warm, and prevent freezing. Inside these wagons lay the Water Fae, immobile due to their giant tail fin instead of legs. Jak scanned the horizon to find evidence of a lake or other body of water, but saw none. And even if there were a lake, it would be completely frozen over, rendering it useless for the Water Fae.

  Another shiver ran down Jak’s spine as she imagined the feeling of warm water surrounding her. She couldn’t imagine anything would feel so good right at that moment.

  A few humans and Fae came up to her asking for advice, but she turned them away, making sure they knew that Skellig was in charge for now. She hid her Void brand with one hand anytime someone approached. They couldn’t know that she was defenseless. Not yet. Not until they found some kind of stable living conditions.

  Seph stayed with her, and they hovered around the back of the group once they began to move towards the mountains. It felt good to be moving. But those mountains were still at least a day’s march, and they might not have sunlight for all that time. Jak didn’t even want to think about what temperatures would be at night.

  She looked up at the sky. Clouds dispersed the light in all directions so she couldn’t pinpoint exactly where the sun was at that moment. Did the sun even set the same as on Earth? What if the day and night cycle lasted much longer, or shorter? What if there wasn’t even a day and night cycle?

  Soon enough, her need to find Gabriel overcame her desire to lie low in the back of the group. She began pushing ahead with Seph right behind her. Gabriel had been the first to go through the portal, so he might be near the front. Though with seven thousand humans, she didn’t find him quickly.

  Finally, she spotted the tip of a long, brown beard sticking out of a worn hood.

  “Gabriel!” she shouted and pushed past the few who were in her way.

  Her mentor turned his head sharply at the forcefulness of her call. Maybe she shouldn’t have sounded so desperate. Others were looking at her as well. Almost unconsciously, she lay a hand over her sleeve above the Void brand.

  “What is it, Jak?” Gabriel said as she drew close, with Seph following right behind her.

  Jak glanced from side to side, making sure no one was listening too closely. “We have a problem.” She lifted up her sleeve just enough to expose the Void brand on her arm, close enough so that only she and Gabriel could see it.

  Gabriel’s eyes widened, and he too began glancing this way and that, looking for eavesdroppers. Thankfully most seemed fixated on putting one foot in front of the other in the snow-laden terrain.

  “What happened?” he said, in a low but harsh tone. “You didn’t do that to yourself, did you?”

  “No,” Jak felt her stomach clench again. “It was Marek.”

  She filled Gabriel in as much as she dared considering they were still out in the open. Seph chimed in only to mention the moment when Marek had flung him through the portal, just before branding Jak and sending her through as well. Gabriel stared at the ground as they walked, but it was clear he was listening intently.

  “And you can’t use any of your brands?” he asked once she finished. Jak shook her head. Gabriel took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

  “Do you know anything about removing brands?”

  Gabriel’s face darkened. “Jak, do you remember the first time we met?”

  Jak thought back to that day. The day when she’d received her first brand. “Yes. You skipped over me at the branding and talked to me privately afterward.”

  “And you remember I asked you about Salizon’s constants?”

  Jak’s face drained of color. She did remember. “You’re talking about the third constant. Permanence.”

  Gabriel nodded. “Once you receive a brand, it stays with you for life.”

  “But, you know perfectly well that the first constant has already been disproven.” Jak pleaded. “Singularity. We’ve learned that people can have multiple brands now.”

  Gabriel nodded, “True, and that’s why I would encourage you to search for an answer. You broke the first constant, maybe you can find a solution to the third.”

  “You mean, you don’t know of anything that could take away the brand?” Jak’s heart sunk further. Gabriel was her only hope. He knew everything, but if he didn’t know this…

  “I’m sorry, Jak. I can be of no help to you.”

  “But...what about tearing the skin off, or burning it, or...or trying another Void brand to Void the original brand.”

  Gabriel pursed his lips. “That last one is new, but the others have all been tried. They failed. The branding is more than skin deep. What you see is its outward appearance, but there is something about the brand that becomes a part of your very soul. It cannot simply be removed by physical means.”

  “But the second Void brand idea?” Jak prodded. She’d take any possibility, however slight. She had to get her powers back.

  But the expression on Gabriel’s face did not look encouraging. “I would doubt it could work. Even if you found someone to give you a brand, which let’s remember you were the only one who could give multiple brands, I don’t think it would work.”

  “Why not?”

  “Well, mostly because you’d have to differentiate between brands. You would want your second Void brand to only affect the first, rendering it useless and therefore freeing the others. But it wouldn’t work that way. A second Void brand would continue to negate the effects of all brands.”

  “What can I do?” Jak asked, desperate. There had to be something. Some wild theory or an old book she could read to learn more.

  Gabriel stopped walking and turned to look her square in the eye. Jak did not like what she saw there. “I’m sorry, Jak. I don’t think there’s anything we can do to bring your powers back. Though there is one person who knows brands more than I.”

  “Who is it?” Jak asked eagerly.

  “Cain,” said Gabriel. “You’ve already told me about the mind control brand he used on your shackles in Mt. Harafast. Perhaps there are other brands we don’t know about.”

  “You’re kidding, right? There’s no way I could get that kind of information out of him. Besides, we’re trapped on this planet.”

  Gabriel shrugged and went back to walking. “I didn’t say it would be possible to learn from him, only that he might be the only person who knows a solution.”

  “But that’s not useful to me at all!” Jak began to feel a heat rise up inside of her. A few people glanced at her, and she did her best to calm down. It was not easy.

  “I have a question,” said Seph in a matter-of-fact tone, almost as if he hadn’t heard their conversation. Both she and Gabriel turned their heads to look at him. “Does your Void brand work?”

  “What do you mean?” Jak narrowed her eyes at Seph. “Of course it works, I can’t use any of my other brands.”

  “No, sorry. I mean, does it work on other people? People with Void brands can usually touch someone and negate their powers, right?”

  He was right. The Royal Priest of Skyecliff had once done just that to Jak. He’d touched her and she’d temporarily lost her gifts.

  “We can give it a try,” said Gabriel, holding his left hand aloft. The Gifter brand on the back of that hand lit up. “Go ahead and touch my hand, Jak. If your Void brand works, we will know it immediately.”

  This wasn’t going to help her get her powers back, but she was still curious. It would be nice to have something at least. Some ability to call her own, even if she couldn’t draw from any of the others. She reached out and placed her right arm on Gabriel’s wrist.

  Immediately, the light coming out of Gabriel’s brand died. Her mentor’s eyes widen
ed. “Well that settles it. I can’t use my brand at all, right now.”

  Jak let go, staring once again at the Void brand on her arm. “Well, not that it will do me much good, but…”

  “I think it could do a lot of good,” said Seph. “This could be the key to defeating Cain if he ever comes against us again.”

  “You think I could use a Void brand against him?” asked Jak, cocking her head at Seph.

  “Yes, and then he would be nothing but an ordinary man. He could be defeated.”

  “That actually sounds like a decent plan,” said Gabriel, nodding. “I’m not sure why we hadn’t thought of that before.”

  Jak agreed but didn’t find any solace in the idea. She hadn’t asked for a Void brand after all. She wanted her other brands back. Besides, with Cain still on Earth, the chances of her getting a chance to use her Void brand on him were so small they might as well assume it wasn’t possible.

  She looked away at the mountains that slowly towered over them more and more as they drew closer. What would they do if she didn’t get her brands back and they also couldn’t find shelter? Would they all die out here, exposed to the cold like they were?

  This was why they needed her abilities. Before, she could have made them all Flamedancers or given them Toughness to help cope with the cold. But she couldn’t do any of that right now. They had come to Illadar expecting her to take care of them. But all they had found here was cold and ruin.

  She was a failure.

  2

  “Thanks for your help, Gabriel,” she said before hurriedly pushing past him and towards the head of their group. If finding suitable shelter was the key to their immediate survival, then she wanted to be at the forefront of the group, helping however she could.