Aegis of The Gods: Book 00 - The Shadowbearer (25 page)

Another type of shadeling climbed up behind the others. This one stood on four spindly legs, slender body rippling with sinew. Claw–tipped appendages stuck out from its chest. Two small wings hummed on the creature’s back. Thick locks of a fleshy substance hung down past its shoulders. Many–faceted, lidless eyes and dripping mandibles squirmed in a face contorted by masses of black folds. By the hundreds, the daemons spread among their lesser counterparts. They stretched, shade bubbling up around them as they practiced the Forgings to take a human’s soul.

The Svenzar grunted and his form began to dissolve into the earth. “And so begins the reign of Nerian the Shadowbearer.”

G
LOSSARY

Alzari
– Matii who wield mostly the Forms, strongest in earth essences and metal. Ancestors of the Setian.

Amuni
– One of the gods of Streams, specifically, shade. Brother of Ilumni.

Ashishin
– Matii who serve the Tribunal and often represent the god Ilumni and the Streams, specifically light and heat. Most of the Granadian peoples are descendants of the Ashishin. They often bear the title of Shin or High Shin.

Astoca
– A kingdom within south central Ostania. Their people, the Astocans, are cousins to the Cardians. (See Namazzi)

Bana
– A kingdom in eastern Ostania. Their people are the Banai and worship Humelen and the Forms.

Bastions of Light
– Towers along the Vallum of Light and located at strategic points within Granadia that can be used to send warning of an impending attack to the Tribunal.

Cardia
– A kingdom far south in Ostania. Their people, the Cardians, are related to the Astocans. (See Namazzi)

construct
– A sentient entity created from essences.

Dagodin
– A Matus who cannot Forge but can wield items imbued with Mater called divya.

Darkwraith
– A type of shadeling created by merging the sela essences, spirit, and shade of a Matus.

dartan
– A massive beast of burden, bigger than any horse. It has 6 legs, hardened skin, and a shell into which it can withdraw its legs. It also has a long snake-like neck and is a meat eater. Originally created during the Luminance Wars.

Deathbringer
– A type of Matii used by the Felani and others, said to be already crazed Matii. Only the Felani know how they’re controlled.

Denestia
– The world where this story takes place, said to have been the crowning achievement of the god Ilumni who defeated his brother Amuni for its possession.

Devout
– A priest who serves Ilumni and goes on pilgrimages to do the Tribunal’s bidding, often preaching the word of Streamean worship and its virtues.

divya
– An item imbued with Mater.

Dosteri
– A race originating in Everland who later inhabited Granadia.

Elements of Mater
– The completed essences that make up the Flows, the Forms, and the Streams. (See Mater)

Erastonia
– A kingdom in Everland.

Erastonian
– Powerful warriors from Everland, specifically from a place called Erastonia. They possess some of the strongest Matii within the known world. Their main task is defending the Great Divide and killing any shadelings that happen to escape from the prisons contained with the Divide.

Essences
– The individual strands of power that make up the elements of Mater.

Everland
– The northernmost continent in Denestia.

Exalted
– Mythical leaders of the Tribunal.

Eztezian
– The Eztezians were the descendants of the gods. Great warriors and the most powerful Matii to grace Denestia. They were tasked with protecting Denestia from the shade and from itself. Driven mad by their overuse of Mater however, they almost destroyed the world. They created the Great Divide, which brought about the shade’s defeat. Then they turned on the gods, sealing them in the Nether to prevent future wars and the creation of more creatures like the shadelings.

Felan
– A kingdom is western Ostania. Their people are known as the Felani.

Flowic
– The religions named after the elements of Flows and its gods.

Flows
– The combination of two essences—primarily water and air that make up liquids known as the Flows. There are other variations that involve other essences. E.g Water and cold to form ice. Heat, air, and something flammable to create fire.

Forger
– A Matus who can Forge essences of Mater

Forging
– See Materforging

Formist
– The religion named after the elements of Forms and its gods.

Forms
– The combination of three essences—earth, metal, and wood, that make up solids known as the Forms. There are other variations of solids that can be enhanced by using other essences, as well as other essences not in this umbrella that can be used to form solids. (See example in Streams.)

Gerde
– Stoneform beasts with eight-legs that bear similarities to crabs, but were the size of ponies.

Granadia
– The Western continent of Denestia. Have been at conflict with most of Ostania for millenia.

Harna
– A kingdom in northern Ostania. Followers of Formist religion. Descendants of the Sven.

Humelen
– One of the Gods of Forms, specifically earth.

Hydae
– A world formed by Amuni when he lost to his brother Ilumni.

Ilumni
– One of the gods of Streams, specifically, light. Brother of Amuni.

Imbuer
– A Matus who can imbue properties of essences into an item to create divya.

kinai
– A special plant that draws on essences, used in many healing formulas and potent drinks. Said to enhance the user’s strength, stamina, and agility.

Luminance War
– An ancient war when shadelings escaped the Great Divide and swept across Ostania.

Mater
– Mater is the core elemental power which exists within everything. It makes up the three elements the gods represent and their individual essences. Mater drives all worlds. The three elements are the solids of the Forms, the liquids of the Flows, and the energy of the Streams. Those are further broken down into separate essences. For instance, earth, wood and metal are a part of the Forms. Heat, cold, light and shade are a part of the Streams. Water and air are a part of the Flows. Finally, there’s sela essence, a combination of life and death which sits outside the three elements and is required for anything to live or die. (See Streams, Flows, Forms.)

Materialize
– Ability to Forge a portal between two places for travel.

Materforging
– The act of wielding the essences or elements of Mater.

Matersense
– The ability to open up one’s mind to be able to sense or see nearby essences within the elements of Mater.

Matus
– One who can sense Mater (Plural – Matii) Not every Matus can manipulate or Forge Mater. What essence a Matus is strongest in is often determined by bloodline. However, one can train to become adept in other essences. It is difficult and takes powerful Matii to wield essences from two separate elements simultaneously. It is considered to only be an ability of the netherlings or gods to wield all essences within all three elements at the same time.

Mystera
– Schools built throughout Granadia for the purpose of teaching and recruiting Matii.

Namazzi
– Matii who wield mostly the Flows, ancestors of the Cardians and Astocans.

Netherling
– Primordial beings from the Nether, said to have been the ones to bestow their power on the Eztezians in order to save the world. This act was part of their revenge against the gods for their experiments.

Ostania
– The Eastern continent of Denestia. Have been at conflict with most of Ostania for millenia.

Pathfinder
– Powerful Matii, trained by the Tribunal, who have passed the ultimate tests of control over their emotions, which ensure they will not succumb to the temptations of the power the essences promise. They are used to hunt Matii who break the laws governing the use of Forging or those who go insane. They often accompany Ashishin to protect the Ashishin from attackers and from themselves.

Raijin
– An elite assassin corps within the Tribunal.

Sanctums of Shelter
– Similar to the Bastions of Light but more powerful and arrayed along the mountains in Northern Granadia to protect from any direct incursion by the shade through the Great Divide.

Scorpio
– A massive crossbow–type weapon that fires large metal projectiles.

Senjin
– A sport played with a leather ball, featuring 14 combatants, 7 per side, on a field spilt into 6 parts, with two halves. The team to score three times first, wins.

Seti
– A kingdom in north western Ostania. Their people the Setian are descendants of the Alzari. (See Alzari)

Shadelings
– Creatures created in the God Wars, primarily by the god Amuni, and his followers by experimenting with netherlings and the essence of shade. The effects of the couplings can be seen within some of the strange beasts within Denestia.

Shin
– The respectful title given to Ashishin Matii.

Shunyata
– A place within each person where they can separate and control their emotions. Also the place where sela essence is stored within any living being. Also known as the Eye.

Streamean
– The religion named after the elements of Streams and its gods.

Streams
– The combination of four essences—light, heat, cold, and shade that make up energy. The energy can be used in the forming of the other elements e.g cold is needed to form ice which is part of the Forms and part of the Flows.

Sven
– The earth elemental peoples that inhabit the Nevermore Mountains in north eastern Ostania. Descendants of the Svenzar.

Svenzar
– Form elementals that reside in mountainous areas. Their power resides in earth, metal, and wood.

The Aegis
– Said to be a power or a person who would help either protect the gods or defend against their resurgence.

The Chronicles
– Said to be sacred tomes written by the Eztezians themselves and their descendants, dictating the past and the future of the world.

The Disciplines
– A set of rules and pointers on how to govern and lead soldiers.

The Eye
– See Shunyata.

The Great Divide
– A massive rift in the land created by the Eztezians to defeat the shadelings. It runs from north to south across central Everland, and is guarded by the Erastonians.

The Iluminus
– Named after the god Ilumni, it is the central city, learning hub and home of the Tribunal and its Matii.

The Nether
– A realm between the worlds thought to be the origination of Mater, the gods, and netherlings.

The Stone
– The great hidden city where the Svenzar and Sven live in northern Ostania.

The Unvanquished
– Stefan Dorn’s elite troops in Ostania.

Travelshaft
– Tunnels developed by the Svenzar using the Forms, where time is slowed and speed increased to allow travel between large distances in a small amount of time. Said to somehow be constructed between the Planes of Existence.

Tribunal
– The founding society of Ashishin among the Matii. They determined what was needed for the Matii as a whole to function in their proper roles as protectors and mediators. Eventually, the different Matii split apart due to conflicts in ideals, philosophies and religions. The Tribunal rules in Granadia. They left Ostania where most of the other Matii fled, to fend for themselves.

Vallum of Light
– A massive wall imbued with Mater and erected by Eztezians within the Tribunal to separate Ostania from Granadia.

Warping
– A Forging by powerful Matii, using the sela essences of something recently killed, to twist the essences in a specific area, thus rendering them unusable for a period of time.

Wraithwolf
– A type of shadeling using a combination of wolf or other canine type beast, as well as the sela of a person, and essences of shade.

Zar
– The respectful title given to Alzari Matii.

E
TCHINGS OF POWER

A
egis Of The Gods Book 1

The opening stanza in a new epic fantasy series that delves into the themes of war, corruptible power, love, betrayal, and absolution in the world of Denestia.

Ryne Waldron, a living legend at the edge of madness is haunted by a murderous past and the voices of his power that whisper in his head. Hunted, he strives to defend a village he swore to protect. But his enemies might be closer than he could ever suspect.

Ancel Dorn, a gifted student, struggles with rejection and must accept who he is or perish to the creatures that stalk him and his parents. When he discovers he’s targeted for death by beings that seemed to have stepped from the history of an ancient war, his only choice is to flee.

Irmina Nagel, Ancel’s former lover, and an assassin sent to find Ryne, is mired in her quest for revenge on Ancel’s parents, and must set aside her emotions or fail her final test. What she discovers may not only change her life but the world as a whole.

Caught between warring nations, vengeful leaders, magic and steel, myth and men, the fate of millions hang in the balance. Who can unite the kingdoms against a common threat? Who shall bring the power that drives the world to heel? Who will walk the knife’s edge of harmony? If none can, then Denestia is doomed.

C
hapter 1

R
yne Waldron wondered if he should kill the woman.

Blood, bodies, and screams rolled across his mind with the thought of her and those she represented. The stink of something dead or worse hung in the air. He expelled a great breath, chest heaving with the hope the stench was only death.

An old, familiar feeling, like heat seeping into a cold hearth, stirred deep within his eight–foot frame. In response, the vibrant tapestry of tattoos covering his body from foot to chin writhed. Seamless replicas of the same artwork decorated his armor, they too twitching in unison with those on his body. Ryne flinched, his muscled arms and broad back clenching, the scars under his leather armor drawing taut. Frowning, he stopped himself from reaching to his hip for his greatsword’s hilt. His bloodlust had never risen before unless he touched his power. He shut away the craving to kill with practiced ease.

Unable to shrug off the lapse of control, Ryne stepped to the rear of one of Carnas’ many rosewood and teak homes and glanced out across the Orchid Plains. Shimmering heat rose in waves, and yellowed grass and flowers bowed under the sun’s rays as if praying for relief, but sure enough, there she stood.

Mariel—if that was even her real name—kept her gaze trained in his direction. Dark hair hung to her shoulders, and she was dressed in a short–sleeved shirt and close–fitting trousers, her slight body and paler skin color the opposite of the native Ostanians. As usual, she stayed beyond the range where he could read her aura.

Ryne turned his head to the noise of a boot scraping on the wooden stairs next to him.

“See here?” Dren craned his head to peer at Ryne, his leather boot poking at a dried bloodstain. “This is where they took Miss Corten last night.”

Looming over Dren, although the sinewy man stood two stairs higher, Ryne inspected the scuffmarks. Rust colored splotches stained the wood. Next to the steps, several flattened flowers were the only other signs of a struggle. Ryne’s brow wrinkled. “Nowhere near enough blood to have been anything serious.”

“Exactly.” Dren nodded, scarred hands rising to stroke his short beard. “Miss Corten can hunt as well as any one of us scouts. But no one heard her sound an alarm or even cry out.”

Ryne gauged the proximity to the other adjoining homes. Despite the space between houses afforded here at Carnas’ outskirts, someone should have heard Miss Corten. With the recent hot weather and lack of rain, the shuttered windows on these houses would’ve been open. Neither the sturdy structures nor the wooden tile roofs would have kept out the sounds of the struggle or a cry for help. Not even the gales that often howled during one of the frequent thunderstorms could have drowned out Miss Corten’s cries. However, there hadn’t been any such wind, not the past few days. The weather had remained as it was now, hot, still, and silent with not much more than an inconsequential breeze.

Shifting uncomfortably in his fitted leather armor to sample the air once more, Ryne flicked his thumb across his nose as the whiff of something long dead, of decay and unwashed dog fur curdled his insides. “Have you noticed the smell, Sakari? It’s faint, but it’s there.”

Sakari glided forward, his nostrils flaring. The silver flecks dominating the whites of his eyes flashed as he sniffed the air. At near seven feet—almost reaching Ryne’s shoulder—today he was the opposite of Ryne in girth, his body svelte, each part fit in near perfect proportions under his scaled leather armor. “Yes,” Sakari answered after a final scrunch of his nose, “Rot. Old fur. Something not quite dead.”

Dren’s brows drew together, his eyes narrowed, and sweat beaded his forehead. His hand eased down to his sword hilt as he glanced around, his gaze searching the woods across the expanse of pastures. “Master Waldron, you think it’s a beast from the Rot?” the scoutmaster whispered, his head shifting from left to right as if to make sure no one overheard.

Indeed, Dren had cause for his fear. If any beast had crossed the Rotted Forest, there would be reason to worry for everyone. “Maybe. We’ll know soon enough. Take us to the body,” Ryne ordered.

Dren gave a tentative nod and set off at a jog, his hand on the pommel of his sheathed short sword. Under too clear skies and a burning sun, they cut across the Orchid Plains with its grasses and namesake blue and red flowers that lit up the air with the sweet scent of their blooms. In places, the brush and plants around them not only drooped and were becoming sickly yellow but were a dying brown.

Ryne spared a look over his shoulder, and the muscles along his neck formed a tight rope of tension. As usual, Mariel followed. He smirked. She wouldn’t escape him today.

Seeing her usual dogged pattern brought questions rising within Ryne again. Why did she seek him? Why did she maintain the distance from him that she did, yet still followed wherever he went? Could she know of his ability to see auras? No. He dismissed the thought. Besides Sakari, no one else knew.

Brow creased from both curiosity and worry, he wondered if she recognized him. If she did, and she reported his identity to her masters, life would become even more dangerous for Carnas’ residents. There wouldn’t be just eight villagers who went missing over the last few weeks since she appeared; the Granadian Tribunal would wipe Carnas from the map. The fact he still lived was an embarrassment that reeked of their failure, a weakness for others to exploit.

Or so they would see it.

As soon as the thought crossed his mind, a memory bloomed. Garbed in golden armor of interlocking plates, five–foot greatsword in hand, ebony hair tied in a ponytail, Ryne stood atop a mound of dead people. Skulls and ruptured bodies by the hundreds spread all around a smoke–shrouded village square. He plunged the Tribunal’s Lightstorm battle standard through a corpse, into the ground, and roared a challenge. He was the Tribunal’s instrument of vengeance and none could stand before him. Not even the Tribunal’s own. Then he was running, and running, and running, chased by the Tribunal’s assassins. The vision shifted. He was on his knees in chains, unable to use his power, his body covered in blood, torn flesh and half–mended scars from lashes. The whip struck again. Pain seared through his body with the memory. Ryne clenched his sword’s hilt.
Never again. Never again will I suffer at the hands of the Tribunal’s kind.

“I see Mariel is still following you. When last you tried to catch her?” Dren’s words broke Ryne from his thoughts.

Ryne gave a shake of his head and grunted before he shortened his strides in an effort not to outpace the much shorter man. “Two days ago.” Counting his steps, Ryne pictured where Mariel would be behind them. The moment needed to be perfect.

“She’s better at hiding than anyone I ever met.” The admiration in Dren’s voice was clear. “In my years as a scoutmaster, I’ve yet to meet one as skilled as she who wasn’t an Alzari. It’s almost like she uses the shade to hide. I wonder if she wields the elemen—”

Ryne veered off from the path the scoutmaster set and broke into a full out sprint, his hand on his scabbard to keep it in place. To his right Sakari kept pace, sandy hair bouncing to match his languid strides, a constant shadow hovering somewhere near, eyes seeing everything but revealing nothing. As Ryne expected, Mariel turned tail and sped toward the Fretian Woods.

With the path clear ahead, Ryne opened his mind and linked with Sakari. Ryne’s vision doubled. In one sight, he was in his own body, tearing through the brush. In the other, he saw through Sakari’s eyes as if he ran in his companion’s boots, each step a glide that barely touched the ground.

“Whatever we do, we must catch her before she reaches the woods,” Ryne said under his breath.

“As you wish.”

Ryne closed the link, and his vision receded to his alone once more. Ponytail slapping against his back, he ate up the distance between him and Mariel. Frightened birds flapped from his path, their morning song interrupted, protesting squawks coming in discordant jangles.

Dren’s unfinished question had brought up another issue Ryne had considered. Suppose Mariel did use the elements to hide? That would make her more than the high ranked priestess she claimed since she arrived in Carnas. Lips curling, Ryne snarled and pumped his massive legs faster. The old pain from his torture by the Tribunal rose anew. If she did possess the ability to use the same power as he, then he would force her to do so. When she did, she would confirm his suspicions of her intent. And he would kill her.

Deep inside himself, Ryne’s bloodlust flared to life. In response, his Scripts—the tattoos covering his body— roiled like living things.

Down a gentle slope they ran, the occasional tree a blur as they pursued. On the opposite incline, Mariel crested the hilltop before she disappeared down the other side.

As he rushed to the top of the hill, Ryne’s strides faltered and slowed. He’d chosen what he thought was the perfect moment and the best path to cut her off. Somehow, the woman had anticipated his move. Not only had she opened up more distance since the chase began, but she fled at an angle that made sure she would reach the woods long before he managed to catch her. So clear was her path and wide her distance, not only was catching her near impossible, but he wouldn’t be able to close the gap to read her aura.

Unless…

He growled in frustration, and his bloodlust surged.

“
Embrace your power
,” a deep voice, steeped in malevolence, whispered in his head. “
Capture her. Kill her.”

“
No. Remember what
that
has cost you in the past
,” warned a soothing voice in a low whine.
“The blood, the bodies, the innocents slaughtered.
”

“Yessss,”
the first voice encouraged in trembling tones of a creature savoring its pleasure.
“Remember the past. How your power saved you. Our power. Kill for ussss. Feed ussss. And none can escape you.”

The opposing voice pleaded,
“No, please, no. If you do so, you will lose yourself yet again. Is that your wish? To see all you love covered in blood by your hands, steeped in despair that you wrought?”

On and on the voices warred. Ryne closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, the argument a buzz in the background. As he had practiced the last few years, he listened to the latter voice. If he touched his power now, not only would he kill Mariel, but if he lost control, those he’d come to love in Carnas would suffer a similar fate. Shuddering with the effort, he fought down his lust and shut it off yet again. He heaved a sigh. This sudden rise of his urges didn’t bode well. Suspicion of Mariel’s ill intentions was all well and good, but without proof, he was no better than those in Carnas who blamed the woman for the missing villagers or the recent bodies they’d found.

What was he thinking? Regardless of her capacity in her work for Granadia’s Tribunal, should anything happen to her, Carnas’ inhabitants would pay. The Tribunal’s price was always absolute. Ryne squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. Picturing those he loved in Carnas lying dead under the Tribunal’s banners, crushed by the boots of their military might brought bile rising to his throat.

“Sakari, stop,” Ryne shouted. He churned to a halt, his breathing heavy with exertion.

Sakari slowed to a walk. He turned and glided back to Ryne in those smooth strides of his. As he drew close, Sakari shook his head. “You make this more difficult than it needs to be.” The green pupils of his eyes were deep pools of nothingness.

Ryne ignored the man. He’d heard the same more than enough times. Well ahead of them, Mariel reached the woods’ rosewood and mahogany trees and vanished among the dappled shadows cast by trunks and branches. Ryne spared a glance for the footsteps thudding behind him.

Breaths coming in harsh gasps, Dren caught up with them. “W–What was that all about?” His chest heaved as he gathered himself. “Why chase her now?”

Ryne shrugged.“ I thought I’d be able to get her before she reached the woods.”

Dren wheezed a laugh. “I’ve seen that bitch easily outrun our dogs. Forian and the others have been whipping the village into a frenzy since you been gone the last two days.” He sucked in a breath. “He been saying the things she does proves she’s evil. They say she follows the path of the shade.”

“And the mayor has been allowing him as usual,” Ryne concluded.

Dren nodded. “There’s others who think differently, but sooner or later they’re going to attack Mariel. May be a good idea for you to speak to them before it gets any worse. They’re meeting at Hagan’s right now.”

“Yes. I might have to,” Ryne said, expression thoughtful, his gaze focused on the area where Mariel had fled. She reappeared at the forest’s edge. “Lead us to the body,” he said to Dren.