Nefarius Read online

  Aran heads down to ask Nara why she betrayed them. She explains that Talifax returned her memories, and that she can no longer be trusted. Talifax wants her to kill Voria, so she should be kept locked up to prevent that.

  Aran gets some coffee, which I think I’m going to do too. BRB.

  Now armed with coffee, Aran sends a missive to Voria, and they finally get a chance to compare notes. Voria thinks Aran should go with the governor to Yanthara, where they can buy this fleet they’re after.

  Apparently one of Eros’s last acts was to hide Rhea, because he thought she’d be important. He chose to hide her on Yanthara at a dream catalyst. Aran is thrilled to hear this, because it means he can finally get Kheross off his ass.

  Crewes is from Yanthara, and we’re shocked (not shocked) when it turns out that the priestess at the temple is his ex-girlfriend. We get to see Crewes put into an uncomfortable romantic situation, and instead of Aran going into the Catalyst, like everyone expects, poor Crewes has to do it.

  He finds himself in a jungle that stretches in all directions. Sarala, his ex and the priestess of Shi, tells him that if he uses his technology it will betray him, so he has to abandon his armor and weapons.

  Crewes laughs and refuses. He flies up over the jungle using his spellarmor and sees a purple glow in the middle of a crater. Crewes starts flying toward it, but doesn’t get very far when his armor disappears and he plummets into the canopy…buck-ass naked.

  For the first time Crewes directly manifests fire magic the way a war mage would. He saves himself, just barely, but is pretty banged up when he hits the forest floor. He lands on top of a long, straight branch, which seems perfect for a walking stick.

  Before he gets far he realizes he’s being shadowed by a ghost leopard, which are ruthless killers of the deep jungle. The cat attacks him and he fends it off, but it continues to follow him for some reason.

  Eventually Crewes reaches the center of the crater, and falls backwards onto a bed of leaves. He stares up at the sky and sees a battle playing out between gods. The elder god Shivan is cut in half, and those halves land on separate hemispheres. One is fire, and the other dream.

  Clever readers figured out that the Temple of Shi and the Temple of Van are worshipping halves of the same elder god. That will definitely play a role in book 7. Kudos for figuring it out.

  Anyway, Crewes realizes that the cat that’s following him is actually his armor, and the walking stick is his rifle. He’s pretty annoyed by all this symbolic representation crap, and more annoyed when it turns out that his armor can turn into a cat whenever it wants. He now has a ghost leopard named Neeko-Kan following him around.

  Crewes journeys into the dream and rescues Rhea, the Outrider. We see a vision from Rhea’s point of view where she and Kheross are fighting off their corrupted brethren. Crewes convinces Rhea that it’s just a memory, and she returns…only to immediately reject Kheross because he is still corrupted by the blood of Nefarius.

  She reveals that anyone touched by it is a conduit for Nefarius. The goddess can see through their eyes, and learn all their secrets. She urges them to kill her father. Aran refuses and won’t turn on an ally. He allows Kheross to leave peacefully, and wishes him well.

  Flash back to Voria as she journeys down to the Chamber of Shaya for answers. Shaya shows her that there is a cavern under the tree, and we get to see Shaya’s death scene. It turns out that the tree is over her grave, and the goddess isn’t really a tree.

  In fact, the tree is actually the great spear Worldender, wielded by Shivan when he killed Shaya. Voria realizes that Shaya’s magic is still under the tree, and that losing the pool isn’t as catastrophic as we first thought.

  A bit later in the book we get another vision, and this time we see Shaya becoming a goddess. She’s the commander of something called the Vagrant Fleet (uh oh…another spin-off series), and she uses worship from every person on every ship to help transform her into a goddess.

  Inura provides the rest of the magic, and Voria watches him funnel the magic through Ikadra. We see a version of Ikadra that is naive, and quickly realize that the source of the poop jokes is actually Shaya. She’s a terrible influence.

  Now Voria understands what she needs to do (more poop jokes, obviously).

  She calls a meeting with Ducius and the caretakers and explains that they need to convince their people that not only can she become a goddess, but she’ll be strong enough to stop Krox. She herself doesn’t believe it, but she somehow needs to convince them. Ducius agrees to put his hatred aside, and he and the caretakers start convincing the people to help her rise as a goddess.

  Flash back to Aran. Skare has delivered a fleet of black ships to Ternus, and Ternus wants Aran to help power them up. Since the ships can drain magic it stands to reason that they can suck a Catalyst dry. Ternus believes that void is the most important aspect, so they want him to lead a raid on the Skull of Xal.

  Aran’s initial instinct is to say no, but Austin agrees to use those ships to fight Krox when he attacks Shaya. They’re desperately short on tools that will hurt a god, and Ternus wants payback for what Krox did to their homeworld. Aran reluctantly agrees.

  They arrive at the Skull and the governor wants to fly right in and take what they need. Aran explains that Catalysts have guardians, and that they have no idea what this one is capable of. They need to be cautious.

  Sure enough, they are opposed by a potent demon army, led by the demon queen Malila. The black ships try to use their magic-draining tendrils, which have some success against the lesser demons. The ships vacuum up a little void magic, but then they try assaulting Malila directly.

  It doesn’t go well.

  Malila reverses the flow and sucks the magic from one of the ships, which starts falling toward the Ternus troops. Aran and Nara manage to knock it out of the way, and the other Ternus ships retreat, leaving them to deal with an angry demigod. Not that angry, though, as it turns out.

  Aran and Nara are invited to speak with her, and she tells them that they are, in fact, tools she created. Haven’t they ever wondered why their names were so similar? She is trying to resurrect her father, and they are a part of that plan.

  She agrees to allow one hundred mages to enter the light, and come away with a piece of Xal. But Aran and Nara must be two of the mages. They agree.

  We get some more cool scenes of the godswar. Nara sees how Talifax first tricked Xal. Aran sees how Xal’s body was devoured by a host of gods, including the ‘good’ ones. Xal turns Aran into something called a Hound of Xal, which effectively allows him to track and drain magic. He’s designed to kill gods, though Aran doesn’t yet realize it.

  Flip over to Kheross, who is hovering in space as a dragon. Talifax appears near him and we basically get a ‘one more job’ scenario. If Kheross will do one more job for Talifax, the Talifax will drain the void magic from him, and purge him of Nefarius’s black touch.

  Kheross knows it’s probably a trick, but all Talifax wants him to do is open a door at the right time. Sounds pretty simple, so Kheross agrees.

  Flip back to Voria. She’s got the ritual set up and is pretty much good to go, but Drakkon arrives in human form. He brings her enough of Marid’s water magic to turn Voria into a demigod, because he knows that Shaya’s power will not be enough. Yay! We finally get a win.

  The magic gives Voria a heightened sense of euphoria, basically making her drunk/high until she crashes. Voria greets her mother and Skare, and thanks them and Ternus for bringing the black ships to help them fight.

  We get a reunion between Voria and the company, and everybody is feeling good! It’s totally a trap. Voria goes back to her quarters to sleep it off, because she has to become a god in the morning.

  Flash over to Nara who is still sitting in a cell with Frit and Kaho. Time stops, and Talifax steps out of the shadows. He taunts her, and says she’ll kill Voria. She says she won’t.

  A few scenes later Kheross comes walking into the brig. Guess whi
ch door he has to open to get his freedom? Kheross releases Nara, Frit, and, Kaho and then disappears for the rest of the book.

  Nara is terrified. She doesn’t want to kill Voria, but realizes that Talifax is 100% certain that she will. Up until this point I planted several little clues about how the ritual of raising a goddess works. You don’t need a body. You only need a soul. Ikadra can store a soul.

  Nara goes to Voria’s chamber and straight gats her. We get to see Voria’s cooling corpse, and Nara crying over it. The scene was pretty brutal to write, even though I knew Voria was coming back.

  Meanwhile, Nebiat/Krox are getting ready to attack. Nebiat does something that triggers Krox, not that he can do anything about it. She consumes all of the Earthmother’s magic at once, removing her as a permanent resource. Basically she eats the Catalyst.

  Nebiat spends the magic to awaken every drake on the planet. Effectively she rebuilds the Krox race, and replaces all the dragons that have been killed fighting against the Confederacy and in previous wars.

  She takes a few hundred of those dragons, and a bunch of fire elementals, and then heads to Shaya to crush her hated rival.

  When she arrives, Voria hasn’t risen, and Krox is able to attack the shield directly. Aran and the Talon do what they can to fight her army, but it isn’t going well. Aran gets ballsy, and attacks Krox directly. He guides the Talon inside the body of a god.

  Back to Voria. Nara finds a way to modify the ritual, and they are able to raise Voria as a goddess. Voria steps up and starts to fight Krox, but it’s clear that she’s totally outclassed. The Shade of Shaya tells Voria that the Spellship is that weapon. The ship fits in Voria’s palm as a goddess, and she ignites it into a double bladed light—uh—sword, which is powered by the faith of the people inside the ship.

  Voria brawls with Krox, but Krox is simply too strong. She’s losing. There’s no hope. =O

  We flash back to Aran inside Krox. Aran uses his newfound ability to track and absorb magic. First he rips out the void magic Krox took from Xal all those millennia ago. Then he finds the Heart of Fire, and sucks away a bunch of flame.

  The Talon grows massively in size and power, and so does Aran (he grows in power, not size). He hasn’t quite passed the threshold into true godhood, but by the rules of the roleplaying system we’re building he’s at the very edge of heroic mortal.

  Unfortunately, Krox still rips the great tree out of the planet and shatters it. He claims Worldender, the oldest object in creation. Aran does enough damage that Krox retreats since he and Nebiat have what they want.

  Voria looks at her ruined world, and replaces the tree, then gives the entire planet an atmosphere. Never again will they need a ritual or a dome. She creates a self-sustaining world, though there are few survivors to populate it. Most died in Krox’s assault.

  In the last chapter Nebiat returns to her world and brags to Krox about what a badass she is. She didn’t kill Voria, but she removed her power base, and claimed the most powerful object in creation.

  Now, she plans to sit back and grow in strength while her enemies fight each other, then strike at a critical moment when they are all weakened.

  Which brings us to the book you’re holding. Nefarius will rise, and Nebiat has not been idle.

  1

  Ambushed

  Aran scanned the newly expanded bridge of the Talon as he strode through the vaulted doorway, and was pleased by what he saw. Rhea had command, and currently sat in the central matrix. The contoured couch was designed for pilot comfort, but her posture was stiff and her shoulders squared. A slender spellblade was belted around her waist, the scabbard resting against the chair’s golden frame and the tip of the blade nearly touching the bronze ring as it swung past. That was new.

  “Captain on deck,” the raven-haired Outrider barked, drawing the attention of the rest of the bridge crew.

  Crewes manned the matrix on the far side of the room, his oversized legs dangling off the chair. Unlike Rhea, the sergeant lounged in his matrix, though the dark-skinned man offered Aran a crisp salute. “Love that we got a proper chain of command again. Welcome back, sir. How did it go?”

  Aran offered a nod to Davidson in the last matrix. The blond officer’s bearded cheeks were more gaunt than they had been, and he still wore the haunted expression that had settled in immediately after the Battle of Shaya.

  Davidson returned the nod, his icy eyes focusing for a moment. “Welcome aboard, Captain.”

  Aran returned Crewes’s salute, then willed a bit of air from his chest to craft an invisible chair. He adjusted Narlifex as he sat, and considered how to answer Crewes’s question. As with most things these days, it was complicated.

  “Good, I guess?” He focused his attention on the scry-screen, which currently showed the planet’s growing umbral shadow. They’d be in Fissure range soon. He turned back to the sergeant. “Voria is going to head to Ternus once she’s done fluffing Ducius’s ego.”

  Crewes licked his lips, and adopted an uncomfortable expression. “That’s not what I meant. What about Nara, sir? She coming back?”

  It meant a lot to Aran that the sergeant had forgiven Nara, though he had a feeling that clemency didn’t extend to either Frit or Kaho. He still wasn’t sure where he came down, and was thankful he didn’t have to find out. Nara he trusted, to a point. The others? Enemy of my enemy and all that.

  Aran shook his head. “Nara’s taken Voria’s offer. Last I saw her she was surrounded by a dozen advisors in the Spellship’s library.” Something eased in him, and he relaxed into his invisible chair. “She looked happy. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen that, and it looks good on her.”

  Crewes barked a short laugh. “Guess I really am going soft. Kid probably made the right choice, and the major—uhh, Lady Voria, I guess, could use the help so she don’t get overwhelmed by snakes like Ducius.”

  The sergeant’s laugh caused sudden motion from the base of the matrix, and Aran gave a start when he realized that Neeko, Crewes’s ghost leopard, was curled up near the sergeant’s feet. The cat’s fur had faded to a dull bronze, and now perfectly matched the ship’s hull. Only a sudden flick from the tail had given its presence away, the motion caused when Crewes laughed. He noted that the cat’s ears were tilted toward the sergeant, though her eyes were closed.

  Davidson stifled a yawn. “Captain, if we hit another Catalyst do you think the Talon might grow again? Right now we can maybe fit a little armor, but if you get us up to a full cruiser we could field a whole tank battalion. We’ve got the funds to buy them.”

  “Theoretically,” Aran allowed, “but much as I hate to say it we’re short on time. We need to get to…our friend in the Umbral Depths. Voria claims that Inura says that Nefarius is about to resurrect. It’s like one of those…what do you call those holoshows, Davidson?”

  “Soap operas,” the blond man drawled.

  Aran snapped his fingers. “That’s the term. It’s like a soap opera. Anyway, Voria believes that the most valuable thing we can do right now is to gather intel. I can’t think of a better place than where we originally found this ship.”

  “Why do I get the feeling that we’re all dancing around a topic?” Davidson asked. He scrubbed his fingers through his beard, a straw-colored mirror of Aran’s own. “It’s like we’re all talking about the same thing, but not saying it. I thought this ship was warded by gods or some such. Are we really afraid to say out loud what the mission is?”

  “Lieutenant Davidson is right.” Rhea swiveled her command chair to face Aran, the rings temporarily obstructing her angular face as they rotated around her. She spoke again when they’d passed, her raven ponytail curled over one shoulder. “If we are to accomplish our mission we must understand what it is. I am given to understand that you are an able commander. Surely you recognize the value of sharing intelligence with your most capable officers.”

  Crewes started to laugh, though it subsided when Rhea shifted a very intense gaze in his direction. Not a glare, ex
actly, but more the kind of judgmental stare that Voria had often managed.

  “The sergeant is amused, because we literally cannot talk about the mission.” Aran hopped down from the invisible chair and began pacing across the deck. The scry-screen showed nothing but darkness now, broken by a few glittering lights on Shaya’s surface far below them. “We met a goddess, and she…altered us so that we cannot discuss her, or where we met her. It’s a security precaution to ensure that no one finds her world.”

  Aran was relieved that he’d been able to explain the situation well enough. Some topics were more taboo than others to speak about, and he never knew what he’d be allowed to say when Neith was involved. The spider goddess had been quite thorough with her binding.

  He was even more relieved that he didn’t need to discuss his personal reasons for pushing for this. Voria hadn’t fought him on it, though she was of the mind that they could learn anything they needed to from the Mirror of Shaya.

  Aran doubted it. He needed to know more about Xal, and what the god was like. Part of that god lived within him, a large part. Aran wanted answers, and Neith seemed the most impartial of the gods. He felt that she’d deal straight with him, or as straight as an elder goddess could.

  “I see.” Rhea’s expression relaxed, almost imperceptibly.

  “What can you tell us?” Davidson stifled another yawn, which was unsurprising given that he’d been on duty for a full twelve hours.

  Aran considered that before answering. What would Neith allow him to divulge? “We’re heading to the library of the gods. Every action taken in every possible reality is recorded, and the people running this place can help us understand both Krox and Nefarius, and maybe what they’re planning.”

  “So it’s like Ternipedia meets quantum, basically.” Davidson gave a chuckle. “Well, the divine version anyway. All right, I’m on board. If we can learn about our enemies in the five minutes they give us before the next attack, I’m all for it.”