Nethereal (Soul Cycle Book 1) (62 page)

I will meet you again there, mother,
she vowed.

Tzimtzum was empty when the fires rained down.

The city of Ostrith had stood for thousands of years beside a great sea. The sea's basin was empty. The capital of the Guild had straddled a swift river. The river had run dry. The jewel of the First Sphere had risen from a gentle, rolling plain. The land for miles around had faulted and buckled into ramshackle hills.

Yet one of the city's former wonders remained. The Guild House of Ostrith still stood: an artificial mountain of polished black stone. The monolith ruled the silent ruins that sprawled away in all directions.

The vast open space of Steersman's Square had also passed through the fire relatively unscathed, owing to its nature as a mostly featureless paved expanse. However, it hadn't entirely escaped the geologic upheavals that had wracked Mithgar afterward. A fault had shifted near the plaza's western side, tearing a deep chasm across the square's entire length in a nearly straight line from north to south.

The Cataclysm had extinguished the city's every light, but not long afterward, a solitary glow kindled in the depths of the fault. The lonely light grew in intensity as its source slowly rose from far underground. A roar like faraway thunder echoed from below. Moments later, the guttering gleam vanished as suddenly as it had appeared.

Someone standing beside the chasm might have seen the hand that rose from below and clawed the edge of the precipice. The hand was small and sheathed in sturdy black leather smudged with dirt. The slight fingers dug deep into the solid rock. A second, similar hand followed. At last, the rest of the climber’s slender form emerged into the cold night air.

If any living thing remained in the ruins, it may have seen two points like distant blue stars shining in the darkened square. Those burning eyes looked upon the blasted city and beheld freedom long denied.

New fires can start from the embers of the old. A writhing column of fire blazed skyward from beside the fault. The towering flame was accompanied by a singular sound; likely the loudest in the world at the time. It wasn't quite a voice, nor was it a crashing wave or a howling storm, for the ocean was dry; and the wind was calm. Whatever its source, the meaning behind it was clear. Bearing all the anguish, sorrow, and rage of a broken world, the agonized wail warned that the fire's work was not yet done.

Adept:
The title granted to those holding the highest Guild degrees. There are five levels of Adept in current usage. Rank increases in descending numeric order. Thus, Adept of the First is the highest Guild degree.

Baal:
A title derived from the old Nesshin word for “lord”. The style has been associated with a number of demons in various mythologies.

Cardinal Spheres, the:
Numbering four, these worlds are the wealthiest and most powerful planets within the Guild. In descending order of prestige the Cardinal Spheres are: Mithgar, Keth, Temil, and Cadrys.

Ether, the:
A universal medium through which light travels. “Ether” is used when referring to a quantity of this substance, while “the ether” refers to the region it occupies.

The ether boasts a number of extraordinary qualities. It has practically no mass or viscosity and allows objects traveling through it to exceed the speed of light. Ether is also highly volatile and combustible.

Ether-Runner:
A ship built to travel quickly through space by traversing the ether. Almost all ether-runners are piloted using a sympathetic interface called the Wheel.

Elathan:
Deity belonging to many ancient pantheons under different names, though always associated with war, shipwreck, greed, and deceit. Most classical images of Elathan depict him as having one eye.

Factor:
The user of a Working or glamer; named for the act of fashioning prana.

Gen:
An immortal race of the Middle Stratum holding a place in the hierarchy of being one step above humans. “Gen” is the word for “people” in that race’s tongue, and is both singular and plural. The word’s pronunciation varies between Mithgarders, who render it “Ghen”, and Kethans, who prefer “Jen”.

Glamer:
A use of fashioned prana that directly affects or influences a living being.

Guild, the:
Properly, the Sublime Brotherhood of Steersmen. Though it is a private professional fraternity, the Guild acts as a self-appointed regulatory agency. Its primary functions are advancing the science of ether-running and regulating the construction of ether-runners and Wheels. The Guild’s authority is thought to rival the combined power of all current and former political bodies.

Human:
The race holding the middle position in the whole hierarchy of being. Called the clay tribe by the Gen, humans possess intelligence but have limited life spans.

Kirth, Ebrim:
a Factor from Mithgar celebrated as the first human to fashion a Wheel. Popularly called the Arkwright, Kirth is credited with pioneering human ether-running. A minority of revisionist historians claim that Kirth learned to fashion the Wheel from a Gen sage.

Kost:
An archetypal antagonist found in the folklore of most spheres. Though the particular attributes and names ascribed to these creatures vary by locality, a kost (pronounced “kosht”) is commonly identified as an evil spirit inhabiting the body of a living or once living being.

Most sources relate the kost’s ability to indefinitely delay death by taking a succession of stolen forms. Extant accounts disagree as to the beings’ original nature. Some describe the kost as a pure spirit or demon, while others portray kosts as wicked Factors who attained a sort of cursed immortality. These latter accounts usually refer to a Worked object that houses the kost’s soul.

Midras:
A god whose cult gained dominance in antiquity. The ancient dualistic faith associated Midras with the sun, life, fire, compassion, and virtue. The god of light’s priests were famous for traveling the countryside dispensing justice in lawless lands.

Mystery:
One of the ancient liturgical rites of the Gen, whose shamans practiced the first known systematic tradition of fashioning prana.

Necromancer:
A common derogatory term for a disciple of Teth, though in practice the term has been applied to social pariahs of varying backgrounds. The study, manipulation, and attempted reversal of death is but one branch on the Way of Teth.

Nexism:
A cosmic mechanism for manipulating space, time, matter, and thought by will alone. Properly the domain of higher beings, nexism is rare among the Gen and all but unknown to humans.

Nine Circles, the:
Hell; variously described as either a place or state of torment reserved for the wicked after death. Ancient peoples’ concepts of hell differed between religions and even among sects of the same faith. Few cults lacked such a notion entirely.

Prana:
This primeval force is the basic building block of matter and the animating principle of all living things. Also called the light of the White Well.

Sphere:
An inhabited world of the Middle Stratum, synonymous with “planet”.

Steersman:
The pilot of an ether-runner (the term is gender neutral) who can control a ship through the Wheel. When describing an individual with Guild training, the term becomes a capitalized proper noun. Most Guild-trained Steersmen are powerful Factors.

Stratum:
A discrete region of the cosmos. Except for the Middle Stratum, all Strata are defined by their uniform composition.

The Strata are arranged in descending order of potency, beginning with the Fire Stratum located just below the White Well, and ending at the Stone Stratum located just above the Void. The Middle Stratum is the balancing point of these forces and is synonymous with mundane space.

Teth:
An esoteric concept describing the flow of prana from the White Well into the Void. The principle defies easy definition, since its followers claim that Teth encompasses all areas of cosmology, philosophy, morality, and natural science. One of the major tenets of Teth is the dominance that entropy exerts upon all things.

Thera:
A primeval entity alternately worshiped and despised in a number of ancient faiths. Theological opinions on Thera’s nature vary, though most cults thought her a goddess. Necromancers consider her a personification of Teth. The Nesshin styled her the daughter of Zadok and queen of demons who brought evil into the world through her patricide.

Transessence:
The process of exchanging the properties of substances through Workings and glamers.

Void, the:
The lowest region of the cosmos, where prana flowing from the White Well settles once it has lost all of its potency. The Void is a nearly infinite abode of darkness and absolute cold where life cannot exist.

Wheel, the:
A sympathetic control interface allowing a steersman to merge his awareness with an ether-runner.

White Well, the:
A vast concentration of pure prana located in the ether above all of the Strata. The Well provides the raw material for all energy, matter, and life; as well as Workings, glamers, and Mysteries. Some religious traditions equate the Well with Zadok’s divine power, which was separated from the creator upon his death.

Working:
A use of fashioned prana that primarily alters or affects inanimate matter.

Zadok:
Nesshin creator deity worshiped by other faiths under different names. Killed at the beginning of time by Thera, his daughter and first creation, Zadok is prophesied to rise at the eschaton and judge every creature.

Almeth Elocine staggers across the narrow span. Though Kairos knows neither “was” nor “will be”, the newcomer’s footsteps echo with regret and herald woes to come.

The bridge—an alabaster beam suspended over a canyon of whirring cogs—traverses every epoch of history. Oblivious to the abyss yawning below, Almeth walks on, harried by defeat. Kairos is time as the gods know it, and the traveler’s memory of certain victory turned to rout seems only moments old.

The ubiquitous machinery turns in a continual dance of shifting fractal patterns, and Almeth hears again the guardians’ voices. They hail him as Faerda made flesh; the last god. He suffers these titles; comes to embrace them and finally to believe.

Ahead, the towers of spinning gears part to reveal the terminus. It is the last place that Almeth wishes to be, yet he recognizes the heart of Kairos as the natural end of his pride. All other paths are shut to him. Now he sees the platform clearly. A tall stocky figure stands at the head of the bridge, waiting.

“Elocine! It’s not too late to turn back!”

If Almeth is surprised by the man’s presence, he gives no sign. Unhindered he answers, “the Guild rules the spheres now, Cleolin. Where would you have me turn back to?”

Cleolin’s brow is stern, but the hardness doesn’t reach his eyes. “I would ask you the same, Blackbow. Even a mortal such as I knows that one may reach any place or time from Kairos.”

Almeth sees the syndex’s muscles tense at his approach—a message clear as bared steel. “Everything’s gone wrong.” Almeth’s voice hardly exceeds a whisper. “I’m the last. Only I can mend it.”

The syndex of Midras frowns—an act which oft sets foes to flight. Cleolin Redbeard must see his former captain’s ashen face; the cold sweat that’s turned his hair into a mat of black lambswool. The priest knows that he is witnessing a marvel without precedent—Almeth Elocine is afraid.

“Turn aside, Almeth, whatever your intent. To rewrite fate’s decrees is folly, even for a god!”

Though faltering, Almeth’s pace doesn’t slow. “The resistance is lost,” he says without inflection. “Should I leave my people in thrall to an upstart fiend?”

“The remnant of Annon chose their lot. The guardians may yet survive in Strata untouched by the Brotherhood.”

The human priest and the godly Gen stand face to face below the broad stair. Cleolin’s visage is grim. His pores exude a sour smell.

Almeth smiles without mirth. “You speak without forethought, as is your race’s wont. Wheresoever I lead my broken following, the Void shall overtake us in time.”

“The Guild; not the Void, has conquered the spheres.”

“One is merely the consequence of the other,” Almeth says, pressing forward. A smooth motion of the priest’s hand sends an icy jolt through his torso and halts his progress.

Cleolin withdraws his red-tipped blade. “Forgive me this sacrilege.”

Almeth collapses. The priest’s firm embrace is all that keep him from folding to the floor.

“Failure is a gift,”
speaks a voice from the past. Yet all times are present to Almeth here.

Have I not failed enough for one life, Ebrim—for a hundred?

Urgency beyond all self-concern drives Almeth back to his feet. He looks upon the syndex’s startled face a final time and exerts his will. Kairos itself propels Cleolin backward so rapidly that his imposing form instantly recedes to a distant mote. His scream reaches Almeth seconds after he vanishes beyond the terminus.

Almeth clutches his wound and staggers to the edge of Kairos. Cleolin was the last tie binding him to life in this cosmos. Now emptied of all feeling, he sits down to wait.

This book wouldn’t exist without Jeff, Kris, Lee, Paul, and Sid. Every story needs an audience, and none is more important than the first.