Facets of the Nether Read online

  Facets of the Nether

  The Dissolutionverse:

  Novellas and Novelettes:

  The Five Hive Plateau

  Tuning the Symphony

  Merchants and Maji

  The Society of Two Houses

  Journey to the Top of the Nether

  The Dissolution Cycle:

  The Seeds of Dissolution (Book I)

  Facets of the Nether (Book II)

  Fall of the Imperium (Book III)

  Facets of the Nether

  BOOK II OF THE dissolution CYCLE

  William C. Tracy

  Copyright © 2020 by William C. Tracy

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, without prior written permission.

  Space Wizard Science Fantasy

  Raleigh, NC

  www.spacewizardsciencefantasy.com

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

  Cover art by BooksCovered

  Interior illustrations by Cory Godbey

  Map by Damijan

  Editing by Heather Tracy

  Book Layout © 2015 BookDesignTemplates.com

  Facets of the Nether/William C. Tracy.— 1st ed.

  Library of Congress Control Number: 2020909008

  ISBN 978-1-7350768-0-5

  Author’s website: www.williamctracy.com

  To Writing Excuses:

  The first of their podcasts I listened to was “Writing the Second Book.” Well, here it is.

  CONTENTS

  The Story So Far:

  Dramatis Personae:

  Flight of Memory

  Hunting Notes

  Impossible Portals

  Becoming Anew

  The Viciousness of Tales

  Restarting

  Providing the Peace

  Plans of Overture

  Changing Places

  Halls, Doors, Locks, and Collars

  The Wall

  Emissary

  Old Hiding Places

  The Jaws that Bite

  A New Facet

  Apprehension and Evasion

  New Realities

  Ancient Restraints

  Passage to Time

  Construction and Activation

  Seeds Will Bloom

  Emergence

  Congruence

  Redirection

  Appendix: The Houses of the Maji

  Appendix: The Species of the Great Assembly

  Appendix: Timeline of Major Events

  The Story So Far:

  Book 1: The Seeds of Dissolution:

  When the sun goes dark in daytime, Samuel van Oen, a young man plagued by anxiety, nearly freezes to death. At the cost of his aunt’s life, Sam escapes his home on Earth, fleeing through a strange portal.

  On the other side, he learns of the Nether, a hub between ten alien homeworlds, and of the Symphony underlying the universe. Maji of the six houses—Strength, Communication, Power, Grace, Healing, and Potential—hear this music and change its notes to affect reality. Sam meets Origon Cyrysi, of the Houses of Communication and Power, and Councilor Rilan Ayama, the head of the House of Healing. They help Sam overcome his initial anxiety in the Imperium, the capital city of the Nether.

  Unable to find his way home, Sam learns he can hear the Symphony and agrees to become Origon’s apprentice and to study the phenomenon that almost killed him, which Origon calls Drains.

  Sam then meets the twins Enos and Inas, and is attracted to both of them. They help him navigate his anxiety, and share how their entire family was wiped out by another Drain.

  Meanwhile, the Imperium is wracked by rumors of people attacked by Aridori, an ancient shape-shifting species thought extinct. At the same time, a faction attempts to secede from the Great Assembly of Species, and a group with anti-maji sentiment attack Rilan on the way to a Council meeting. The Council of the Maji will not let Origon study the Drains, as they insist all maji focus on eliminating the Aridori, real or imagined.

  Rilan and Origon rebel, and take the apprentices to the site of the Drain which killed Enos and Inas’s family, to determine what caused it. They find nothing, but Rilan learns her home town is under attack by another Drain. Her father, a stubborn man, has likely not left the city.

  They travel there, and use the Symphony to keep from freezing. They find machinery stopped, and animals and people dead from exposure. Rilan also finds her father dead, but has no time to grieve.

  While escaping, Sam and Enos are separated from the others and captured by cloaked beings who call themselves the Life Coalition. In response to losing her and Origon’s apprentices, Rilan is removed from the Council.

  Sam and Enos are cut off from the Symphony, and to keep the Life Coalition from killing her, Enos reveals she is one of the lost Aridori.

  At the same time, Rilan and company guess at an organization connecting the recent strange occurrences. Origon then receives news that Mandamon Feldo, the head of the House of Power, has captured a true Aridori, and it is held in a prison.

  Sam comes to terms with Enos’ species, they escape, and he agrees not to turn her in. They meet up with Rilan, Origon, and the other maji as they plan to interrogate the captured Aridori in Gloomlight prison. Sam and Inas have an emotional reunion, and Inas confirms he is also Aridori. The three hide Enos and Inas’ species from the others.

  However Origon guesses the twins’ species and Sam, against his best intentions, confirms. The maji keep the Aridori under close watch. Against Rilan’s wishes, the Aridori change their appearance to infiltrate the prison.

  Inside they find the Aridori Councilor Feldo captured. Enos communicates with them, though the words and images she receives make little sense until Inas takes over and melds with the Aridori. They discover the Life Coalition will meet in the Nether that night, though the caged Aridori dies. In the process, Inas is injured.

  They ambush the meeting and fight the Life Coalition, though Inas is captured in the conflict. Rilan and Origon find the Life Coalition will attack the Assembly itself by creating a massive Drain.

  They rush to the Assembly, but not before the Life Coalition succeeds. The entire maji organization attempts to battle the Drain, but it destroys the notes involved and throws the maji into disarray.

  During this, Sam is haunted by a voice of another entity in his head, which seems connected to the Drains. It reveals he is not of the House of Communication, like Majus Cyrysi, but is of a new house. Sam, for an instant, sees the flow of time, showing how to defeat the Drain.

  He tells the others to leave, and Rilan creates a portal to follow the fleeing Life Coalition. They chase down the attackers, but do not find Inas.

  Sam faces the Drain, creating an immense portal linking his current time with the moment when his parents were killed on Earth.

  But the voice in his head scrambles his memories, and Sam switches the Drain’s endpoint from his childhood to his house directly before he came to the Nether, fulfilling how he originally arrived. When the Drain disappears through the portal, the voice vanishes.

  The others return without Inas, and find Sam. He shows them he is not truly of the House of Communication, and asks if the others know of the Dissolution.

  Dramatis Personae:

  Samuel van Oen: A young man from the outskirts of Charleston, SC, USA. He is affected with severe anxiety, brought on mainly by new places and crowds of people. Sam can hear different musi
c than those of the six known houses, though no one knows why.

  Origon Cyrysi (OR-i-gon Ki-RICE-ee): A majus, born into both the House of Communication and the House of Power. He is Kirian, a humanoid with bird-like aspects, especially a mobile crest of feathery hair that adjusts according to his mood. He is arrogant, rash, and Sam’s mentor.

  Rilan Ayama: A Methiemum majus who determines Sam is suspiciously similar in phenotype to a Methiemum. Rilan is formerly the youngest Councilor for the House of Healing, but she was removed from the Council and is a majus again. She is confident and determined, and also skilled in mental changes in the House of Healing, though has trouble healing physical wounds.

  Enos: Thought to be a Methiemum, she and her twin brother Inas were the only survivors of a void which destroyed their family’s merchant caravan. Enos and her brother are really Aridori, a species thought to be a thousand cycles extinct. She is also an apprentice in the House of Healing to Rilan.

  Inas: Where Enos, his sister, is a bit cold and distant, Inas is warm and friendly. Inas belongs to the House of Strength, which deals with the music of constitution, plants, and resistance. He is apprentice to Caroom. Inas makes friends easily, and both he and Enos are enamored with Sam. Inas has been captured by the Life Coalition and his whereabouts are unknown.

  Nara Reyhorer, “Rey”: Rey is one of the Sureriaj, a xenophobic and isolationist species. Rey often cracks jokes and tells stories in his thick brogue, but doesn’t always agree with the other apprentices. Rey did not experience much of what Sam, Enos, and Inas did. He trains with his mentor, Majus Kheena.

  Caroom: One of the few long-lived Benish in the Nether, Caroom is a genderless creature with both plant and animal characteristics. They have a veterinary clinic, but also belong to the House of Strength. They are logical, intelligent, and straightforward, and act as mentor for Inas.

  Hand Dancer: A gender-fluid Lobhl, the newest species to find the Nether. Lobhl have no vocal chords, and instead use their large, seven-fingered hands to communicate. Hand Dancer is an accomplished majus of the House of Power, and adept at discovering connections between seemingly unrelated happenings. Hand Dancer is also a well-regarded musician, using the Lobhl music of colors and shapes, performed on the instrument which is also called the Hand Dancer.

  Supporting characters:

  The Effature, Bolas Palmoran: an elderly Methiemum who is the de facto leader of the Nether, though he governs with a light hand unless there is a problem. He wears a diadem of Nether crystal, and presides over the Assembly of Species. He also runs the administration of the Nether’s capital city of the Imperium.

  The Council of the Maji:

  Scintien Nectiset: head of the House of Strength, a weak-willed but talented Kirian.

  Freshtanatipieletournale “Freshta”: head of the House of Communication, an aggressive and impulsive Pixie.

  Bofan A’Tof: the previous head of the House of Power, a very old Lobath. He was murdered by Aridori.

  Hathssas: the new head of the House of Power. She is a young Sathssn.

  Jhina Moerna Oscana: the Head of the House of Communication and the Speaker for the Council of the Maji. She is the point of contact between the community of maji and the larger Assembly. She is a proud and overbearing Etanela, and often butts heads with Rilan and Origon.

  Fernand Vethis: replacement head of the House of Healing once Rilan was deposed, but secretly cooperating with the Life Coalition. He is now in Gloomlight prison.

  Mandamon Feldo: an old Methiemum who has been the head of the House of Potential for many cycles. Only a handful of people remember he is able to hear the Symphony of Healing as well as Potential, and was once a member of the Society of Two Houses.

  The Life Coalition: an organization that can create Drains in some way. Their objective is unknown, save that they want to “bring peace and promote life.”

  Nakan: a Sathssn and a member of the Life Coalition. He is possibly even better at hand-to-hand combat than Rilan, aided by his ability to hear the Symphony of Grace.

  Zsaana: a very old Sathssn, and the head of the House of Healing before Rilan. He is now a member of the Life Coalition. He was responsible for some of Rilan’s training in the Fading Hands style of martial arts.

  Dunarn: another Sathssn member of the Life Coalition, she was responsible for capturing Sam and Enos. She can hear the Symphony of Strength.

  For a complete list of the ten species of the Assembly and the Houses of the Maji, see the appendices.

  CHAPTER ONE

  Flight of Memory

  - The appearance of a new house of the maji is not to be as surprising as its origin. My apprentice, who firmly appeared to be of the House of Communication, is the one who is showing me these new things, at my age. Truly, the Nether is changing.

  Journal of Origon Cyrysi, Kirian majus of the Houses of Communication and Power

  A chime erupted through the Imperium, as if all the crystal plates in the world rang and shattered at once. Samuel van Oen held his ears and, through the window of his mentor’s apartment, watched a flight of alien birds split and scatter at the noise.

  “What was that?” Sam dropped his hands from his ears as the sound stabilized into a deep, clear tone he felt in his gut. It was loud, but not as unbearable as it had been. Deep in the back of his mind, the Grand Symphony responded to the noise like a tuning fork against a plate of metal. The different rhythms fractured and multiplied at the chime, like the whole world was vibrating.

  No one answered his question, as Majus Cyrysi was out again. The Kirian had spent more time in the libraries of the Spire than in teaching Sam, not that he was ever particularly good at teaching.

  The tower of the House of Communication vibrated beneath Sam’s feet as the sound lessened to a background hum. The music normally playing in its halls had ceased during the explosion of sound, but now picked up fitfully, warring with the chime’s resonance. The flock of birds—with crests of orange, and three scaly wings down each side of their body—swooped in an irregular pattern, disrupted by the noise.

  Sam went to the window and looked down. To one side, dust fell from the strange stone bridge that ran from the middle of the House of Communication to the immense wall of the Nether. He’d been out on it before, as it was a curiosity of this House, and maji occasionally used it to take in the view. There were a few maji on it now—a tall Etanela and two Methiemum—looking up at the immense wall of the Nether, bathed in blues and purples like a titanic sheet of ice.

  On the ground far below, people milled around in confusion. Sam guessed the bell-like sound wasn’t normal, but he’d only been in this place a little under two months. Before that, things became blurred and hazy in his mind. The presence that had rooted through his head took many of his memories. He remembered Earth, and that he had stayed with his aunt after something happened to his parents. Their faces refused to come to mind. Thinking about what happened at the Dome of the Assembly made him seek the silence of Majus Cyrysi’s apartment, and he couldn’t stop. He was obsessing about what he could have—should have—done differently. He was slowly spiraling down to a place of solitude and loneliness, and his body wouldn’t obey his deeper wish to break the cycle.

  Sam jumped back from the window as someone banged on the door. A spike like an icicle in his gut went through him. Sweat pricked his forehead.

  Don’t be someone new.

  It could only be one of a few people, but his throat threatened to close at the thought of explaining why he was sitting here alone, staring out a window. How long ago had Majus Cyrysi left?

  Sam put one eye to the peephole in the door, then sagged in relief. It was Enos. He could ask her about the sound digging its way into his head.

  He opened the door and let his friend in, looking her over. There were bags under her eyes and she hadn’t combed her long black hair.

  “You haven’t slept either, have you?” said Enos.

  Sam let out a burst of air. It wasn’t quite a laugh. “
That’s what I was going to say.” He pulled her into the room by her hand, quickly closing the door. The hall should be familiar, but it didn’t feel like the right day to go outside. Again.

  “You hear that too, right? Do you know what—”

  Enos shook her head. “No idea. I was about to ask you. People are running around like mad. I don’t think anyone knows.”

  Then why would she think I knew? He stared at the closed door.

  Enos followed his gaze, then took his other hand. “It’s been a ten-day since you left Majus Cyrysi’s apartment.” She winced as if she had a headache. Probably that irritating chime. It was like a dull drill, pressing against the back of his head.

  Sam frowned. Now wasn’t the time to talk about going out. Couldn’t Enos see he had other things on his mind?

  “Before this noise started I was trying to remember…remember—” He bit his lip and focused over her shoulder. It was something about Earth. He’d almost had it.

  “Remember what?” Enos asked, bringing his focus back. “Is it connected with the attack on the Assembly? Or about the new themes you hear in the Symphony? Can they help us find Inas?”

  Sam shook his head. He was letting Enos down.

  She won’t want to be with me anymore.

  He knew it wasn’t true, but the fact beat against the inside of his head. Inas had been the other side of a scale, balancing him. Without him, everything was harder.