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    Shadow's Wake
    Shadow's Wake
    Shadow's Wake
    Ebook210 pages3 hours

    Shadow's Wake

    By Seth Giolle

    ()

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    About this ebook

    Jeann opened a portal for escape. With the ogres and whalms besieging their position in the Central Heart and the basilisk sloshing around below, just waiting for a meal, she opened them an out, taking their prize with her. But where are they now? There's only one sun. They're in a mountain range no one recognizes, and there's no clear way of getting home. Worse, they're being stalked by a beast that can open portals of its own and attack from out of nowhere. And it seems to want her dead more than the others. If this is the malevolent voice that had been driving the creature gatherings, they've come to right place, but only if they can best this foe, and only if they can get back home afterwards. In a world filled with mystery, these five must come together when it seems they couldn't be further apart.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherLulu.com
    Release dateApr 7, 2018
    ISBN9781387727094
    Shadow's Wake
    Author

    Seth Giolle

    Seth Giolle was born on a small, rural farm in southeast Ontario. After Travelling throughout Canada in all its splendour, he once again makes Ontario his home.

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      Book preview

      Shadow's Wake - Seth Giolle

      Shadow’s Wake

      Seth Giolle

      Other Books In This Series:

      Written Word

      Shadow's Wake

      The Runes Of Delagen

      The Fall Of Delagen

      Shadow’s Wake

      Part One

      Wisps of Day

      Chapter One: The Cradle of Life

      Chapter Two: Predators

      Chapter Three: Wild Life

      Part Two

      Conquering Dark

      Chapter Four: Gullies and Beyond

      Chapter Five: Kan Tanpas

      Chapter Six: Visions

      Chapter Seven: Underground

      Chapter Eight: Alliances

      Chapter Nine: Spite

      Chapter Ten: Faith

      Chapter Eleven: The Book

      Chapter Twelve: Shape-Shifter

      Chapter Thirteen: Flesh and Bone

      Chapter Fourteen: Horizons

      An excerpt from:
      The Trial of Millosai

      Spirituality

      by Seth Giolle

      Millosai
      0001

      There are two current schools of thought regarding the faith that centers around Millosai.

      First, some believe Millosai to be an ever-present spirit present in every aspect of nature including human life and death. To this school of thought, she is the giver of life and the keeper of the dead. She is the creator and soul saviour to be worshipped and admired. Those in this first group are among the ones who began written tomes of ceremonies and prayers designed to beseech Millosai for her aid and mercy. The practice of maintaining these ceremonies and keeping written protocol defining how to follow this faith have been officially halted due to the most recent religious wars though it’s been suggested by some the protocols should be renewed.

      A second school of thought believes Millosai to be the world’s spirit. Someone following this second system of belief would suggest Millosai is merely a guide who can affect the living world in minor ways but is otherwise more of a keeper of the spiritual realm, not a savour to the living, not a saviour at all. As such, she is to be respected and honoured by maintaining a balanced, healthy life and union with the world upon which life is dependant, but life is to be lived well for the sake of a well-lived life - not to make some deity happy.

      To this second school of thought, faith in Millosai is designed to be free and open to any person’s interpretation. A person in this group does not want to ever see written, required thought on how a person should practice their faith. The concept that a person must pray or act in a designated pattern is akin to an offence.

      Whatever a person’s personal view on a faith in Millosai, chapels and citadels have spread immortalizing this woman be she soul saviour or spirit guide. Though the ardent followers of the first school of thought wish the protocols and written regulations to return, they are yet to be satisfied. Whatever your personal view, should you accept this faith as your own, these chapels and citadels are currently open to all as the following of Millosai remains a free faith.

      An excerpt from:
      The Trial of Millosai

      The Spark Tree

      by Seth Giolle

      0002

      The world as the people of Millosel know it is build upon several Sparks.

      A Spark is a Life Spark. It is a plane of existence to which the person, animal, creature, or other is connected. Though it’s been known that a person, more notably a dragon, can travel from one Spark to another, that person or dragon’s life force is forever tied to their own plane of existence, to their own Life Spark.

      There are Five Life Sparks that connect in a tree of sorts. They are described in the following manner.

      invisGif
      Human Spark

      Humans, animals, dwarves, barbarians, and creatures are tied to this life spark.

      Dragon Spark

      This life spark is also known as the Dragon Realm. The dragons, of course, are tied to this plane of existence. As a point of interest, Dragon Riders, once they’re claimed and linked with their dragons, are also bound to the Dragon Spark while also bound to their own Human Spark.

      Gnome Spark

      As the name suggests, this life spark is home to Gnomes. There have been many times when people in history have claimed seeing a gnome, and they have worked with humans and others in the past. Their doors cannot be opened from any other spark. Like those of the Dragon Realm, the doors between sparks must be opened up into the Human Spark, not out from.

      Spirit Spark

      The Spirit Spark, also known as the Auswix Chaz (Oh-Swee-Show), is the place where everyone and everything goes when they die. There has been a term, the Diemr, added in title to this spark.

      The Diemr is a collection of lower, less savoury levels. Tenredt is a Hall of Heroes of sorts that rests above.

      Veshod

      The Veshod was believed for a long time to be a sister realm to the Auswix Chaz. In time, however, it has been learned that the Veshod is a middle realm that connects them all. Upon death, a lost life travels down the Veshod, past the others, to the Auswix Chaz.

      It has happened, though never been explained, that some people who should have died, came back. It’s been suggested the gnomes have somehow altered their fates and sent them back up. It’s more believable the world’s spirit, Millosai, decided to give that person more time, so their spirit was returned up the Veshod to their not fully dead body.

      The Veshod is home to the unicorns and mermaids. The Unicorns that visit the human spark are travelling from this linking spark. Why they ever leave their host spark and visit a world, a spark of that world where they’re hunted? No one has figured that one out yet, but the unicorns in their element have great healing powers, as do the mermaids to some extent. It has been suggested a newly dead that is returned to life has been brought back with the help of a unicorn on their way down to the Auswix Chaz.

       That suggests Millosai, the guardian of the Auswix Chaz, the guiding spirit of the Human Spark, is allied with those that live on the Veshod. It suggests she is the guiding spirit of them all.

      Part One

      Wisps of Day

      The Cradle of Life

      Chapter One

      Glastil slowly rose up on his elbow and shook a heavy head. His body felt like it had been beaten by a dozen ogres. Had Jeann reacted too slowly? Maybe he’d become a plaything to the basilisk without knowing it.

      Blinking, taking in deep breaths, he gathered smell and brightness. He was alive, and it smelled a lot better than the bottom of a collapsed, ancient stronghold. It was brighter than one too.

      Looking around, he recognized angled stone and fire pots, clay pots filled with flammable fuel that could be lighted when needed. Wherever they were, a ramp led down on either side. One way was solid wall. The other, his greatest point of interest, an archway opened to rock and sunlight.

      A voice and music played on his brain, but it grew quieter by the moment until it was gone. Like all great dreams he’d found, it left a touch on his soul, but the details were forgotten. All he knew for sure was that he longed to return to that dream and live it again.

      The others slowly stirred around him. Locishles stood holding her head and squinting badly. Her brown hooded cloak and long leather boots showed the wear of dragon flight and fresh scarring from her and Ressal’s recent drive north trying to take the Central Heart ruins head-on. Her braid had frayed, and there was a fine mist of ogre blood in places. Drawn from instinct more than necessity, the dragon rider checked for her throwing weapons and twin swords, which were all in place.

      Wishan stumbled to his feet and looked around with a suspicious gaze. Something had changed. Glastil had to think a moment. Half of Wishan’s face was still black against the dark blue of his skin. Black spikes grew around his ears and down his neck, and he was still tall, nearly twice Ressal’s height, nearly reaching Glastil’s.

      That was it! The blue was lighter here, wherever they were, and the black was almost grey. He still wore the hooded cloak and pants they’d offered in Shiraz, though now soggier from their time in the sewers and cistern mucking about under the Central Heart ruins.

      He still bore a short, curved sword, sheathed behind his lower back: gold hilt, red handle, and black winding grip that ended in a golden butt. The longer, matching blade was equally accessible.

      Ressal slowly checked his sides and leg. The dwarf had been in a bad state when Jeann had rescued him, battling to his last and welcoming his demise. He’d had a bad limp and cuts and gashes. His dwarven armour still bore the breaks and scuffs from recent battle, and there were signs where blood had been, but nothing still flowed.

      His mood had been equally dark that they hadn’t left him to die. The wounds were healed, but Glastil wondered what had come of the dwarf’s mind. He’d never been the most welcoming of companions.

      Where had Jeann delivered them to change the tint of a Shewesse’s skin and heal Ressal’s wounds so completely? Glastil let his head drop and rubbed the back of his neck.

      The fresh leather jacket with hood the townspeople had given him, shirt and pants as well – they’d been soaked in that sewer too, and they smelled a little from it, but fresh air was filtering it just fine. And he found his hammer at his side, all eighty pounds of it.

      Wherever they were, it wasn’t in the middle of a hopeless battle with ogres, whalms, and glool descending upon them; the Central Heart collapsing under and around them; and a basilisk waiting in the sunken depths below.

      He had no clue what was going on, but he welcomed it just the same. He felt safe for the first time in what felt like forever.

      You did it, Jeann. You saved us.

      Silence.

      Jeann?

      He turned to his left and felt his stomach turn. Jeann lay unconscious with her sword resting upon her open hand, its blade a rippling shadow as ever. Her cloak, pants, and boots had seen better days, just like everyone else.

      In her other hand was the two foot statuette of Millosai, the one they’d found in the Central Heart that had been driving the creature gatherings all those years – the one they’d needed to remove to stop the madness that had been about to consume them as well. Its base was chipped and splintered, but the statuette itself was perfect.

      Glastil lifted her onto his lap and quickly checked her forehead. She’s cold! he muttered.

      Wishan eased himself down to her right and checked her wrist, neck, nose, and eyes. There’s breath, but it’s not strong. It’s likely just fatigue. If we can find the right herbs, I can mix something to strengthen her body and mind and help her recover faster.

      Where are we? Locishles asked. She walked down to the open archway and stood silently for a time. Ressal walked up to the other side of the stone arch on uneasy legs.

      She’s gone, Locishles added in a worried tone. I can’t sense her. Where are we!? she repeated, turning, this time more panicked. Seeing the attention Jeann was getting, her panic turned bitter. She drew one of twin blades and faced the skies again. I’m scouting the area.

      I’m with you! Ressal added in disgust.

      Glastil let them go. He looked to Wishan for hope, but the Shewesse just sighed. We need the right herbs, he mumbled, nodding to an internal conversation. We should scout out the area as well and find what she needs. We must find what we need at the same time.

      We can’t leave her alone here.

      Wishan stood and shrugged. We won’t be of any use to her here without the herbs, Glastil. Some medicinal plants would be nice too. She’ll be safe.

      Glastil closed his eyes and rocked back on his legs. What about wild animals? Whalms? Ogres?

      I don’t sense any animals, Glastil, and if there were creatures here, they’d have found us by now. A moment’s pensive pause. Wherever we are, we’re completely alone.

      There was something eerie in Wishan’s words. Maybe it was just how he’d said it. Glastil removed his cloak and used it as a pillow for Jeann. Comforted that at least she’d be a little more comfortable, he rose. Hammer slung over his shoulder, he followed Wishan to the archway. We’re not exploring too far off, he insisted stubbornly.

      Of course not. We don’t know the terrain well enough. We just need some sense of where we might be. Then, we scout further out. Hopefully, of course, we’ll know where we are long before then.

      Glastil nodded. He cast a quick, troubled look back to Jeann’s unconscious body. No animals or attackers didn’t necessarily translate to safe, but without supplies, there wasn’t anything anyone could do. They didn’t even have food or water as it was. And if there was trouble, Wishan would need his help too. Helping Wishan might ensure the survival of them all, Jeann included.

      He flexed his back to his full seven feet. His aching muscles complained, but Southerner brawn flexed in turn. He’d make use of all the battle instinct his barbarian ancestors had left him to protect her.

      They wouldn’t be far. He wouldn’t be far.

      0003

      It was all rock around them. A deep chasm dropped on one side proving how high up their plateau really was. Or was that chasm just really deep? The air was fresh and thin. That suggested height.

      A tall cliff climbed and ringed their smoothed stone disc and its small building otherwise. A small stepped path had been cut into the cliff wall climbing up and winding along that granite height above.

      The path’s ground-down steps suggested it had been walked a lot over many years, but by their dusty, wind-swept appearance, that had been many years ago.

      Across their rather impressive chasm were several channels that drew Glastil’s attention. Those channels were essentially large breaks in yet another cliff wall that ran really deep into and through solid stone.

      Like pig runs. Or herding chutes.

      He had to admit that if the chasm wasn’t there, those channels would work perfectly to funnel prey through to their very door. It would be a controlled route to allow an easy safe kill each and every time, unless someone got careless.

      He assumed that there’d been mountain animals in the area at one point, however long ago.

      Testing grounds, Glastil suggested, to challenge young hunters.

      Their side of that chasm jutted out towards the other, and there was an opposing outcrop opposite. A person could realistically jump across and explore those channels. Maybe there was something down them worth exploring for.

      We need to get up on that cliff and take a better look around, Wishan suggested. I wonder where the other two got to.

      Glastil walked around a stone fire pit, scrutinizing its every detail. There were stones for sitting on and something more akin

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