Reality's Plaything 5: The Infinity Annihilator Read online

  Reality’s Plaything Book 5:

  The Infinity Annihilator

  By Will Greenway

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  Writers Exchange E-Publishing

  http://www.writers-exchange.com

  http://www.readerseden.com

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  Reality’s Plaything Book 5: The Infinity Annihilator

  Copyright 2008 Will Greenway

  Writers Exchange E-Publishing

  PO Box 372

  ATHERTON QLD 4883

  AUSTRALIA

  Cover design by: Will Greenway

  Published Online by Writers Exchange E-Publishing

  http://www.writers-exchange.com

  http://www.readerseden.com

  ISBN 9781921314766

  All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation to anyone bearing the same name or names. Any resemblance to individuals known or unknown to the author are purely coincidental.

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  Contents

  Dedication

  A Word (or two) About Mythology

  Other books in the chronicles of the Ring Realms

  What Has Gone Before

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Chapter Forty

  Chapter Forty-One

  epilogue

  Glossary of Terms

  About The Author

  Return to Contents

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  Dedication

  This one is dedicated to writers who live in fear of deux ex machina. I say bah! For those who wanted to see the alpha and omega of savants, first ones, and the ultimate aspects of the Ring Realms universe… here ya go. Don’t say I didn’t warn you… because I didn’t. It was high time that the savants of the Ring Realms started kicking tail instead of being beat down. We’ve got it here. There’s a number of firsts in this book for me. It’s my hope that those unique hurdles translate to something memorable and enjoyable for you the reader. May you find what comes after diverting and pleasurable…

  Return to Contents

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  A Word (or two) About Mythology

  Welcome to the Ring Realms universe, a cosmology populated by magic, technology, gods, goddesses, and multi-verses. Comic fans will feel right at home, but fandom is not necessary to be drawn into the world’s magic and heroism. Those learned in mythology may see a name (or a score of them) that they recognize. Intentional. In fact, I’ve taken heat for not creating my own gods and goddesses. Key to the point is they ARE my gods and goddesses, and you the reader’s as well. I wanted something familiar to the readership rather than add EVEN MORE bizarre names to the milieu—something that is one of the all-too-common pitfalls of fantasy writing. If you see a name you recognize, rejoice in that knowledge because where possible I have tried to keep to the spirit of those myths whilst incorporating them into a much larger cosmology. Notice, I say ‘spirit of’—please don’t flagellate me (however much I might enjoy it) for not adhering more closely to the source myths. Liberal dramatic license has been taken in order to heighten and enrich the story… Enjoy.

  Return to Contents

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  Other books in the chronicles of the Ring Realms

  Reality’s Plaything Series—Tales following the adventures of Bannor Starfist.

  Reality’s Plaything

  Neath Odin’s Eye

  Gaea’s Legacy: Eternal’s Agenda

  Gaea’s Legacy: Savants Ascendant

  Gaea’s Legacy: Infinity Annihilator

  Savant’s Blood Series—Tales following the adventures of Wren Kergatha.

  Savant’s Blood: Shadows of the Avatar

  Savant’s Blood: Hecate’s Bounty

  Aesir’s Blood

  Gaea’s Blood

  Shaladen Chronicles Series—Tales following the adventures of Corim Vale.

  Shaladen Chronicles: A Knot In Time

  Shaladen Chronicles: Anvil of Sorrow

  Shaladen Chronicles: Who Mourns the Creator

  War of the Genemar Series

  War of the Genemar: Child of Ascendants

  War of the Genemar: The Karanganoi Gambit

  War of the Genemar: The Chyrith Agenda

  War of the Genemar: Gaea’s Revenge

  War of the Genemar: The Infinite Child

  Return to Contents

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  What Has Gone Before

  The T’Evagduran family backed by the Felspars, Shael Dal, and Kriar have turned away the assaults of rogue Kriar and Baronians. In order to truly outmatch the naked power of the assault, Advocate Eternal Koass indoctrinates the entire T’Evagduran family into the ranks of the Shael Dal. They, with the assistance of Idun’s valkyries, a team of Kriar elite, and some of Senalloy’s compatriots teach the invading aliens the meaning of resistance.

  Meanwhile, on Homeworld, Counsel Marna in order to counter the horde facing her team, has transformed Wren and the other savants into ascendants, who quickly demonstrate their power in battle, driving back a veritable army of heavily-armed attackers.

  Defending against the onslaught is only one aspect of the war, and the teams struggle to find a way to end the conflict. Unfortunately, they are only faced with more complications. The Daergons, an insurgent faction of the Kriar, are collaborating with the Baronians, adding not only another front to the campaign but troubling complexities as well.

  Driven back but nowhere close to being defeated, the return of the Baronians is inevitable and no-one doubts it will be with a stronger force. The defenders are pondering how they will meet the challenge when yet another set of players enter the fray. Nomar, Wysteri and the twenty-eight Karanganoi mecha of the forward battalion Zersis recently escaped from the Baronians. These new allies offer wondrous new possibilities in the fight, not the least of which is the formidable transforming powers of their healer, Wysteri.

  The war isn’t the only thing that’s gotten complex. Things between Bannor, Sarai and Daena get heated. With Sarai nearly taking off Daena’s head after it’s discovered that the young savant has been magically manipulating Bannor.

  Turmoil continues to swirl and unease mount as the group tries to rally around a single strategy. It is during this brainstorming that Wren comes up with the idea of taking all of the defenders to see all-mother Gaea to consult with her on what to do.

  It is during the reunion with Gaea that the true threat is
revealed—the genemar. The alien artifact the Baronians are searching for is a weapon capable of destroying the magic of an entire universe! The same magic which is the essence of great Gaea herself.

  Just as our heroes are reeling from this revelation, Gaea jumps yet more on them. She has decided it is time to join her children in the real world. Despite demurrals, the green mother cannot be deterred—it has been decided. The savants must now travel to Starholme Prime, create a body, and participate in the creation of a goddess…

  Return to Contents

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  Chapter One

  I didn’t have the slightest inkling of what

  I was looking at, but it sure was wizard…

  —Arminwen Janai T’Evagduran,

  2nd Princess of Malan

  Bannor pulled Sarai closer as he and she, along with the rest of the sixteen members of their group, gawked at the huge creature that had greeted them. Even wearing the body of an ascendant, Bannor still felt puny compared to Hyperion. In fact, the ancient reminded Bannor a great deal of the Baronian coven dreadnoughts. Marna had mentioned that she felt that the first ones had been meant to fight the Chyrith and their creations the Baronians. The first one was strong evidence to support that theory. Looking around the green chamber, he felt the incredible potential humming in the walls. His bones vibrated. Magic filled this place. Somewhere in the heart of it was Gaea.

  The group spread out, gazes locked on Hyperion. The ancient first one took a broad stance and put its hands behind its back. He said and did nothing more. Though one couldn’t tell, Bannor felt sure those glowing green eyes were tracking their movements.

  Apparently unafraid of the creature, auburn-haired Daena walked right up to him and stared up into his glowing eyes. After Kell’s enhancements, she stood head and shoulders above most men, and looked anything but skinny. Compared to Hyperion she looked like a child. “Sooo…” Daena drew the word out. “This is a first one? Dang, I feel like a skinny runt.”

  Bannor saw Hyperion’s gaze focus on her, but he didn’t do or say anything. Only the slightest creasing in his brow indicated that he had understood her words in any way.

  “Well, I guess you’d say he’s half of one,” Wren remarked. “He never merged with his tao. Over the millennia I think the pantheon lords continued to get more massive, so they started storing that extra mass in those flux stones. Then they didn’t need to look like this anymore.”

  Glowing blonde Idun, who stood next to Wren, tilted her head. “That’s quite a package.”

  Wren’s gaze followed where her grandmother was looking. Her cheeks colored. “Nonna! I swear—you and Des…”

  Bannor saw the first one’s eyebrow raise. It did seem to understand what they said after a fashion. It either didn’t care or simply had no real response. “Wren, the pantheon lords, they aren’t—like this. He doesn’t seem to have much self-will.”

  “No,” Wren shook her head. “See, Nonna’s ancestors were another step more evolved than Hyperion here. No offense to him, they were smarter. Unfortunately, they were so smart that they didn’t want their consciousness subverted by the alphas. It’s been a lot of generations since then, and as you can tell,” she rubbed her grandmother’s shoulder. “They’ve become their own people. Some of them decent, some who need their arses stomped.”

  “Fascinating,” Marna said walking around Hyperion from a safe distance. “It’s hard to believe they were brilliant enough to develop a vessel this sophisticated, yet not anticipate the creatures rebelling.”

  “I don’t buy it,” Cassandra said also studying him from several steps away. “It’s too fundamental. Something else must have happened. The designers designing too well is a convenient theory, but if I were making something like this—and you just did for Wren and the others—you put safeguards in place. The whole lot of them just get up and walk out; one or two maybe, but all of them? That’s sabotage or something similar.”

  “Gaea doesn’t seem to know,” Wren said with a shrug. “Or maybe doesn’t want to tell. One of her children may have lost it and decided to doom the others. Shiva, from what I feel of him in that sword Mon’istiaga—he was a lunatic.”

  “Power corrupts,” Loric murmured.

  “I’m pretty darn strong right now,” Wren said. “I don’t feel this wild urge to destroy everything.”

  “It doesn’t happen in every creature,” Euriel said looking up at her mother. “But it does happen—over and over…”

  “Odin is an arsehole,” Bannor murmured.

  Daena laughed and pointed at him. “I was thinking that exact same thing!”

  “I don’t think you’ll hear much argument from our family,” Vanidaar growled. “I felt that censure was far too lenient.”

  “Well, we’ve wasted enough time,” Wren said. “Let’s go. This next part is where you’ll be impressed.” She turned to Hyperion. “Hyperion, authorization granted to proceed to the commune chamber, please pause at the intersection in the nexus shaft and await further instruction.”

  The massive first one focused on Wren, glowing eyes blinking.

  “Hyperion, continue,” Wren acknowledged.

  The ancient turned on its heel and boomed away toward the depression in the center of the chamber and started down the steps.

  “Whoa Wren,” Ziedra lauded. “It’s almost like you know what you’re doing.”

  “Ha ha,” the Kel’Varan said sticking out her tongue at her friend.

  The group trailed after Wren as they proceeded down the steps toward an archway. The moment they put foot on the steps Bannor felt a cold draft on his face, and the hair on his arms stiffened. The immense power of the place continued to increase as they proceeded down. The acrid thunderstorm smell grew even stronger, along with an echoing crackle. As they hit the bottom step he saw through the opening what looked like a twisting column of light. Gigantic cords of red, green, and blue energy twining around each other.

  Bannor heard Idun, then Daena, then Ziedra and Radian all gasping as they stopped a short distance inside the archway. He and Sarai reached the place on the far side where a circular landing opened out onto the edge of a vast pit more than a thousand paces across. A walkway ten paces wide and two others from the far side of the titanic chamber extended out over the drop to a central platform more than a hundred paces across. Hanging from those seemingly thin rods of metal a giant blister of clear material surrounded the outpouring of energy. Inside that chamber a rainbow of colors reflected and sparked. Smaller shafts of glassy material, all glowing with alien magic, ran out from this hub into parts of the shaft above and below them. As Bannor looked up he realized there was no ceiling. The chamber seemed to go up to infinity.

  Hyperion, oblivious to the stunning scenery stomped out onto the bridge. The laced strands of metal crisscrossing the surface clanked under his heavy feet as he proceeded out over the daunting drop.

  Wren moved out onto the walkway a few steps, waiting for the entire assemblage to file onto the platform. “This is what Hyperion called a nexus shaft. Starholme Prime has sixteen of these things. Those big colored streams… that’s magic. That huge flood of energy, according to Hyperion, is only trace usage.” She looked over to Daena. “When we use our powers, it comes from that.” She pointed to the colored streams.

  Cassandra walked to the edge and looked down. “Damn,” she shook her head. “The amount of magic is insane.”

  Marna stepped up beside her and looked down. “There are bigger shafts than this on Homeworld, but they were built with machinery. Also, they do not transmit magic.” She shook her head in wonder. “The potential is truly staggering.”

  “So, Wren,” Loric said, coming up behind Cassandra and putting an arm around her. “This is where the energy came from that defeated Hecate?”

  The blonde savant nodded. “There’s some kind of thing that beams the magic straight to you when you focus on it.” She pointed to the colore
d stream. “When we’re just ordinary savants, our bodies aren’t strong enough for that. Apparently, a certain amount of the nola magic is just broadcast across the universe, and we tap into it.”

  “That doesn’t seem right,” Bannor said. “I always trace our savant threads back to their source in Eternity. Our power comes from that.”

  “Right, and this thing apparently dumps the magic into whatever it is that we draw our powers from. I don’t claim to understand it on anything more than a rudimentary level. I just know that in a kick-arse form like the one I’m in now,” She raised a hand. A white glow spread around her fingers and down her arm. From deep in the bowels of Starholme something vaguely like moans echoed and warbled into silence. The cords of light twisting around in the shaft brightened and began to dance with more speed.

  The savant’s body started to glow, and Bannor could feel heat coming from her. Gusts of air swirled around Wren and her hair flicked around her face like something alive. The Kel’Varan’s glowing blue eyes turned brilliant white like stars. Threads of energy began gathering around the woman’s body, the numbers doubling every instant.

  Bannor swallowed and his heart started to beat fast. Did she have any idea of what she was doing? Sarai pulled tight against him.

  “Uh, Wren,” he said, holding out a hand. Already there were tens of thousands of threads, enough power to reduce a mountain to sand. “Wren.”

  Cassandra’s mouth dropped as it seemed that she too feared the savant wouldn’t stop. She waved her arms. “Wren! Enough demonstration! Please!”

  The savant let out a sigh and dropped her hands. The glow around her faded. “Mmmm, that feels good.”

  “My heart hurts,” Loric gasped, gripping his chest.

  Marna and her daughter Dulcere stared. Bannor saw Dulcere reach out and take hold of Corim’s arm. The burly warrior looked down where she had taken hold and smiled to himself.