Between Darkness and Light Trilogy

Between Darkness and Light Trilogy

The Universe Cycle

Book One

Brianna Hawthorne

Smashwords edition

Copyright ©2011 by Brianna Hawthorne.

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other works by this author.

This book is a work of fiction. Names,
characters and places are either the product of the author’s
imagination, inspired by past gaming adventures, or are used
fictitiously.

For information about this and upcoming
books, please visit my
Author’s
page
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In Dedication to:

First of all, my beloved husband, for over
eighteen years of sharing ideas, role-playing scenes and eventually
editing every word I have written.

Secondly I would like to thank everyone that
I have ever role-played with. You are far too numerous to list, and
indeed many of the names have faded from my mind over the decades,
but I thank you nonetheless for your inspiration. One name,
however, I simply must mention – Mark Roemer, without whom I would
never have learned that I have an imagination.

And finally, to my parents, who have always
believed in me.

Table of
Contents

Prologue

1 -
A Mystery Explored

2 -
A New Beginning

3 -
Meeting Family

4 -
Preparations and Formalities

5 -
Rescue Operations

6 -
Dungeon Life

7 -
The Love of Brothers

8 -
A Less than Warm Reception

9 -
Returning to Shiral

10 -
Interrogations

11 -
Making New Connections

12 -
A Day of Rest

13 -
Arrivals and Invitations

14 -
Journey into Chaos

15 -
An Evening in Chaos

16 -
Trial and Chaos

17 -
Out of the Frying Pan…

18 -
Imprisoned Again

19 -
Dream Interrogation

20 -
Status Report

21 -
Anger

22 -
Coming Out

23 -
Exiled

24 -
Return to Lumina

25 -
Darkness and Light

26 -
Battle

27 -
First Day of Negotiations

28 -
William and Novanus’ Revenge

29 -
Battle Renewed

Character List

Discography

Prologue

Before the dawn of Order, whilst Chaos rules
the Cosmos unchallenged, an ancient being sits in trance.
The
Ancient One, the first to manifest permanency in the
early days of the maelstrom that would become our Universe.

She is troubled; she has sensed something
she does not understand… something she must investigate. While her
son watches over her still body, the Ancient One frees her mind to
seek an explanation.

She reaches out,
listening
, seeking,
and finds herself surrounded by dissonance, by something that… does
not belong, somewhere in the farthest reaches of space. Something
is… no, something
will
be wrong. It is echoes of the future
that she
hears
. A dark future, existence unraveled,
consumed. Insatiable hunger… screams in the darkness. The Universe
shrieks in agony as The All is torn asunder. It is the end, not
even the echoes of life remain. She tries to follow the trail of
death to its source, but there is no path, for it is both
everywhere and nowhere at once.

Muttering in a language that has not been
spoken since time unremembered, she reaches out further, stretching
the limits of what her mind can sustain. It is difficult to
meaningfully scry the future, to discern true prophesy from that
which is merely imagination. To recognize the difference between
what is unavoidable and what is merely a possibility among
innumerable possibilities.

But this is the SeshHaud, she is
unaccustomed to limitations. Her search seems endless, and still
every possibility she follows ends in absolute destruction from
something… she cannot comprehend. The circle of life
cannot
be broken thus… It does not make sense, and yet in every thread she
examines, it happens. It is as though nothing done has any impact
upon this doom; the Universe is powerless to save itself.

She cannot accept that. Then she feels it, a
glimmer of hope as she begins following what otherwise seems a
rather undesirable thread. This one does not lead to total
annihilation. A seemingly improbable scenario, and yet,
concentrating on it brings into clarity the most beautiful creature
she has ever
heard
. As she concentrates on the
harmony
of the wondrous being, the tenuous possibility
becomes clearer. It would be dangerous, and difficult to navigate
all the inherent hazards, but… it could save them from ultimate
destruction. The question remains, though, from what? Who is this
unfathomable enemy?

She shifts her attention to the dissonance
yet again and finds herself crossing a veil the living are not
meant to cross; she is surrounded by… shattering, jagged screams of
despair. Unnatural death. Not surrendering one's self to chaos and
returning to the raw stuff of creation, but true, absolute
ending.

What hungers so? Their song is repulsive!
Suddenly she understands.

“ABOMINATIONS! Invaders from without;
Defilers - Slayers of Creation!” As her mind flees back toward her
body, she tries to envelop herself within the harmonies of the
beautiful creature. She
will be
our salvation,
but much must be done in preparation for the dark days to come; so
many changes…

~~~

A voice interrupts her thoughts.

“Mother, Gorgotha Lagash requests an
audience.” SeshHaud Draconae turns and gives voice to her
vision:

***

Daughter of burning light,

daughter of fire,

Universe Child,

all must inspire.

Stars shall know of her,

their cold light will gleam,

Her coming foretold,

within the dark dream.

The weaver of worlds,

the singer of songs,

Must stop that which comes

and right all its wrongs.

The Family together

to face hunger great,

On her and
the balance

rest life’s very fate.”

***

With that she turns away as though she had
not noticed their presence. Markoso takes Gorgotha’s arm and ushers
her toward the door.

“It is a dark time in her mind, Gorgotha,
please do not find insult in her poor manners.”

Gorgotha’s expression, though, is of
amazement. “I had only hoped to know if another singer of worlds
would be born to us – I never dreamed her destiny would be so
great.”

Chapter 1

A Mystery Explored

I awake to a familiar sound – two
deceivingly gentle thumps that most would hardly notice, but I feel
reverberations deep within the Shir… only one thing would cause
that. As I open my door a tremendous roar shatters the early
morning tranquility. For a moment I pause at the amazing sight,
dragons in the first rays of morning light. The nearest a
magnificent blue, the other is the largest dragon I have ever seen,
a great golden.

“Zah-Ha’Gor!” The blue lowers her head and I
throw myself against the side of her face, stroking the
comparatively soft scales beside her eyes.

More roar like sounds; Dragon speech. We
don’t know why, but William and I have always understood the tongue
of dragons, even though we cannot speak it. “Shi'ah'i, it is good
to see you again as well.” In a way I find it comforting that she
cannot completely wrap her tongue around my name, in this one way
we are equal.

“Yaaaahhhhhnnnnn!”

Arms raised up in a stretch, William looks
almost statuesque; a pale though handsome face surrounded by soft,
wavy black hair that falls just short of his wide shoulders. It is
easy to see why women are so fond of him. He shatters the vision by
rubbing his eyes. When he opens them they are a sparkling, playful
blue.

“Good morning Puff.”

That’s my brother; when we first met our
dragon friends, he was too young to attempt to utter even a small
part of Puff’s real name. Instead, he decided that since dragons
are magical creatures…

The large golden dragon nods and replies in
his almost impossibly deep voice, “And to you, sleepy one.”

I turn a questioning gaze to Zah-Ha’Gor, but
I need not voice my thought, she knows. “I have found something
that I think you and William will want to see. If we leave soon,
you should be back in time for bed.” Her eye playfully glints
toward William, who laughs and heads back inside to dress.

“I’ll be out in a few minutes.” This could
be an interesting day – I don a carefully fitted deep blue leather
jumpsuit that’s been spelled to adjust for flexibility and other
needs – it’s perfect for flying and blends beautifully with
Zah-Ha’Gor’s iridescent scales. It sounds as though this trip is
business, not play, but I’m sure she will still appreciate my
wearing the amazing fire diamonds she gave me years ago, a full
belt and necklace. I’ve never seen any that rival these, and the
way multicolored lights flash within the depths of the jewels
reminds me of Zah-Ha'Gor’s eyes, filled with power and mystery. I
grab the travel rations bag I always keep on hand for just such
occasions and tie it to my belt. As soon as I step out I see I have
chosen my attire well; both dragons fix me with gazes of dragon
greed and proud appreciation.

I love flying! The wind on my face and in my
hair feels like freedom, and the rhythmic, powerful beating of her
wings fills me with anticipation. We almost always have exciting,
fun filled flights; I’m especially fond of diving next to
waterfalls, I never know if she will pull up at the last second or
take us plunging into the depths. This trip is different; there is
no play, only serious straightforward and breathtakingly swift
flight. The feeling of anticipation that builds within me is very
different from the lighthearted excitement I usually feel while
flying, I can sense it; something important awaits us. After hours
of flight we land in a clearing on the side of the mysterious Mount
Luminos, named for the eerie light that sometimes can be seen
emanating from it. It is feared, and generally considered
unsafe.

“Zah-Ha'Gor…”

“It is safe at this time, I assure you, and
I will know well beforehand if that changes. I am a dragon, after
all.” Mirth sparkles within her eyes, then she turns serious yet
again. “Come, follow me.” She leads us into a forest, and again her
ability to utterly belong anywhere she goes amazes me. She moves so
quickly, it is as though she follows a well-marked trail, and yet
there is none; we are on land that neither man nor beast frequents.
We come to the face of a cliff and she leads us along it until we
reach a large boulder. She rolls it aside to reveal an opening in
the rock face.

“Go ahead, I shall follow.” Puff enters
first, pausing as he assesses its safety. It doesn’t seem a very
interesting cave. When Zah-Ha'Gor enters she allows the boulder to
roll back into its place, plunging us into darkness. William
summons light for us. I’ve never understood why he has had such a
difficult time learning sorcery, and then he developed a completely
new skill. It isn’t actually sorcery at all, and doesn’t serve any
larger purpose that I understand, but… that’s my brother one of a
kind.

The cave his light reveals is really quite
unremarkable and looks as though it ends fairly soon. Zah-Ha'Gor
continues in a much quieter voice, “Follow me.” She leads us
further back and slightly to the right, and I see it, to the left
is an opening into another chamber; perfect natural camouflage. She
leads us through many such chambers, until finally we come to one
that truly has no hidden openings. Zah-Ha'Gor reaches up to one of
many stalactites and with one great talon, pushes up on it.
Something deep within the mountain shifts, then a section of rock
drops back, revealing a far more interesting looking chamber.