Bridgeworlds: Deep Flux

Deep Flux
by Randy Blackwell
Cover Art by Aaron Holley
Map of Soterion by Steven Mitchell
Copyright ©2013 Randy Blackwell
All rights reserved. This book is protected under the copyright laws of the United
States of
America. This book may not be copied or reprinted for commercial gain or profit.
ISBN 978-0-9894559-3-0
For Worldwide Distribution
Printed in the U.S.A.

Lamplight Media
http://bridgeworlds.com
Greenville, SC
864-990-1153

Soterionby Randy Blackwell
andGeorgeClark
Musterionby RandyBlackwell

The suns rose with one already in the sky and the other peeking over
the western horizon. Their heat began drying the dew on the field. The ground
was already soaking up the blood of fallen Drakoni. Omar Metzger sighed
grimly. It was shaping up to be a fine day for a victory. He looked up at the
sunny sky with its wispy clouds. A stiff breeze blew past, filling his ears with the
sound of its passing. In that moment Omar could almost imagine it was a
normal, peaceful day, if it weren't for the tang of blood and sweat that
assaulted his nose. Not that there had been many completely peaceful days
since he arrived here. The land of Soterion had seemed always on the brink of
war. The battle he floated above was just a breaking of the tension he had felt
since day one.

Omar had counted the years since day one. It had been exactly one
hundred and seventy-five. He glanced at his warped reflection in the polished
metal control panel in front of him. Firm skin, bright eyes, dark brown hair with
trimmed mustache and beard; he hadn't aged a day. One of the many strange
quirks of having passed through Musterion; the laws of time didn't seem to
really exist for those who had passed into the amazing tunnel/portal world. At
least, not like it did on Earth. Time was relative between worlds and dimensions.
One might spend a thousand years here without aging and only a day might
pass on Earth… or the opposite could happen.

Omar often wondered how it would be for himself if he returned to
Earth. The thought of finding an entrance to Musterion and returning to Earth
through the tunnel world occurred to him frequently. He had strange dreams
about it regularly. He never remembered much of these dreams but he always
felt a gnawing fear deep inside when he woke from them. But it was easy to get
distracted from all of that living on Soterion and leading the Magi.

Anyone would appreciate that Soterion was a place of wonder, and its
mysterious nature was not lost on Omar. Being a scientist, he spent hours
studying the uniqueness around him.

Back on Earth he had been a world renowned scientist; a genius with
more PhD's behind his name than he cared to count. He had been an incredible
inventor, making everything from creative ways to harness solar energy to the
most deadly weapons known to man. Those military contracts had paid the bills,
after all, and even funded his research in finding a way to travel here;
an
alternate dimension!
He had come with determination to find a way to revive
his comatose sister. But despite 175 years of Omar being in the spotlight, Omar
never found her and she never came to Omar. What he found instead of her
was a whole new world and a new life to go with it.

He glanced down at the battle from his perch in the air. The Magi,
his
Magi,
were an integral part of the side that was winning. A swell of pride rose
up in him as he thought about the order he ruled; the order he created.

There was at least one member of eleven different sentient species in
its ranks. Omar watched each as they fought with their different styles of
fighting.

The Katken, walking talking cats, fought with agility and cunning as one
might think cats would. Over the years they had proven that they were very
hard to kill. Omar watched as Drakoni landed killing blows and would leave
them for dead, only to have the same Katken sneak up behind them for a
surprise attack.

The Nepsah used their finger tall height, winged flight, faerie trickery,
and their natural state of invisibility to contribute to the battle by sneaking
behind enemy lines causing trouble for their foe. Other Nepsah flew above the
battle blowing darts with excellent precision to fell enemies with poisonous
darts.

The bearded Remmys who normally wore mushroom cap hats wore
animal skins to camouflage themselves as unimportant rodents. Omar had
marveled over the years at how well they added to the Magi with their uncanny
ability to find people, places, and things.

The Am Mayim made formidable fighters in water but not on land.
Though there were no invisible foes amongst the ranks of the Drakoni for the
human-looking Am Maiym to spot, it was good to have them there to be sure.

The Gabad, flew high above the battle so that their purple skin would
not be so easy to spot. They had also proven to be a valuable source of talent to
the Magi being the only Malakadam on Soterion to have wings. They made up a
large portion of the Alexandros (battle Magi) and they fought on the ground and
in the air with impressive dexterity.

There were only two Magi who were Miyka. Miyka were physically
strong Malakadam who had a bright glow all about their body. The two of them
were making excellent leaders on the battle field.

Omar swelled with pride as he watched a group of his own race, the
Akana, making battle plans that no doubt would be genius. The Akana were the
race that had deciphered the German language within days for the council of 13
in Musterion. They were gray skin Malakadam who were more intelligent than
any human could have been on earth.

The three Yaarma (tribal Malakadam) Magi, who had taught the Magi
everything they knew about Soterion horticulture, had found a way to harness
their ability to speak to animals on the battle field. Swarms of squirrels were
directed to attack the enemy, packs of wolves joined the battle, and bears took
the enemy from behind their ranks.

Many Daqad had joined the Magi despite King Alagaar’s threat to banish
any Daqad Magi from Marasimlah. They now fought in the various sects of the
Magi against the horde.

King Erestar and Queen Hope were still the only Raphad to join the Magi
but the Raphad race was greatly contributing to the battle in other ways. Omar
had tried to accommodate their giant size with Erestar towering twenty-five
feet tall.

The Adam Magi had their own elite group within the Magi who were
proving now to be a deadly force on the battle field. The Adam were the most
skilled Magi hailing from a Jewish human culture that had traveled to Soterion
ages ago.

Haspen, formerly Nepsah now disowned and physically changed for
their wicked deeds. The process included ripping off their wings along with a
physical transformation in their appearance. It was a condition of the Nepsah
Queen that no Haspen be allowed to join unless they first redeemed
themselves. The power allowing them to re-grow their wings was still a mystery
to Omar.

Kalat, a deadly race with impossible strength and fierce agility, were
similar to the Haspen only in that they used to be another species, Miyka, who
had fallen into depravity. Omar wasn't sure what it was about this dimension
that allowed a species to be physically transformed based solely on their desire
to be hateful and malicious, but it was an observable fact that he couldn't deny.
Whatever part of his scientific brain that said it was impossible had been quickly
quieted with the irrefutable proof.

The only other species not in the ranks of the Magi was the Drakoni who
they now battled. The Drakoni, who had caused the fall and near extinction of
the Raphad race, were a horrible foe. They had begun to crop up all over
Soterion raiding small villages and massacring the inhabitants, only striking in
weak locations. They were a menace to all the races of Soterion. They ranged
greatly in shape, size, and ability but Omar knew something that not many on
Soterion knew. They were all servants of a creature who called himself the
Great Red Dragon, a creature Tyree had warned him about.

Yes, the Order of the Magi was the best accomplishment of Omar's
entire life. A pang of sadness hit him as he thought about the man that he
couldn't have done it without; Myles Callaghan: illusionist extraordinaire and
master of sleight-of-hand. He had come here from Earth the same day Omar
had, literally crashing into him as he fell through a portal into the deadly Maze
of Musterion. The endless tangle of tunnels surrounded the central community.

Musterion itself was its own anomaly, residing outside the time frame
of Soterion and Earth, Omar suspected that it was the center of a dimensional
galaxy. A concept he had come up with… it seemed that the Musterlings who
had become Magi believed that there were an infinite amount of places to
travel to from the portals on Musterion. The story of how the Magi made it out
seemed to have unfolded a lifetime ago. When Omar and Myles had passed
from the outer maze to the core of Musterion, it had changed his physiology
into that of an Akana. His gray skin, pointed ears, and thin-skin wings were a
shock at first, but he had grown to prefer them over his human appearance. As
mysterious as his change had been, the reason why Myles had kept his human
appearance was just as strange to him.

Now, Omar didn't believe in fate or destiny, but he knew he wouldn't
have survived his first 24 hours in Musterion if it hadn't been for Myles. The
magician and gambler had a knack for seeing the hidden and understanding the
mysterious. With his passing of that knowledge to the Order, their science had
become practically magic to all the species of this world. It was the main draw
for applicants who wanted to join the Magi: to learn how to do all those
impossible things. It still astounded him how, in such an impossible place,
science could look like magic.

Myles though an obvious scoundrel and cheat, had a way of working
into your heart. He was simple, enjoyed life, and had a great sense of humor
and a love for adventure. But Myles had gone missing many years ago. Myles
had finished his task having visited various Kingdoms in Soterion but after
visiting Suchikos he had vanished. Kasey, the earthen assassin turned follower of
“the Shepherd”, had seemed like she knew something but refused to talk about
it. Omar had long since given him up for dead, but he would never forget his
friend or his part in bringing the Magi to where they were today; winning a long
overdue war against the Drakoni.

He gazed at the beautiful handiwork of the Magi, the blimp that he was
now hovering several hundred feet over Soterion in. He still could not believe
that the Magi had managed to replicate an earthen blimp for him, but as
Soterion was not Earth, this was no earthen looking blimp. It served the same
purpose and had many similarities, but the Magi were not limited in thought by
earthly experience.