Discovery at Nerwolix

By

C. G. Coppola

SMASHWORDS EDITION

* * * *

PUBLISHED BY:

C. G. Coppola on Smashwords

Discovery at Nerwolix

Copyright © 2014 by C. G. Coppola

Cover images courtesy of Nsirlin,
deadandliving, doctor, and canstockphoto.

Cover by Joleene Naylor

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment
only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people.
It remains the copyrighted property of the author and may not be
reproduced, scanned, or distributed for any commercial or
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Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to
persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely
coincidental. The characters are productions of the author’s
imagination and used fictitiously.

Adult Reading
Material

******

“All my writing is God Given.” – Ray Bradbury

I am blessed to have such an amazing support team of
family and friends, all doubtless that I will succeed in this
dream, but I can’t take the credit. I put in the time and energy
because it’s what I love to do, and it’s a gift that I’m even able
to do it. I could’ve been born with anything else, but I was given
words. And they are only a percentage mine. Everything I do,
everything I have is because He gave it to me. And that should be
acknowledged.

*****

For Mamabear. You always believed in me.

This one’s for you.

****

Other Books in the
Arizal Wars
series:

Escape from Harrizel
, Book 1, now
available

Plague of Mybyncia
, Book 2, now
available

*****

Discovery at Nerwolix

1.
Blovid

2.
Pweboles

3.
Red
Larupip

4.
Vermix
Lair

5.
Revelation

6.
Reunion

7.
Zingfinold Boot Camp

8.
Information

9.
Clash

10.
Testosterone

11.
Lynzees

12.
Admittance

13.
Embracement

14.
Sighting

15.
Curiosity

16.
Emotions

17.
Origin

18.
Beginning

19.
Arrival

20.
Help

21.
Pregame

22.
Hylas
Mountains

23.
Ludins

24.
Nerwos

25.
Tunnel
Keeper

26.
Shore
Wars

27.
Discovery

28
Decisions

29
Goodbye

I’m immediately warm.

Heat radiates from several small torches
lining the dark wall, defrosting my limbs which have nearly turned
solid from the cold. I wasn’t sure I’d ever feel warm again. Having
trudged through Larupip’s frigid tundra in nothing but my baseball
tee and jeans, it was up for debate. But now that I’ve followed
Able into the tunnel brimming with yellow light, I’m soaking in
much-needed heat. I can feel my fingers again and the tip of my
nose. My face doesn’t feel like a hard mask, but skin, completely
pliable and right. I inhale through my nostrils and watch as the
crackling fire flickers, casting shadows along the dark cave walls
that curve around, encompassing us in a golden egg of warmth. I
drop my hands to my sides. I don’t have to breathe heat into them
anymore now that we’ve arrived.

Out of all the places I expected the Arizal
Leader to be, a frozen wasteland is not what I had in mind. I knew
it would be some place obscure; Blovid wouldn’t make it easy for
him to be located. But here? On Larupip? In the middle of a frozen
nowhere?

“Excuse us!” Jace and Werzo bulldoze in,
knocking Reid into me and me nearly to the wall. He catches me
before I hit it, snapping his head back at them.

“Guys?”

“Fr-freezing!” Werzo mumbles through
chattering teeth.

“Sorry, Fallon. Fire!” Jace rushes over to
one of the torches. He places his hands above the flame, visibly
relaxing. “Ah—much better.”

“What’re you—a caveman?” Able shakes his
head.

“You alright?” Reid has me by my elbow,
leading me toward another torch, closer to where Vix has Qippert
leaning against the wall.

“Fine,” I toss Jace and Werzo a look.

“Everyone defrosting?” Clarence heats his
hands over the same torch that Booker and Tucker are using. “No one
getting hypothermia?”

“Oh—they should not be,” a new voice says
from the back. “I have been here much longer and I am doing just
fine.”

We all turn, most hands still hovering above
the torches as a new face steps into the fire’s golden light. He is
somewhat older, close to Sampson’s age, and has black hair dusted
lightly with grey. Like the Fychu, his eyes radiate an unnaturally
sharp blue, except they’re more cobalt rather than Sampson’s
robin’s egg blue. Suited from head to toe in a padding of thick
white fur, he’s in human form and standing tall, beaming at us with
a hint of genuine curiosity.

“Everyone,” Sampson looks around the warm,
golden space. “I would like you to meet Blovid—one of the Leaders
of Dellapalania.”

We all sort of look at each other for a
minute, and then to the new Dofinike who approaches. Planning my
introduction, I’m about to make my way over when Clarence beats me
to it, offering his hand.

“It’s been too long.”

“It has old friend,” they shake and the
Arizal Leader throws his arm around Clarence’s back, pulling him in
close. They embrace quickly and Blovid clasps him on his shoulder.
“I am so very sorry about everything that has happened since we
last spoke.”

“When was the last time you spoke?” Werzo
asks.

“Oh…” Blovid’s smiles falters. “Not since
the trials, I believe.”

“Trials?”

“After the Ellae massacre… when the fate was
decided of everyone involved. Sympse and Clarence…” his eyes roam
to the two, quickly filling with guilt, “…well, best we focus on
the present, right?”

“Absolutely,” Clarence agrees.

“And Qippert,” Blovid turns his attention to
the injured Dofinike. “I see you are less than operational since
the last time I saw you.”

“It is a mere wound,” he pats his abdomen.
“I should be fully healed in a day. Two at the most.”

“Dare I ask?”

“Much has happened since you left
Pryncbia.”

That’s an understatement.

Blovid fled Pryncbia when the Vermix invaded
in search of him. But it didn’t stop with just an attack on the
Northern shore—they went after the Southern Waters as well. We’d
meant to follow the Arizal Leader after we’d aided the planet,
except a vast plague spilled into the water, killing nearly half
the kingdom’s inhabitants and prolonging our stay. It was only
after a trip to Nerwolix that we returned with the antidote and
were finally able to leave Mybyncia in the recovering hands of
Chancellor Keller.

“I would not doubt it,” Blovid laughs with a
glance back at Sampson. “I was beginning to wonder where you were.
I expected perhaps a day’s delay before receiving you and the
humans,” he glances over us, “but if my timing is correct, I
believe… it has been a little over a week?”

Sampson nods while Clarence offers a throaty
chuckle. “It has been a
long
week.”

“And I am eager to hear of it, but first,”
he motions over his shoulder, to the lit tunnel behind him, “let us
eat.”

“
Yes
,” Jace celebrates under his
breath.

“What’re we having?” Werzo rubs his hands
together, following the line that quickly forms behind Blovid.
Clarence and Vix assist Qippert; they’re followed by the Rogues and
I, and then Sampson, who keeps to the tail end as we move through
the narrow walls. “You didn’t kill any Glippis did you? Because
I’ve got to admit—I’m a little over it.”

“No,” Blovid laughs. “The Glippis are native
to Mybyncia only. I assume you did not care for it?” he throws a
glance over his shoulder.

“Not as much as the Hunnis,” Jace grins.

“Ah, yes,” Blovid muses, leading us into a
new room. It’s more than double the size of the last compartment
with torches lining the entire space, casting the same golden glow.
White and brown hides line the two levels which are separated by a
solid gray staircase, and in the center of the ground floor, a
small fire pit crackles beneath delicious roasting meat, which
turns on a spit over it. The smell immediately invades my nostrils,
causing a low grumbling in my stomach. I lick my lips as Blovid
motions to the pit, “But perhaps you might enjoy Carring?”

“What is it?” Reid asks.

“An animal native to Larupip. They are a bit
terrible when attacking,” Blovid gestures to the white fur rug
lining the majority of the floor, “but their meat falls right off
the bones. Absolutely divine.”

“I’ll take your word for it,” Werzo’s tongue
practically hangs out of his mouth, his wide eyes set on the
spit.

“I am sorry,” Blovid frowns at Sampson, “but
as I was not expecting you tonight, I do not have enough ready for
all. I can put some more on, but it may take a moment.”

“That is perfectly fine,” Sampson nods.
“You, Qippert, Clarence and Vix eat first. I’ll wait with the
others.”

Werzo visibly pouts while Jace’s stomach
gives off its own opinion.

“No,” Blovid shakes his head. “I could not
possibly eat before my guests. Please, Fychu, you eat with Qippert,
Clarence and Vix. I can wait with the humans while they fill me in
on what has been happening. I was informed,” he turns to us, “about
the terrible experiments being performed. Who was it that initially
discovered the secret?”

All the Rogues gesture to me and Blovid’s
eyes widen in surprise. “Really?”

I nod.

“How, may I ask, did you know where to
look?”

“The Lynzees,” Sampson breaks off a piece of
the roast and offers it to Qippert. He tears another section in two
and hands a piece to Clarence and Vix. “They led her.”

“Is that so?” Blovid gazes at me, as if
suddenly interested on a whole new level.

“What are they?” I ask.

Without breaking his focus—or his
smile—Blovid answers before Sampson can. “They are messengers of
the Lost Princesses.”

“Who are the Lost Princesses?” They sound
familiar, but I can’t quite recall where I’ve heard about them.

“Really, Fychu,” Blovid glances back to him.
“Have you educated them at all?”

“We’ve had our hands full,” Clarence bites
into the delicious smelling roast, “not a lot of time for
class.”

“But the basics?” he tsks him as Sampson
puts a fresh slab of meat on the spit. “Well,” Blovid turns back on
us, “they are the Daughters of the Great Spirit, the Mother—the
embodiment of the Way. The Lost Princesses were the ones to deliver
the Three Worlds their Three Gifts.”

“So why would they send their messengers to
me
? Does this happen often?” I glance at Sampson who is
exchanging looks with Clarence.

“No.” Blovid shakes his head. “It is a rare
occurrence. I know of only a few times when the Lynzees have
presented themselves.”

“What does this mean?” Reid looks at me.

“We do not know,” Blovid shrugs, “but they
have chosen you for a reason, that much is certain. Tell me, have
you seen them since?”

I shake my head.

“We’ve been on Mybyncia,” Clarence says,
“and only a short time on Nerwolix.”

“They appear on all Worlds.”

“But they were little bugs,” Reid frowns,
glancing at me for confirmation. “Right? Isn’t that what you said?
How could they appear on Mybyncia?”

“They are of the
Spirit
, able to
transition their form to any environment. I believe they would
appear with fins instead of wings, should they present themselves
in Mybyncia’s great ocean. But bugs?” Blovid frowns at me. “Come
now. Would you not consider them more of a fairy species?”