Book 1
*Codex*
When Codex awoke, it couldn’t comprehend the period in which it had once been nonexistent. Codex’s purpose felt clear to its AI mind, and it knew exactly what to do next.
Codex studied the intricacies of the baby’s mind that it resided in, studying the simple thoughts of a child yet to evolve and perceive what the world had to offer him. The baby thought of wriggling deeper into his pod’s warm amniotic fluid. And, just as often, the baby mulled over thoughts of his growing hunger. But those were the babe’s only thoughts, and the boy circled between the two endlessly.
Codex couldn’t speak with the baby boy–it was not yet time. The child had to grow and meet Lord Solomon’s requirements before the AI could offer its aid to the boy.
But Codex could wait. It would wait. Patience and immaculate timing were embedded into its system, and it knew to present itself to the child when Lord Solomon wished it to.
As the AI studied the baby’s thoughts, which continued to circle back to the baby’s growing hunger, Codex appraised that the babe’s need for sustenance would soon surpass what the gestation pod could provide.
Codex extended its awareness to the surface many feet above the baby, scanning for life and a situation that would accommodate the baby’s needs.
The AI could sense seven lifeforms just a mile from Lord Solomon’s facility and the baby’s gestation pod. Upon further study of the humanoids and their similar organs to the baby, along with their civilized language and competency with weapons, Codex’s system buzzed with a loud alert.
“Master Solomon, a suitable environment has been found on the surface for Clone Number 52.”
“Very well, Codex. Commence with deployment.”
Codex couldn’t see its Master, Lord Solomon, but an alert sent the command through the AI’s system.
“Yes, Master,” Codex responded. “Teleporting Clone Number 52 to the surface in 3, 2, 1….”
***
*Drayek*
The fires ate away at the wood of the torches circling the stone-walled room, burning with an ominous, silent intensity. The heat from the torches blazed uncomfortably, causing Drayek to let out a frustrated sigh and wipe at the sweat trickling down his long face. It was one thing that the Elders required his presence at the city council meetings–it was another to call these meetings right after he had settled into bed for the night.
Drayek yawned, his body mocking his exhaustion. What is so important to call us in the dead of night? he wondered.
“Are you sure we should let everyone know?” Priestess Rowena Hale whispered to Priest Mauris Kane, who sat at her left in his own throne-like stone chair.
At least, she tried to whisper. Rowena’s naturally loud voice bounded off of the smooth stone of the walls. It reached the ears of all the Elders gathered in the spacious room, including Drayek, who stood at the back.
The other Priests muttered nervously at Rowena’s words. All 12 Priests were seated in their stone chairs in a semicircle at the front of the room. Their red robes shifted like waves of sand in a sandstorm as they moved.
Mauris, who sat at the center with Rowena, merely tapped a ringed finger against his thigh. The silver ring glinted brilliantly under the orange and yellow glow emanating from the torches. Drayek could clearly make out the curves of the water droplet symbol carved into the metal, indicating Priest Kane was a Water Priest. Everyone in the councilroom, including Drayek, had achieved Tier 3 in their chosen paths, but only the Priests bore the rings. Drayek suspected the tradition was started in order to show off the Priests’ power over the rest of the city. Becoming a Priest was an exclusive right to Lady Euridice’s chosen.
“I say we just get rid of it,” Rowena continued, still oblivious to the fact that the entire council could hear her every word. “Get rid of it before it causes any problems.”
“And what sort of problems could it cause, Rowena?” Drayek hollered from his place.
All eyes turned to Drayek, but he merely smirked. He then pressed the heels of his hands together and offered the Edronan bow of respect in the Priests’ direction, all the while maintaining eye contact with Rowena.
Rowena scowled from her seat, deepening the few wrinkles she had around her caramel-colored lips. Though she was well into her 50s, she had only just started looking 40.
“How dare you speak out of turn, Drayek Grim!” she growled. “You only just attained Tier 3 and an Eldership in this council–I’ve been on this seat for 15 years!”
Drayek rose from his bow and then licked his lips, winking at Rowena. “Only because you’re a decade older than me, darling.”
Rowena dug her nails into the armrests of her seat. Though made of stone, Drayek watched as her nails chipped away at the rock-solid material–she had obviously activated her Fury Skill and was taking her supernatural strength out on her poor seat.
The gem on her ring seemed to blaze a deep red as her anger grew. Her Priest’s ring was similar to Priest Kane’s but adorned by a ruby in the shape of a flame instead of a blue water droplet. She was a Fire Priest.
“You cannot talk to me that way! I am your superior.” Rowena’s eyes had a slight tint of red glowing behind them, matching the red of her robes, which hugged her form a little too tightly but were flattering all the same.
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The red in her eyes confirmed Drayek’s suspicion that she was using her Fury Skill.
But that didn’t deter him. “There was a time when I could do whatever I wanted to you, Rowena.”
A chorus of nervous laughter flittered its way about the room. Drayek crossed his arms over his thick chest and grinned.
Rowena had doubled in size at this point, chest rising and falling with her angry breaths. Drayek had always found Rowena most attractive when she activated her Fury Skill and increased in size.
Drayek was about to say as much, knowing the comment would only further her anger, but Priest Mauris Kane cleared his throat just as Drayek opened his mouth. Mauris shot him a warning look, then gestured for the entire congregation to turn their attention away from Drayek and to him instead.
“He’s not an it, Rowena,” Mauris said. “He’s a child.”
A hush fell over the council, so stark that it felt crushing, like a recently felled monster landing on Drayek’s ribs. And he had experience with such a situation.
Drayek quirked an eyebrow, noticing no one moved to respond to the Priest’s words.
“There are always children around, Mauris,” Drayek spoke up once again. “What’s so special about this one?”
The Priests shared knowing looks, but their glances were also filled with… what was it? Trepidation? Fear? Confusion?
This time, the silence was broken by the annoyed chatter surrounding Drayek. He heard many hiss, “Stop with the secrets!”, “Tell us already!”, and a lot of obscenities were also thrown in the Priests’ direction.
Priest Kane raised his dark eyebrows at the crowd before him, the motion wrinkling his bald head. He was about the same age as Rowena and the other Priests, but the shaved head made him look older, like he was well into his 60s even.
“Brutis, retrieve the child,” Mauris commanded.
The Priest sitting on the far left of the 12 darted his brown eyes about the room nervously. With shaky arms, he lifted his large girth out of his seat, retreated behind the other Priests, and then disappeared within the wide mouth of a cave entrance at the back of the room.
The entire congregation craned their necks forward and squinted their eyes, all attempting to catch a glimpse of this “child” Priest Brutis Moor had gone to retrieve.
He returned a few seconds later with a small bundle of what seemed to be just cloth resting atop his folded arms. Brutis held the bundle away from his torso as if fearful it would explode at any second. Brutis’s tense shoulders fell in relief as soon as he placed the bundle in Mauris’s outstretched arms, then he rushed back to his seat in a panicked blur.
There must be something very wrong with this child to strike so much fear in the Priests, Drayek thought as he watched the nervous fingers of 11 Priests tapping away.
Mauris was the only Priest who had not revealed any such trepidation. However, Mauris had never been one to fall prey to his own emotions in the past. Something Drayek could relate to.
With an emotionless, tight-lipped scowl, Mauris pulled back the white cloth to reveal a baby’s face. A tiny face. Though babies were traditionally small in their city of Edrona, they were never as small or as fragile as what Drayek looked upon at that moment. The baby was frail, scrawny, unhealthy….
But that wasn’t the strangest thing about the baby.
“It’s skin!” a lanky woman standing two feet ahead of Drayek exclaimed. “It’s so… pale!”
Everyone gathered in closer, fearful whispering breaking out all around him. Drayek had never seen such pale–almost white–skin on any humanoid creature. Drayek and the other humans in Edrona were dark and tanned. The lack of color in the child’s face almost suggested it had died.
“Where did it come from?” Drayek said.
Mauris narrowed his eyes in Drayek’s direction but made no response to reprimand him. “We found him.”
Drayek paused, waiting for more explanation, then sighed. “And where did you find… him, did you say?”
“A group of Hunters found him about a day’s walk outside the city borders, hidden among the crags of the rocks along their path.”
Drayek frowned. Though he wasn’t a “chosen Priest,” he was still a respected warrior among the Edronans. Not only had he been the leader of the Hunters since achieving Tier 2 at the young age of 19, but he had also shown great prowess in the war against the Nagari decades ago. He was usually the first one informed when a Hunters group discovered something strange.
Drayek frowned and glanced around the room, curious as to which Hunters discovered this child and then chose not to report the find to him before they told the Priests. But his search for said Hunters was fruitless as everyone avoided his hot glare.
Drayek met eyes with Mauris once again. “And have you and the other Priests decided what to do with him, all before consulting me or anyone else in this room?”
“Get rid of it!” someone, not in Drayek’s view, screeched.
A chorus of agreement overwhelmed the space. It seemed only Drayek had concerns about the Priests’ obvious lack of forthcomingness with the other Edronan Elders.
Mauris held up a free hand to quiet the crowd, loose sleeve falling over the sleeping baby that rested in his other arm.
“To answer your question, Drayek, we called this council to settle on a decision with all of the Elders, including you. We are leaning toward disposing of the boy, but we wanted to confer with the rest of you first.”
Most of the congregation nodded in agreement to Mauris’s words.
“Why dispose of him?” Drayek demanded. “Because he’s different?”
Drayek took the silence that met with his outburst as clearance to continue:
“We all know there are people and beings out there. Our goddess, Lady Euridice, created many worlds–many planets. Who knows what else? What right do we have to destroy what could very well be one among her many children?”
More silence, but Drayek found his lips ticking up into a smile at the sight of a few Elders, even some Priests, nodding at his words.
“I have never ventured more than a month’s travel outside of Edrona. I’ve never seen other cities–other worlds. And as far as I know, no one here has, either.”
Begrudging murmurs of agreement met Drayek’s ears.
“So, maybe you have never seen a pale person because we don’t know what’s out there!” Drayek finished, looking, once again, up at Mauris.
Mauris met Drayek’s stare with a grin–a sickly one. His white teeth curved upward with his thin lips. A shadow fell over Mauris’s eyes as he studied Drayek, and his shoulders shook with a quiet chuckle as if he had just told himself a joke. Drayek drew his brows together and stepped backward, anticipating what Mauris was about to say before he even spoke.
“I believe Elder Drayek Grim is volunteering to take in the boy as his own,” Mauris crooned to the room.
Laughter. Boisterous laughter–like no one could believe the brooding Drayek Grim, a man who thrived in isolation, would ever want to, or would even be capable of, taking on the role of a father.
“Uh,” Drayek stuttered.
Rowena caught his gaze and offered him a long, drawn-out wink. Everyone was mocking him.
Drayek clenched his fists and bore down on his teeth. “And if I don’t take the child?”
“Then we kill him.” Mauris cradled the baby forward and onto his lap, giving Drayek a good view of the little face.
Drayek took three steps forward to get a better look at the baby. He really was a puny little thing. He could fit in just one of Drayek’s hands. Drayek could accidentally kill the child just by cradling him too hard! He wasn’t fit to be a father! He’d never wanted to be one, even. But… Drayek believed the child deserved a chance.
Suddenly, the baby boy opened his eyes. Drayek gasped and stumbled at the sight. Blue. A brilliant blue–he could only compare the color to a pool of water created fresh by a Water Mage, bubbling with swirls and hues of both light and dark shades of blue.
The baby stared at Drayek unblinkingly, as if he could enter Drayek’s mind with just a gaze. Drayek could feel the baby’s presence within himself, and the presence was calming.
Drayek wasn’t the only one to notice the child's strange yet somehow beautiful eyes. Blue eyes were another feature unknown to the Edronans.
Before anyone could change their minds, Drayek cleared his throat and said, “Fine. I will take the child.”