Prologue
In the beginning, there was the void completely empty except for one being. This nameless being was all-powerful, but it soon became unsatisfied with its existence. For what was the point of all this power if it couldn’t express it. So the being shaped himself into the Fabric; an uncountable amount of interconnected worlds. From these worlds, people were born each a part of the original being, and time continued on. Eventually, something truly special happened on the largest and most central of the worlds. A child was born. The child grew to be a man who was brutal and warlike and wanted nothing more than to destroy and rain fire down on the world. This man was not like the other animals on his planet he was the first to become aware that he could express the nameless God’s being into feats of unimaginable power. He was an army unto himself, he was the first and most powerful of the Favoured, and over hundreds of years, he devastated the world with terrible fire. As time passed he only seemed to grow more powerful, and soon this world was not enough for the man. He built the immense great portals where he ripped holes to other worlds. Thousands of worlds fell, he was insatiable and it seemed like nothing would stop him. Then one day he was gone. He was the first of the ascended and became the great God of destruction Scrios.
CHAPTER 1
The soaring arches of the grand hall stretched into an impenetrable cold void in contrast to the warm light of the torches illuminating the lower half of the hall. Long tables stretched vertically down the room populated with decadently dressed guests, servers moved between the tables filling glasses and replacing food. The cacophony of hundreds of people talking elevated the atmosphere except for where a large table stood elevated on a podium. The people sitting at this table exuded a suffocating presence that even at the far end of the hall Umbra could feel. It pressed against her like someone standing on her chest and she knew from experience that the closer she got to them the heavier the pressure would become until the point where she could barely breathe. For they were Favoured by the Gods
V prodded Umbra on the shoulder “hey, wakey wakey.”
“I wasn’t sleeping” Umbra responded defensively “just thinking.”
“Admiring the Favoured again weren’t you” V giggled.
“Was not” Umbra replied and V’s pretty elfin features screwed into a sceptical face. Umbra sighed even though V was her best friend she was endlessly irritating.
Umbra’s eyes were drawn back to the Favoured. The Duchess leader of this Territory sat at the head of the table shining with white light and blinding to behold. The light seemed to pour from her skin and her eyes were solid silver. Umbra grimaced as her gaze swept past over her it felt like standing on top of a mountain in the blistering winds and falling snow. Umbra turned her attention from the Duchess’ alien visage to the Duke who was far more pleasing to look at his hair was midnight black and his eyes deep warm brown, framed by strong brows. Muscles pushed against his clothes. While the Duchess was like ice the Duke was a hearth where one could warm themselves.
V poked Umbra again “what” Umbra snapped irritated at the interruption, she giggled
“he is like 200 years your senior”,
“I can still look” Umbra huffed.
“I wouldn’t” V cautioned her eyes twinkling “the Duchess doesn’t take kindly to people looking at her man and a glare from her could freeze a waterfall.”
“Yeah, yeah I know,” Umbra said and V turned away from me to concentrate on stuffing an entire steak into her mouth. Umbra sighed, V’s voracious appetite was charming in a disgusting way and probably had something to do with our table being the farthest from the Duchess’ table Umbra joked internally. The kids at the table were after all the Duke’s charity cases not important enough to warrant a closer table, most of us were kids from the street the Duke had taken in and provided for. He was a caring man and Umbra was extremely grateful but she had never actually met him and he had never visited the orphanage he definitely came across as aloof. V was still managing to stuff her face with as much food as possible and Umbra shook her head and laughed softly to herself the sound masked by the din of the dining hall.
Umbra’s table always left early as Dinner lasted until late in the night and the younger kids needed rest. They were escorted out of the hall by the portly matron Mrs. K no one actually knew what the K stood for. V skipped happily ahead twirling around in the air her short red hair spun around her face as her wings fluttered and her skirt flew up scandalously “V, for the love Ennedi behave your age, you are not a child anymore to twirl about like that.” V stuck her tongue out as Mrs. K’s stern voice echoed through the empty halls. V was always like this dancing and excited. She was a fairy, after all, mischievous demi-humans that reached the size of a human teenager at maturity and with delicate translucent wings they were easy to spot. V tended to take the mischievous part to the extreme her pranks were unending and drove Mrs. K to frustrations and breakdowns.
After traveling down a few flights of stairs the hall ended at wooden double doors monsters and demi-humans of all kinds carved into the wood. Umbra always slowed down to gaze at the out of place doors. Mrs. K pushed through them into the main room of the orphanage a large spacious area with tables for taking meals as the orphans don’t usually eat in the grand hall. The wall on the far side of the room was lined with bookcases ranging from historical accounts and encyclopaedias to the works of fiction and children’s books. “Everyone head to their rooms now we are up later than normal and you need sleep,” Mrs. K said in a motherly tone and the kids dutifully shuffled through another door to the dorms. V was still ahead skipping along, surprisingly, without her usual dancing. Umbra groaned inwardly the only reason for that would be her hatching a scheme of some sort of which Umbra would undoubtedly be part of.
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Umbra slipped into their room behind V. Her quick pale eyes darted around the room, V stood in the middle of their moderately sized space, a mess of clothes were spread out on the mat floor that the fairies so Favoured, the blankets on V’s bed had slid half off onto the floor and their low table was covered in a half-finished game of Beast Cards. Umbra was momentarily distracted from the inspection by V who was staring out the window which stretched from floor to ceiling opposite our door, her pale skin reflected the moon’s light making her glow like the Duchess lighting the dark room, beautiful Umbra thought, V spun around breaking the effect and her face split into a massive grin.
“We are going out!” V declared,
Umbra winced “voice down please not everyone has gone to sleep” V did lower her voice but it still lilted with excitement
“We only have a month left before we are declared Grown and we are taken for training. We need to do something fun,” Umbra’s eyebrows drew together in a frown
“I’m used to the usual pranks but we could get into real trouble if we left the castle during the night, the Duchess’ Territory isn’t exactly the safest,” V rolled her eyes.
“We are almost Grown we can handle the outside for a few hours and look” she points towards the window where thin plumes of flame rocketed into the air almost as high as the great portals and exploded into plumes of fire that roiled in the night sky lighting the people in orange and red, today was the celebration of the Fire God Vorazun.
The festival was beautiful and V quickly convinced Umbra to sneak out; V was exceptionally hard to refuse. “Grab the blankets” V whispered.
“Now she is quiet” Umbra murmured under her breath. Umbra grabbed the blankets and visibly hesitated as she realised what V had planned, to slide down the rope like an escaping princess in the stories. “I’m not sure this is a great idea V,” Umbra said.
“Don’t be a coward it will be fine?” her huff of exasperation evident as she grabbed the blankets off Umbra. V quickly tied their blankets together and Umbra thanked the Duke for his aloof kindness as they had far more blankets then what was needed.
“Hey tie this to the bed” V said while throwing Umbra the end of their makeshift rope. As Umbra was tying the knot V propped open one of the window panes and let the rope slide down. Umbra peered out the window looking down and with the next plume of fire saw that the rope was only a small drop away from the roof below. Getting back would be an issue but the Duchess’ guards opened the fortress gates at sunrise and sneaking back into their rooms through the door would be easier than trying to climb back up the fortress.
V grabbed the rope and started sliding down, her yelp of glee thankfully quiet. Umbra slipped through the small hole in the window pane after her. It was a tight fit even with her slight build. She gripped the makeshift rope tightly not confident in her ability to slide down the entire length of it like V. Pushing her toes into the crevices in the stone to help support her weight she shimmied down the wall and dropped the small distance without rope and landed on the roof of the third storey. Vi was already sitting on the edge of the roof gazing at the Territory. Umbra craned her neck back to look up at their window two storeys above and the rest of the fortress which stretched into the sky far above. The top of the fortress was too high to see, Umbra turned back towards V and stepped carefully towards her, Umbra’s feet slide on the damp roof, falling off the roof would be unpleasant, to say the least. Umbra crouched at V’s side to admire the Duchess’ Territory, it stretched as far as her eyes could see. The Duchess had one of the largest and richest Territories on Poliagoras with many Great Portals and hundreds of lesser ones. A Great portal could be seen in the distance not to hard to miss, they were immense circular structures towering over all buildings except the Duchess’ fortress, inside of the circle rippled blue-green light as people passed through it. Travelers, Tourist, Explorers and trade goods, particularly the food as Poliagoras had no way to produce food. Everyone imaginable used the portals to travel to worlds linked in the Fabric. Almost everyone traveled through Poliagoras, it was the largest transit world.
V nudged Umbra “time to go,” she said. They climbed down to the lower balcony. V with unparalleled ease just floating down her wings fluttering. Umbra, on the other hand, had a bit more trouble the rock was damp and it was all too easy to slip. Making it to the balcony and then from there to the next and then into the fortress gardens that filled the space between the fortress and its outer wall.
“so how do we get over this” Umbra said as she pointed at the wall slightly irritated that they would have to perform some more acrobatics to get out of the fortress, this idea seemed less and less appealing as time went on. V just rolled her eyes
“you think I haven’t done this before, follow me” and she skipped off.
Following V through the garden wasn’t too difficult she was a beacon her skin glowing in the moonlight. Thankfully the guards didn’t seem to care about the two girls they just looked like young women going for a stroll in the gardens. V led Umbra to a small door in the wall “I wonder who uses this.” mused Umbra aloud as V pushed it open,
“Old nobles use it sneak out of the fortress for extracurricular activities I bet,” V said giving Umbra a wink. Umbra blushed
“Don’t speak like that it isn’t proper”. V only laughed again in reply. The little door led out into an empty alley lit only by the warm orange glow coming from the festival. They started walking through the dark alley the empty houses lining the sides of the road on which they walked. This neighbourhood was really quite nice but they only got grimier with distance from the fortress. Mrs. K lessons had touched on the slums that stretched along the border of the Duchess territory and the opposing factions.
Umbra was broken out of her thoughts by V’s voice “what” Umbra said irritation making her huff. V seemed nonplussed though and asked again.
“What apprenticeship do you want?”
“I don’t really know, I’m not really good at anything” replied Umbra thoughtfully.
“Well I want to be a dancer, or maybe a musician,” said V her happy face turning towards me.
“You do love music I grinned back at her, “but remember you don’t get to decide what you want; the masters arrive tomorrow to watch us for the rest of the month before the choosing”
“Yeah, it will be nice to have this month off lessons, I can dance for the Masters,” V said her smile splitting her face from ear to ear. Happy for her friend Umbra only smiled in reply, her eyes fell to her feet she was still worried about her choice, she had no apparent skills and nothing to show the masters, she supposed she would just do as she normally did and hope that someone shows enough interest to choose her.