Wolff - Sefiros Eishi: Chased By War

Sefiros Eishi: Chased By War

The Smoke & Mirrors Saga: Book II

Michael L. Wolff

Copyright Michael L. Wolff 2018

Black Rose Writing | Texas

2018 by Michael L. Wolff

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publishers, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review to be printed in a newspaper, magazine or journal.

The final approval for this literary material is granted by the author.

First digital version

All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Print ISBN: 978-1-61296-007-2

PUBLISHED BY BLACK ROSE WRITING

www.blackrosewriting.com

Print edition produced in the United States of America

Thanks for everyone who believed I could do this.

PREVIOUSLY ON

SEFIROS EISHI: CHASED BY FLAME

Crippled librarian Mykel LeKym is traveling with his godfather Lazarus on a journey to the libraries of Kal Jada, seat of the Amden nation. They stop for lunch, in which Mykel receives a lesson of the Leylines, rivers of magical power that Weirwynd (magic-users) use in conjunction with shiisaa (objects of magical power) to cast spells. Lazarus relays the history of the Leylines, mourning the fact that magic is dying.

Then they step into Kal Jada s borders, from which things go terribly wrong. Mykel is pursued by John Jekai, a mage-slayer in the service of the Solvicar, Amden s order of warrior-priests. Jekai harbors a malicious hatred of Mykel for reasons unknown. Afterward Mykel and Lazarus meet singer Shayna Kae. Shayna is another mystery; she knows Mykel on the spot despite the fact he s never seen her before in his life.

They are witness to the King s death, and are introduced to Sutyr, an enshou (fire magic caster), Lazarus previous apprentice, whose real form is a red demonic knight. Afterwards, Mykel visits Caryl, a local prostitute and his lover, and spends the day with her son Wil (it is unknown if Mykel is the father).

Everything comes to a head deep within the Kal Jada library. Mykel, Lazarus, John Jekai, and Sutyr race to find the khatar (assassin s weapon) Ifirit. Lazarus sacrifices himself so Mykel can bond with the khatar before Sutyr. Enraged, Sutyr possesses Jekai, Caryl, and Wil in a battle to the death. Sutyr engages Mykel personally, and quickly overwhelms Mykel...only to falter when a Riftgate (time travel portal), activates and delivers Mykel to times hitherto unknown.

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

Mykel LeKym (Michael LA-Kem)

Sefiros Cayokite (Suh-FEAR-ros KAI-yo-KAH)

Shayna Kae (shay-NA KAY)

John Stromgald (John STROM-GALD)

Sylver (Silver)

Jade Raptor (Jade RAP-tor)

Orson (ore-SON)

Mathias Tolrep (MAH-thigh-OS TOLL-rep)

Robert Jekai (Robert JA-kai)

Ronald Jekai (Ronald JA-kai)

Sutyr (Suh-TEAR)

Lazarus (LA-ZER-ris)

Cardinal Omeros (Om-MER-ros)

Table of Contents

PROLOGUE

??? Space

??? Date

??? Realm

The Emergency Temporal Redirection worked like a charm. One moment Sutyr was lost in a tunnel of mind-crushing, soul-wrenching hellfire, the next he was safe and sound in Muspell, his World. And only ten years previous from his battle with the boy, no less. Like a charm.

High on ebony balconies, Sutyr surveyed Muspell. Hell incarnate. His World. His to do with any way he liked. But he saw none of it. Mykel LeKym was out there, somewhere. Sutyr knew Mykel was alive in the same way he knew his own heartbeats. In fact, Sutyr sent a mental command and smiled when his symbol took shape on his hand. It was made of yellow splinters of light, each one blazing as though they were slivers of the sun. Good. The brand Sutyr had worked upon the librarian s arm was working. The yellow color confirmed it. Mykel was unconscious next to the Riftgate. With Ifirit. That was the first thing the symbol confirmed. So close. So close, and yet so far away.

A rush of manna brought him from his reverie. Knowledge came to him like a whisper of fire, speeding along the channels that anchored this impossible place to the realm of in-between moments. Aeon. Sutyr grimaced. He could harden the doors with a single thought, displace her into a labyrinth of eternal twists from which there was no escape. But Aeon had a way of rising beyond impossible challenges, so Sutyr bid the doors open and the path clear.

He didn t turn to meet Aeon. He didn t have to. The Fire that was his birthright told him all he needed to know. Her little collection of gathering-spells, each one meant to find and exploit weakness, crashed against the walls of his willpower, receding like the foam of ocean water against jagged rock. There was nothing to be gained from such investigation, but habits tended to die hard.

Are your Gardens not enough for you, Aeon?

Of course. Sutyr felt Aeon s core quicken at the statement. Giving up something when there was no award to be gained? Oh, the little minx hated such a trade. Sutyr did not relish the small victory. Nothing was worse than dropping one s guard, especially around Aeon.

What are you doing here?

So suspicious, Sutyr. Cannot one friend visit the other without an agenda?

We are not friends.

You wound me, Sutyr. She came to his side at the balcony, although the world she gazed upon was completely different than the one Sutyr saw. You close your thoughts often as of late. Aeon glanced upward at the silence that answered and suddenly she folded to the ground, tightening into a writhing ball of pain. No...what are you doing?

Sutyr looked at her, her form suddenly turned translucent. It was a special trick of his, and one of the most guarded. His sight pierced a person s outer shell, reduced them to a skeleton and the web of neural pathways that connected the body into a cohesive whole. He could see the chemicals that triggered thought and response, movement and emotion. And right now, Sutyr led the chemicals like a master walking his pet, directing just the right reactions to go in just the right way, to the conclusion he wanted in one simple mental command.

FORGET.

And Aeon forgot. From the moment she entered Muspell to right then; those few memories would forever be a blank to her. Sutyr took great pains to reduce any evidence that she had stood within these walls. The deletion of thought was so absolute that the actual memory of her purpose in coming here would be washed away. She would go her entire life without pause. That was key.

Sutyr glanced at the vault in the far wall. Of course, it had been inevitable. It had been the axis of Aeon s little visit. There were secrets locked in the Tartarus Vaults not meant for any eyes, secrets that if known would drive the thief to a madness eternal, but Sutyr had dared to chase those secrets. He not only touched those secrets but spirited them away. The insanity that was the vault s counterstroke clawed at him every step of the way, but in the end Sutyr tamed the sickness, bent it to his will instead of the reverse. Now those secrets were his to wield.

Sutyr made his way to the vault that was no ordinary vault. It was special, and its molecular structure quivered and expanded at a slight gesture from its master. There was not a piece of Muspell that was not imbued with Sutyr s essence. He and the castle existed in part as a collective being. The effort to mold the vault was as natural as breathing.

As Sutyr approached, the vault finished the final details with a crimson sheet of redwood that was both thin as a plane of glass and yet harder than any diamond. Happy to have served its master, the rectangular cabinet broke into individual segments and sank back into the rock from each had come. The treasure they guarded was open for all to see.