Read Song of the Spaces as either a
teaser … or because you’re a huge fan and simply must know more about the LORE
Series. Every great story has hidden depths.
Discover in this OMNIBUS EDITION the insights and the fantastical woven from
the Lore of Arcana/Reaume/Sanctum Series. From natural rainbows to portals into
other realms, from worlds off the track to giant planets swerving in space,
these are the extras compiled into one volume:
The Rainbows of Pilan
The Life-Wheels of Pendulim
The History of Ardosia
The Arcana Myth
A World without Light
The Wolves of Valaris
The Tower of Stairs
The Glittering Darkness
The Beyond for Vannis
Flatland
Ancient Luvanor
Avior’s Doors
Song of the Spaces
Into the Forbidden Zone
The
Rainbows of PILAN
FOREWORD
IN THE INTEREST
of telling a story without too much distraction, this interlude on the Pilan
Homeworld still exists in The Dragon Circle (Lore of Arcana 4) but has been edited to give only the bare bones there. It wasn’t integral to
the main tale, but you may wish to know a bit more … and here it is.
A wee bit of scene setting …
TORRULLIN
VALLA of the Valleur has been a bad
boy. Having committed and spoken words of love to Saska of the Sylmer, he then
breaks her trust when he sleeps with Lycea, the Changeling. That union results
in Lycea’s pregnancy.
The fall-out sees Torrullin vanish
offworld for a while on a mission. When he returns to Valaris, Saska witnesses
him with Lycea, kneeling in the snow to greet his son in her womb (the Valleur
recognition of the unborn) and, believing she has lost him, without hope, Saska
leaves in turn.
As the final confrontation with Margus,
the Darak Or, approaches, given The Dragon Circle is the final Lore
of Arcana volume, her absence is marked, and her life may be in danger. The
Darak Or, after all, seeks leverage to employ with effect against Torrullin.
Torrullin thus sets out to find Saska …
SOMETIMES
ONE NEEDS to disappear. Saska’s psyche needs soothing, her soul
requires difference and her heart desperately seeks distraction. Betrayal
forces her into leaving. Amid the rainbows of Pilan she hopes for peace … but,
on the eighth day, he comes …
1
THE UNIVERSE WAS vast, an infinite eternity. Logic dictated that in such
vastness many worlds could sustain life, sentient or otherwise, for the
precedent already existed.
And, indeed, so it is and was. Some knew they were not
alone in the greatness and used magic or star-travel to traverse it, while
others understood it intellectually, and some, such as Valaris, although
isolated, knew their ancestors were from elsewhere. And yet others came to know
the state from varied visitors to their worlds.
Then there were those who did in fact believe they
were utterly alone in the universe. They simply could not comprehend the
vastness, or they were unwilling to believe the coldness of immensity was able
to duplicate their uniqueness. Some of those suffered from superiority disease
- arrogance - while others were the true innocents of the universe.
The latter belief was held by the people of Pilan.
They did believe themselves alone, and perhaps they
could be forgiven their mistaken views, for they were isolated in a tiny solar system in the very corner of a
far-flung galaxy, and the periodic visitors they had received over eons of
existence had been too few to alter that belief. In fact, the visitors were
regarded as the embodiments of their gods and goddesses.
Thus it was for Saska of the Sylmer; a visitor from
outer space seen as a goddess, her lithe female form, and long tresses of blue
hair and bright emerald eyes, exactly matching the description of Leath,
Goddess of Water.
This was her third visit to Pilan; a place chosen
because of its isolation. Her psyche required soothing, her soul needed
difference and her heart, well, her heart desperately sought distraction.
The previous occasion had been a hundred and fifty
years ago and, therefore, in living memory, not one Pilanese would have seen
her before, which was why she felt able to visit without upsetting their
integrated belief system. The tale of the blue-haired woman who had walked with
ordinary folk, of course, continued to be told and sang; no one remembered, but
they had not forgotten either.
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