Chapter 1: Song of the Spaces

 

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.

SONG OF THE SPACES