Excerpt: The Nowhere Sphere - Purity of the Unicorn

 

Frozen Forest

IT WAS EVEN COLDER when he headed out into the dark. Torrullin cursed as he stumbled over roots and branches, but dared not create light to ease his path. It took hours in the cold and dark to situate every trap in a wide perimeter and to draw the shield to encompass all, but eventually it was done, and he could head back. The lure of hot coffee was an all-consuming need.

As he approached the gate something new in the environment drew his attention. Until then the forest was filled with the usual night sounds - owls, scuttling creatures, a flap of wings, squeaks - and now everything was silent. That kind of quiet generally occurred when something new was in the region and the creatures waited to see whether it meant danger or something to be safely ignored. This silence went beyond what was there while he tramped around.

He could not see, but he could feel.

First came the silence, and he stood still.

Then came hot breath on his cheek.

He did not react, but his heart jerked wildly. He made no move.

Lorinin.

His heart thumped hard. Gods. “Who are you?”

What am I?

Fine. A game. What are you?

A slight glow appeared over his left shoulder. He turned with exaggerated care. The glow strengthened and took form. This time his heart threatened to burst from its confines.

You are surprised.

Torrullin placed a hand over his heart. More than words can describe.

It was a creature of myth and legend. The purity of goodness. The beauty of tireless strength. A unicorn. White, ethereal and incredibly beautiful. It made no sound as it moved to stand in his field of view, its hooves silvery and seeming to float above the forest floor. A horn of incredible simplicity glowed faintly blue from the centre of its forehead and long lashes swept over pale sad eyes as it studied Torrullin.

Many years ago, the little flower needed aid.

Rose. You created her citadel.

I could not feed her. I wish I could have fed her.

She survived. Today she is strong.

I am glad.

Is this your domain? Torrullin asked.

We do not claim domain, Lorinin. We are and we are not.

In a nowhere place, everything is possible.

 At the time of Tianoman Valla’s Naming, a blue sphere hovers in the scrying bowl, along with a silver cathron in an ebony floor. The time for that future is due, for beyond realms and the known universe, a mighty manipulation commences, and it assumes the form of blue spherical space.

 This is a Nowhere Sphere.

Tianoman is kidnapped by an enemy believed dead, and taken to the place where a silver cathron knocker lurks in the darkness of a polished surface, where also a crucible swirls in vapour, creating within an entity that cannot be permitted life.

An entire planet is vaporised, and souls scream for release in the aftermath. As Torrullin Valla’s memory returns after the event on Echolone, his ability to forgive is buried in the layers time has laid down, and now he needs to care, to feel again, to forgive. He must travel the void created by anti-matter to find not only Tianoman and the other Vallas, but also Elianas Danae, for he will suffer most.

In Nowhere, everything that moves in hearts, minds and souls will become the answers Torrullin requires to again known himself. It will also unmask the Danae.

THE NOWHERE SPHERE