“Wake up, young Sovereign!” a hand lightly slapped my face and I blinked my eyes open. Not at all liking or comprehending the sight that greeted me.

A strange nebulous void swirled around me. Strands and streams of misty colours lacking corporeal definition bloomed in and out of existence as I stared all around.

“Hey, up here,” a voice said, it echoed hauntingly through my mind and I jerked upright—nearly wrenching my neck—as I looked up. Floating above and through the nebulous of stars and galaxies was a distinctive feminine form. She drifted languidly through the swirling mesh of star motes. Yet her figure blended so well with my ephemeral surroundings that I couldn’t fully make out any of her features.

“H-hello?” I replied nervously, and blinked dumbly as I stared up at her.

“About time you noticed me,” the woman said. Her form becoming clearer as her voice got louder in my mind.

“Uh-huh, and who exactly are you?” I asked and glanced around. I was worried I had somehow been captured, and this was some method of which to extract information from me. “In fact, where even am I?”

“Ugh,” the mysterious woman sighed, her voice still had that haunting quality. Her form came completely into view. White outlined her body from which within stars and galaxies spun, twinkled, and shone.

Her long flowing hair was the void, each dark strand flowing out behind her head, an indiscernible light shining partially through it. Her eyes were rippling pools with the light of stars shining distantly through them.

She held the form of a woman, but was so alien that all I could do was gawk dumbfounded at her appearance.

“I am, your Spectre. I have no other name,” her words once again drifting, echoing, through my thoughts as she came to float before me.

Now that I had a chance, I casted a quick look down at myself. I was in my Projection form, the tether attached to my neck spun off and vanished into nothing.

Creepy.

“As for this place,” the woman continued, “it is my sanctum. From which I am to guide you on your path to Sovereignty.”

“Sovereignty?” I muttered staring at the white outline of her form. “Were you there? in my dream, I mean.” I asked cautiously. My mind whirling back to my nightmare when the woman made of white light defended me.

“Not I. She is far more potent than any of us mere creations,” the woman—my Spectre as she put it—said. “We’re merely an accord. She is a higher conduit of the Planar guardians.”

“Oh-kay,” I muttered blinking, and not at all understanding her words. Her rippling eyes stared through me. “I’m sorry. But I have absolutely no idea what any of that means.”

For the first time since we’d spoke, a smiled graced the outline of Spectres lips. Then it was gone just as quickly.

“I would imagine not. You’re far too young a Sovereign to know of what I speak. From my understanding of your mind. I have come to ascertain that you in fact know far too little for our survival to continue.”

Well, that sounded ominous.

“So, what’re you?” I asked her firmly.

“I am your Spectre. Your guide of such. To train and inform you on the path you follow. Which is why I have brought you to me now.”

I opened my mouth to ask what she meant, but her small delicate fingers came up and hushed my lips. Her touch sent waves of electricity tingling through me.

“Allow me this moment, young Sovereign. It is the first step on the path of our merging… and my end,” the haunting quality of her voice was etched with something else now. Longing, and sorrow.

“I have slumbered since your birth. That collar you were shackled with negated my present from being known to you. As you’ve began to sense. I am that – sentient - presence you’ve been feeling. Truthfully, it would’ve been many more years before a newly born Sovereign such as you would hear the call of their Spectre after. You were denied that. Yet in the captivity of your power, and my calling. I have gained a certain…” she trailed off, uncertainly marring her starry features.

“Sentience?” I answered for her, suspecting as such.

“Exactly. The Spectre of a Sovereign once they’ve merged is no more. They’re gone. The accord complete. I… I do not wish for this. Yet I am to guide you on your path of power.”

“If it takes a newly born – Sovereign – years to hear their Spectres voice. Then how am I hearing you now? I’ve only been uncollared for a few days.”

“You have not just one power, young Sovereign,” she noted, and I blinked in realisation.

“You mean my currently non-existent Amplifying power?” I asked and she nodded. Her long black hair swishing through the nebula floating behind her head.

“It is constantly providing a boost to your path of power. Making connections such as ours—at this time—possible. Allowing you to harness strengths and abilities you would not obtain until after many decades of training.”

“Holy shit,” I mumbled and shook my head, that was definitely plausible. “Why don’t I feel like I’m… using it then. The Amplifying power that is?”

“It has been in constant activation your entire life, young Sovereign,” Spectre explained. “If you became aware of it, you may lose this current amplification of your true power.”

“Sounds reasonable,” I nodded, making a mental note to stay away from experimenting with my other lesser power.

“So then, why am I?” I asked.

“You’re advancing at an accelerated rate. And I fear that soon I will be no more. So I have brought you here, in the hopes that learning of my presence you seize your advancement,” her hands came together in front of her, her fingers interlocking.

Suddenly, I was reminded of Ophelia. Longing for a freedom she couldn’t have. A world in which she could soar, feel the light and wind on her face as she flew freely. Our society kept her caged.

I, was a cage of a different kind apparently for this woman.

“Why?” I replied and swallowed. She was using my humanity to plead for her continued existence. “How…long do you have?”

“A few month’s at best. I have watched your life as a passenger, and now that I see my freedom from duty slipping. I am at once forced to obey the accord of our being. And rue that it brings me to my end,” she walked away from me as she spoke. The white outline of her figure swaying most hypnotically.

“You are different that the rest of the Sovereigns. In so I am different that the other Spectres. Maybe it is your origin. Your duality. Mayhap it was the collar placed upon you. I am unsure. But it awarded less restraint than the other Spectres ever had.”

My mind blazed with questions I wanted to ask. Wanted to know. Who, or what was a sovereign? was it this Exemplar Z person the SPBI encountered?

Yet I held my tongue. Finding out that I was unknowingly holding a soul captive within me, struck a chord within my chest.

“I don’t know if I can stop advancing down this… whatever you called it – path – or whatever,” I slowly shook my head. “I need this power to fight… well… everyone that comes against me and those that I love.”

“I am a tool of the accord. I can no more disobey you that I can halt my own existence,” she said. Her words flowed sadly through my mind. A kind of reluctant acceptance.

“What is this accord?” I asked her hurriedly, suddenly feeling as if our time was coming to an end.

“The Planar Three,” Spectre intoned. “Encountered the remnant of our kind long ago. We were no more ephemeral than ghosts back then. Yet we were outside the bounds of the Aetherium. Moulded through the ether at the hands of the Gardener. So the Planar Lords posed an accord with our remnants.”

The swirling nebulae and misty motes of star dust around me, began to spin and darken. I gritted my teeth and focused on Spectre’s back.

Spikes of pain pricked through my mind as she continued speaking. “Our accord was such. So that our ephemeral existence could have meaning. We would merge with the Sovereign’ rulers of the Exemplars. So that in some small way we would continue to exist. Then the Wolf and Phoenix were betrayed by—”

“Look,” I growled as pain fired through my head. “You’re speaking riddles of which I have no context.” My surrounding darkened completely until only the outline of Spectre remained.

She turned, a small sad smile playing across her face. “I don’t know, I - don’t – know. But if there is something I can do for you. I promise you that I’ll try!” Her form began to fade, starting at her legs. “I promise. I’ll even gift you a name. I swear—”

I blinked up at the shinning golden glow radiating off Ophelia’s hands.

“He’s awake,” she exclaimed quietly. A bright smile playing across her lips. I blinked again as she leaned down and kissed me. My head swimming as the world pitched back into clarity.

“Where am I?” I asked my voice coming out dry and rough.

“You passed out… again,” came Karen amused snicker. “Seriously, I’m starting to think you may have a third genome we didn’t find.”

“Thanks,” I grunted and let Ophelia help me to my feet. I looked around and saw that we were inside a building. The filthy cobwebbed corners, mouldy air, rusted walls, and pocked ceiling showed the age and abandonment of the place.

“We’re inside an old storage facility.”

I nodded and looked more intently around the building. I saw a crane-like vehicle off in the shadowy corner. Deep tracks in the ground lead towards large double doors. Through which the crane would enter carrying the crates.

“Where’s Patricia?” I asked not seeing her. Worry began to boil in my guts.

“She went to scout ahead. You were out for a few minutes. So Patricia went on to find the fabric manufacturing facility,” Karen explained, as Ophelia helped to dust me off.

“What happened?” the angelic woman asked, staring up at me with concern in her amber eyes. My mind raced through my meeting with Spectre. A part of me wanted to summon my powers and seek out her presence. But what could I possibly say to her.

“Something happened,” I allowed. “But I’m not sure what yet. Or even where to begin to describe it.”

“Then later,” Ophelia said softly and hugged against my chest. Her wings unfolding to wrap around us. I pressed a kiss to the top of her head, breathing in her rich coffee scent.

A dull clang reverberated through the storage facility and we all whipped about in time to see Patricia duck through a broken window in the ceiling.

The Technomancer spotted us all standing there and dropped through a second later. Her boot thrusters engaging before she landed on the ground.

“Good to see you’re finally awake,” the raven-haired woman smiled as she jogged over to us. I grunted as she quickly darted in and hugged me, then stepped away.

“Yeah, just a second ago. You went scouting?” I asked, nodding my head at the window she’d dropped through.

“I found the fabric facility and the place is strangely quiet. I even managed to look inside through an upper floor window. It’s completely dark, no people or movement within.”

I bit at my bottom lip in worry. Had I seen wrong when I had shifted through the Necromancer’s memories? Or was it…

“Could’ve they’ve gone underground. You know, a bit like our hideout?”

Ophelia beamed a smile up at me that sent warmth spreading across my body at the use of ‘our hideout.’

“Maybe,” Patricia cocked her head. “They could be use the sewer system. But that in itself is dangerous.”

“You’re forgetting that they’re not just mundane’s,” Ophelia said gently, looking at the Technomancer. Patricia blinked, considered something, and then nodded.

“It’s definitely possible then,” she allowed.

“Wait, why is it dangerous?”

“The Sunken-folk idiot,” Karen shook her head, grimacing in disgust.

“Sunken—” I started to ask but cut off as realisation hit me. I remembered them mentioning groups of people choosing to live beneath the Plateaus surface. Afraid and fearful of the society above, and themselves.

“If it’s dangerous for the ASP members hiding underground then how come—” I began, but Patricia answered me before I could finish.

“How come our hideout isn’t in danger? That’s simple. I build the underground basement at the Witching Cove myself,” the Technomancer explained with a proud little smirk.

“The Sisterhood also has an agreement with those that’re forced to – dwell – underground,” Ophelia added.

“Don’t you mean the Sisterhood-plus-one?” I asked her with a teasing grin.

“It stays the Sisterhood,” Karen proclaimed and rolled her eyes at me. “Because…feminism and shit!”

“Fair enough,” I held up a hand, not at all caring what we called ourselves. “We should get moving. I feel rested enough to keep going.” I summoned my powers and felt a brief spike of pain ebb through my mind, but it was gone as fast as it came.

“The coast is clear from here to the Trent Fabric’ facility. It’s odd. I didn’t see any guards at all, except for those we skirted at the entrance.”

“That is odd.” I agreed as I followed the women over to a corroded brick wall, through which we stepped around and outside.

“Follow me, and stay close,” the Technomancer waved behind her. After checking both ways to make sure the coast was in fact clear. We jogged across the dirty road and to the other side. Several minutes later, we skirted an eight-foot-tall dirty brick wall and came into view of a faded T-Fabric sign.

The building itself was rather large, with numerous shattered windows and corroded holes in its structure. The faded smug green paint of the building looked to have bled into a rusted red and orange towards its foundation.

A spark of hope blazed through my veins making me feel light headed.

“Come on,” Ophelia prompted me, tugging on my arm. I blinked and took a deep breath, as the other’s started for the building.

~*~*~*~

“Holy crap is it dark in here,” Karen muttered as she spun about the seemingly empty fabric facility. Rows of machines and conveyer belts filled over half the building’s interior. Small pieces of moth-eaten fabric lay tattered on the belts, or pinched in the rusted grip of a machine.

“This’ll help,” Ophelia murmured, followed briefly by an instant flare of golden light. Golden motes drifted off her body, evaporating into nothing as they left her. The glow she emitted illuminated the entire building.

Her wings unfurled, and light emitted forth from them as well. Casting long strange shadows across the facility’ interior.

“Impressive,” I nodded gratefully at the angelic woman, she shrugged a slender shoulder at my compliment.

“There’s a lot of impressive tricks I haven’t shown you yet,” she replied coyly. Her amber eyes stared at me as she bit her bottom lip.

I gulped and cleared my throat loudly, as the other two women looked at me in bemusement. “Any ideas on how they would’ve gained access to the sewers?” I probed, trying to change the subject.

“My guess is either stairs, or some sort of grate,” Karen suggested.

“Or, it’s a hidden entrance,” Patricia said from my right. I turned to see what had caught her interest. On the wall, was a small encircled capital A. It was painted in silver and looked fairly fresh. Its diameter small enough to fit a single brick.

A brick that looked fresher than the other grime covered ones along the wall.

“There’s just one problem,” the Technomancer explained as she approached the wall. The rest of us following closely behind her.

“What?” Karen asked, cocking her head to the side.

“Well, for one we don’t actually know where the entrance is,” we nodded at her words and she continued. “Another, is a common age-old-problem,” Patricia grinned and planted her gauntleted hands on her hips.

“Get on with it,” Karen whined after no one answered, “the suspense is killing me.”

Patricia rolled her eyes. “It’s simple. Is it push, or is it pull?”

“Ah, I see,” I nodded thoughtfully. “That is a problem.”

“Wait! you do?” Karen spun to stare at me, and I nodded.

“Yes. If Patricia press the brick inwards, it could either collapse the hidden entrance, alert the ASP members, or… I don’t know. Shoot poison darts at us. It’s the same either way. It could also, depending on how the switch is activated open the entrance but also alert the ASP members. Or it could simply open the entrance, and everything is fine.”

“So what you’re really saying is… We don’t really have a choice either way and should just hope we do it right?” Karen asked me with a raised eyebrow.

I scowled at her, but reluctantly nodded anyway.

“So, who wants the honours?” Ophelia asked softly.

There followed a deafening silence.

“It’s my mom, we’re to save. So I’ll do it,” I told them, my gut twisting.

I walked over to the slightly raised brick in the wall, and noted how there was a slight separation in the society’s symbol’s paint. Where the brick was slightly ajar. Which meant it was sealed into the wall prior to the symbol being painted.

I took a deep breath, reached up, then I pressed hard against the brick. It slid roughly inwards. I felt something click and scrape against the back of the brick.

Silence followed, and I released my hand. The brick was several inches within the wall now and I removed my pressure from it, it began to slid out.

A sound echoed through the building behind us and I spun to see one of the machine beside a conveyer belt rumble backwards. The grinding noise that emanated, echoed eerily loud.

“Quickly, before something decides to come fuck with us,” Karen exclaimed and sprinted for the entrance. A soft green bioluminescent glow emitted from the descending tunnel we came upon. The stench of earthy moss and shit drifted out on a breeze of stale air from the opening in the floor.

“Wonderful,” Ophelia said dryly, her arms wrapping around herself as she stare in horror at the entrance.

“You don’t have to go down, you know that right,” I told to her, and instantly cringed as the words left my mouth. “I wouldn’t think any less of you.”

God-fucking-dammit-Eli! shut the fuck up!

Ophelia’s gaze snapped up to meet my own as her body trembled.

“I’m… I’m going,” she said in hoarse whisper. Karen began to grumble and descend the ladder rungs leading down as she went first.

I closed my eyes and gently wrapped my arms around Ophelia’ trembling form. My eyes opened and fell on Patricia. The Technomancer gave me a quick firm nod then followed after Karen. Who I could still hear grumbling to herself about going first.

“You won’t face this alone,” I whispered into her soft-brown and white hair. She nodded and took a deep steadying breath.

“It’s okay. Like you said before. I’ll draw strength knowing that you’re here, that all of you are here with me.” The angelic woman took another deep breath, squinting down into the darkness of the descending tunnel.

The faint impression of Patricia head vanished after she passed the glowing bioluminescent moss growing on the wall of the tunnel.

After I watched Ophelia begin her descent, I followed as well. Just in time too, as the machine that had hid the hidden entrance began to rumble back over the tunnel. Sealing us in.

This novel is the work of Rhys Thomas. If you are reading this and it has not been published by Rhys Thomas, then this work has been stolen. Please report this to Amazon and me at email: [email protected]