GENESIS PROJECT: Second Age of the Kasna: Abyss: Genesis Project

GENESIS PROJECT

SECOND AGE OF THE KASNA

ABYSS

AARON MICHAEL SMITH

Copyright 2019 Aaron Michael Smith.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written prior permission of the author.

Genesis Project: Second Age of the Kasna: Abyss is a work of fiction. Names, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

Cover Art By Patrick William Eugene Smith

&

Aaron Michael Smith

Ravania Entertainment and the Ravania Entertainment logo are Copyright 2019 Aaron Michael Smith.

-GENESIS PROJECT TIMELINE-

SECOND AGE OF THE KASNA- (0 BTC-1970 AC)

-THE HEAVEN’S GATE SAGA-

GENESIS PROJECT: Second Age of the Kasna: Curse

GENESIS PROJECT: Second Age of the Kasna: Survivors

GENESIS PROJECT: Second Age of the Kasna: Broken

GENESIS PROJECT: Second Age of the Kasna: Shards

-THE DEMONS HANDS SAGA-

GENESIS PROJECT: Second Age of the Kasna: Hammer Fall

GENESIS PROJECT: Second Age of the Kasna: Abyss

GENESIS PROJECT: Second Age of the Kasna: The Dying Light

GENESIS PROJECT: Second Age of the Kasna: Hands of Evil

-CHARACTERS-

Ahryah Emahra; Emahra Warrior (Female Emahra-kin)

Azal Kidfar; Vong’s Mother (Female Kasna)

Baalth-Nokk; Warrior (Male Kasna)

Chim; Kalek Adept (Male Kasna)

Deslor Nakoo; Kalek Learner (Male Kasna)

Dittany Pmac; Raath Warrior (Female Human)

Eriu; Warrior (Female Emahra-kin)

Esyn; Warrior (Female Emahra-kin)

Gorvoz; Kalek Adept (Male Gossk)

Korov; Dark Lord (Male Unknown)

Lillith; Mykyn’s Inner Circle (Female Demoness)

Mykyn; Lord of the Darkones (Male Darkone)

Myly Kidfar; Vong’s Grandmother (Female Kasna)

Nell; Shadow Traveller (Male Shadow Traveller)

P’Xayer Ravyn; Dark Lord (Male Unknown)

Rakeen; Dark Lord (Male Rakee)

Ravania Emahra; Last of the Emahra (Female Emahra)

Vong Kidfar; Kalek Learner (Male Kasna)

Vosk Balum; Kalek Adept (Male Navian-Kasna)

Yoko; Kalek President (Male Kasna)

GLOSSARY

Baalth-Nokk Knights: The Baalth-Nokk Knights are an order of warriors created by a Kalek named Baalth-Nokk. They do not answer to any authority aside from their code of honour, and fight back darkness and evil. They are in possession of mysterious Bio-armour that gives them greater powers and senses.

Comm: A comm is a communication device like a mobile phone.

Darkone: Darkones are people, whose bodies have been transmogrified through supernatural power. Originally known as Sorrows, these people are changed after they make a deal with a Demon. The change is part of the deal. Darkone is the name the Paltian people took for themselves after they were changed, following their attempt to storm the Gates of Heaven ten thousand years before the Kasna attempted the same thing. The fact that an entire race was turned into Darkones brings into question if the Paltian as a race made a deal with a Demon in the quest for power. Most people attribute the change, however as a curse from God.

Dorash: Dorash is the mystical power that people in the known worlds can harness.

Emahra: Emahra are ancient mystical warriors who fought in the eons past Hell War. Most people believe they are just stories.

Hyperion-space: Hyperion-space is a subspace corridor accessed by many spacefaring people, which allows starships to go faster than the speed of light. There are levels of Hyperion that can be accessed with Hyperdrives. The lowest level of Hyperion is a tumultuous hellish realm, that well it allows people the ability to travel fastest, it is too dangerous for most to even try.

Kalek: Kalek are warriors of the Kasna Republik, set up by the Prophet Desshar on the teachings and tenants of the Verin who preceded them. The Kalek defend the Kasna Republik. They are supposed to fight back darkness and evil, but have been susceptible to politics and corruption during their existence.

Kal’sek: Kal’sek are a break off sect of the Kalek, who followed the teachings of the Raath and other followers of Darkness. They have long been enemies of the Kalek.

Klacmetru: Klacmetru is the common Fundamental word for kilometer.

Metru: Metru is the common Fundamental word for meter.

Myno: Myno is the common Fundamental word for minute.

Mystral: A Mystral is a female Dorash-user of great power who harnesses and controls the powers of Dorash.

Mystic: A Mystic is more powerful and mysterious than a Wystral or a Mystral.

Pulsar: A pulsar is a weapon that fires deadly bolts of energy. They can be modified to have setting, such as stun. They range from hand weapons, to cannons on starships. Pulsar is a common term that is used for most energy weapons that shoot.

Shadow Travellers: Shadow Travellers are people with the ability to travel to parallel and alternate Universes.

Urrh: Urrh is the common Fundamental word for hour.

Voorith: A Voorith is a living organism bonded to a sword, giving the owner greater senses and aide in his or her duties.

Whisper-image: A three-dimensional image used in communication.

Wystral: A male Dorash-user of great power who harnesses and controls the powers of Dorash.

Yehv: The common Fundamental word for year.

Before time was recorded

Beings of light walked the stars...

Then one day they breathed life into the Universe...

It was their Legacy…

A great Project…

GENESIS PROJECT

-SECOND AGE OF THE KASNA-

(0 AC – 1970 AC)

The Second Age of the Kasna is the era of the Kasna Republik that spans the cycles from the Kasna Curse to the Keeper of the Undead’s declaration of war against the Kasna Republik in 1970 AC. During this time, the Kasna Republik is the leading power in the Four Galaxies, and the Kalek are its noble warriors and protectors.

This is the second part of the Demons Hands Saga.

The events in this story take place shortly after Vong Kidfar and Ahryah Emahra arrived at the Kalek army’s camp on Rokina, a little over two weeks after the Heaven’s Gate Incident....

PROLOGUE

New Empire

‘Ages come and go, people come and go, Emperors come and go, but the Empire – the Planetary Empire – remains!’

-Emperor Reh Shaad XII

During his coronation

CISTIA SYSTEM – THIRD GALAXY

The Planetary Empire’s capital system was designated Cistia. It had thirteen planets – ten of which could support life. Around every planet there were many moons – some of the smaller worlds had only three, but the biggest gas giant, Shaad, had one hundred and fifteen. There were 459 moons in the Cistia system, and 400 of them were populated to varying degrees. The amount of people living in the Cistia system alone was staggering; and it wasn’t the only star system ruled by Planetary Empire.

Captain Gid Keth, of the Destroyer Hegemony, was an Imperial through and through. The tall, brown-skinned man was from a long line of proud Imperialists. From his crisp, black uniform, to his polished boots and neatly combed black hair, Gid looked like a proper Imperial. It was more though, it was a way of being, acting, serving... and Gid served the Empire and the Emperor – Reh Shaad the XII – loyally... with honour. The new Emperor was a man of strength, but also a man of conscience, who’d gone to work striving to help people and worlds that had been subjugated by the rule of his tyrannical Father.

Gid was no seer, but he had a feeling the Empire was on the verge of a golden age. Great things were happening on Cistia, and it was spreading out to all the other worlds and moons in the Planetary Empire, even on the outer most colonies. Good things were happening, and there was a sense of hope and anticipation from everyone. Gid wished, sometimes, that he was posted closer to Cistia... but he knew that someone had to patrol the edges of the system.

The Planetary Empire was not without its enemies.

‘Captain,’ the Commander barked from her station. Gid pivoted in his command chair and looked to the woman who sat at a computer station along one of the walls of the long, rectangular bridge.

‘What, Semma?’ Gid asked.

‘Sensors are picking something up.’

‘Something?’ Gid chuckled. ‘Can you be a little more specific?’

Semma, a beautiful woman with brown hair and eyes, turned to look at Gid. She shook her head. ‘I’m afraid not.’

Gid turned to his science officer, a crimson-skinned being with glowing, blue eyes. ‘Raska, are you getting anything on the something that the Commander has detected?’

Raska rolled his chair from his station, to another nearby. He pressed some buttons, checked some readings on his screen, and then turned to Gid. ‘I think it’s a ship.’

Gid raised his eyebrows. ‘A ship?’ he asked. ‘It’s hard to determine what a ship is?’

‘It’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen,’ Raska explained. He pressed a button. ‘There,’ he said, as he nodded at the forward window.

Gid turned and looked at the image that had been brought up. The object he saw looked like a gigantic, obsidian tower. It was floating through space, and there were strange looking vessels attached to the spiky walls. Gid analysed what he was seeing for a long moment. He cocked his head to the side curiously. Then he looked to Raska.

‘That’s a ship?’ he asked.

‘Appears to be,’ Raska responded.

‘Should we make contact with them?’ Semma wondered.

Gid turned to the Commander. ‘Yes…’ He looked to the communications officer. ‘Open a channel.’

A moment later a chime sounded and it was done.

Gid lifted himself out of his command chair, and spoke.

‘I’m Captain Gid Keth of the Planetary Empire destroyer, Hegemony. To unknown vessel; we have you on scanners. What is your business in this system?’

There was a long moment of nothing.

Then a voice sounded over the comm.

‘I am Kal’sek High Chief, the Si’Vraath Sheki. You are commanded, by the living god, the Keeper of the Undead, Lord of the Darkones, Emperor Mykyn, to stand down immediately. You will allow your vessel to be boarded. Then you will escort the Keeper of the Undead’s throne-ship to your capital. Failure to comply with any of these commands will result in your immediate destruction. You have one myno to reply.’

With that the transmission ended.

‘Hmm,’ Gid said, feeling a little surprised. ‘Very straight forward, aren’t they?’

‘They’ve got to be kidding,’ Semma growled.

Gid turned to the woman. ‘Not by their tone.’

‘What are we going to do, Captain?’ the red-haired tactical officer asked, looking from her station.

‘Comply of course,’ Gid said.

‘What?’ Semma asked – horrified – as she stood up. ‘You’re not serious?’

Gid looked to the communications officer and told her to relay the message. Then he looked to Semma, explaining, ‘This is a foe of unknown power. They’ve threatened to destroy us. I don’t have enough intel to know if they can or can’t. They want us to lead them into the heart of the Cistia system. Once we get them there, we’ll be calling the shots. But right now, we have to be… friendly.’

‘Prepare to be boarded,’ Sheki’s voice growled through the comm.

Poem’s Part

‘My Universe is the only one of consequence…’

-The Tyrant Gobekli, to Nell Sorrow, during a battle one thousand years ago in Universe Pi

JIGU - UNSEEN UNIVERSE

Poem followed a small, white-haired woman through dense forest outside the capital city of Jigu. Birds chirped happily in the early morning. The sun was high in the azure sky, shining down with warm rays of golden light. It was calm out, peaceful, serene.

Poem watched the forest around her, and kept her senses open for any whispers of danger that might be closing in on her and her companion.

Her feelings had validated the strangers story; that she was some form of Ravania from another Universe… and that a hole had been ripped in reality, and that they needed to work together to defeat a dark threat.

It was a crazy story, but Poem was certain it was true.

Alternate Universe stuff is so confusing, Poem thought irritably.

‘How much further?’ Poem asked.

The woman looked back. ‘What?’

‘Where are we going, and how much further?’

‘I told you in the car… Oton Gar has a portal. It’s how I got here to Jigu.’

‘How did he make the portal? I know this planet used to be riddled with them, but they were mostly collapsed long ago.’

‘Ravyn used the body of a Shadow Traveller named Talt… even the corpse is filled with great power…’

‘…And with the right knowhow… it can be done,’ Poem reasoned.

‘It has been done.’

Poem couldn’t believe it, not just that they were using someone’s dead body to open a hole in Universes, but that Ravyn was working with some being from another Universe. She’d known of Ravyn during the Paltian War… he was a monster, and he was always working toward some evil end.

‘Who is this Oton Gar, what can I expect?’

‘He was once a warrior from my Universe, on the side of good. Dathon was his name. He was turned to evil by his Father Hamman-dat and has become one of the most deadly warriors in the hordes of the Demon Lord. He has great strength, Dragon-scale skin, and the power of all consuming fire.’

‘How did you get past him?’ Poem asked.

‘Very carefully.’

‘How many troops does he have?’

‘Thirty that I saw,’ the other Ravania said. ‘They shouldn’t be too much trouble for us, even the Draklonic. It’s Oton Gar we really have to worry about.’

‘What are Draklonic? I’ve never heard of them before.’

‘Demon and Dragon half-breeds… nasty buggers, but little more than fodder to us,’ the other Ravania said.

Why doesn’t she look like me? Poem wondered. How can she be me, but not look like me?

They walked on for a few moments in silence, as Poem tried to take it all in, make sense of it.

Then she asked, ‘What should I call you?’

The woman stopped walking and she looked at Poem, arching an eyebrow. ‘What?’ she asked.

‘I keep thinking of you as the other Ravania… and to call you Ravania… it feels a little… strange for me.’

‘I’m still attached to the name Annella, call me that.’

‘Annella?’

The woman started walking again. ‘Some years back, while fleeing Hamman-dat, I crashed on a world, in a land called Amartis. I almost died fighting demonic Siuulik - I’d been greatly weakened before hand - but a Mystic combined me with an Ilorian woman, a Princess, named Annella. For a time I thought I was her, lived as her… eventually I was restored, but the name… I don’t know, I always liked it. I still use it sometimes too.’

‘So then the change, the combination with this Princess, that’s why you look like Hart?’ Poem asked.

Annella stopped walking. ‘I’ve always had this face,’ she told Poem.

Poem considered the woman for a moment. ‘Weird,’ she said.

‘For me too,’ Annella replied. ‘I mean, I know your me… the me from where you come from but… You don’t look like me.’

She shrugged and then led the way on through the woods again.

After some time Poem and the woman crouched down behind some bushes. A slope ran down into a narrow valley at the base of a mountain that was covered in forest. There was a cave in the side of the mountain, and in the mouth of it was a crackling portal. It flickered with red and blue light, and standing around it were lean monsters with grey scales and gaunt, almost skeletal Dragon-like faces. Their snouts were stubby. They had bony spikes piercing the flesh down their spines, and along their muscular tails. They had claws on their fingers and toes, and teeth made for tearing flesh.

They were Demons from a Hell Poem didn’t know, nor did she care to.

‘Not Draklonic,’ Annella hissed. ‘Blast!’

‘What are they?’ Poem wondered.

‘I thought he’d brought Draklonic… those are Siuulik.’

‘The things you mentioned earlier?’

‘Yeah… we can still take them, but… they’re nastier.’

Annella motioned with her head, away from the portal, to a pedestal of stone that looked like it had been melted and then cooled. A creature stood at the pedestal, dressed in red armour. A velvety black cape was draped over his shoulders. He was a handsome looking man, bald, with red eyes, and his flesh was covered in inky scales. He had a long tail, and wings were folded against his back. Horns swept back from his forehead.

‘That is Oton Gar,’ Annella said grimly.

‘Where are the rest of the troops?’ Poem wondered. ‘You said thirty, I only see a dozen. You also said they were Draklonic, not Siuulik… could these be reinforcements?’

‘Yeah… the others are probably out patrolling… besides that, there were the ones dispatched to your home.’

‘So we really don’t know how many forces Oton Gar has,’ Poem growled. ‘We need more intel.’

‘We need to move,’ Annella urged. ‘This is