Lords of Existence: Saga of the God-Touched Mage, #8

By Ron Collins

Ultimate power.

Treachery.

A battlefield of pure magic.

Garrick has destroyed a god-like planewalker, and now finds himself shunned by his superior and marked for death by the Lords of Existence. He also discovers his powers have grown to monstrous proportions, and realizes that if he loses control now he may well destroy all life in Dorfort, and perhaps even across the entire plane of Adruin. As Garrick retreats to a sanctuary deep inside the ruins of the underground city of Arderveer, the Lectodinian order seizes the opportunity to unleash their plans to storm the plane. Meanwhile, the ruling powers of Existence decide that the easiest way to punish Garrick is to exterminate Adruin.

In Lords of Existence Garrick confronts his own humanity, his banished superior, and human leaders who refuse to see the truth as he takes his fight against the planewalkers all the way into the world of All of Existence itself.

To win he may have to make the ultimate sacrifice, and every life in Adruin hangs in the balance.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Skyfox Publishing
• Release date: Oct 25, 2016
• ISBN: 9781540110060

Ron Collins

Ron Collins's work has appeared in Asimov's, Analog, Nature, and several other magazines and anthologies. His writing has received a Writers of the Future prize and a CompuServe HOMer Award. He holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering, and has worked developing avionics systems, electronics, and information technology.

Book preview

Lords of Existence

Ultimate power.

Treachery.

A battlefield of pure magic.

Lords of Existence

The Saga of the God-Touched Mage includes:

Glamour of the God-Touched

Trail of the Torean

Target of the Orders

Gathering of the God-Touched

Pawn of the Planewalker

Changing of the Guard

Lord of the Freeborn

Lords of Existence

Other Work by Ron Collins:

Five Magics

Picasso’s Cat and Other Stories

See the PEBA on $25 a Day

Chasing the Setting Sun

Four Days in May

Links to these and more of Ron's work

Follow Ron at

www.typosphere.com

or his twitter feed: @roncollins13

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Copyright Information

Lords of Existence

Saga of the God-Touched Mage, Volume 8

copyright 2015 Ron Collins

All rights reserved.

Cover Art by Rachel J. Carpenter

copyright 2015 Ron Collins

All rights reserved.

Cover Images

copyright Nomadsoul1 | Dreamstime.com - Praying Medieval Monk In Dark Temple Corridor Photo

copyright Xneo | Dreamstime.com - Space Nebula Photo

This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. All rights reserved. This is a work of fiction. All incidents, dialog, and characters are products of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission.

Skyfox Publishing

http://www.skyfoxpublishing.com

For Tim, Mike, Jackie, and Ken. And of course, for Lisa.

Table of Contents

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Prologue

Existence

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Existence

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Existence

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Existence

Existence

Chapter 16

Existence

Chapter 17

Existence

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Epilogue

Appendix

Acknowledgements

About Ron Collins

How You Can Help

Prologue

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There are those who attack scholars who write of the Thousand Worlds. At best, they call them storytellers. At worst, liars and cheats. The critics say stories of Existence, and the webs of magic rumored to be therein, are good only for children. They say those stories are nothing more than parables.

Of course, such suggestions serve merely to make the tomes these historians create that much more lucrative. And, regardless of what one thinks of the moral strengths or failings of these scholars, it is clear that these stories resonate among the people of Adruin. And the truth always matters in the end. So perhaps it is important to listen to these scholars. Perhaps it is important, for example, to consider whether the Thousand Worlds actually do lie in the haphazard sprawl across the many-space that the storytellers describe, connected to one another by that flow of energy that is both everywhere and nowhere at all—the glue of All of Existence, as they call it. And if, as the scholars argue, it is All of Existence that forms the universe as it is known, then it is All of Existence that exchanges energy between each of the Thousand Worlds, and in doing so creates the very root of life itself. For without All of Existence, those scholars say, there would be no flow, and without flow there would be no magic, and without magic there would be no Thousand Worlds upon which to live.

If the storytellers are right, it is All of Existence that is responsible for the sulfur worms that inhabit Gallata, and it is All of Existence that allows for the ice floes of Kanna to be a breathing species. It is All of Existence that allows for the crystalline architecture of Fallaj, and it is All of Existence that gives life to the photon painters in the realm of Gaslight.

Amid the flow, they report, live creatures known by many names.

Talla. Flow Masters. Yahli-at-ba, to some.

Gods, to others.

And, yes, planewalkers.

Yet, for all these names the scholars give, nothing is really known about these creatures, or even about All of Existence itself. This is because no other being, no man or woman from the planes—no sage or storyteller, no liar or cheat—has ever seen the world of the flow. Those who attack such scholars can do so without retribution because no other creature has ever seen Existence and returned to tell of it. No man or woman has ever been to the homelands of the creatures who these scholars argue have controlled the lives of every living creature across the Thousand Worlds since the time of Starshower itself.

No one, that is, until Garrick.

Existence

---

Braxidane knew the exact moment Hezarin died.

He’d been in his node, absorbing energy and considering whether to visit his future champion on the plane of Rastella. The youth there was the last of his champions, and was destined to become the most remarkable. She would grow in power as the rest grew in experience. When she was ready Braxidane would make his play. He sipped at the power around him, and was letting the electric tingle of a pristine future unfold before him, when he felt the pulsing aftertaste of his sister’s death.

A sense of pure disbelief came over him. Then one of absolute fear.

He flashed red with discontent. Then he gave a deep streak of purple resentment. His node became uncomfortably warm.

What had Hezarin done?

Why was she on Adruin to begin with?

It was only a matter of time now before All of Existence would learn of her death, and when that happened it would be only moments before Joint Authority would focus on her. They would discover her links, which would lead them to his links, which would then lead them to the rest of his champions. So, it was now only a matter of time before Joint Authority, and therefore All of Existence, would know what Garrick was capable of.

He let go of his connection to Adruin and dashed into the scouring flow.

This was going to be bad.

He had little time to lose.

Chapter 1

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Garrick stood at the gates of the shattered wall that had once protected Dorfort’s government center, and looked at the planewalker’s devastation. It was the dark of nighttime, but raging fires revealed the wounded men and women who lay scattered across the open yard. They called to him with desperation. He felt each of them somewhere in the recesses of his mind.

The wall, once considered impenetrable by the public and by the leaders of this great city, was in rubble. Its masonry was broken and craggy. Its ironwork frames were rent and exposed, and its stone slabs were cracked open like eggs to reveal insides that gleamed with chalky brilliance against their weathered exteriors.

The smell of burning buildings mixed with the blood-laced residue of Koradictine magic. Voices rang out, men calling for water brigades, women giving orders as they pulled the injured from danger. It was cold, the time of year still on the edge of the winter months. The people fought against the elements as well as the flames. Hooves clattered and pounded as horses and mules raced through Dorfort’s rutted streets, taking wagons and men to places they could best serve the fight. The whole of the city was working to save what they could, and he was glad to see members of the Torean Freeborn working alongside them to quell the flames.

But Garrick could not focus on these things.

Hezarin was gone—at least her body was nowhere to be found. Garrick had bested her. He had consumed her here in the manor yard of Ellesadil’s government center. Her power remained behind, though. It remained inside him, struggling against him, twisting and causing Garrick pain. He choked on it as it rose against his control. He concentrated on her, pressing her power deeper inside him to where he could better staunch it.

The planewalker was dead, though, and that meant the lords of Existence would search him out. It meant he would pay a price.

Yet now the injured would not let him be, and Hezarin’s life force pulled itself toward them as certainly as it struggled to be free of him.

The heat of