Rise of the Sylvans: The Fall of The Ascendancy, #2

By Daniel McMillan

DISCOVER THE HORRORS OF A FUTURE GONE MAD...

 

The world is literally falling apart. Baxter, Raishann, Laena, and their allies have to find a way to save humanity - fast.

 

The Avalon spacecraft is the only way off the dying planet, and the Sylvans will do everything they can to wrest it from the Ascended, who would forsake all others to save themselves.

 

Can people who have been at war with one another for generations come together when the need arises? Or will the legacy of mankind be a dead planet left as a monument to greed and division?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Vector11Studio
• Release date: Feb 27, 2021
• ISBN: 9781393230106

Daniel McMillan

Daniel McMillan is the author of several Science Fiction novels and collaborative titles in other genres, many of which have become Amazon Bestsellers. He is a prolific writer and avid self-motivator.  Daniel doesn’t do things in small measure: he speaks multiple languages, plays several instruments and expresses his creativity through drawing, painting, sculpture and music. He started studying science - focusing on physics - and spirituality at age 11 and was curious about the overlap in these disparate areas of study. Sci-Fi is his go-to, but he isn’t one to limit himself and enjoys exploring writing in multiple genres. Dan is married to Tahera Yeasmin, inarguably one of his greatest accomplishments to date. Visit https://books2read.com/rl/danielmcmillan/  to learn more.

Book preview

Prologue

LILA HAD BEEN STUDYING from the pad that her contact, Trevor, gave her after she was initiated into the Luminants, but now it sat idly beside her on the sofa in the sitting room. There was no one else home, and there would not be for a while, and she had decided to use the time to brush up on her Luminant knowledge in an area of the house other than her bedroom.

The flat that belonged to the Riley family was respectable and well-furnished with good-quality amenities, but it paled in contrast to the Clarke home in the Core. Lila liked it well enough, but now the sterile environment served as a constant reminder of the division and hierarchy that pervaded the lives of all the Ascended.

The pad’s screen went dark after hitting its power-reserving timeout, and Lila didn’t notice. She was lost in thought, processing all she had learned and the myriad  things that had changed in her life in such a very short time.

Not so long ago, she had been a slave to the system as much as anyone else. She had always harboured misgivings about life in the Ascendancy, to be sure, but she repressed those thoughts and feelings the same way she was certain everyone else did. Lila thought that her perceptions of the world were shared by many and that it was simply social etiquette to leave those things out of polite conversation. She knew now that was not the case.

Lila had been a dutiful student, productive worker, and model citizen. Her contributions had allowed her to ascend in a manner befitting her family’s station. Not as much as Baxter the genius had been able to, but undeniably more than most, she supposed.

Of all the areas of her life that she felt now, in hindsight, to have been squandered on acquiescing to the Ascendancy, her relationship with Baxter was the one that bothered her most. Not because she felt as though she had lost him - to a Sylvan girl, no less - but because she realized now that she’d never really had him. She had fallen victim to the social expectations of being paired with one another by the government’s computers, and then played the role of the oh-so-lucky and soon-to-ascend-to-great-heights wife-to-be of an Ascendancy rising star. It was a little embarrassing, honestly, and she hoped that Baxter didn’t think less of her now that he had moved on. He probably didn’t. The truth of the matter was, once she thought of it, that he had actually done the exact same thing.

Baxter was a good guy, after all, and it wasn’t in his nature to look down on anybody. Plus, she imagined he had more important things to do at this time than to dote on how she had acted her role which had been foisted on the both of them. Maybe he didn’t even think about what had happened. Maybe she thought about it more than she ought to because she was embarrassed by it. She often reflected on how she had thrown herself at him that one night, and now she was glad it hadn’t gone any further than it had. But it still made her close her eyes and grimace to herself every time she envisioned the regretful scene.

She had moved on for the most part and was now focused on becoming good at being involved in the underground movement. It was something she believed in and wanted to contribute to with no feelings of obligation. Freeing the Ascended was the right thing to do, even though it was potentially dangerous.

Baxter had been indoctrinated into the Luminant ranks in a trial by fire, but her path would be less intense and much more calculated. She looked at the pad next to her and picked it up again, and it blinked back to life as she lifted it. After a few seconds of peering at its screen, Lila felt saturated and decided she had done enough studying for the time being. She was unfocused, and that was not good for the retention of such important material.

Rising from her seat, she powered the pad down as she carried it to her bedroom and went straight to the place where she kept the device hidden. There was a special receptacle she had programmed into her claytronic desk, and once she placed the device inside, she took a second look to ensure that it was cached away properly. She checked because it was made clear to her that she should always check, no matter what. It would never do to have things fall into the wrong hands, even though the pad would erase itself if someone other than her tried to open it. Someone finding it would prompt far too many questions that she wasn’t prepared to convincingly answer.

The device had another failsafe insofar as it had no wireless communication capabilities of any kind. It could not be accessed remotely. If Lila needed anything added or wanted supplemental material on a certain aspect of Luminant protocol, she had to connect with Trevor and have the information loaded directly through a hard-wired memory port. The rebels made it exceedingly difficult for any non-authorized person to access their data, and the security measure had the added benefit of making it nearly impossible for new recruits to mess up, barring being caught and subdued with the device open. Even then, an unauthorized touch would trigger the biometric security which would then wipe all information, making it impossible to determine its true purpose.

Lila was about to sit on her bed when it occurred to her that she had not really relaxed in a while. Between one thing and the next, she had been occupied with something almost constantly since this all started. With no one else at home, she could have control over the holo and watch anything she wanted to without interference from her parents. She could use this opportunity and detach from her cyclic thoughts of past acquiescence and maybe even come out of it feeling a little refreshed.

On her way back to the sitting room, she stopped in the kitchen and made a snack for herself, rather than having it prepared and delivered by the drones. It connected her with the food she ate, and it had become a ritual to do things for herself instead of having everything done for her. It made life more real somehow.

She headed to the sofa with a plate of food and glass of water and called for the claytronic seat to provide her a place to put them. It shifted as she approached, and by the time she arrived, there was a tray with a cup holder waiting and she set the items down.

Lila settled in and asked for the holo. It came on, and there was a drama playing. It was not one that she was fond of, and she was about to ask for something different when the image changed to an infomercial advertising an upcoming event. Her attention became transfixed.

The advert announced that the traitor to the Ascendancy, William Clarke, had eluded police after his initial capture, and had since been instrumental in the destruction of a depot outside Enswell. His escape had allowed him another opportunity to act against the Ascendancy and its citizens, causing yet more death and carnage. A holographic image of William with a stern and menacing expression rotated before Lila. She had known Mr Clarke her whole life and had never once seen him look like that. She was riveted.

The ad carried on, stating that the perpetrator of the uprising at Enswell Depot had finally been taken into custody. The traitor had killed many officers before being overcome. His reign of terror against the Ascended would come to a permanent end in five days, at a public execution in Mid-Town Square. A-points would be awarded for attendance.

The announcer urged people to attend, stating that the event was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to witness history in the making, and that there were only five more days until the monumental day. Then the holo flickered, and the distressing advert was replaced by an image of a smiling woman holding some new product or another.

It was dumbfounding, and Lila sat motionless as she processed what she had just seen. She had thought William to be dead. Everyone did. But even though she had just found out that Mr Clarke was alive, it seemed he would not remain that way for long. Shaking her head, Lila rose once again, leaving her snack where it was, and headed for the door.

She wanted to get to Trevor as soon as she could. Not to alert him, of course - the Luminants in the city must have seen the public broadcast just as she had - but to get a message out of the city. She needed to connect with Baxter.

He had to know about this.

OUT OF ONE OF THE DARKEST times Nylen had ever known came some of its greatest gifts.

The village, of course, had to be relocated after the battle at Enswell Depot. Between the throttling they’d taken in the assault and the Ascended knowing where the Sylvan town was, the people of Nylen were quite sure that the next time they saw Ascendancy forces, they would be in more significant numbers, better prepared than they were before, and much more aggressive in their quest for vengeance.

Uprooting the families and structures of the place she had grown up in upset Raishann somewhat, but the need for it was clear. She harboured no animosity toward those who had made the decision. Even to her, it was obviously the right thing to do.

The Sylvans would re-establish themselves, as had been done so many times before, and they would learn to live in harmony with their new surroundings. It was the Sylvan way. In the grander scheme of things, it was probably not that big a deal.

There had been a flurry of losses in a short while, but the villagers worked collectively to minimize the damage. Many of those who went to Enswell Depot hadn’t returned. In Laena’s case, she ran eagerly back to the village only to find that her mother had passed while she was gone. Mrs Reisatra had been sick over the death of her husband and the loss of her daughter and, from what Raishann’s mom said, she had simply given up her will to live. It would be harder for some than others to carry on, Raishann supposed.

There was more than a human toll on the community. Moving, in and of itself, was difficult. It upset Raishann to think that she was going to lose easy access to the bunker. Her sanctuary near the river’s edge had given her treasured memories of time spent there on her own, shared experiences with Laena, and, more recently, the getaway had provided her and Baxter with a secret place to be alone. What bothered her even more, though, was that moving would put a degree of separation between her and her father. All the elements that linked him to her were in the town she’d been raised in, and now she’d lost both the man and the things and places that connected him to her most directly.

She missed her father a lot, but she was proud of him and what he had accomplished. In Shawan Forander’s wake, there lay a legacy for the Sylvan people that would not soon be forgotten. The Forander family had been given a status that was somewhat akin to royalty within the community, and in Sylva at large. She didn’t feel deserving of it herself, but she was glad that it had been offered as a result of Shawan’s contributions to the Sylvans and the Luminants. He was directly responsible for many of the positive things that had come to pass, and indirectly for some that had not yet occurred.

Raishann went with Baxter to visit Kari Bishop, the Ascended prisoner at Enswell Depot who had been with her father when he died. Kari was nearly healed from her wounds and would be released from medical care the next day. But, almost as important to Raishann, she said that Shawan was brave and focused on what was best for everyone else right to the end. The Ascended girl called Dad a hero, and it gave Raishann a sense of purpose in his passing. Baxter said afterward that he agreed with Kari, and that she had simply confirmed what he already knew.

Raishann spent a lot of time with Baxter, and he was present not only in her private life but had become a real member of the family. He was kind to her mom and helpful around the house, taking over some of the things that Father had done routinely before his passing, and the rest of them took for granted until he was gone. Baxter was supportive of Timoth, and they were developing a healthy rapport. Raish felt guilty that her mother thought it best that they not tell Baxter the family secret regarding Tim’s participation in William Clarke’s capture and the other indiscretions he’d made and, reluctantly, she had agreed.

Raish had even become open to the idea of a positive relationship with Lila Riley. Lila had communicated with the Luminants recently to let them know of William’s pending execution, and Raishann had accepted that call. The new and farther location of Nylen was prohibitive to Lila coming in person, but if she had, Raishann would have welcomed her with open arms. Especially considering the circumstances.

At the time that call came in, the Sylvans were gearing up to go to the place Eve had indicated as the position of Aldergate prison in an attempt to free William Clarke, also known as Shadaar. He was a valued member of the Luminants, and now that his son was also counted among the Sylvan numbers, it took no consideration whatsoever to choose to mount a rescue effort for him. Eve had even been able to provide a layout of the penitentiary to assist in the formulation of plans for the rescue.

An airplane had been secured from Sylvans in another village, who kept it operational through the years by rebuilding and replacing parts as they wore out or broke. The process had gone on for so long that it was not even the same machine it had initially been. It was more like a grandchild of itself.

Those plans would be put aside now that they had updated intelligence from Lila.

William was no longer at Aldergate prison, the call revealed. He was to be executed in Enswell in three days.

And so the plan had shifted from a long journey with no hard and fast time restraints, except that they wanted to take care of it as efficiently as possible, to a race against the clock to free the Ascended Luminant.

The thing that bothered Raishann about the new scenario, however, was not that the rescue would now have to happen within the complex dynamics of the city. What got her was the fact that the Sylvans would not be participating in it at all.

Lila had given them the current info, but she also presented a well thought out plan that was then tweaked and approved by the Luminant Council. The young woman that Raishann had once referred to as jealous girl was going to take care of everything from the inside with guidance from senior Luminant sympathizers in Enswell.

All Raishann could do now was wait to hear whether Baxter’s father lived through it.

INCARCERATION WAS NOT a new condition for William, but he hadn’t felt as smothered by it as he did now.

The situation may not have disturbed him as much if he had been unaware of the time he would die, but knowing precisely when he would leave the world weighed on him, and he wished he could have taken care of some things before then.

He wanted to express his pride in Baxter for the man he was becoming. He would have liked to apologize to Candace and let her know that he did not blame her for anything that had happened. He would have loved to get an opportunity to thank Aellana and Shawan for all that they had done for him and for allowing him to be part of something bigger than himself.

But that was not going to happen now. He was sure that when he arrived in Enswell - probably in Midtown Square where the Ascendancy Day Rallies were held - none of the people he wanted to connect with would be there.

Baxter could not come because he was being hunted. Candace would not go because it would force her to face what she had become. And Aellana and Shawan couldn’t be there because they had too much to lose. They shouldn’t be there.

William sighed remorsefully as he resigned himself to the fact that he was going to die surrounded by thousands of people, and yet completely alone at the same time.

He hung his head as he slumped at the edge of the cot. Time passed like sludge through a funnel, and, as his days were limited anyway, William would have just as soon gotten it over with right then and there. The waiting, he supposed, was just as painful as the outcome would surely be.

Guards walked past his cell occasionally. He had given up on trying to time how long it was between patrols and attempting to identify patterns that might be helpful. Shawan had taught him long ago that a prisoner’s number one priority and never-ending duty was to escape.