Calarni

By Beryll Brackhaus and Osiris Brackhaus

Exploring a newly discovered system shouldn’t have taken Yaden and Ivan more than a few days. But suddenly, they find themselves stranded in a faraway galaxy, way outside the reach of even the strongest guild psions.

Their only chance of ever finding a way back home is to make allies among the truly alien locals, and find a way to deal with the powers-that-be: the brutally isolationist Calarni. Their crystalline technology is superior to anything the Empire has ever seen, and might just be the missing link to the original builders of the mandalas...

Written by award-winning authors Beryll and Osiris Brackhaus, ‘Calarni’ is a riveting space opera adventure and the sixth book and mid-season-spectacular of the ‘Sir Yaden’ series.

Warnings: Angst, Non-Con, Side Character Death

• Language: English
• Publisher: Beryll Brackhaus
• Release date: Jul 28, 2022
• ISBN: 9780463678367

Book preview

Chapter 1 – New Frontiers

Good luck, Sir Yaden. We very much look forward to whatever it is you will discover.

Thank you, Doctor.

The voice of Doctor Fishering-Potzimski held so much hopeful excitement that Yaden couldn't help smiling at the comm unit. Over the last few days, he had spent long hours, the woman mercilessly rattling off scientific details which meant little to him, but now she seemed to be almost as excited as he was.

The doctor was part of the extensive science team of the Lotus Pavilion, researching all sorts of subjects relevant to imperial security. A sizeable portion of the warren of labs and offices deep underground Emperor's Island was theirs. This was another thing he had learned since Myriam had started hanging out down there and he frequently had to come get her when she forgot about the time. Doctor Fishering-Potzimski headed the exploration division, but rarely ventured into the field herself, instead spending her time studying the data gathered by others – and hardly ever left her lair, going by her pale complexion and overall slightly messy appearance with pinned up, mouse grey hair and a lab coat she wore like other people might wear a bathrobe. But, like all Lotus Pavilion employees, she was undeniably great at her job.

And now, she had the rare opportunity to indirectly lead the exploration of a newly discovered system. That in itself was a rare occurrence, but it was even rarer for the Emperor's people to get their hands on it first. And even then, most of the systems were only rediscovered having already been charted and often settled during the Shangri La, then lost and almost forgotten during the long wars that followed after.

Off the top of his head, Yaden could only think of three systems discovered in the last decades. There was Coshima, which had been found by scouts of House Cournicova and immediately claimed by them to start a logging industry. Kyo had been claimed by House Kyothari, only to immediately start a messy genocidal war against the lilac-skinned natives, descendants of genetically modified human settlers. And of course, there was Gulgoleth, which had been immediately put under imperial quarantine as soon as the first reports by its Ndewane owners came in.

Considering all that, Doctor Fishering-Potzimski had displayed an impressive professionalism about this apparently all-new system. Her voice, all but quivering with emotion now, was the first time she showed she was genuinely excited, and Yaden just wanted to hug her. After all, he was bobbing on his toes, too.

After the main preparations had been completed, Doctor Fishering-Potzimski had briefly considered accompanying Yaden and Ivan on Pebble. In the end, she had decided to stay on the 'Kukuana', a large imperial research and exploration vessel currently stationed near the mandala of the Mojawe system, monitoring traffic to ensure there were no unauthorised jumps to the new system. As Yaden had learned in one of the many science briefings he and Ivan had received in preparation for this mission, each mandala unfolded in a unique pattern for each set of coordinates so it was easy to see where someone was jumping to or where an incoming jump was from.

Ready when you are, Ivan said from the communication and scanners console of Pebble's bridge. For this mission, they were unlikely to need shields or weapons, so he had claimed this station as his post.

Yaden cut the comm with the 'Kukuana' and turned his full attention to Pebble. The ship felt sturdy and calm around him, ready for anything and everything the universe might throw at her. Yaden could feel her age, the countless battles she had fought but which had barely scratched her. This was her natural habitat, this was what she was supposed to do. What they were supposed to do.

We're ready.

Since the codes for activating the mandala's newly discovered route had been programmed into Pebble's computer, he merely had to push a single button.

A faint glow appeared within the mile-long crystal core of the mandala, gently increasing over the next few minutes. Eventually, the crystal core split along its longest axis and bloomed, unfolding, wrapping around itself and spacetime, shifting, multiplying, spreading until its iridescent vortex filled the entire forward screen. It was a mind-boggling display by eyesight alone, and he purposefully did not extend his senses to take a peek – he had a system to explore, and no time to fry his mind trying to look at things human minds were never meant to comprehend in the first place.

When the mandala stabilised and the field's core turned to a soft purple, Yaden used his psionic powers to ease Pebble forward. Constructed from extremely sturdy, metal beams and covered in rock, the ship took to his mental commands like a part of his body. They entered the mandala's event horizon – and came out on the other side as quickly and uneventfully as always.

Behind them, the mandala remained in bloom for several more minutes as they always did, but Ivan and Yaden focused on the as yet unnamed system that spread out in front of them. With the chance of alien inhabitants, the Emperor had decreed they would use the natives' name for their system, if possible, once contact was established.

On first glance, nothing looked different to the first preliminary scans of the system Doctor Fishering-Potzimski had shown them. Only drones had been sent through so far, to find out whether there was an active, space-faring population, human or alien. Long range scanners had shown five planets, of which one was too close to the sun and definitely not habitable, two were in the green zone of the system, one a gas giant and one a frozen little ball beyond the mandala orbit. No signs of any kind of active life had been detected, though. But what the scanners had picked up were artificial, crystalline structures, similar in size and composition to the mandalas, and that discovery alone had warranted a Lotus Knight be brought in.

Every space-faring race in the Empire used the mandalas for faster-than-light travel. And while everyone used them, no-one really knew who had constructed these gateways and how exactly they worked. There was one in every system, orbiting the sun at roughly the outer edge of the system's green zone, and while both human and N'Ptalini scientists had studied them for centuries, they were sure they hadn't yet understood more than their most basic functions and were nowhere near understanding how they truly worked. The N'Ptalini had legends of high-ranking priests asking their gods about the mandalas, and receiving cryptic answers at best. More recent inquiries with Lady Beverly, the empire's only resident Nosoti and only active member of an elder race, had yielded little more. She helped when she wanted to, but kept most of her scientific secrets to herself.

So Doctor Fishering-Potzimski had harped on and on about how she hoped that the other crystalline structures in this system might help unravel the mysteries of the mandalas, and how they had to be extra nice and polite should they discover their alien creators in hope they might be willing to answer questions more concisely.

All of this was admittedly very important, but not what had Yaden so excited. It was a space adventure – him and Pebble and his best friend – just like in the stories his grandfather had read to him when Pebble had still been buried under cooled lava on his homeplanet.

Closing his eyes, he relaxed, allowing himself to flow outward, reaching out as far as he could. His range had grown larger than he had ever thought possible. The greater the mass of something, the easier it was for him to detect. The sun was an easy-to-find centre in every system, both in terms of geometry and mass. This system's sun was old, very old – as was the system itself.

Using the sun as his anchor, Yaden reached out to touch the planets. Old as well, so sleepy they hardly registered as entities anymore, they didn't provide any emotional clues. But unlike other systems, here the vast emptiness between planets and moons and the occasional asteroids wasn't exactly empty. There were structures scattered everywhere between them, vaguely crystalline and slightly weird to his senses, blurry or only half-present, ranging in size from a large spaceship to small moon. And those were only the ones he could detect from this distance. While the sun and planet formed their familiar orderly pattern, the positions of these crystals felt random and messy. Like a child had vigorously played with all their toys and forgotten them afterwards. No, that wasn't quite right. More like that child had abandoned their toys ages ago and they had gathered dust, broken down and scattered further and further. The more Yaden tried to concentrate on the crystals, the more they felt like debris, like inconsequential junk.

He turned his attention to the two habitable planets and found his first impression confirmed – they were old, and tired – geologically mostly inactive, their tectonic motion all but gone, mountains eroded to gentle hills and seas filled up to shallow pans. From this distance, the planets registered largely as a whole, so he couldn't make out any further details. Once they got closer, he would be able to look for structures on the surface which might hint at settlements.

Gathering himself back into his tiny body was a genuine challenge, but it helped to have Pebble's sturdy presence as an extra shell against the vastness of space. He opened his eyes and found Ivan closely studying the data scrolling across the holo display above his station. Anything interesting? he asked his squire.

Nothing but what the drones have gathered.

Alright, lets take a closer look then, shall we? Yaden pushed Pebble's idling engines higher and set a course towards the outer one of the habitable planets. At maximum speed, it would take them two days to get close enough to take more detailed readings, and a little more than another three days to reach it. Plenty of time to gather a whole lot of data and snoop around.

This is a lot less exciting than I thought it would be, Ivan commented with a smirk.

Which is a good thing, Yaden answered, his attention briefly turning outward again. On their projected path towards the planet, he sensed several crystalline structures that they would pass by close enough to get visuals. It would allow for a first comparison to the mandala crystals, but from what he could sense from this distance, they appeared to be broken and inert, so maybe it wouldn't be worth the bother.

So what do we do now? Ivan's voice sounded muffled like it was coming from far away.

Once again, Yaden had to pull himself back. Right now, there wasn't anything out there he needed to pay attention to. We have been slacking off on our training the last few days, he said. All the briefings from Doctor Fishering-Potzimski and the additional training in first-contact protocols from the Lotus Pavilion’s diplomatic team had kept them plenty busy.

Ivan grunted. Of course that's the first thing you come up with.

I'm open to better ideas.

No, you're absolutely right. Ivan turned off the holo display and rose from his chair. N'Bosoti won't kill themselves.

Yaden tried to picture what a N'Bosoti suicide might look like and didn't manage to come up with anything that wasn't creepy in some way. The images made him shudder.

Maybe we can take a look at the blocker collars? Ivan suggested, I really do not want to be stuck in one of those again, with no access to my powers. There has to be a way to get out of them.

Only a little more than a month had passed since Ivan's kidnapping on Shang Zhou. With preparations for this mission, they hadn't had any time to properly study the problem, all they had managed was talking about it over a meal and getting a crate full of different varieties of the blasted things from the Lotus Pavilion to study them and experiment on how to break them once they were wearing them.

That sounds like a great idea, Yaden agreed. The idea of not being able to use his talents was so alien, he couldn't properly imagine it. It definitely was a problem they should have a ready solution for should it arise again. Do you have any idea where we put the crate?

I think it's in the med bay.

You take it to the training room, I’ll get us some snacks. If we test the mana draining ones we will want to have food at hand.

Aye, boss.

A few minutes later they met in the large training room on the level below. Ivan was unpacking the crate, neatly stacking different types of packages around himself with a disgusted frown. Yaden set down his platter stacked with sandwiches and fruit on a table at the edge of the room, well out of the way of whatever destructive things might happen next, before he joined Ivan on the floor.

So what do we have here? he asked, leaving it to Ivan to read the short instructions on the packages as it would have taken him much longer to do so himself.

From what I can see there are various different types of collars, which means the way they suppress psionics is different. He held up one of the packages. The simplest and cheapest version is the most widely used and the one that asshole put on me. It delivers tiny electro shocks every couple of seconds, making it impossible for a psion to concentrate enough to use their talents. Plus they prevent anything more than a fitful doze so the lack of sleep means a psion can't replenish their mana. A cerebral that is, I suppose we could just eat. Known side effects include driving strong psions insane pretty quickly, while weaker psions often fall into depression. So the instructions include a warning that they should not be used on cherished slaves. Isn't that fucking lovely?

Ivan's indignant tone and expression were a whole lot less aggravated than Yaden had expected. He wouldn't have been surprised if Ivan had thrown a few of the collars against a wall or incinerated one before they got to properly work on them.

At least they do put warning labels on them, he said.

I bet the ones made on Yaiciz come without warning or warranty, Ivan muttered darkly. Next tier are these. He held out another box, this one not cheap carton but a plastic case, shaped like a thicker version of a jewellery case one might have used to present a necklace. The description says they are coated with an amalgam of substances to create a field which makes it impossible to form a psionic effect for the wearer of the collar. It doesn't say what exactly they are using or how it works, but supposedly, its effect is a lot milder and psions eventually 'forget they ever had talents at all'. He put the last words in air quotes. I sincerely doubt that, but whatever. The folk at the Pavilion have given us a longer dossier on them. I have only glanced at it so far and I already feel like I've had a two hour conversation with Myriam about the subject. So many long words I have never heard before. If we really need more information, I suggest we let Myriam read it, give her time to read up on it some more and wait for her translation.

It should have felt weird to hand off the problem to his teenaged daughter, but she loved anything remotely sciency and if it involved psionics, magic, theurgy or any other kind of weird stuff all the better. While he and Ivan would struggle, she would enjoy reading all about blocker collars there was to be had. And she would love even more that he trusted her to do the heavy lifting in that department. Plus, it wasn't his paternal pride to think that she was this good, all her teachers at the Lotus Pavilion were impressed what a quick study she was.

Sounds like an excellent plan, he told Ivan, and not knowing how they work won't keep us from trying to break them.

Have I mentioned recently how much I fucking love your approach to problems? Ivan asked with a grin.

I don't think so, but it doesn't surprise me. What are those? He gestured at the smallest stack to Ivan's left which held only three boxes. They were all identical metal cases, stamped with the Order of the Lotus crest and the psionic hazard warning sigil.

These are the ones you can't buy unless you have great black market contacts. According to their Lotus Pavilion dossiers, they are all unique. One is a magic focus thingie which constantly drains the mana from the wearer, one is a N'Ptalini artefact from before the war which makes psions go numb and stupid and no one knows how, and the last one is blessed with a theurgic rite of Temple Verata which makes it impossible to do any sort of arcane stuff for the one wearing it. We are allowed to look at them and test them very, very carefully but if we break them they will tan our hides. That is what Master Simon said when he handed them over.

Quartermaster Simon was one of the kindest, most mild-mannered people Yaden knew. If he resorted to threats, there had to be a good reason. So we look at those last and concentrate on the cheap ones first because I have a couple of ideas I want to try on them.

I'll take a wild guess – you want to try to absorb the electro shocks?

Of course, Ivan would arrive at the same idea Yaden had. After all, Yaden had already experimented with an electric shock baton, an electric toy and a battery to see whether he could use them as sources to refill his mana. It wasn't such a far-fetched idea. There were psions able to do this. Yaden knew for a fact that Ulysses was able to convert electricity to mana. Simply by sleeping, he wouldn't have been able to power all the teleports he oversaw every day. He also had a network of support psions who channelled energy to him similarly to how Yaden and Ivan were learning to tap into each other’s mana reserves. But Ulysses was a cerebral and his explanation on how he did it had proven useless to Yaden. Something about concentrating, reaching a heightened state of focus and then carefully directing the flow of energy. Yaden had tried it that way and predictably burned his fingertips.

No, what he needed to do was to reach that same state of complete openness and relaxation which allowed him to absorb sunlight – a feat Ulysses had considered impossible – and translate that to the much quicker and more violent flow of energy that was electricity. He frowned down at the stack of boxes as a new idea formed in his mind. If electricity felt too fast to grasp, but sunlight was slow and easy, maybe fire would work as a stepping stone in between.

Say, have you ever tried absorbing the energy of fire? he asked Ivan, his resident expert on all things flame related.

The change of subject seemed a bit too sudden for Ivan as he blinked in surprise before answering, Er, you mean like channel it through me when I try to dose a flame?

No, I mean not channelling it through but trying to add that energy to your pool instead.

Not really, no. Ivan face took on an intrigued expression. But I don't see why I couldn't. I mean, what goes through could go in too, right?

I'd like you to test that and observe. If Ivan could do it, Yaden would be able to tap into the sensation which would make it easy to replicate.

But how will that help us with the blocker collars?

Fire is a slower energy form than electricity. Plus, you have a firm grasp on it. So I am thinking we should start with that and work our way up to electricity, Yaden explained, one step at a time.

I'm not sure physics agree with the 'slower' part, but yeah, it does feel slower, Ivan agreed, Now, where do we get an open fire on a spaceship?

Candle flame? Yaden chuckled at Ivan's pout, There is no need to start with a bonfire, you know?

I like bonfires, Ivan grumbled, but got up and left the training room to get a candle.

While he was gone, Yaden took a closer look at the three special boxes provided by the Lotus Pavilion. He didn't need to touch them to sense that there were strong wards on them, keeping the effects of the collars contained. He got a faint tickle of arcane energy from the actual collars themselves, but not enough to have an opinion about them. Which was extraordinary, according to the arcane experts of the Order of the Lotus, who kept being surprised by how sensitive he was. But for the collars to bleed through the wards, they had to be pretty powerful artefacts, too. Definitely better to ignore them for now.

He turned to the stack of second tier collars. From them he didn't sense anything, despite the lack of any warding. So maybe the effect had to be activated or was so tightly contained it was detectable to the collar's wearer only. Curious, he opened one of the cases and studied the collar within more closely. The impression of a jewellery case was confirmed as the collar rested on a bed of black velvet and was made of sleek, silver metal and formed so it would snugly fit around the wearer's neck without chafing. Judging by the numbers on the boxes, they even came in different sizes. A quick check revealed that it was a nifty contraption of a high-grade steel shell coated with actual silver around and a core of materials Yaden couldn't put a name to. Some components were metal and easy to grasp while others eluded him completely. There also was an incredibly thin coating of something else on the collar's inside which Yaden's talents didn't recognise as within their domain. The whole contraption felt inert to Yaden. It would be interesting to work with it.

There we go, one candle.

Yaden recognised the fat candle on a bright blue pottery plate as the one Colin had placed on the central coffee table in the lounge. Please make sure you don't harm it, he said, Colin loves that plate. He bought it at that tiny pottery shop off the market in Disari.

I shall treat it with the utmost care. Ivan sat down next to Yaden again and set the candle on the floor between them. He casually snapped a flame up on his thumb and held it to the wick, until it caught fire.

Yaden smiled at the ease of it. Gone were the times when Ivan wasn't sure of his talents. Now, fire came to him as naturally as breathing.

Ivan settled down more comfortably and cracked his knuckles. Alright. Let's do this. You ready?

Give me a moment. Yaden reached out and lightly touched Ivan's shoulder, as that had proven the easiest way of bringing their talents into sync. He imagined it like stepping into the warm water constantly licking at the beach of Sooraj island. Ivan's talents were represented by constant motion and heat while his own was the calm and steadiness of the island's bedrock. Together they formed a beautiful amalgam. Ready.

The presence of the candle flame appeared as Ivan focused on it. Bright and alive and as easily grasped as a rock would have been to Yaden. A cerebral would now have concentrated on dissecting the small flame into components to be harnessed. Ivan reached out and let his fingertips hover above it, caressing it, bringing himself in tune with its essence. Like tuning a radio to a frequency, Yaden thought. They matched easily. A flow was established. And then the flame winked out as what little energy it held was absorbed into Ivan's vast pool.

Ivan blinked in consternation at the faintly smoking wick. That was it?

Seems so. It had been as easy as absorbing sunlight. Only a lot quicker.

Fuck. Yes! Ivan's expression changed to a wide grin. I rock!

So I keep telling you, Yaden said with a smirk. Now let me try.

For the next few minutes, they kept playing with the candle flame. After observing how Ivan tuned himself to the flame before absorbing it, it didn't take Yaden long to do the same. As he had expected, it wasn't about concentrating and analysing like the cerebrals did, it was all about adapting and letting it happen. So that was likely the right way to deal with the shock collars, too.

The theory was good, but didn't work as well when it collided with reality.

Yaden was the one to first put on one of the shock collars and activate it. It was a bulky thing and clearly not made for the comfort of the wearer as it settled around his neck heavily, edges pressing into his flesh. He had thought the constant shocks would be easy to ignore, but they turned out to be a lot more annoying than he had expected, especially as they were randomised so he couldn't get into any sort of rhythm. He ended up laying down on his back, arms stretched out to both sides to ground himself, as his usual method of doing so by melding with Pebble or a planet in easy reach wasn't an option as he couldn't calm himself enough to reach out to them.

Sucks, eh? Ivan asked after a while when Yaden still hadn't managed to find enough calm to form any effect.

He was, however, calm enough not to feel taunted. Yeah, sure does. Another little shock made him twitch. He could well imagine how it would make Ivan want to lash out at everything around him. Which might be a way for him to force his way through. If he was angry enough, he should be able to completely ignore the shocks. It was a matter of letting his rage burn hot enough, not of calming down. But that didn't work for Yaden. He turned the problem over and over in his mind, but it was hard to think, too, with the constant distractions. There was no way through them. Maybe there was a way around them? Maybe he could distract himself from the distractions.

He sat up with a smirk. I have an idea, he said aloud, so Ivan wouldn't be too startled by what he was about to do. He never wore shoes so he didn't have to get rid of one. The hard part was not to try and steel himself against the pain, as he brought down his fist on his big toe. It hurt a lot. Loud and clear and overwhelming. Much louder than any shocks. But it was a constant pain, one he could focus on to ignore the little shocks. Suddenly the collar around his neck was a clear form of metal in his grasp and snapping it open was child's play.

Seriously? A bigger pain? Ivan commented, exasperated, That was all it needed?

Looks like. Yaden rubbed his aching foot, the pain slowly receding. Would have been stupid if he had done any serious harm. Luckily, toes made for big, short pain. Even his, which were constantly exposed.

I could have thought of that, Ivan grumbled, I should have thought of that. He picked up the collar which had fallen off Yaden. It was ripped open. Yeah, this one's finished, he judged and put it aside. What happened to absorbing the electricity?

Yaden shrugged. Would have been more elegant, admittedly, but I think when stuck in a psionics suppression collar anything that works should be used.

Point taken.

I'm not sure it will work as well for you, Yaden said. Because it's made of metal it was very easy for me to grasp. Melting it off yourself would take significantly longer.

I wasn't planning to, anyway. Cause melting metal is not what I want to have near my throat. I just need a flame hot enough to fry the circuitry inside the collar.

Yaden tended to see things as a whole so attacking just the circuitry was a plan he wouldn't have come up with so quickly. You could also try getting so angry you burst into flame again, that would likely destroy the collar, too, he told Ivan of his other idea.

Let's keep that as a last resort. If I get that angry, I usually don't think very straight anymore and if I am trying to escape someone who has put a blocker collar on me, thinking clearly might be a good idea.

Or getting angry might be an excellent idea if you plan to kill all of them anyway, Yaden replied with a smirk.

Point taken, again. Ivan's smirk matched Yaden's. But let's try the milder version first. My turn. He picked up a fresh collar, put it on, activated it and immediately winced. Shit! Whoever came up with these fucked up things needs to wear one for the rest of their lives.

I'm afraid they’ve been dead a long, long time, judging by how long shock collars have been in use.

Ivan grumbled a few more curses under his breath. Right, let's do this.

Yaden expected him to hit himself in some way like he had done to create a bigger pain to blot out the shocks. Instead Ivan pinched a spot on his wrist in a certain way. His face contorted with pain, his jaw tensing as he clenched his teeth, eyes screwed tightly shut. A second later the collar around his neck spit sparks and started stinking.

Ivan shook out his hand and grinned through gritted teeth. Nice, he said as he took off the collar.

Wow. What was that?

Special nerve pinch one of my Quetzal owners loved to use to make me scream. Hurts like all fuck, but I have practise working through it.

A tight ball of rage formed in the pit of Yaden's stomach. Does that Quetzal have a name?

Ivan's expression was unexpected. A fond and calm smile. She does. But I don't think the Commander would want you to go to Yaiciz and kill off half of their high ranking nobles, so let's pretend she isn't worth your attention, yeah?

He was right and Yaden hated it. Hated the thought that so many people had hurt Ivan in the past and that there didn't seem to be anything he could do about it. Hated the thought that these same people were playing with other pets right now and were doing the same to them.

If we happen to run into her in a dark alley, I'll be sure to point her out to you, deal? Ivan offered.

I guess it will have to do for now. Until he found a way to do exactly what Ivan had said – kill off all those Quetzal who didn't deserve the title of noble.

Want me to teach you that nerve pinch? Ivan tried to distract him, probably fully aware of what was going through his head.

Yeah, I guess it can't ... well, it will hurt, but you know what I mean.

They spent a couple of minutes with that before Yaden decided he got the gist of it and didn't need any more pinching.

So I guess that puts a check mark on shock blocker collars, Ivan said happily and dropped the whole remaining stack of those boxes back into the crate.

Yaden watched him, feeling a peculiar mix of accomplishment and disappointment at the same time. It was great that they had so easily found a way to neutralise those collars, should they ever be stuck in one again. But it felt strange that it had been so easy when slave traders had been using them for centuries to control psion slaves. Almost like it was unfair that they could do this because they were visceral psions while their cerebral siblings would continue to suffer. He would have to find a way to make this work for cerebrals as well, even if for Myriam's sake alone. And for Haakon. However, there were plenty of psions who needed to have their talents suppressed, like Doctor Lachlain. So it would be a good idea to keep their methods to themselves.

Next stop, these babies. Ivan opened a case with one of the sleek collars which supposedly created a blocking field. Looks harmless enough.

So does a frying pan until you bludgeon someone's head in with it.

Ivan laughed. That is such a Colin thing to say. He took the collar out of the case and turned it over in his hands. I'm not getting anything from it. Do you?

Nope. I can feel some of the substances used so they have to be metals or minerals, but no idea what exactly they are or how they do what they supposedly do.

Want me to try first?

Be my guest. The idea of putting on that thing filled Yaden with trepidation. With the shock collars it was clear how they worked, so he had been able to form a plan on how to deal with them beforehand. Granted, it hadn't worked, but it had made him feel prepared. With these things he had no idea what to expect and the thought of suddenly losing his psionic talents was terrifying.

Ivan didn't have any such inhibitions as he put the collar on without a moment's hesitation. It was activated with an equally sleek, elegant looking remote control. This time he didn't twitch. Instead he looked slightly puzzled. Okay. I'm not feeling anything from it... he said and shook the remote like he hoped that would fix it.

Can you make fire?

For a moment Ivan remained silent and then his expression turned even more puzzled with a deepening frown. No. It's ... fuck, this feels weird, it's not there. There was a brief flash of panic in his eyes. He switched the collar off and breathed a sigh of relief. Okay, there it is. That was fucking scary. Like all those times I tried to make fire when I was trained by cerebrals and there was nothing there. Shit. I need to... He scrambled with the remote for a moment until the collar clicked open and he could pull it off. Sorry. Needed to get it off. It felt like it was starting to choke me, he explained, looking embarrassed.

Sounds entirely natural to me, Yaden reassured him. He hadn't had time to check the collar from outside to try and find out how it worked which he would have liked to do before he tried it himself. Do you want to try again?

Ivan stared at the collar in his hands with clear dismay. No? He laughed nervously. I mean, I know I should, but the thought of putting it back on makes my skin crawl.

Alright, then I'll try it and you try to get a feel for how it works, Yaden offered and took it from Ivan. He didn't feel any better about putting it on but he was the knight and Ivan was the squire so it was his responsibility to go ahead.

Not giving himself time to panic, he put the collar on. It fit snugly around his neck like he had expected and he could clearly sense its components. Until he switched it on with the remote. With the flip of the switch all his arcane perceptions were gone. Not muted or cut off, they were completely gone like they had never existed at all. Now Ivan's panicked reaction made perfect sense. Yaden tried to remain calm, but it felt like the collar was growing tighter with every breath he took. Telling himself that wasn't possible didn't help. The urge to claw at the collar became overwhelming, so he quickly did what Ivan had done and switched it off again.

Sensations flooded back in. The metal crate next to them, Pebble, the collar around his neck – all there, all accounted for.

Are you okay? Ivan asked, his voice full of concern.

Yaden gave the same nervous laugh Ivan had. No.

These things are fucking evil. Ivan shuddered. Maybe we should postpone working with them until Myriam has had time to study them?

Yaden's first instinct was to say yes – any excuse not to get near these collars again sounded great. But then his stubbornness kicked in. He had wrestled volcanos into submission. He wouldn't be beaten by a slim band of metal around his neck. I am not giving up that easily. He took a deep breath to calm himself. So it cut off all access to his talents. Or seemed to cut it off. He hadn't really tried to push through the effect, tried to dig deep. With his level of power such a small device shouldn't be able to block him completely. If he tried properly. I want to give it another try, now that I know what I am dealing with.

That Ivan looked genuinely impressed at his conviction made it easier to switch the collar back on. Again, his perceptions felt like they were simply gone. This time, however, he managed to stay calm and breathe through the initial moment of panic. Not all his perceptions were gone. He could see, hear, smell, feel. The perceptions of a normal, mundane person.

It made him realise how much he relied on his extra senses, they were always on without him noticing anymore, telling him exactly where he was in relation to his surroundings and also of the flow of energy around him. Master Irao, the head of the paramag division of the Lotus Pavilion, had called it the manascape, a mirror of the physical world visible to those who were able to perceive the flow of mana. Perceiving it had been supposed to be the first step in Yaden's training to see auras, but it had turned out that he had been able to see the manascape as long as he could think back. It was so natural to him it had never crossed his mind that others didn't. According to Master Irao, seeing auras should come just as naturally but so far Yaden hadn't found a way to do so and all of Master Irao's explanations came from a very cerebral perspective. They kept working on it, though.

The ability to see the manascape was blocked too, now. So this collar wasn't necessarily a psionics blocker, but one blocking mana in some way?

Does it say in the instruction manual whether these things work on theurges, too? he asked Ivan.

Let me check. Ivan thumbed through the leaflet which came with the case. It says it may work on weak theurges but it is hit and miss. And that the company making them does not give any guarantees and strongly discourages any use on priests as that would be illegal. Charming. So charming.

Mmh. So a god reaching for their priest got through. That wasn't much of a surprise. But it might mean that it was in fact a matter of how much power one poured into the effort.

Yaden closed his eyes and breathed deep and slow. He was great at calming down. There was no reason not to be calm. He was in full control. He didn't need Pebble or a planet's steady presence to let himself relax, let himself sink deeply. He knew that vast pool of mana was there, at his disposal, resting in his very soul. No device could reach that deep, no fragile band of metal could cut him off a part of himself. He envisioned it, that sea of energy, gently washing over him, enveloping him, warm and welcoming. Imagined himself dissolving into it, becoming and being one.

Yaden? Ivan's voice felt like it was coming from far away at first, but the firm hands grabbing him by the shoulders and shaking him weren't as easily ignored. Yaden, stop!

He blinked his eyes open and frowned at Ivan. I almost had it.

I don't know what you almost had, but Pebble was vibrating like crazy. It felt like you were ready to tear her apart.

Only now did Yaden notice the genuinely worried expression on Ivan's face. Pebble had been vibrating? That hadn't been supposed to happen. Had she somehow reacted to what he was doing or had he actively done that somehow? He had no idea. Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you.

Okay, good. Ivan ran his fingers through his hair. Because it wouldn't be nice if you tried to scare me like that on purpose. What the fuck did you do?

I was trying to reach for my mana reserves. I thought if I could force my way through and access them, using them would be an easy next step. The plan seemed sound to Yaden. Though apparently there were destructive side effects so maybe he should move testing to a place that wouldn't get him and Ivan killed if he accidentally destroyed it. Not to mention he absolutely didn't want to harm Pebble. Are you sure it was me who made Pebble vibrate like that? After all they were in a new system with lots of weird crystal bits floating around.

Pretty sure. It felt like ... like there were waves of energy emanating from you?

That sounded very much like what he had been envisioning. Yaden switched off the collar to do a quick check on the surrounding space. There was a small cluster of crystal fragments they were currently passing by, but it felt as inert as all the others.

Can we maybe not do that again? Ivan asked. He looked more shaken than Yaden would have expected after everything else they had been through.

Are you okay? Yaden asked and took off the collar.

Yeah. Now, I'm okay. But it was a bit scary when I was shaking you and you didn't react in any way.

Oh. Ivan had been shaking him for a while? That was scary, because Yaden hadn't noticed at all. I guess, that concludes our experiments for now, then. I think we should try again once we are home and maybe have someone from the paramag division watching so they can tell us what exactly is happening.

Couldn't agree more. Ivan took the collar and put it back in its case. He packed all the cases and the special Lotus Pavilion boxes back into the crate, firmly closing it. If you have no objections, I'm taking this back to storage where I will hide it on a remote shelf.

Yaden chuckled. Be my guest. I'll make us some lunch.

Apology accepted.

Chapter 2 – Newer Frontiers

Seeing the outer habitable planet of an uncharted system loom large on their front screen should have been fascinating, but all Ivan could bring up was mild interest. He had been looking over scans of the giant ball of dirt for a day and by now, it was as boring as the rest of this expedition.

What in all the empire had given him the idea that the exploration of a new system would be exciting? In preparation for this mission, he had read several reports by other explorers, and they hadn't mentioned much excitement either. Lots of dry facts and careful observation, but no adventure. Most likely, he had simply watched too many adventure movies. Those were always packed with action, the explorers stumbling from one catastrophe into the next while discovering haunted space stations, monster-infested planets and evil alien masterminds, plotting humanity's destruction.

He cast another glance at the sensor readings and stifled a yawn. Yaden at least could send out his mind to look at all the stuff floating around them directly, as he was doing right now, sitting cross-legged in the captain's chair with his eyes closed and his fingers twitching. But even he said there wasn't much to see. The crystal structures floating around were all heavily damaged and decayed by millennia in open space, occasional impacts and incessant radiation having turned them into little more than occasionally glittering rocks. Spectrometry said they were mostly ordinary quartz, but the crystal structure – where still intact – was weird as fuck. Yaden had sent daily updates to the 'Kukuana' via Ciel, who was handling the communications herself. There were only a handful of vertexes capable of creating an interstellar connection without any ground support in the local system, and she had the least trouble finding them in the endless nothing of space.

At least Doctor Fishering-Potzimski seemed happy enough with what they had found so far, asking for lots of details on the crystal structures that littered the system. Naturally, she wasn't happy with the lack of details they could provide. But even broken and shattered, the scientists back at home were positive that they were looking at something related to the mandalas. Even if nothing here in this system seemed to do anything but float and slowly rot.

But this was a Lotus Knight mission, and those always went sideways in the least expected moment. He had to stay sharp and ready, because some sudden escalation of events would happen. It always did.

So he yawned heartily again, stretched, and took another look at the incoming scanner readings.

As Yaden had said, the planet itself was old. Maybe six or seven billion years, by the scanners' estimate. Climate was moderate, if cool, with stable weather patterns and high wind velocities due to a lack of significant elevations above sea level. So far, so boring.

The planet was covered in vegetation, in some places dotted with giant piles of degraded crystal rubble breaking through the endless green, piled high at the centre and petering out to the edges with smaller clusters around the large ones. Seen from above, they reminded Ivan of cities with smaller outlying settlements, but the structures were too deteriorated to know anything for sure without months of analysis. Judging by the way the local flora was growing on some of the crystal ruins, the material didn't seem to be toxic, at least not to them. According to the scans, the degree of deterioration would require tens of thousands of years, maybe even into the hundred thousands. They were ancient as fuck. No one had so far been able to put a construction date to a mandala, but these crystals might well be just as old. If this system had ever been inhabited, it had been abandoned millennia ago. But that didn't mean nothing had been left behind. Whether useful or dangerous remained to be seen.

Fauna scans didn't show much, and most of it was small animals – nothing larger than a cow on a first pass.

So in sum, it looked like a decent place to build an imperial colony. Though it would likely take decades before the Emperor gave anyone permission to settle, if ever. Every bit they could learn about the mandalas was precious, and this place would be scienced to bits before anyone would be allowed to trample all over it.

Are you getting any readings from those ruins? Yaden suddenly asked from his spot in