Avadis: Book Three of the Reaper Saga

By Eli Kwake

This story is ending. My story. I don't even know if I have time to finish it.

I did what they made me for, after Cain taught me to use my Power. I faced the Avadis. I did wh

• Language: English
• Publisher: Eli Kwake
• Release date: Mar 3, 2023
• ISBN: 9781955587143

Book preview

Avadis

Book Three of the Reaper Saga

Eli Kwake

Table of Contents

Copyright

Dedication

Acknowledgments

Kickstarter Backers

Author's Note

Part One - Storyteller

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Interim

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Part Two - Awake

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

Chapter 40

Chapter 41

Epilogue

The Captains

Raven

About the Author

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Copyright © 2023 Eli Kwake

All rights reserved.  This book or parts thereof may not be reproduced in any form, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise—without prior written permission of the publisher, except as provided by United States of America copyright law.

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-955587-14-3

Hardback ISBN: 978-1-955587-16-7

Paperback ISBN: 978-1-955587-15-0

Dyslexic Edition ISBN: 978-1-955587-17-4

Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously.  Other names, characters, places and events are products of the author's imagination, and any resemblances to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

First Printing 2023

www.elikwake.com

For every form of family

The ones that we’ve found, the ones who’ve stayed,

and the ones we have yet to meet

Acknowledgments:

Thank you to @Neekhol from instagram, for the awesome, beautiful arts in the back of this book. You brought my characters to life in a wonderful way, especially since all you had to work off was two Artbreeder images and a HeroForge figurine! Well done!

Thank you to Heather Snitch, the first fan of this series, possibly the first fan of my writing in general. You have encouraged me to keep working on this series because I know that, if nothing else, I cannot leave you hanging.

Thank you to my alpha reader, Ruth Kwake, for letting me talk through the road blocks and helping me find solutions I already had. You’ve been my rock during the work on this series, and I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t have happened this quickly without you.

Thank you to PrideAscending from Twitch, for beta reading the final (unedited) draft and telling me it was good despite the typos, wrong words, dyslexic sentences, and at least one plot hole.

Six billion thank yous to Charlie Knight, my editor, for taking the hot mess that was my final (unedited) draft and making it legible. Without you, my commas would all be in the wrong place and my sentences would be inside out. I’m so glad I found your Kyle saga and then you.

Thank you to my new sister, Diane Morrison, for kicking my ass and/or reassuring me when I needed it. As she often says, A rising tide raises all sails, and she has certainly helped to raise mine. I hope to raise yours as well. I can’t wait to read To Know Your Enemy in a few months!

Massive thank yous to the Game of Tomes community for not just helping me to work through the developmental issues during revision, but also being the lead backers of this book on Kickstarter. You’ve kept me writing and editing and editing and writing when I might have otherwise stopped after the mess that was 2020.

Speaking of which, thank you to my Kickstarter backers! Without you this book literally would not have happened. You'll find a list of those who donated after these acknowledgements.

And finally, thank you to my husband Alex Kwake, who puts up with my shit. I cannot return the sleep you didn’t get when I was insomnia writing and/or editing, but I can appreciate you not complaining about it at the time.

Kickstarter Backers:

Author’s Note

or

The Journey of a Thousand Thoughts Starts with a Horrible First Draft

In June (or maybe it was July) of 2017, I had a weird dream. There was a towering city, filled with water, gloom, and a girl who could fly. She lived and slept at the top of the tallest building in the city. She was homeless. She was also the only one who could see a man, who she could only talk to by touching.

Sounds familiar, doesn't it?

At the time, I just thought it was interesting and tried to re-dream it for the next several nights. Then I promptly forgot about it until October 28th of 2017, two days before I was due to start writing a novel I was planning to call Nevermore. I wasn't sure it would make the fifty thousand word goal for NaNoWriMo, so I wanted another project to work on in case I needed to fill space. Within two days of planning, I sketched out a basic plot beat, picked a random title, and, with five hours left to go, decided to start it with the words I was two years old the first time I saw him.

I had no idea where this story was going. I thought I did, but I really didn't. Nevermore never happened (I'll get back to it eventually) because Reaper took over my life. I wrote on the bus, I wrote at work, I wrote in class... I finished the first draft in seventeen days and then spent the rest of the month staring at it in awe and terror.

My first book. Proof perfect that I could finish writing a book, proof that I was not a failure as a writer. Proof that even with my ADHD and Autism, even with people telling me I wouldn't be able to, even with people calling me a failure, I could live up to a dream I had when I was only twelve years old.

I could be an author.

Except... The book wasn't finished. I knew, even as I was typing the last words of that first, horrible draft (all first drafts are horrible), that there were two other books in the series. I even knew what they were called, but I didn't know what they were about. It would take me most of a year to figure out the second book, and more like three years to finish the third one.

I spent most of two years figuring out how to revise in a way I could understand. In January of 2019, I set a tentative release date of March 22, 2020 for Reaper, planning to release one of each of the three books every six months for the next year and a half.

In April of 2019 my cat Ryuuichi died. I was heartbroken. He was my baby! I still miss him. As if to add insult to injury, a month later my mother was diagnosed with endometrial cancer. I took care of her while she recovered from the surgeries, something that took about six months. I still don't know how I got through NaNoWriMo that year, since I only had about two weeks to plan... whatever I did that month. I think I was editing Guardian?

In January of 2020, my grandmother was diagnosed with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer, one of the most virulent and deadly cancers there is. She elected not to fight it, and passed in February. I promised her, during one of my last visits, that I wouldn't delay the book coming out any more than I could help it.

On March 16th of 2020, I caught Covid. The book was going to be delayed whether I wanted it to be or not. I looked at the calendar of holidays, realized April 10th was Siblings Day, and decided to release it then.

This was a mistake. Not one I regret, but not smart.

I don't actually remember anything at all about releasing Reaper. I had/have Long Covid, which fogged my brain, made my asthma worse, and stopped me from sleeping. I still only remember bits and pieces of 2020. March, April, and May might as well not exist. But I had a promise to keep, and thus I released my debut novel at what turned out to be a horrible time to release a book.

In October of 2020, I decided to join a Twitch marathon group that one of the Municipal Liaisons for NaNoWriMo was doing called OHHOW, or One Hundred Hours of Writing. I had a blast, didn't want it to end, and at the end of the event they raided us into CoffeeQuills' stream. Coffee told us about Game of Tomes, a month-long event taking place on Twitch, and I was hooked. I refused to leave, thinking it was the coolest thing.

This was a good idea.

Game of Tomes helped support me through the release of Hindsight Being 2020 (book unrelated to the Reaper Saga), the release of Guardian: Book Two of the Reaper Saga, and now through the release of Avadis. The people I have met through Game of Tomes have taught me more about writing, revision, and editing than any other writing group. More, they are unfailingly supportive and kind.

It's been a ride, writing this series. Not always a fun ride, but I'm glad I took the journey. In case you're afraid this is the end for the Reaper Saga, no worries there. I'm working on book four. I've still got a long way to go.

And don't you worry this is the last you've seen of me as an author, either. I've got two unrelated series in various stages of not ready yet and a serial I'm working on as well. Stay tuned!

Eli Kwake

Author

Part One — Storyteller

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Prologue

Today is an important day.

That is what my mind tells me when I wake up. It's not wrong.

I'm so tired I don't want to open my eyes, but I manage it eventually. I try to push myself upright and fail. I try again. I am too weak. I am too tired. I can sense... I know, without knowing... This is more than what I have done to myself. It is also what has been done to me.

I want to weep. I am too dry. I barely have the strength to whimper.

With an effort, I turn my head and look at the boy. There is not much time left, I know. I have to finish the story. I don't know if I have enough time...enough strength. I am so, so tired.

But this is all I have left. There is only this room, this boy. There is only the story I have to tell. If I can just finish this story... it will all have been worth it.

I try to push myself up, and this time, I am able to shift into a seated position. It takes all the effort I can muster just to lean against the wall. Just this movement, once so easy, takes all my strength. I ache. Every bone in my body is screaming. I barely notice under the weight of the fatigue.

I see the boy begin to glow, and some of my failing strength returns to me. It is enough, if only just. I think—I hope—I am able to speak again.

Where did I stop? I ask the boy.

He does not answer. I am not surprised. How long have I been here? He has yet to speak to me. As far as I know, he has never spoken to anyone.

He is silence.

I cast through my memories. I try to remember. It comes back to me.

I think I remember. The letter with Da's name on it.

The boy nods.

I think hard. There is not a lot left to tell, I say. I hope I can finish it. I don't...I don't have a lot of time left to tell it.

The boy nods again. I can see it in his eyes, in his face.

He knows.

He knows I am running out of time.

Again, I wonder how often he has seen this, how long he has been in danger like this. I feel a brief stab of anger, but it fades. I am too tired to sustain it and... I need to save my strength.

...best I get started.

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Chapter 1

I thought things would turn out different. I don't think I've made that clear yet. I didn't think I would end up here. I thought... It doesn't matter what I thought. Not anymore. I was wrong.

Do you remember where this story started?

My life used to be so simple. I was just a girl from a farm. I was going to be a farmer...or I was going to try anyway. That was before Da disappeared, before everything went wrong.

Then I was in Sky City with Lilly. I thought I would take care of her. I didn't have a plan, but I thought things would work out.

I think I never really had a plan. Even before I went to Sky City, I was lost in what to do with myself. And after Lilly and I were kidnapped...after Lilly died...I stopped even pretending to make plans. I stopped trying. Andrew helped when he took me in; he pushed me to try, but I never really recovered, did I?

I never had a plan for making Cain go away before I knew who he was. Once he finally told me what he was, what I was... I should have started to think. But I didn't.

Once I knew about the Avadis, the ghosts, I should have tried to think of a way to deal with that problem. They will end the world as we know it someday...but I never even gave them a passing thought. I didn't want to fight the dead. I didn't want to be what I am. I still don't.

Everyone will suffer when I die.

I definitely didn't have a plan for the Right Hand of God. I didn't even think about them. Why would I? They seemed so far away, somehow, even though they were creating Avadis in Cascade. Avadis I had to fight; Avadis that killed thousands of people every time one was created.

I wish I had tried to make some kind of plan. I should have done something.

I wish I had tried harder to help Casey...poor Casey. They were trapped, you know, for four years with the Avadis. I didn't know. They were waiting for me to come and help them, and...I didn't know. Cain was forbidden to tell me about them. He thought I would die if I tried to fight the Avadis in Dansville. He was very nearly right...

I wish I knew what to do about the way he’s been acting. I’m sure the Powers That Be are behind it. I just wish I’d known what they wanted sooner…and I wish I’d taken the time to think about what I wanted. I didn’t, and I should have.

I don't have a plan for the Powers That Be, either. I'm going to have to face them soon. I wish I had some idea of how to escape their influence. I don't want to end up like Cain, trapped and manipulated, some plaything for them. Cain has hinted that's exactly what will happen when I die, though. The Powers That Be don't have a plan, not really. I'm the closest thing they have.

I kept trying to tell Cain that it wouldn't work. That I'm not the right person for the destiny they had in mind for me. They should have made more of me. One wasn't enough. And maybe I was just not suited for it...but what do I know? I'm only a human, a Powered.

I just wanted to fly. My whole life, that's all I ever wanted. I can't even do that anymore. The shining sun of my Power has gone cold. I don't know what to do. There's only you now, only this story...

I'm probably not making much sense right now. I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry. You deserve better than this. You deserve better than me.

I hope when I leave this place, I will be able to find a way to help you. It won't be long now. I am already dying. I don't know what I will become after, but I hope I'll be strong enough to find Casey and tell them what happened, where you are.

There's so much you don't know about the world outside these walls. It's beautiful out there. There is so much love. If I can get you to Andrew, you'll see what I mean. Despite this place, the world is so full of good.

I hope you get to see it, Zante. I hope you get to live.

I've lost track of what I was