Soulstream (Rise To Omniscience Book 10), page 1
SOULSTREAM
Rise To Omniscience
Book 10
AARON OSTER
For my fans. You are the real Supermages.
Acknowledgments
Even writing this, it’s hard to believe that the series is really at its end. Supermage was the book that launched my career as an author, so bringing a series like this to a close is definitely bittersweet. It’s both terrifying and exhilarating to be going into an unknown future. All I can say is that I hope you’ll keep enjoying my books, even if they’re not in the Rise to Omniscience series.
With that out of the way, I’d like to thank a few people, without whom this series would not have been possible.
Firstly, my editor, who shall forever remain nameless. Thank you for offering to proofread Supermage back at the beginning of 2019. Without you, this series would probably never have been published.
To my cover artist, for consistently creating terrifying and extremely memorable beasties on all the covers.
To the narrator of the series, Doug Tisdale Jr., for constantly doing an amazing job of bringing the world of Somerset to life.
To my main beta readers, Josh & DJ, for spending hours with me shouting about ideas, book preferences, and our general dislike of seagulls.
For all those who support me on Patreon, your generosity knows no bounds!
Lastly, to my fans, for giving me the ability to keep writing the stories I love.
Thank you!
P.S. There’s an endnote after the story is over. You’ll probably want to read it…
Prologue
A loud, hollow click echoed through the vast emptiness of space as the red paddle impacted with the small white ball with all of the force Order could manage. The ball rocketed over the small net, bouncing onto the other side of the table, where his counterpart stood at the ready. The other man swung, the paddle slamming into the ball and returning it over the net.
“Why did you have to pick a game that involves exercise?” Chaos complained as Order returned the ball, trying to put a bit of a spin on it.
“Because exercise is good for you,” Order said, while Chaos dodged to the left side of the table and returned with a backhanded blow.
Order was forced to dive as the ball nicked the edge of the table, threatening to hit the ground and give him the point.
“Oh, come on,” Chaos whined as the ball sailed neatly over, landing too close to the net and forcing him to dive onto the table to avoid a second bounce.
“You just picked this game because you know I hate it,” he said, climbing back off the table and readying himself for the return.
The cosmic game of ping pong had been going on for nearly a month by this point, and Order was refusing to admit that neither of them would win and should just move on to something else. One might have thought he was just being unnecessarily stubborn, but the reason for this was quite simple – he could feel himself slipping.
It hadn’t been much at first, just a small weak spell here, a near miss there, but it was happening. The fact that Faeland had just collapsed meant that Chaos was just a single step away from claiming the planet as his own, which would place him in charge of their multiverse. One didn’t need to be a genius to figure out that having a chaotic all-powerful being in charge of millions of galaxies would be a bad idea.
It was why Order was fighting so hard to remain in this fight. It was also why he persisted at a game that he knew his counterpart loathed. If they continued playing, Chaos might remain fixated on the fact that he hated the game and not focus too closely on Order’s flagging strength.
“Can’t we at least take a soda break?” Chaos complained. “I could really go for some chocolate as well.”
Order made a face at him, then slammed the ball back to the other side, trying to catch Chaos off guard. It didn’t work, of course, but it wouldn’t stop him from trying.
“I would take a break if you wanted to drink real soda instead of that carbonated water.”
“Club soda is still soda,” Chaos insisted, returning the ball with more force this time. “That garbage you drink can hardly even be considered a beverage!”
Order returned the ball, the small, white sphere brushing the top of the net as it returned. He hid a frown as Chaos shot the ball back to his side.
“Can’t we at least just let the game auto-play for a minute?” Chaos almost begged. “I’m not the only one wanting a break, and you know it.”
While it was true that he would have liked a break, Order knew that it would be a mistake. While this looked like fun and games to the outside observer, this was a physical manifestation of their struggle for control. The winner would be left free to their own devices to do with the multiverse as they pleased, and so long as he could continue to fight, Order had not yet lost.
“No,” he said stubbornly. “We will continue playing until I get bored with it. Those are the rules.”
Chaos let out an exaggerated sigh but returned the ball all the same. The sour look on his face told them both what he thought of this game. But rules were rules, and for now, Chaos would be forced to comply.
How much longer that would be the case, though, now relied almost entirely on the actions of a few mortals.
***
The beast, buried deep beneath the ground in a cavern accessible only by climbing to the top of the tallest dormant volcano in the East Kingdom, stirred for the first time in centuries. Her eyes, a mismatched green and black, flashed open as her mind began making sense of her surroundings.
She yawned, a long tongue hanging from the side of her elongated muzzle, one covered in red-orange fur and flecked with white and gray. She ran her tongue over her teeth – a habit she’d picked up quite some time ago – as she smelled the air.
She could clearly detect the dampness and rain, meaning that her brother, Decagon, had already woken. Her brows crinkled as soon she noted the distinct lack of his presence. Something was very wrong here.
The beast tried to sit up, only to have her movements limited by the heavy stone chains still pulsing with red light. She growled, looking down to the restrictive bonds in annoyance. She’d have expected to see more wear after all this time, especially if her other siblings had managed to break free.
Then again, she’d always suspected that her chains had been the strongest of them all, though Hex would probably argue with her. As though thinking the name of her oldest brother had been the trigger, the beast heard his voice in her mind.
“Oval, I see that you are finally awake.”
He sounded just like she remembered – deep, authoritative, and confident. It was befitting for the Pinnacle King of Kings, after all. Her mind still felt a bit clouded, but being able to communicate mentally was such a basic skill that she had no trouble doing so, even in this state.
“The real question is, why did you awaken before I did?”
It was a valid question, as there was a specific order in which they were supposed to rise. Of course, the first would depend on which kingdom messed up first, but in every case, Hex should be the last to rise.
“The world is not as it should be,” Hex replied. “Octagon, Pentagon, and Decagon have all fallen. We are all that remain.”
Oval would have sat bolt upright at that had the chains binding her not prevented her from doing so. She’d sensed that Decagon had risen, but not the other two. It was only now that Hex had pointed it out that she could sense their lingering presence.
Pentagon’s was so faint it was barely there at all, while Octagon’s still lingered in the far north. Decagon’s was the strongest, but his lingering presence was all she could feel.
“What happened?” she asked, finding that she now felt very afraid.
Whoever had killed her siblings had clearly known what they were doing. Defeating any Pinnacle King was no easy feat. After all, they’d been designed to overthrow kingdoms. It should have been nearly impossible for one to be beaten, but to defeat three was incomprehensible.
“From what I can gather, the King of Beasts has finally come into his own,” Hex replied.
“You mean our father?” Oval asked in confusion.
She, like the others, knew of their origin and that they were the second generation, having been created from the original’s cells and DNA. But if the original Beast King had awakened, why would he be coming after his own children?
“Yes,” Hex replied. “And though I do not know why, by this point, we can safely assume that he is an enemy. I briefly sensed his presence before he disappeared. His power is terrifying. More than either of us can hope to handle at the moment.”
“What should we do?” Oval asked, fear tinging her words.
“When you break free, forget about gathering an army. Come to me instead, and together, we may have the power that we individually lack.”
Oval nodded, though she knew Hex wouldn’t be able to see motion. Never in her wildest dreams had she thought a day would come where Pinnacle Kings would need to group together for safety. She was almost tempted to ignore Hex’s warning, to not believe what he’d said. The absurdity of it all was almost too much.
However, the lingering power of her siblings convinced her otherwise. No one could forge their power. Not to her senses anyway. They were well and truly gone. Not asleep. Not trapped in their respective lairs. They were dead, never to rise again.
“I will break free, and I will come,” she said, feeling her
She was a Pinnacle King, for goodness’ sake. On top of that, there was a very specific reason that her shackles were the most intricate and restrictive. The one who’d created her hadn’t just tied her down like this for no reason.
“I will await your arrival. In the meantime, I will begin gathering my strength. The Beast King is not here for the time being, so now will be our best chance to gather ourselves and prepare.”
Hex’s voice cut off then, leaving Oval all on her own once again.
Where before she might have been content with slowly gathering her power and working to break her bonds, she now knew that she was on the clock. She only had a limited amount of time to break free and join up with Hex before the Beast King returned.
She craned her neck backward, her eyes tracing over the script blocking her doorway to the outside world. It was still triple-layered, as she remembered it, without so much as a hint of fading.
That was fine. She could still manage.
Oval gritted her teeth and clenched her fur-covered hands into fists. She ignored the pain of her elongated claws, digging into the pads on her palms as she reached deep, to the place where she kept her special reserve – the thing that had given her her own moniker.
Her teeth gritted, eyes closed tight, and body taut against the chains, Oval summoned her power. When her eyes snapped open next, they both shone a brilliant white-red. Red lines traced her arms as she summoned her overwhelming power.
The chains began to leech it away almost immediately, as witnessed by the fact that they began to glow brighter. Oval let out a scream, the muscles in her fur-covered abdomen and chest flexing mightily as she began to feel a burning in the pit of her stomach. The pain was very real, but she had long since learned to ignore it, especially in this state, when she took over.
While not in combat, Oval was the most placid and non-confrontational of all the Pinnacle Kings. But once she gave in to her anger, she became the most violent and vicious of them all. There was an ominous grinding of stone on stone, then, with a massive explosion, one of the chains binding her shattered into a million tiny shards.
Oval slumped for a moment as the scripts tried to drain her. For a second, they succeeded in bringing her back to herself, but she was well-versed in giving over to her other side. She only hesitated for a flash before her eyes were glowing once more and the berserker strength returned.
Oval the Enraged, Pinnacle King of Flames, would not be contained, and once she was free, this world would feel her wrath!
1
Morgan exited the world of twisting color that surrounded him when he used his Rift skill. Before he’d used the skill, he had been hovering above the manor where Grace’s father now lived. He’d dropped his young apprentice there after the two had gone to say goodbye to Lumia, who’d died in her fight against Strangler.
Seeing as she’d come from a Beast Zone, they’d been hoping she would be reincarnated but, while their hopes had been realized, the beast that had been reborn had not retained Lumia’s memories or experience. Add that to the fact that both Hilda and Shul – the people who’d discovered her talent as a Supermage in the first place – had been killed in the battle against Strangler, and the young girl just couldn’t take anymore.
Taking her away from the battle to be with her only remaining biological family would be good for her, both physically and mentally. After the ordeal she’d been through, Grace needed the break. Morgan would be going back for her eventually, as the battle was far from over, but for now, he would allow her to rest.
Morgan examined the churning sea below, dotted with the hundreds of ships that had managed to make it away from Faeland before it had sunk into the sea. Still, despite the seemingly vast number of ships below, he knew the truth about how many millions more had perished. What he saw below was all that remained of the five races of the now-destroyed continent.
Morgan turned his gaze to the horizon. From this height, it wasn’t too difficult to still see the smoke, which was still rising a full week after the destruction of the land, as well as the choking clouds of power summoned by the World Beasts as they fought for their prize.
He looked away after a few moments, scanning the ships below for the person he most wanted to speak with. Sarah stood out amidst the sea of red and blue, her golden light unique among the Supers’ and Mages’.
He continued looking, soon locating the ships where Katherine, Elyssa, and the other leaders were scattered about. They’d decided that no two leaders should be on the same ship at any time, except for when they needed to speak. This was a precaution, just in case the ships were attacked. It went without saying that it would be awful if all the races’ heads perished at once.
However, at the moment, he needed a meeting with the leaders here. He reached to the pendant still hanging around his neck, even as he descended to the ship where Sarah’s presence radiated.
“I need to speak with all of the leaders here,” Morgan said, projecting his thoughts to Katherine.
A moment later, her voice came back, sounding weary.
“Is it important?”
The battle had taken its toll on them all, and of all of the people who’d come to join, Morgan admired her the most. While Le’vine, Beatrice, and Hu Kiln had all lent their aid, Katherine was the only one of the rulers still present, assuring that what remained of her soldiers made it home safely.
“I wouldn’t be asking if it wasn’t,” Morgan said.
“Give me a few minutes,” she replied.
Then, the communication went dead. He tucked the pendant back into his shirt as he alighted on the deck of the ship, everyone making space for him as he did.
Sarah had spotted him when he’d been about a hundred feet from the deck and reached him almost as soon as he touched down.
“Lumia?” she asked, the worried look on her face telling him that she’d been waiting on an answer this entire time.
Morgan just shook his head, sinking to the deck and placing his back to the inside wall. Most people moved to give them privacy, but on a ship this crowded, there was only so much space they could be given.
“Poor Grace,” Sarah said, sitting down next to him and placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. “How about you? How are you doing?”
“I’m used to it by now,” Morgan said, though he didn’t really mean it.
He had lost so much already. His life had been one battle after the next, and fighting for mere existence was seriously starting to wear on him. Morgan wasn’t sure how much more he could take before he finally lost it. There had to be an end to this war, but that visit from the agents of Chaos and the other two gods told him that there was still another battle to come.
Sarah didn’t say anything, sensing that he didn’t want to talk right now and giving him the space to do so. After a few minutes of sitting there, though, he knew they needed to get up.
“Can you make us a platform in the water?” Morgan asked, pushing himself back to his feet. “I’ve called a meeting of the leadership on the ships. There’s something important we need to discuss.”
Sarah nodded, extending an arm over the side of the ship. It was only a matter of a few seconds for the water to solidify into a floating block some ten yards in diameter. Taking her hand, Morgan leaped from the side of the ship, then used his flight to take them to the ice block.
Even as they were landing, a red-edged portal opened and Katherine stepped through, followed by Elyssa, Queen of the Elves. Following closely on her heels was Ragnar, King of the Dwarves.
Next came Horgush, the green-skinned troll towering over the shorter dwarf. Behind him was Tagar, the new gnome leader, followed closely by his second-in-command, Fortuna. Lastly, Malachi, the leader of the beastmen, exited the portal, looking distinctly displeased.
“Couldn’t you have picked a warmer place for us to meet?” Fortuna asked, all but glaring at Sarah. “Some of us aren’t accustomed to a freezing climate.”
“Hate to break it to you then,” Sarah said. “That plot of land where you’re going to be living is about the coldest place in all of the Five Kingdoms.”
