Celestial: A Progression Fantasy (Surgecaller Book 7), page 1
CELESTIAL
Surgecaller Book Seven
Todd Herzman
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This is a work of fiction. Similarities to real people, places, or events are entirely coincidental.
CELESTIAL
Copyright © 2022 Todd Herzman.
All rights reserved.
Written by Todd Herzman.
Cover Designer: Germancreative
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To my wife, I’m so glad I get to live this dream with you.
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Chapter 1
In reality, Huon was sitting cross-legged on the ground within the cave he and Liona had carved into a mountain. The cave they had spent an entire year hiding within.
Hiding from Blaze, the Immortal of Fire.
But Huon’s conscious mind resided elsewhere.
Two months had passed since Huon and Liona had reached the rank of Immortal. Two months since Huon had surged pure soul essence and moulded the reality around him.
Two months since they had defeated the Immortal of Fire, cutting away his bond from the Everlasting King.
When it had happened, Huon had barely believed it. He had been seeking revenge against the Immortal of Fire ever since he had been a child. Ever since he had been forced to run from his village when Blaze had set it aflame and killed his mother.
Huon had wanted the man dead for years. He had wanted to spill the man’s blood. Wanted him to die for what he’d done. But when he finally had the power of the other man’s life within his grasp… he had spared him. Huon had cut away his bond with the Everlasting King, then he had let him live.
The Immortal of Fire had fallen to his knees in tears, and had uttered two words Huon never would have expected to pass the man’s lips: I’m sorry.
Since that day, Huon, Liona and Blaze had made a tentative alliance.
In his mind space, Huon stood upon the Strong Wind. He leant against the rail, staring off toward the horizon—toward Harolan—the cool breeze whipping at his hair. Here, he awaited a meeting with the Devil of the West.
Huon was still on Temtoria, a world away from the High Celestial he was soulbound to. As far away as he was, the solid, black circle on his wrist—his soul binding—was faded slightly, the connection more faint than ever before. As time moved more quickly here (ten years could pass in Temtoria, where as little as a few weeks would pass on Huon’s world) it was difficult to make a connection with the Devil of the West.
But he had heard the man’s voice in his mind. Had been told to prepare for this meeting.
That had been five hours ago.
Huon gripped the railing tightly. Part of him loved being in Temtoria. He had spent almost two years on that world now, and for the majority of that time his only company had been Liona. Not only had their training progressed at an immense rate, as they had learnt how to cultivate the unique essence that lay thick in the air of the alien world and utilise the Eternal Wheel to turn it into immensely dense pure essence—soul essence—letting them gain the rank of Immortal at perhaps the youngest age of anyone in the history of their world, they had also finally gotten time to spend together, just the two of them, where it didn’t matter how much time passed. Where the sense of urgency was diminished.
For the past two months, however, they had lived in the presence of the Immortal of Fire. Things had grown tense, and were nothing like they used to be.
Huon looked up at the canvas sails, gently slapping in the wind. He missed his own world. The people there. The moment they had freed the Immortal of Fire from his bond, Huon had wanted to return.
But he knew that returning right away would mean they would lose an opportunity. It was doubtful that the Devil of the West would ever send them back to this world. While Huon wished that he could return to Eralan, Eliko’s village where Huon and Liona had been residing and training before they had escaped from Blaze through a portal to Temtoria, and bring Gale, Captain Avery and Eliko back here to train, he knew that simply wouldn’t be an option.
Which meant Huon and Liona should spend as much time in this world as they could. Though the Devil of the West had warned them against advancing to the rank of Low Celestial here, as there were beings in the universe far more powerful than the High Celestials back home that would sense their presence—beings the Devil of the West had assured Huon he never wished to encounter—that didn’t mean they couldn’t train until they were on the cusp of advancing.
‘I’m glad to see you’re alive.’
Huon turned around. He hadn’t even sensed the High Celestial enter into his mind space.
The man stood in the middle of the Strong Wind’s deck, wearing his dull grey robes, which shifted slightly in the breeze, his hands folded neatly behind his back. He gazed around, looking at the mind space. ‘You rather like this ship, don’t you?’
‘It feels like home to me,’ Huon said. ‘Perhaps the only place that ever has.’ Huon clenched a fist at his side, then loosened it. Glad to see you’re alive. Part of him wanted to bark back at the man for those words. The High Celestial had been adamant on not intervening with the Immortal of Fire, insisting that Huon fight his own battles.
It had almost gotten Huon and Liona killed.
On the other hand, it hadn’t gotten them killed. In fact, it had forced them to train harder and more focused than they ever had. Forced them to discover the secrets of the Eternal Wheel and unlock the use of mind spaces, where they could train for days in their minds in the space of mere hours.
And it had forced Huon to learn how to surge soul essence, and mould the reality around him. If not for that, he wouldn’t have been able to escape the Dampener the Immortal of Fire had melted to his chest. He wouldn’t have been able to teleport, and strike the man with the Oath Shearer dagger, breaking his bond.
He wouldn’t have become as powerful as he was.
‘What did you wish to speak to me about?’ Huon asked.
The Devil of the West tilted his head up. ‘It’s time for you to return to our world.’
Huon shook his head. ‘Why so soon?’
The High Celestial’s forehead creased. ‘Things are changing. The Everlasting King is building a fleet.’
A fleet? Huon thought. To transport his army of Honourbound across the ocean. He frowned. ‘Wouldn’t we be better off remaining here? How much time has passed since we have been gone?’
‘A week.’
Huon blinked. Though he understood that time moved faster here. Understood that years moved as quickly as weeks back home… it was still a difficult concept to imagine. ‘All the more reason for us to remain here.’ He raised a fist. ‘We’ve become so much stronger. Liona and I are Immortals now! We could get closer to the next rank before returning—’
The Devil of the West raised a hand.
All noise in the mind space ceased. Huon’s mouth was still moving, but no sound was coming out. When he realised what was happening, he closed his mouth and crossed his arms at his chest, glaring at the High Celestial.
Sound re-entered the world all at once.
‘It takes me a considerable amount of concentration to hold this connection at this distance, Huon. I’ve no time for your idle prattle.’ The Devil of the West glanced behind him.
Huon frowned. What was he glancing at? It wasn’t as though anyone was here.
‘You know it is difficult for me to create a safe portal. Well, it’s about to become even harder.’ Something flickered across the man’s face. A micro-expression that lingered for a fraction of a second.
The expression was fear.
If Huon hadn’t been an Immortal, he doubted he would have been able to see it at all. ‘What is it?’ He took a step forward. ‘What changed?’
‘Kalak.’
Huon faltered. Kalak. He was the other High Celestial lurking on their world that the Sentinels were not aware of, the one that his father was soulbound too. Huon looked down at his soul binding. Though it was faded now that he was on a different world, a great distance from the Devil of the West, it was nowhere near as faded as it had been when Kalak had attacked the man, almost breaking their bond completely. ‘He’s found you again?’
The Devil of the West looked at the deck. ‘Not yet. But it is becoming increasingly difficult to hide from the man.’ He tilted his chin up.
Huon shook his head. ‘Why is he after you?’ It didn’t make any sense. Though he didn’t agree with his father’s methods, the man clearly wanted to defeat the Everlasting King as much as Huon did. Why would Kalak, the man who soulbound Huon’s father, be after the Devil of the West? ‘Who is he?’
‘That is something I wish I had the answer to.’ The Devil of the West waved a hand. He looked tired. ‘These are matters that do not concern you. The fact is, I will be creating a portal very soon. You must be there to step through it. If Kalak finds me…’ He trailed off. ‘As much as it pains me to say it, that man is powerful. Perhaps more powerful than I.’ Deep lines cut into his forehead. ‘It is strange that this Kalak isn’t on my side. Strange that I do not know him.’
Huon inclined his head. If there was another High Celestial out there, one that knew the Everlasting King was a threat, why hadn’t he killed the man yet? he thought. The Everlasting King had reigned over his realm for a thousand years, slowly gaining strength, plotting his domination of the continent—of the world—in his journey to seek enough power to manifest a new core after it had been taken from him by the Sentinels of the North, South and East, and ascend to a higher level of advancement that would take him beyond that of a High Celestial, and beyond the world itself.
Kalak soulbound my father, Jakob, who wished for the Everlasting King’s demise, not to mention Bern, who held the same wish. Why did this High Celestial not simply kill the Everlasting King himself? Huon had too many questions, and not nearly enough answers.
‘If things do not go well for me, you and Liona will be stuck in Temtoria.’ The Devil of the West tilted his chin up. ‘That is why you must return to our world.’ The man’s image flickered, becoming transparent then solid once more in the space of a second. ‘I will open the portal outside your cave in one week of your time. Ensure you are there before it closes.’
The High Celestial disappeared.
Huon stood, staring at the spot where The Devil of the West had been. He let out a sigh. As much as he missed his own world, returning now simply wasn’t ideal. But there was nothing he could do about it.
The cool breeze turned into a fierce wind, and rain began to fall from the sky. This was an aspect of the mind space Huon usually had control over—one’s mood tended to affect the environment’s atmosphere.
He took one last look at the horizon, one last look at the ship—the mainmast, the wheel, the rigging—then he let the mind space crumble.
Soon, they would be leaving Temtoria.
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Chapter 2
Huon opened his eyes. He sat on a smooth stone floor. Across from him, Liona was also cross-legged on the ground, her hands resting on her knees, eyes closed, deep in meditation.
She would be cultivating the unique essence—the unrefined soul essence—that pervaded the air of this place, and turning the Eternal Wheel to turn it into pure soul essence, a type of essence that could expand their reserves at a rapid pace.
Huon glanced around the cave. Shurie was gone. She always was at this time of day. Now that the Immortal of Fire no longer posed a threat to them, they were able to let the beast roam freely and hunt. The Immortal of Fire too was nowhere to be seen. He rarely remained in their company, as he seemed to prefer roaming the wilds of this place alone, something which Huon was glad for.
It was still strange being in his presence, even if he was no longer oathbound to the Everlasting King.
Huon reached out and touched Liona’s hand.
The Immortal’s eyes snapped open in an instant. She looked over at Huon, tilting her head to the side. ‘You met with him, then?’
Huon inclined his head. ‘I did.’
Liona leant forward, gripping his hand. ‘You look dour. What is it?’
Huon almost bit the inside of his cheek, but that was a nervous habit he was trying to curb. ‘We have to return to our world.’
A half-dozen emotions flashed across the woman’s face. She, like Huon, knew the advantages of remaining here. ‘Why?’
‘The Devil of the West is still being pursued by Kalak.’ Huon gripped Liona’s hand back. ‘Apparently the High Celestial is close to finding him. For whatever reason, he wished to kill the man I am soulbound to.’
Liona sighed. ‘And if he does, you won’t only lose your soul binding. We’ll lose our way home.’
Huon nodded. ‘Correct.’
‘Good,’ said a deep voice from the cave’s entrance. The Immortal of Fire’s large silhouette was draped in shadow. He stepped into the cave. ‘It’s about time we leave this place. There are things that need to be done.’
Huon swallowed, looking up at the man. Though all three of them were Immortals, and Huon and Liona had been able to break the man’s bond, Huon still didn’t know if that meant they would be able to truly defeat the man should he wish to take them down. Even with Huon’s advantage of being able to surge soul essence—a feat he had failed to replicate since their fight—the Immortal of Fire had been training for at least a thousand more years than Huon had. He was far more skilled. ‘I didn’t see you return.’
Blaze ignored Huon’s comment. ‘When do we leave?’
We, Huon thought. It was strange to think of the man who’d killed his mother as a part of we. ‘In one week from now.’
The Immortal of Fire inclined his head. ‘Good.’
Huon and Liona looked across at each other. Huon still found it difficult to speak freely around the man, and he knew Liona felt the same. He could see from her expression that she still had a lot of questions.
‘We must make preparations,’ Blaze said.
Huon raised an eyebrow. ‘Preparations?’
The Immortal of Fire came to sit on the ground in front of them. He had an intense look on his face. He gazed at each of them in turn. ‘You have every right to hate me.’ His heavy gaze rested upon Huon, then he looked down at his hands. His eyes glazed over, and he stopped speaking.
Huon had grown used to this. The man would often suddenly go quiet, his mood seemingly shifting instantly to a solemn one. He oscillated between sounding as though he were in charge and losing himself in dark thoughts. Dark memories. Huon let the man’s words sink in. You have every right to hate me. And he did. But Huon found that his hatred for the man had dissipated somewhat, even though he still felt an anger deep in his chest. Though anger wasn’t the only thing he felt—Huon also felt… sorry for the man.
Huon had been oathbound before—the Immortal of Fire himself had once been his oathmaster—and he knew what it was like to be controlled. To be forced to perform actions he never would have of his own free will. It was perhaps the worst feeling in the universe.
And Blaze had been victim to it for a thousand years.
That’s why Huon hadn’t killed him when he’d had the chance. ‘Blaze?’ Huon prompted, once the silence had stretched for a few moments too long.
The Immortal of Fire looked up at Huon. His forehead was heavily creased. ‘Hmm?’
‘You were speaking of preparations.’ Huon glanced over at Liona, she returned his dubious look.
The Immortal of Fire’s head dipped. ‘You know, my name isn’t Blaze. At least, it wasn’t… before.’
Huon blinked. Though it had been two months since the Immortal of Fire had been released of his oath, they hadn’t had many conversations with the man that amounted to more than a few short sentences. He had certainly never spoken of a time before the Everlasting King had bound him. Though Huon remembered the man speaking of it once, when Huon had only been a Squire. Huon, Liona and Jamison had been in the Deep Wood, searching for Bern, when the Immortal of Fire had turned up. The words he had said played through Huon’s mind now, and he remembered a detail he had long forgotten.
I have lived a long time. I was an Immortal before the Everlasting King was even born. I was a Legend of Lundholm, a Champion of Trawool. A Knight of the Realm of Arisaveth. And once Squire to a Knight who became… well, that’s not important.
Before the Everlasting King had been born… Huon doubted that was possible. The Everlasting King had once been a High Celestial. He had likely lived for hundreds, if not thousands, of years before his core had been taken from him by the other High Celestials. Perhaps he means it metaphorically—he was alive before the Everlasting King, as we now know him, was born. Before the man’s core had been taken from him.
‘What did your name used to be?’ Liona asked in a soft voice. As the Immortal of Fire had not killed any of her family as he had Huon’s, it seemed easier for her to sympathise with the man, even if only to a very small degree.
The Immortal of Fire stared at his hands once more. ‘My name was…’ He licked his lips, shook his head, his forehead creasing ever more deeply, as though he were trying, and struggling, to remember. Though Huon wondered how that was possible. Since Huon had become an Immortal, he’d noticed that all of his memories appeared in his mind in far more clarity than they ever had before.
‘My name was Kelni.’ The Immortal of Fire—Kelni—let out a long sigh. His shoulders, which had been tensed and bunched, seemed to relax.
‘Kelni.’ Liona let go of Huon and leant forward toward the man, extending her hand to him. ‘It’s… nice to meet you, Kelni.’
