Nexus, page 1
Tyrean Martinson
Nexus: The Rayatana, Book 2
First published by Wings of Light Publishing 2021
Copyright © 2021 by Tyrean Martinson
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise without written permission from the publisher. It is illegal to copy this book, post it to a website, or distribute it by any other means without permission.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
Tyrean Martinson asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
Tyrean Martinson has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party Internet Websites referred to in this publication and does not guarantee that any content on such Websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.
Designations used by companies to distinguish their products are often claimed as trademarks. All brand names and product names used in this book and on its cover are trade names, service marks, trademarks and registered trademarks of their respective owners. The publishers and the book are not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book. None of the companies referenced within the book have endorsed the book.
First edition
ISBN: 978-1-7357695-7-8
This book was professionally typeset on Reedsy
Find out more at reedsy.com
To all those readers who find refuge and adventure in books.
Let’s go seek lost worlds and dragons!
“And the Rayatana will be the Nexus for all tuigseach of The Great Galaxy…A nexus of peace or war. All will depend on choice.”
The Rayatana Prophecies, Book 1
Contents
Acknowledgement
CHAPTER 1: A TRIAL
CHAPTER 2: QUESTIONS UNANSWERED
CHAPTER 3: INCOMING
CHAPTER 4: MISSING
CHAPTER 5: GUILTY
CHAPTER 6: A CHALLENGE
CHAPTER 7: MORE QUESTIONS THAN ANSWERS
CHAPTER 8: LOYALTIES
CHAPTER 9: READY OR NOT
CHAPTER 10: THE WALK
CHAPTER 11: THE ARENA
CHAPTER 12: THE JUDGES
CHAPTER 13: POWER PLAY
CHAPTER 14: BY ROOT AND WIRE
CHAPTER 15: SINKING SANDS
CHAPTER 16: IN THE TEMPLE
CHAPTER 17: PLATFORMS
CHAPTER 18: BLINK
CHAPTER 19: COLLAPSE
CHAPTER 20: FIGHT FOR THE SURFACE
CHAPTER 21: KNOWLEDGE IS POWER
CHAPTER 22: DISCOVERY
CHAPTER 23: ON THE STREETS
CHAPTER 24: DAMPENING WEIGHT
CHAPTER 25: FACTIONS
CHAPTER 26: DIRECTION
CHAPTER 27: MATTERS OF THE HEART
A Glossary of Terms for Nexus
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Acknowledgement
Many thanks to my family, friends, the exquisite eye of my editor Chrys Fey, and the stunning cover design by Carrie Butler!
CHAPTER 1: A TRIAL
Amaya peered into the mirror, trying to find her sense of self, her new normal. She wasn’t just an Earth girl anymore but a child of three worlds. Still, she looked much the same. Her sienna brown skin, angled cheekbones, and narrow chin were stubbornly hers. Her curly brown hair was up in its usual high ponytail, which she decided was going to have to be enough for the day’s events, formal though they might be. She wasn’t a talented hairstylist, but that wasn’t as important as having control over the dangerous power inside her.
She took a ragged breath, and the glow in her eyes surged.
She exhaled, and the glow ebbed.
After Amaya and her new crew had landed on Cheleth, a planet far from Earth but in The Great Galaxy, for refuge, the Cheleth Council had charged them with war crimes against the Neutral Zone Treaty.
They had thought they could land, find refuge and allies, and resupply. Instead, Chelethian Security Teams had locked down their ship and held them for the crime of committing acts of war in the Neutral Zone and killing a member of an endangered animal species. Representatives from the Cheleth Planetary Council and other Neutral Zone planets would be gathered to determine their guilt or innocence, and the consequences to their actions.
Before Amaya had discovered her tri-world heritage, she’d been caught up in a war between two alien races. On this same spaceship, disguised as an Earth movie theater, she’d crash-landed in the middle of a fight. She’d fought—and killed—to protect herself. The deaths hung heavy on her conscience, but they had been in self-defense. She didn’t see how the trial could prove criminal intent, but she was still nervous. Even with a partial memory-cube download, a type of alien tech, Amaya still didn’t understand the nuances of the Neutral Zone trial system.
Since they had been locked down to the spaceport and locked up in their ship, Amaya’s time had been filled with preparations for the trial, training to get her power under control, and searching for answers about chip with coordinates on it Chol had pressed into her hands before they’d left Earth. Instead, the chip had filled her with more questions than answers. The ship’s crew had been stuck together on the ship for many cycles, but Chol would not talk, not to her, or anyone else, not even to his cousin Sol. And time was running out.
Amaya took another breath. She needed to focus.
Today was day one of the Trial of Integrity, a trial in which they would somehow prove their intentions and the integrity of their characters. Amaya’s power reacted to her nerves by roiling inside her. She closed her eyes, bowed her head, and prayed for calm. Despite the various forms of faith she’d encountered on Earth and with the aliens she’d met, she prayed as she’d been taught to as a child. Her faith steadied her, and the power subsided in ripples. She could still feel the core of it, wrapped in her belly and chest, but she had learned to identify the tidal wave inside as the power she contained.
When she opened her eyes, she stepped back from the mirror and glanced down at her clothing. The light gray, short-sleeved shirt had holes with sewn edges on it; one at the naval, two by her collarbones, one in the center of her spine, and two on her shoulder blades. The loose pants, clasped by a cinch at the waist, had holes on the thighs and the back of the shins. The Trial of Integrity clothes had been delivered to their ship by a Chelethian Security Team. The entire back of the shirt had a stylized tree on it, with purple foliage and orange bark and roots that spread down to the hem of the shirt. She fingered one of the carefully stitched holes. The way the seams were so specific made her wonder exactly how and where this Trial of Integrity would take place.
As she started to put on the soft gray boots, someone knocked on her door with a soft rap. It wasn’t Sol. Through their shared Zoe Bond, she sensed his drowsy, warm sleep from a nearby room. It was a strange thing to accept in the back of her mind, but it wasn’t the only strange thing she’d experienced and accepted as an Earth girl drawn into a war between two powerful alien races. Sol was one of those races. The Zoe Bond between them anchored her, but also worried her. She had kissed him once, and he had been giving her puppy dog eyes ever since. Yes, he was beautiful and exciting, but she had been burned by her first boyfriend, an over-aggressive creep and a liar. She couldn’t throw herself at Sol. Wouldn’t.
To comfort herself, she traced the design on the front of her necklace’s pendant—three interlocking ovals with hard edges like diamonds molded above the surface.
Someone rapped on the door again, harder.
Amaya inhaled, let it out, and then opened the door.
Tanwen, with her white hair and purple cat-like eyes, stood in the narrow, dimly lit hallway with a somber expression. She wore the same outfit as Amaya, but it hung loosely on her frame and accentuated the paleness of her skin and the dark nails on her hands. Tanwen was Ddraigon Kin from the Faerland Arm of The Great Galaxy and Amaya’s teacher in the usages of her power. It was strange to see her wearing the same clothes, strange to think she would also be held responsible for the events on Cheleth even though she’d been in a holding cell at the time.
Tanwen cocked her head. “Finally ready for this morning’s lesson?”
Tanwen had been training Amaya every morning, both inside the ship and in the forest closest to the North Chelethian Space Port, under close guard by a Chelethian Security Team.
“Do we have time before the trial?”
“There’s always time to train, grasshopper.”
Amaya rolled her eyes at Tanwen’s reference to an old Earth television show about martial arts from the seventies. “You need an updated memory-cube download on Earth culture.”
Tanwen chuckled before sobering. “You say that, but you won’t accept any more memory-cube downloads for yourself.”
Amaya shifted uncomfortably and crossed her arms. The memory-cube download had gifted her with three alien languages and brief information about some of the cultures of The Great Galaxy, and it had done all of that in a tiny amount of time. Yet, it was a piece of convenient alien tech she wasn’t comfortable with. “I don’t like the sensation I get in my mind when I access new information from the download,” she said. “The languages are incredibly helpful, but the rest is dizzying.”
Tanwen raised one of her eyebrows. “Exactly. That’s why I’ll stick with my old Earth knowledge. It helps enough.”
Amaya leaned forward. “When are you going to tell me what you were doing on Earth?”
Tanwen’s face hardened. She clenched her jaw and spun on her heel. “Your training is more important than stories.”
Frustrated by Tanwen’s response, Amaya’s power flared, but she breathed deeply again before following Tanwen along the short hall of the upper deck and down the stairs into theater two of the spaceship. The movie screen took up most of the wall on one end of the room. The old exit signs were still lit, even though the ceiling lights kept the room bright. In the back of the room, the walls opened up to reveal a small kitchen area. The smell of popcorn continued to fill the air, despite the many meals they had eaten in this room while waiting for the trial.
CHAPTER 2: QUESTIONS UNANSWERED
Tanwen sat cross-legged on the hard floor and indicated for Amaya to sit across from her.
Folding her legs under her, Amaya sat and waited.
Tanwen closed her eyes, and as she took deep breaths, her jaw loosened.
Amaya copied Tanwen, who preferred a show-not-tell approach to their lessons.
“Today, I want you to consider a single movement you perform with confidence, something that is as easy as breathing.”
Amaya’s mind went blank. What skills did she have? She could fight. She had survival skills. She had been trained in martial arts, gymnastics, and dance. Her mom had seen to all that. Mom. The wave of heat in her core hardened, and her breath became rapid.
“Slow your breathing. Think of something good.”
Amaya filled her lungs and focused on a memory of her grandparents laughing. The power in her ebbed and flowed into a softer ripple that matched her breathing.
“Now, imagine a single movement, one you enjoy and perform without hesitation.”
Amaya pictured her ready stance; one she had learned in fencing and perfected in kickboxing class.
“Now, stand and demonstrate.”
Amaya opened her eyes, stood, and got in her stance—feet shoulder-width apart, one foot slightly behind the other so her body was angled toward the center of the space around her, with her hands up but loose, not fists. Ready for offense or defense.
“Good. Now, call your power with confidence.”
Amaya’s confidence dropped like a stone in her stomach. Her power. She had called it so many times in anger. But the power was there. It wasn’t based on her anger. It wasn’t based on her fears. Still, it felt unwieldy, as if at any moment she would lose control of the tidal wave and it would overwhelm her and everything around her. “I don’t know if that’s a good idea.”
“You’ve done it before. You can do it today. Reach into your core, create a shield, and bring it up.”
Amaya closed her eyes, found her core, and pictured a shield layered over her muscles.
“Open your eyes slowly.”
Amaya cracked open an eyelid to see she was glowing. Afraid, she gasped. Her power flared before dimming to nothing.
“Try again. Remember, fear is the enemy, trust is the armor, grasshopper.”
Amaya grumbled in disagreement. “I will try again, but then, I need an answer to one of my questions.” It was a deal they’d made when they first arrived on Cheleth. Tanwen had a way of circumventing Amaya’s questions, but she wouldn’t get away with it this time.
“If you succeed, then I will answer.”
Sighing, Amaya closed her eyes. She imaged the ready stance and drew up her shield, trusting her faith to guide her. She remembered something she had learned from Tanwen earlier. All of her extra strength and speed in a physical combat relied on her unique power, which meant she had been using it unconsciously all along. The power was a part of her. Warmth embraced her, and when she opened her eyes again, her skin was glowing softly.
“Good.”
Amaya grinned and let the power ebb back into a solid core inside her. “Now, I get an answer to a question.”
“Of course,” Tanwen said. “But consider what you most need to know, today of all days.”
Amaya meant to ask Tanwen about her covert operation on Earth, but what came out was the pressing concern under her thoughts, the one haunting her every day. “When will my mom wake up? How can I use my power like this if it hurt her?”
“Your mom is in Med-bay, healing. Meanwhile, you have spent time on grounding techniques, recognizing your power, and creating a shield with it over and over again. I think you can move on to more, but I have been waiting for your mother to wake, so you can have that reassurance. I’m sure she will wake soon.”
Right then, Bay entered the room. Her close-cropped dark curls had grown out slightly during their time on Cheleth. Instead of her ever-present Ratterran military uniform with the striking red and brown jacket, she wore the same trial outfit Amaya and Tanwen wore. This didn’t stop her from sporting four jewels on her upper lip, which meant she was descended from four generations of high-ranking Ratterran warriors. She often held her chin high, with her lips parted to show the additional ranking tooth jewel she had on her front incisor.
Always abrupt, she barked out, “I don’t like the clothes they’ve given us. These holes are for connection points where they’ll attach us to a simulator. We’ll be taking the trial inside a machine. I thought the arena would be real, not simulated. This is an insult.”
“We’ll be inside a machine?” Amaya asked. They hadn’t been given any details about the trial, and the others hadn’t explained much to her. She poked one of her fingers through the close-stitched hole by her navel and pulled the cloth away from her skin. “Why would this bother you? I thought the Ratterrans preferred technology over power usage.”
Bay crossed her arms and scowled. “I don’t like my mind being messed with.”
Tanwen shook her head. “It is not as you would think. Cheleth’s trial simulation will be different because Cheleth, the planet, will be guiding the trial.”
Sol entered the theater, wearing the same outfit. “Have you done this before, Tanwen?”
Even when Amaya tried, she couldn’t ignore the warmth of connection she had with Sol or the zing of attraction that ran between them. She tried to dampen that feeling. It was all too complicated. She wasn’t about to throw herself at him every time he walked into a room, but dang he looked good. His wavy, dark hair, green eyes, olive complexion, and athleticism drew her interest like a moth to a flame. She caught herself checking him out again, glanced away, and noticed Bay’s sneer out of the corner of her eye.
What was she going to do about Bay? Bay’s continued contempt toward Sol was more evidence of Amaya’s failure as the Rayatana. Sure, she had managed to get Bay, her dad Rayal, Sol, Prya, and Galer to answer to her command despite being on opposite sides for a thousand years, but when it came to working together without a direct order, they always found ways not to.
Amaya shook her head. Worrying wasn’t helping her get ready for the trial. She held out a hand to Tanwen, who still sat on the floor.
Tanwen ignored it. “I’m not that old.” She stood and brushed back her white hair. “We will have to work together in the trial. If there is anything important you need to know, for that immediate task, now is the time.”
“What were you all doing on Earth? Why Earth?” Amaya asked.
At the same time, Sol blurted, “What can we expect in the trial?”
Bay threw up her hands. “How can you expect me to work with…?” Bay made a sign with her hand.
Sol growled and stepped toward Bay, his face in a harsh snarl.
Amaya got between them, wishing the memory-cube download had explained some of the slang and insults these two were so familiar with.
They stopped.
Bay huffed out a hard breath and pointed her finger at Sol’s chest. “My people were on Earth because the Terrs were there and we needed to know why.”
Sol stepped back. “You know why. I’ve told you. I was there because my aunt, Queen Calanthe of the Terr Protectorate, wanted me out of her way. On the surface, I was in trouble for supposedly charming a young woman I knew.”
Bay advanced on him, with her hands in fists.
