The Shadow of What Was Lost (The Licanius Trilogy, #1)

by James Islington

My name is Andan Mash’aan, Slayer of Lih’khaag, Second Sword of Danaris. My trust is in the steel on my hip and the men at my side. My faith is in the plans of the Protector and our resolve to carry them out.”

Convienent self-announcement!

He never remembered his dreams.

Gotta write em down quick!!

He missed her. He’d never be able to speak with her again, never have a chance to tell her how he really felt.

It was the mist, however, that made him pause. Unnaturally thick and dark, it hung like a shroud in the middle of the chasm; it devoured the waning sunlight, making the entire scene feel colder and darker than it should have. Staring out at it, Davian suddenly realized he could make out vague shapes within it—the very tops of houses and other structures within the city.

Aulcus all over again…

He turned to Nihim. “If you’re separated…” “It’s fine,” said Nihim. “I’ve studied maps of Deilannis. If it happens, I can figure out the way through.”

Nihim reminds me of Sazed.

“These Tenets, as you call them, don’t exist yet. Thus you’re not bound by them.”

Oh what the fuck

You’ll be making a deal with the Shadraehin soon—the real one. When you do, I need you to tell her that Tal’kamar is taking Licanius to the Wells, and that the information is a gift from me.

“I don’t understand a word of what you just said.”

My thoughts exactly.

“Imagine this is time. The Darecians believed that going back to a point in time will create this.” He drew a branching line from the original. “An alternate timeline, where things are different depending on what has been changed. Where you could go back in time, kill your parents before they ever meet, and still live out the rest of your days in a reality where you are never born.” He drew more lines. “They believed that there are infinite realities, where each choice of each person creates a new world. So possibly they went back in time, succeeded, and are now living out a different reality from this one.”

Avengers logic

He erased the extra lines. “However, there may be only one timeline. One set of possible events. The Augurs have been reinforcing that theory for years, but it’s not something anyone wants to believe. We like the idea of infinite possibility. That nothing is inevitable.” He sounded frustrated. “Yet the more I see, the more inevitability seems to be the way of it. One timeline. No second chances.”

Back to the Future logic!

“Ah, did I forget to mention? I’m an Augur, too.” He continued to smile as he watched Davian’s shocked expression, then stood. “Finish up your meal, then rest a little more. I will return in the afternoon and we can begin your training.”

Annnnnd queue the montage...

“You see,” said Malshash. “Nothing to fear. Orkoth knows you now. He will not attack you.”

Is this why Orkoth didn’t attack him 70 years forward?!

The stone beneath his palm began to glow; Davian snatched his hand away as if burned, though there had been no physical sensation. A thread of blue light crept from the stone, slowly but surely stretching out, moving toward the wall until it came to rest touching the spine of a small red book. Another tendril appeared, this time drifting in nearly the opposite direction, eventually attaching itself to a book on the other side of the room.

HAH, Magical search engine! Thats so sick!!

“Then the man stopped. They all just…stopped. The ones who were holding me down let me go. The one holding the knife turned it so that the edge was against his own face and…started cutting.” He drew a deep breath. “Then we all started doing it. All at once. Those of us who didn’t have a knife went and found one from one of the tables. None of us made a sound, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t agony.” He touched his cheek absently. “Davian just stood there, watching us, the blood pouring down his face and neck onto his shirt. I could see it, though. He was doing it. He was controlling us, somehow.”

Explains how he knew Davian was an Augur.

She heard the scraping of boots outside the door and quickly lay back down, resting her head back in the tacky pool of reddish-brown blood. The lock clicked and the door creaked as it swung open. “Still out,” growled a deep voice as heavy footsteps clomped into the room.

Haha smart

Pyl’s back was to them as he shuffled cards at the table, but that wasn’t what Asha noticed. He was moving…sluggishly. More than sluggishly. She watched, eyes wide, as individual cards inched through the air from one hand to another, slowly enough that as one flew out of Pyl’s right hand, she could have walked the ten feet between them and plucked it out of the air before it hit his left. It wasn’t just Pyl, though. The air itself felt thicker; the candle on the table flickered, but so gradually that in each moment it looked completely frozen. Asha clutched at the black-haired girl a little tighter as she understood what was happening. Fessi had said just the other night that her best ability, her Augur talent, was to slow time. It seemed she hadn’t been exaggerating.

So cool!

Teran’s face twisted into a sneer. “The Shadraehin—” “I’m not afraid of the Shadraehin.” Kol grabbed the man’s arm and pulled backward; again there was a popping sound as ligaments snapped. Teran’s face went white. “Do you understand?” There was silence; Kol snarled, giving Teran’s arm another tug. “Do you understand?” “Yes,” gasped Teran.

Ahhhhhhhhhh, satisfying.

“Kan is an external force,” he said. “Whereas Essence is usually drawn from within the body, kan is drawn from a single source—one that seems to have its physical location here, somewhere in Deilannis.

Explains why Caeden felt more powerful & condifent in the mists there. Also gives Well of Ascension vibes with the centralized worldwide power source!

“Essence is energy. In the case of the Gifted it’s a piece of our own life force, extracted and converted into something that can physically affect things.”

“Kan is not energy. You couldn’t make a fireball with kan, or lift a feather. You can’t heal with it. But it can affect energy. It seems to…sit above Essence, somehow. As we manipulate the world with Essence, so we manipulate Essence with kan.”

Firstly, that kan allows us to access things that Essence alone cannot touch—things that are not physical—specifically, he mentions thoughts and time as instances of that. And secondly, kan allows us to use Essence with a level of finesse and efficiency that is not possible otherwise. He gives the example of drinking from a pool. Manipulating Essence by itself is like scooping the water with your hands, whereas using kan to do it is more like using a cup.”

🤯

“Kan can also be used in other states to siphon, absorb, or store Essence. I read a little about Imbuing—making Vessels. The kan stores Essence in the Vessel indefinitely, preventing decay, until its function is triggered. In some cases it can draw Essence from whoever is using it, too.” He thought of the Vessel that had brought him and Wirr to Desriel. “It seemed quite advanced.”

Kan, in its natural state, absorbs Essence because the two were never designed to coexist. They can be used together—with training—but they are by no means complementary.”

“It’s very simple.” Malshash sat in a chair, gesturing for Davian to do the same. “At some point in your life, you died.

Thats…simple?

It was less something physical, and more an absence. Like a shadow rather than light.

Malshash laughed. “It’s a start. But learning to really understand memories…that’s tricky.” He paused. “For example. You just said I ate all the ‘good stuff.’ Was that your assessment, or mine?” Davian opened his mouth…and hesitated. “I suppose…yours,” he conceded eventually, brow furrowed. “I don’t really care for figs.” “And the weather was…” “Fair?” Davian replied, a little uncertainly. Malshash grinned. “Was it? Were there no clouds, or was it just brighter than I’m accustomed to here in the city? Or was I simply in a good mood?”

Thats super freaking interesting to think about. You’d find multiple people with opposite viewpoints on any given situation, justified by their own perspective & inclinations, definitely sounds difficult to sort through. Like imagine reading a psychopath and how those justifications and flawed reasoning could change you if you arent conscious enough.

“Even so, if you could please point it away from my head…” Asha gave him a crooked smile, adjusting so that she was facing Elocien’s bookcase. She took a deep breath. Concentrated.

Not the books!!! Not the books either!!!

a handsome young man with jet-black hair, dark skin, and deep, piercing eyes.

Rashek? By the Lord Ruler…

He was leaving a world and a life he loved to return to one where most people he met wore a mask.

He would need to send one of us across.”

Speaking of Davaed? Also probably not his son considering the phrasing.

“Vote for me.” “I’ve voted for you the last three times. People are beginning to talk. He is already suspicious.” Caeden shrugged. “That doesn’t matter. We can’t create sha’teth ourselves, and won’t be able to until the power of the ilshara has been broken. When that happens, the attack will already be under way. The Andarrans have five of them. Five! If they still control them when the time comes, what do you think will happen to our forces?” He paused. “I am the only one who can do this, Gellen. You know that.”

Ahhhhh so Caeden is on a mission to steal over the Andarran Sha’teth…not sure what help that will be considering the Sha’teth have been surpisingly easy to thwart at like every turn😭 They do however remind me a lot of the Nazgul so they are still cool in my book. (Cant help but pi

“I will tell you—but it will be so all your friends can hear. So they can know what kind of man you truly are.” It raised its voice, calling out the words. “Can you all hear me?” Caeden moved without thinking. He drew back his hand, letting Essence flow through him and into his fist. Then he drove it down into the sha’teth’s disfigured face.

Why…would you tell him that and not just say it…total villain monologging momeny

“Your body is used to drawing on anything it can to survive; I can only assume that’s why you’re able to take so much. But if you drained a human being like that…well, Essence is their life force. Remove it completely, and I think you can guess the consequences.”

Augur ability #who knows: Life steal...this i getting out of hand.

“By destroying this,” said Davian, holding up his hand to display the ring. “Exactly,”

Then how would he deliver it to him in the future?

The most beautiful woman he had ever seen sat beside him. Her long black hair was straight and gleamed in the light of the lanterns. She was slim, with an oval face, large blue eyes,

What?? Exactly same description as Caeden’s memory…to a tee, cant be a coincidence right? Unless James Islington happens to just have a type cast for “the most beautiful woman in the world.”

He sent his vision high above the castle, scanning the surrounding lands;

What??? Another ability??

He changed the flow of Essence, pointed it at the man’s blood. Heated it. A little at first, then more, until he could feel it boiling. The priest screamed properly this time. Prolonged cries of pain, gut-wrenching screams of agony. Davian watched impassively, feeling nothing. Not satisfaction. Not sorrow. This was not revenge. This was justice, plain and simple. Ensuring he still fed enough Essence into the man to keep him conscious, he turned another sliver of energy into a razor, thin and sharp. With one flick of the wrist, he castrated him. The priest made no noise now—just lay there, back arched, spasming. His mind was trying desperately to shut down, but Davian concentrated, made sure it was aware of every moment of what was happening. Bubbling blood spilled out into the dirt, hissing as it hit the cold ground. This was how he would die. Bleeding out in slow agony.

Hoooooly fuck.

The Shackle retracted, dropping noiselessly from his arm and onto the quilt. Caeden stared at it, stunned, for a few moments. It had come off. He’d done it, though he had no idea how.

Did Karaleine just fucking die?!?!

Karaliene was sitting up in her bed, eyes open, staring through the window at him. There was a look of curiosity on her face, but no alarm.

Annnnnd now shes into him.

“Trusting someone is one thing, lad. Trusting them with your life is another entirely.

“Hear the tasks I would give you: first, to find a subject worthy of your kingship; second, to find a man worthy of your friendship; and third, to find a woman worthy of your love.”

“If it is better for my king that I die, then there is always shame in living.”

So he searched, but was never satisfied. A thousand beautiful, intelligent, interesting, honorable women passed through his court each year, but he found none of them more special than the others. The price of immortality on love was too high, the pain too great. Only for a great love would he take such a risk.

She loved him as a man, with all his faults and failings. And he loved her in return.

Alarais did as he was commanded, slaughtering those he had once sworn to protect. The Shining Lands, without a king and facing a force unlike any they had ever seen, fell swiftly into chaos and destruction. So ends the story of the Impossible Tasks of Alarais Shar.

King Andras himself entered; though Asha didn’t think the king looked as sick as some people had claimed, he did seem pallid, almost fragile as he walked. As if he were much older than his fifty years.

He has King Theoden syndrome! But who is his Grima Wormtongue?!

the young woman sitting between him and Princess Karaliene—the king’s ward,

There’s Grima! It’s always the ward. Edit - omg I’m dumb it’s Dezia🤦🏻‍♂️

“You know my thoughts, Your Majesty,” interjected Ionis. “Administration has an obligation to protect the people, and the Tenets are what allow us to perform that function. Changing them is taking a short-term view.”

THERES Grima.

Wirr bit back an angry retort. The way the king was acting, he knew that to protest would only be putting himself on dangerous ground.

Theres no winning against fools.

smarmy