Along the Razor's Edge (The War Eternal, #1)

by Rob J. Hayes

Oh, the over-confidence of youth, before the hammer and anvil of time and reality have beaten us into whatever shape society demands.

Both the Rand and Djinn are as gods to all the peoples of Ovaeris, or at least that's what they'd have us believe. If there's one thing you remember from my story, one lesson you take from it, let it be this: Gods are fucking arseholes. All of them.

I remember staring up at Ro'shan and marvelling at its size and grace. It looked like a mountain turned upside down gliding through the sky. I knew, from eavesdropping on my elders, that a city larger than any terrans had ever built sat on the topside of that floating mountain.

We cling to things, familiar things, not because they are good for us, but because we are scared that the unknown might be worse.

There is an innocence in children that is only matched by their cruelty. There is also the rarest form of acceptance and compassion. Only children can go from complete strangers to closest of friends in a moment.

I was terrified of what would happen if I showed no attunements. Just six years old, torn away from my family and forced to swallow shards of magic that hurt on the way down almost as much as on the way back up.

With the Meteomancy Source I knew rain was coming even though it was hours away. The Pyromancy Source was different. A fire lit inside my body, but it didn't burn me. It warmed me through. I could have stripped naked and bathed in ice water and not even shivered from the cold.

It wasn't until I involved myself with the Rand that I learned the truth behind the Sources and behind us Sourcerers too.

The monster I summoned continued to grow until the training hall was nothing but rubble and debris beneath the flailing mass of its grey flesh and thrashing tentacles. My mistake that day cost two people their lives, and another six were injured before they killed the creature. As far as I know, I am still the only Sourcerer to have ever summoned an Abomination. The first and last. It was quickly added to the banned list and the Orrans and Terrelans both respected that list for good reason.

Pyromancy is not, as many believe, the magic of controlling fire, but temperature. A well-trained Pyromancer can burn a city to the ground or freeze a lake.

We all knew of the Rand and the Djinn. The great cities, Ro'shan and Do'shan floated around the skies as flying fortresses. But most terrans on Isha went their entire lives without seeing a pahht or tahren, let alone those who lived even further away. It wasn't until later in my life I discovered why, that the other races shunned Terrelan. I changed that. For the better or worse.

I have since been to the city the brothers talked about. Everything they told me was true. What Ro'shan and Do'shan are to the sky, Ol'shen is to the seas. An underwater city that dwarfs any terrans hands ever built, but it does not float on rock. Ol'shen sits inside the largest jellyfish the world has ever known. A true wonder designed by the Gods, or at least by the Rand and Djinn, and they certainly liked to portray themselves as gods.

Prince Loran Tow Orran, the greatest of Orran Sourcerers. Generations of breeding and experimentation resulted in a Sourcerer attuned to ten Sources, and rumour had it he easily held seven in his stomach at a time. Not only that, he held them for far longer than most managed.

I often consider making my way back to Ro'shan and asking the Rand to turn back my years. I know she can. But I couldn't afford the price.

"Sources are magic in a sort of crystalline form," I continued. "We don't know where they come from or how they are made, but they clearly were not designed to be ingested. They give Sourcerers the ability to use magic, but they also damage the Sourcerer's body. If I'm attuned to the Source, I might be able to keep it inside for ten days before the magic starts to act on my body. If I'm not attuned, I would have minutes at best."

I nodded. "A Pyromancy Source would start to melt and freeze my insides. A Geomancy Source would start to turn my limbs to stone. An Empamancy Source would make me fade away so nothing was left but disembodied emotions."