Contents Damascan Map Title Page Dedication Copyright The Damascan Standard Calendar Chapter One: Gathering Weapons Chapter Two: Arrivals and Departures Chapter Three: Gates in the Snow Chapter Four: A Dead Man in the Graveyard Chapter Five: Disturbing Explanations Chapter Six: A Test and a Ghost Chapter Seven: Elysian Rule Chapter Eight: The Gallery Chapter Nine: Inside Enosh Chapter Ten: Stories in the City Chapter Eleven: Elysia vs Valinhall Chapter Twelve: Fighting in the Streets Chapter Thirteen: Invasion Chapter Fourteen: Battle in the House of Blades Chapter Fifteen: Prices Paid Chapter Sixteen: The Founder's Heir Chapter Seventeen: Capture Chapter Eighteen: A Conversation in Avernus Chapter Nineteen: Creating Incarnations Chapter Twenty: Old Friends and New Enemies Chapter Twenty-One: Daughter of Wind Chapter Twenty-Two: Grief Chapter Twenty-Three: A Pair of Masks Chapter Twenty-Four: The End of a Traveler Chapter Twenty-Five: Newfound Powers Chapter Twenty-Six: Strategic Planning Chapter Twenty-Seven: War in the City of Light Chapter Twenty-Eight: Rewards *Sequel Page* *The Future* City of Light The Traveler’s Gate Trilogy - Book Will Wight www.WillWight.com To Dad, who doesn’t read fantasy novels…but who read these Copyright © 2014 Hidden Gnome Publishing All rights reserved Cover Art by Chelsey and Caitlin Bateson The Damascan Standard Calendar (Also called the Cynaran Calendar, established during the reign of Queen Cynara II) Spring Day 1: Spring’s Birth Day 45: Sower’s Day Day 90: Spring’s End Summer Day 1: Summer’s Dawn Day 45: Midsummer Day 90: Summer’s End Autumn Day 1: Harvest Day Day 45: Reaping Day 90: Autumn’s End Winter Day 1: Winter’s Day Day 45: Midwinter Day 90: Winter’s End This was a simplified system intended to unify the various seasonal and lunar calendars that competed prior to Damasca’s conquest of the continent To mark the date, you count the number of days between you and the nearest holiday The 81st day of Spring, for instance, would be “9 Days Till Spring’s End.” The 46th day of Spring is “1 Day Since Sower’s Day.” CHAPTER ONE: GATHERING WEAPONS 358th Year of the Damascan Calendar 24th Year in the Reign of King Zakareth VI Days Until Summer's End As the sun sank below the horizon, the Eldest Nye moved from shadow to shadow across the battlefield He felt weak, here in the outside world, and he would feel weaker the longer he stayed exposed Sheltering in the shadows made him feel a little better, a little stronger, a little closer to his powers in the House He still moved with the stealth and grace that were his birthright—none of the soldiers in red-and-gold caught so much as a glimpse of him as he glided in and around their camp Or what was left of it The field had once been an orderly tribute to Damascan military discipline: row upon row of white tents arranged according to some plan that the humans had no doubt thought wise at the time The order was broken now The grass was slick with blood and littered with bodies The tents lay in ruins, shattered and broken Some of the camp had shifted, transformed and rearranged by the Valinhall Incarnation’s presence: here a barrel whose warped planks had turned into an armchair, there a patch of grass curled into a thin layer of green carpet, over there a pile of firewood grown into a rough-carved table In the presence of his master, this world strove to imitate Valinhall In the Eldest’s opinion, it was a huge improvement Valin should have spent more time here The survivors hobbled around, using sheathed swords and broken spears as makeshift crutches, hauling corpses from one place to another They made a mockery of propriety, and the Eldest couldn't see why they bothered There were far too many dead to deal with each of them appropriately, so the survivors simply threw them in pits and covered them with dirt He approved of their attempts to clean up the mess, but why bury the bodies at all? Why mark the grave? In only a century or two, no one would remember anyone who died here today A rock with a dead man’s name on it would not change that There was such a room in Valinhall, meant for honoring the memory of those who had died His master had placed it there Even the Wanderer was human, and the Eldest honored his human frailties, even when he didn't understand them The Eldest corrected himself: the Wanderer had once been human Then he had become something more And now he was something less The Nye slid around a patched-up tent, inside of which a young man was grieving over a discarded helmet His back was to the tent entrance, and the Eldest's hands itched to pull out his chain This boy had left himself completely defenseless, which was a bad habit that would someday get him killed Bad habits should be corrected But he restrained himself and kept moving, passing through the part of the camp where Travelers had come to blows Here the devastation was more exotic, but no less total Human corpses mingled with the inhuman: threetailed orange lizards with smoke still drifting from their bodies, tall whitefurred beast-men lying in inch-deep puddles of chill water, a flock of sparrows lying on top of one another in a bloody pile He didn’t spare a thought for the violence He had seen far worse He had caused worse The Eldest scanned the carnage, looking for one specific corpse among all the others After only a few minutes of searching, he found it Something that looked like a man lay on a patch of bare grass, naked from the waist up His skin was almost totally covered in tattoos like black chains His head was bare, the chains covering him in place of hair His blank, staring eyes were black, with circles of silver in their center Other humans had different colors there, and for some reason found the metallic gleam of these eyes especially disturbing The Eldest wasn't quite sure why To him, the eyes were the color of steel and shadows Beautiful Even though this body had taken many wounds when it was alive, only one showed now: a single ragged hole through the left side of the chest Veins of red spidered out from the stab wound itself, worming their way through the corpse's skin The poison of Ragnarus leaves its mark, the Eldest thought He tried to summon up the old resentment toward Ragnarus, but he felt nothing It had been a long time since his last encounter with the Crimson Vault, and most of his hatred he had acquired secondhand from Valin He had settled his own debts with Ragnarus long ago The anger didn't come Instead, he felt a sort of eagerness for the weapon that had struck this blow A hunger for something that could make his Territory that much stronger The sword lay nearby, unsheathed, its blade blood red and gleaming No one had looted it, despite its obvious value Perhaps even humans could sense something of the nature of this body and this weapon, and they wanted nothing to with it No, it was probably something else In the Eldest's experience, humans were rarely that wise The Eldest scooped up the sword, tucking it away inside his robe Perhaps the humans Caius Agnos and Olissa Agnos could make something useful out of it If not, well, he could surely find another use for an unbound Ragnarus weapon When the blade was secure, the Eldest stood looking down upon his master's body “You made promises to me,” the Eldest said, in his raspy voice Here he was, speaking to a corpse, just like an emotional human But the dead body wasn't his only audience “You did not keep them You have given me much, my friend, but in the end, you too failed to uphold our bargain.” He leaned down, letting a bit of his essence flow out like a shaft of light from this world’s moon The shadows grew soft, a rent in the world, and Valin sank down deep, running along his connection to Valinhall like a cart in a rut He would arrive soon, and the other Nye would take care of him as he deserved He had insisted on adding a graveyard to the House of Blades, and now the room would be his new home The Eldest straightened, and the only remnant of the Wanderer's presence was a patch of slightly bloody grass Simon, son of Kalman, had promised to bring the Ragnarus blade to Valinhall, and technically he had not done so But he had created the circumstances that allowed the Eldest to retrieve it, so the Nye decided to ... veins of shining red Finally it cracked the ceiling, emerging out of the royal palace and towering above the entire city From the top of the pillar, a curtain of red light spread like a pool of. .. Twenty-Six: Strategic Planning Chapter Twenty-Seven: War in the City of Light Chapter Twenty-Eight: Rewards *Sequel Page* *The Future* City of Light The Traveler’s Gate Trilogy - Book Will Wight www.WillWight.com... they were seeing, but he offered no explanation His eyes shone with the light of Elysia now, with all its rainbow of colors The lights would shift, angry red one moment and soft blue-green the next