Prologue - Divine Apostasy Book 2

Hi, friends! Please find below the unedited prologue for Divine Apostasy Book 2. Things might change as I work my way further into the book. There is a ton of foreshadowing in this, and it is possible I overdid it. I won't know until the end of the book what I need to adjust here. Enjoy!

Prologue

Naktos felt a slight pressure against his outer ward and looked up from his book. He focused his attention on the multiple shells of Spirit that surrounded his home and kept him safe. Nothing rechallenged his ward, and after a minute, he relaxed. This deep underground there were giant worms, among other things, that would sometimes bump into his protections.

He closed his book and stood. Glancing around his library, he tried to remember where it belonged. The room was a cylinder a hundred feet across, and shelves covered the walls. A bright light shone through the skylight above, providing a pleasant reading environment. Naktos channeled a tiny bit of Spirit and floated to a shelf fifty feet off the floor.

Something penetrated his outer ward. This time there was no pressure, just the briefest of gaps allowing the intruder to pass without being vaporized. Naktos’s remaining twelve wards quickly met the same fate. He wasn’t the most powerful of his peers, but he was far from the weakest. Only two of his peers, siblings, had the power to so effortlessly bypass his work. He wondered which one it was.

Naktos wasn’t afraid, he would be almost impossible to kill here at the source of his power, but he was a bit anxious. He strived to avoid his peers and enjoyed his solitude. The only thing able to pull him from his reading nowadays was the Ascendancy of a new Champion. Something like that was worth his time. Champions who lived too long tended to upset the balance with their power. And Naktos, like most of his peers, wanted to keep the balance.

Which probably meant it was the sister. Naktos had taken three of her Champions already and had a team searching for her latest. They must have succeeded in either trapping him or making him unrevivable. Naktos tensed, not from the fear of a fight, which even here, he might lose to her. But of giving something away with his words. She was powerful, smart, and patient. Three traits that became deadly when combined.

A light knock came from the other side of the library’s cherry doors, and Naktos floated down to them.

“Sorry to bother you, Naktos. I was hoping we could talk,” a male voice said from the other side.

Naktos raised his eyebrows in surprise. It was the brother. With a gesture, Naktos opened the double doors.

“Hello, Izac,” Naktos said. “Please come in.”

Naktos channeled more Spirit and created another chair opposite his own.

“Thank you, Naktos. You’re too kind,” Izac said.

Naktos sat and studied Izac. The young god had short strawberry blond hair, blue eyes, and an easy smile.

Izac pointed at the book in Naktos’s hand. “Is it any good?”

Naktos handed the book to Izac. “An early journal of Mira’s. Detailing some of the initial choices made here. I was looking for patterns.”

Izac nodded. “You were always good at that. One of the smartest of us.”

“That is kind of you to say,” Naktos said.

Izac handed the book back without looking inside. “That’s why I’m here, actually.”

Naktos took the book and placed it on his lap. He’d known Izac wouldn’t read it. While he shared the traits of power and intelligence with his sister, he lacked her patience.

Izac leaned forward. “She got her Champion into Mira.”

“I didn’t know that,” Naktos said.

“Does that worry you at all?”

Naktos thought for a minute. “No. Mira is the Rule Keeper, and her decisions have always been objective and fair. She wouldn’t break any herself. The only benefit is access to the dungeon. But at his level, thousands of dungeons would be no different.”

Izac relaxed back into the chair. “Good. That’s what I was hoping.”

“Do you have anyone close to him?” Naktos asked.

“Not as close as you,” Izac said with a smile.

Naktos forced his heart to keep a steady beat. Izac would be able to hear it’s rhythm, and he didn’t want to give away his shock. Could Izac know about Naktos’s contact? The person who had provided the information that had allowed Naktos to trap three of her Champions, and maybe a fourth. But, how could Izac know that? Naktos had found and turned the contact himself. Easy to do when Naktos had so much of what the traitor needed.

“We all know,” Izac said.

Naktos forced his breathing to remain even. “All of you?”

Izac laughed. “Yes. A huge disturbance in Deepwell, and your people at the center of it. She notified us less than a week ago, Naktos. How do you always know where her Champions are?”

Naktos smiled, relieved that his secret remained intact. The closeness Izac had referred too were the teams Naktos had placed in Deepwell, not his contact. “Luck.”

Izac laughed. “Well, whatever your secret, I know it isn’t luck.”

“Luck is a fickle friend,” Naktos said.

“Isn’t that the truth. But you have to admit, finding four of her Champions is a pattern even I can see.”

“Yes, we are fortunate, too. Her Champions have created the biggest imbalances in the past.”

Izac held up his hands. “Please don’t misunderstand me, Naktos. We are all thrilled, if not a bit jealous, at your success. It’s more the method that has me worried.”

“Because my Mages soul trapped them?”

Izac nodded.

“Does this have anything to do with your Champion that I trapped?” Naktos asked.

Izac smiled again. “To be honest, a little. I really liked Jagen. But really, I just want some reassurance. You’re the one who discovered this branch of magic, and I just want to hear it’s permanent.”

“Yes. It is. The Spirit world is not compatible with the Ascended. Their connection to us is lost, and with no way to power their magic, there is no way to get home.”

“But our homes are connected to the Spirit world, and from our home, they could return to theirs,” Izac said.

“Rule eleven requires us to mask every Ascendent’s center, so in the Spirit Realm, an Ascendant has no magic. In addition, they would need knowledge and items not easy to find.”

“That’s true,” Izac said.

“Plus, her Champions have been trapped for hundred’s of years. If they could get out, they would have.”

“You’re right. I’m sorry to have bothered you. It’s just, I know my sister, and something feels wrong. I’m worried she is playing us somehow.”

“Have you talked to her?”

“Not for a while.”

Naktos kept his happiness well hidden. The siblings, while apart, were manageable. If they were to ever cooperate instead of fight, it might be the end of Naktos and the rest of the gods. The sibling’s division made them all safer.

Izac rubbed the green fabric of his chair. “Clapping Brawler skin?”

Naktos smiled. “Yes, you can’t beat the softness.”

Izac grinned. “That reminds me of the old days.”

“I remember. We had some good times with Mira.”

Izac stood, and Naktos did as well.

“I’m not offering a truce, and I don’t want to break any of the Rules. But if she is up to something clever, and something goes wrong with your magic, will you please let me know?”

Naktos didn’t want to help Izac, but he also didn’t want to make him an enemy. Plus, he knew an Ascendant in the Spirt world was eternally trapped. Agreeing to something you knew would never happen was easy.

“Of course,” Naktos said.

“And if for some reason your people need help, please let me know. It is in all our interest to keep her weakened. My people are near Deepwell. All I need is her Champion’s identity.”

Naktos nodded. He would consider it, but not until exhausting all his resources in the area. He didn’t want to share the glory of killing another god’s champion. It was one of the few fun things left after the Rules had been created.

“Thank you for the offer. I will remember you if the need arises,” Naktos said.

Izac bowed to Naktos. “Thank you for your time. It was nice catching up.”

Naktos returned the bow. “It was a pleasure.”

Izac disappeared from sight, and Naktos felt the surge of Spirit as Izac departed Naktos’s realm.

Naktos sat back down, tapped the book on his lap, and stared at the empty chair across from him. Could she be manipulating him? He had gained much prestige and even some additional power from defeating her Champions. 

Could he have been somehow doing her a favor?