Desa and Kalia (Epic Literary Universe Series)

Book summary

In "Desa and Kalia," a decade after the supposed defeat of the Void, Desa Nin Leean enjoys a peaceful life with her partner, Kalia. However, newfound knowledge of otherworldly beings disrupts their tranquility. An assassin wielding ancient powers threatens their city, forcing Desa to confront the truth behind his agenda. Yet, in her pursuit, she must also confront her own buried emotions—guilt, anger, and grief.

Excerpt from Desa and Kalia (Epic Literary Universe Series)

A crimson sun hung over the pine forests on the western slopes of the Molarin Mountains, painting the sky a gorgeous shade of red. A gentle wind made the trees sway, bringing with it the sweet scents of spring. The air was crisp and pleasantly cool. How long had it been since she had wandered alone in a forest? Too long, in her estimation. She wouldn’t trade her life with Kalia for anything, but there were days when she missed the pristine beauty of nature.

From her perch on a high plateau, Desa Nin Leean watched the sunset.

She sat with her legs curled up against her chest, smiling as the breeze teased her short, brown hair. “Perfection.” Closing her eyes, she breathed deeply and savoured every sensation. The hard rock beneath her, the slight chill in the air, the smell of pine needles and dirt, even the dull ache in her back: they all made her feel alive. Sure, talking to a therapist was useful – much as she hated to admit it, she couldn’t deny that a few minutes with Dr. Beltin had worked wonders – but it was nothing compared to the peace she felt out here.

She had been spending too much time in cities. Her life had been sorely lacking in solitude lately. She decided right then and there that when her son was old enough, she would take him out here and teach him some basic woodcraft. Desa had survived for years in the wild, moving from backwater town to backwater town, living on rations and whatever she might catch on a good hunt.

With the advent of automobiles and radio – not to mention all the advanced technology the offworlders were bringing in – some people might assume that such skills were obsolete. Outmoded. Desa disagreed quite vehemently. You never knew what life might throw at you. It was best to be prepared for anything.

With a heavy sigh, she stood up and knuckled her back, wincing from a momentary flash of pain. She was too old to be sitting on rocks for anything more than a minute or two, and it was time to get back to camp anyway.

She turned to the path that led down the steep slope and froze, an idea popping into her head. It had been years since the last time she had sat alone in the quiet solitude of nature. Reconnecting with this tiny fragment of her old life had left her with a longing for other things she had put aside long ago.

She wanted to fly!

Running to the end of the plateau, Desa leaped from the ledge and triggered the Gravity-Sink in her belt buckle. Instead of falling, she climbed even higher into the twilight sky, the cold wind buffeting her. She welcomed its touch. Even her shivers were a joyful reminder of the years she had spent in the wild.

Her belt buckle kept her aloft. Infused with a connection to the Ether, it drained gravitational energy in a small bubble around her body; the planet could not pull her back down. Grass drifted past beneath her and then the tops of towering conifers.

Spreading her arms wide like a bird in flight, Desa shut her eyes and turned her body into the wind. This! This was freedom! It occurred to her that she would soon pass over the campsite, and if she went too far, she might have a hard time finding her way back. Once again, reality insisted on intruding on her bliss.

She allowed a fraction of gravity’s power to reassert itself for a fraction of a second. That was enough to put her on a downward trajectory. Descending like a leaf on a playful breeze, she slipped between two skinny sugar pines and settled onto the dirt road.

With a thought, she killed the Sink completely, prompting gravity’s immediate return. It was dark in the woods; the waning sunlight was not strong enough to pierce the treetops.

Extending her left hand, Desa closed her fingers into a fist and triggered the Light-Source in her third ring. The thin iron band began to glow, projecting a cone of radiance that illuminated several tree trunks and one very confused raccoon. The poor creature flinched, turning its face away from her, and then scurried into the thicket.

Desa couldn’t help but smile. “Don’t be afraid!” she called out. “I’m not going to hurt you!”

When her furry friend failed to return, she shrugged and started down the path, using her ring as a…What were those devices the offworlders often carried? The ones with a small lightbulb inside a tube? A flashlight!

She had to walk for several minutes, but it wasn’t long before she heard the crackle of a roaring fire. Pausing to relish the delicious scent of woodsmoke, she straightened her rumpled coat and squelched the light from her ring.

It didn’t take long to find the large clearing where she and her young companion had set up a pair of tents. Several logs burned in the firepit, sending tiny motes of flame into the starry sky. But there was no sign of Tommy. No sign that her eyes could detect, anyway.

She was fairly certain that she knew where to find him, and the noisy thump of metal splitting wood confirmed that suspicion. What was that young fool up to now? Why did he insist on ignoring everything she tried to teach him?

Desa clicked her tongue in annoyance.

She had met Tommy when he was just a youth, but that was almost a decade ago. He was only a few years away from thirty now; she had to stop thinking of him as young. Trudging across the campsite, she found him near a cluster of trees with high branches.

He had placed Light-Sources in the form of coins and jewelry on the ground, providing plenty of illumination for his target practice. Standing with his back turned, a quiver of arrows jutting over his right shoulder, he took a red-feathered shaft, nocked it to the bowstring and drew.

He let it fly with perfect precision, the arrowhead piercing a red dot he had painted on one of the sugar pines. Desa saw several other dots on several other trees, each with an arrow sticking out.

Folding her arms with a sigh, she frowned at his back. “Why are you practicing with that?” she asked. “Your archery skills are superb; we both know that.”

“It helps me relax,” he muttered.

“The point of this trip was to help you find some peace and stillness. Practicing your combat skills would seem to be antithetical to that purpose.”

He didn’t answer; he just pulled another arrow from his quiver, set it to the bowstring and fired it straight into another target. His aim was flawless. Desa remembered when he first picked up a bow, how he took to it like a duck to water. She had been the one to train him.

Back then, he was so uncertain, nearly tripping over his own feet when she tried to teach him basic holding techniques. The bow came easily, but everything else? It took him weeks to learn how to disarm a man with a knife, months to master shooting a gun. His progress wasn’t exactly slow, but it did require a certain amount of patience on her part. Tommy was her first student. The first of many.

They had parted ways nine years ago; Tommy and his friends went off to explore the world while Desa settled into a quiet life with Kalia. But those explorations had taken a toll on her young protégé. He had suffered many losses, and he had suffered the abuses of men with too much power. Somewhere along the way, he had learned to look to his bow for the answer to every problem.

It might have been irrational, but Desa still felt responsible. Perhaps if she had been there to guide him, things would have been different.

“Come on,” she said, turning back to the fire. “We need to meditate.”

“I know how to find the Ether, Desa.”

Whirling around with the scuff of boots on hard-packed dirt, Desa glared at him. “Yes, you’re very good at making Infusions,” she agreed. “Particularly those that cause large explosions. But your skill with Field Binding leaves much to be desired.”

Finally, he turned to her, standing tall with the bow clutched in one hand. He had changed so much from the lad she had liberated from that jail cell all those years ago. His face had matured: the gaunt cheeks having filled out. He now wore a neat, blonde goatee around his hard mouth. His gray eyes were as sharp as a hawk’s, and they regarded her with intensity that said he was barely an inch away from snapping at her. As if that would dissuade her from pressing her point. “Why do you care?” he asked quietly.

“I’m the one who taught you how to Field Bind. I’m the one who set you on this path.”

“No!” he snarled. “Rina taught me how to Field Bind!”

Stepping up to him, Desa pursed her lips as she gazed into his eyes. “You remember it that way,” she said calmly. “But that’s not what happened. I was your teacher, Tommy.”

He didn’t argue.

Because he knew Desa was telling the truth.

She had proven it many times. His first conversation with “Rina” She could recite it almost word for word. The details of how “Rina” saved him from execution? She knew them backwards and forwards.

Trudging over to the fire, Tommy set his bow down on a large rock and peered into the flames. He stood there with his hands shoved into the pockets of his long, brown coat, refusing to speak.

Desa tried to look at matters from his perspective. It couldn’t have been easy to hear that his friend and mentor had never been real. Perhaps her very presence was a reminder of everything Tommy had lost.

She went to join him, circling the campfire and claiming a spot on a fallen log. For a little while, she too was silent, content to enjoy the warmth. They had been here for three days. In that time, Tommy had followed her instructions to the letter, had committed himself to a deep study of the Ether and its mysteries, but resentment still burned inside of him. Desa could sense it even though he tried to hide it.