One thing was clear: Berun would stand behind his friends.
The third and fourth:
Churli Casta Jons. Vedas Tezul. Looking upon them now, he experienced the tug of shared pleasure, the slip and tangle of two souls entwining. He let the harmony of their voices fill him until he felt on the edge of some great precipice, as if his own personality might be overcome, and then backed away. He did not revel in the sensations of their lovemaking, though he easily could have. To do so seemed almost sacrilegious.
Despite their physical weakness in comparison to Pol and Berun, Adrash sensed these two posed the biggest threat to his existence.
For all the secrets that lay buried within her, Churls saw the world with startling clarity. She considered Adrashi and Anadrashi to be the same useless creature. Experience had shown her that worship blinded men to the truths: Adrash is no redeemer. Adrash will destroy the world. As she thought of the faithful, her true voice rang like steel against steel. She would not flinch from the war her lover proposed. She would look straight ahead, because only ghosts stood at her back.
Vedas, on the other hand, had only recently found his conviction. He had not yet discovered the strength of his own will. He loved Churls. Oh, yes, he loved her, as strongly as he hated the hand that had molded the world—a place where young boys were defiled and then turned into killers. Even as he and Churls embraced, he thought of killing. He rehearsed the words he would say to the people of Jeroun. Words meant to incite deicide.
The man possessed abilities he had never dreamed of. He would become a leader of men, inspiring them to take up arms against Adrash. His words would thunder across the skies, waking the elders from their slumber.
As a result, there would be a war.
Adrash considered the prospect of his own death.
He knew he could extinguish this possibility, here and now. He could send his weapons down. It was what the elders wanted, certainly. They longed to see dust covering the earth, cleansing the world of man, assured that they alone would wake from the cataclysm. Even the Baleshuuk could not survive without the sun.
The elders’ entreaty was faint but never-ending, and Adrash had long ago pushed it out of his mind. He knew he could not choose the long-limbed folk over his own people—at least not yet. If he chose to blanket the world in dust, it would not be due to any outside pressure. It would not be his blessing upon the elders, but a result of mankind’s choices.
How much time would it take for the war to reach him? It might be a great while before the four voices rallied enough support to truly challenge him.
Months, maybe years of anticipation.
He wondered if he could wait that long.
A GLOSSARY OF TERMS
Academy of Applied Magics—The Kingdom of Stol’s most well-respected academy for the study of magic, and also the only known center for the study of outbound magics.
Adrash—The god of Jeroun, wearer of the divine armor. Thirty thousand years ago, beyond the memory of man, he cracked mankind from iron eggs and helped them populate Jeroun. He is rumored by some to have once been a man. The divine armor—an artifact of unknown origin, superficially similar in some ways to elder skin/elder-cloth artifacts—affords him powers beyond any man or elderman, to the point that he can survive in the void and create the planetoid-sized spheres of the Needle from the raw substance of the moon.
Adrashi—One who believes in Adrash’s benevolence and his intention to redeem the people of Jeroun. In general, Adrashi are more organized than Anadrashi. In Nos Ulom and the Kingdom of Stol, Adrashism is the state religion.
Alchemical (Solution)—A broad term for all solutions composed of materials harvested from elder corpses. Alchemical solutions are the base for every spell. Alchemical ink is a particularly regulated—and highly expensive— form, as it is quite dangerous to the uninitiated mage.
Anadrashi—One who believes in Adrash’s malevolence and his intention to destroy Jeroun. Anadrashi also believe in mankind’s fitness to rule Jeroun on its own. In general, Anadrashi are less organized than Adrashi. In Toma, Anadrashism is the state religion.
Baleshuuk—The highly secretive corpse miners of Nos Ulom. A dwarfish race of men, Baleshuuk have for thousands of years used their magics to extract elder corpses from the ground. Primarily stationed in Knos Min and Stol, where the largest mines exist, their existence even in these places is largely unknown to the general populace.
Bash—A goddess, whose worshippers form a very small minority in Dareth Hlum, Casta, Stol, and Knos Min. Bashest sects worship her as the mother of Adrash. They believe that she will ultimately convince Adrash not to destroy Jeroun.
Black Suits—A martial order of Anadrashi found in all nations of Knoori except Nos Ulom. Marked by their black elder-cloth suits and the distinctive horns they cause to form on the hoods of these suits, their primary goal as an institution is to fight White Suits and win converts to the Anadrashi faith. By doing so, Black Suits believe they strike a blow against Adrash, keeping him from attacking Jeroun. Black Suits orders are relatively uncommon and secretive outside Dareth Hlum and Knos Min.
Bonedust / “Dust”—Pulverized elder bone used for various purposes, including currency. Rubbed on almost any surface, it acts as a protective, shielding the material from damage as well as extremes of temperature. It is also a base material for many alchemical solutions. When ingested, it hydrates the body. In many areas, bonedust is contaminated—sometimes purposefully cut—with other substances. Like every other elder artifact, bonedust is subject to periodic inflation due to supply issues.
Casta—Newest of Knoori’s nations, a democracy having no official state religion. The capitol of Onsa, located on the northern coast, is its second largest city after Denn. Unless locally enacted, in Casta there are no laws prohibiting gambling, prostitution, or drug usage, but there are strict laws prohibiting sectarian violence. Castans of the north are generally light skinned, often freckled, while those of the interior and south are generally darker, shading into slate colors in the badlands. Geographically, Casta is split between the fertile rolling hills of the north and the semi-desert and desert badlands of the south.
The Cataclysm—The decade-long winter caused by Adrash sending the two smallest spheres of the Needle into the ocean to the east and west of Knoori approximately one thousand years ago.
Construct—A magically created intelligence, housed in a variety of different body types. The body and mind are typically composed of bonedust, metal, and a collection of more esoteric materials, the exact “formula” of which is the construct-maker’s closely guarded secret. Casta and Toma are the sole nations that do not regulate the creation of constructs. They are most common in Knos Min.
Dalan Fele—Dareth Hlum’s five-hundred-mile-long defensive wall, which forms the nation’s western border with Casta. Seventeen gates allow access to and from the interior of Dareth Hlum.
Danoor—The oldest inhabited city on Jeroun, and the third largest by population in Knos Min. It is situated on the plains just east of the Usveet Mesa, and has for hundreds of generations hosted the Tournament of Danoor.
Dareth Hlum—One of Knoori’s nations, a democracy having no official state religion. The capitol of Golna, located on the eastern coast, is its largest city. Generally, Dareth Hlum allows public, organized fights between Adrashi and Anadrashi sects as long as no onlookers are harmed. Citizens vary widely in appearance, but skin hues are generally darker than the people of northern Casta, Nos Ulom, or Stol. The most geographically diverse region of Knoori, the various mountain chains that cross the nation contribute to many different types of climate and terrain.