Dissever unbinding fate.., p.1
Dissever (Unbinding Fate Book One), page 1
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either a product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Unbinding Fate
Book One
Dissever
Copyright © 2012 Nicole Firman
All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction
in whole or in part in any form.
Table of Contents
Prologue: Black Death
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Prologue: Black Death
The church in the center of the village was always his final stop yet Oren still felt uneasy. The smell of the charring human remains didn’t even register to him anymore, but stepping onto the holy ground after what he’d just done made his stomach churn.
The methodical way he’d learned to pile them in the hastily dug holes, and stoke the flames just right until the flesh was melted from their bodies, wasn’t the way he'd been raised to tend to the dead. These dead received no funeral, no prayers, and no flowers. Only a mass grave and some quickly scribbled notes about who was where.
In the beginning, he’d arranged them by family, but that wasn’t possible anymore. Too many bodies to deal with had resulted in mass graves. First burning them, and then covering the smoldering pile of bone and ash with dirt. Finally, a wooden marker was placed at each site with the date that corresponded to the list he made for the day. When it was over, he hoped that someone would prepare proper grave markers for the people he was disposing of so crudely.
Most of the remaining villagers locked themselves away—Oren didn't blame them. He’d wanted to do the same, but his wife Anna insisted that they go on with life as normally as possible, helping when they could.
Oren and a few others were all that was left to remove the dead before the rats could get to them. They burned down entire homes after the last family member died, in a failing last effort to stop the sickness from spreading. The village was a blackened smoldering shell of what it was before the plague. He struggled to remember what it’d been like.
The quarantine hadn't stopped the sickness from spreading, and nearby villages reported similar devastation. Unimaginable sickness was ending the lives of his neighbors, and had taken his family. His parents and brother were the first to go, then in the spring his sister-in-law and niece died. Last month he lost his wife Anna and their son Jon. He had no more family living.
Oren volunteered to tend to the gravely ill and dispose of the dead. It was a gruesome task, but he had no hope or desire to make it through the nightmare he found himself living in. He tried to take solace in the fact that each body he disposed of saved another person from living with the memory of watching their loved one burn.
He still couldn’t wrap his head around the fact that he hadn’t become sick himself. Before she died, Anna said it was a blessing to be spared, and he should be grateful. She believed there was a plan for him. Perhaps she was right, but it seemed to Oren that he was suffering more than the ones who’d become sick. They were at least given a speedy death. Once they became feverish, they seemed to be pulled into a daze unaware of what was happening to them. By the time the blood oozed from their orifices, they were unconscious and quietly slipped away. Oren, on the other hand, was left to suffer through their sickness and loss acutely aware of what was going on around him.
As much as he desperately wanted to, he knew that ending his own life wasn’t an option. Many others he knew chose that path and he held no ill feelings toward them. He promised Anna he’d continue even after she was gone. If he’d known what that promise would mean, he doubted he would’ve made it. Instead, he prayed for an end.
In the front of the church stood a beautifully carved statue of an Angel holding a golden book. It had always been his favorite part of going to church. Its eyes were expressive and its lips were curved slightly.
Kneeling before the Angel as it looked down on the rows of empty pews, he once again begged to be taken away. When he was finished, he made his way to the pallet on the floor in the back of the church that had become his bed. He couldn’t go to his home. It was stained with blood and death. Oren knew it should’ve already been burned to the ground like the rest, but it had proven easier to burn down his neighbor’s homes than his own. Closing his tired eyes, he drifted off to dream of better times.
A woman’s voice speaking his name startled him from his sleep. Once he cleared his mind, he assumed it would be one of the few remaining villagers there to ask that he remove one of their newly dead loved ones. It happened frequently. But looking up, he was met with the piercing gaze of bright green eyes. Her long blond hair was pulled back tightly, making her face look harsh. She was like nothing he'd ever seen—definitely not one of his neighbors. Her skin had an unnatural glow that outshined the candles lighting the small stone church where she looked down on him.
The man beside her wore a slightly more pleasant expression, almost amused. He was tall and slender. The same strange glow shined from him, but his golden eyes and messy dark hair made him less intimidating than her.
They were both dressed in gold colored robes tied neatly at the waist, and carried strange marks on the top of their hands that glowed with blue light. They looked like layers of wounds that healed into blue scars in a curvy lined pattern. He tried not to stare but it was almost impossible not to. He reasoned that since it had to be a dream, it didn’t much matter if his long looks came across as insulting.
When he didn't speak, she spoke his name again in a softer voice, perhaps sensing she’d startled him.
“Oren Sanders.” She tipped her head down, making eye contact with him. “My name is Eva and my companion is Andrew—we are Akori. You will come with us, we need your help.”
As if he was being willed to do it, and thinking perhaps he’d wake up any moment anyway, Oren got to his feet. Normally he would’ve questioned her odd request, but he didn’t—he had no desire to.
Leaving with them felt like the most normal, reasonable thing he had been asked to do recently. No part of him felt any danger as he obediently followed them from the church past the cries in the night of the sick and suffering.
Oren watched as Andrew reached over and took Eva’s hand, whispering in her ear. Eva simply responded with a nod.
Chapter 1
“It’s not coming—there’s no way he’d move it back here after what happened last time,” he said, kicking at the sand. “Let’s go.”
Her hair was whipping around from the strong breeze coming off the ocean and she gathered it, pulling it into a bun at her neck. “He’s dying and he has no heir to take his position as the Overseer—he has no choice.”
He cut his eyes at her. “In nearly 250 years the Sanders family has never moved it to the same place twice. We’re wasting our time.”
“Remember, before they were trying to keep it hidden by moving it to a different place every year,” she said, “but Fate can’t afford to do that this time. He needs to make sure every Akori knows right where to find it.”
“Even if it does show up here, that still doesn’t get us any closer to getting the Overseer’s Stone, or figuring out how to get the power from it.”
She put her hand up at him. “One thing at a time—first we need Tremain. They said it’ll be here tonight. ”
“Yeah, based on information from someone who may or may not still be on our side.”
“Don’t let them hear you say that. A lot of planning and time went into getting to this point.” She raised her arm, pointing across the beach. “That guy over there’s been watching the same place we have all night. He was there when we got here earlier.”
“I noticed.” He squinted his eyes in the man’s direction. It was difficult to see through only moon light. “He doesn’t really look like he’s trying to hide it either.”
“Think he’s one of their people? Maybe they sent him ahead to make sure it was safe.”
“Not sure. Stay here, I’ll go check him—” He gasped and took a few steps forward. “Look!”
A faint blue glowing began swelling up from the ground in the empty beachfront lot ahead of them. They watched from behind the tall grass growing along the edge of the sand as an ancient looking estate took shape.
She walked up behind him and slipped her hands up his shoulders. “Let’s get out of here before one of their scouts spot us.”
As if she hadn’t even spoken, the man began walking quickly toward the twenty-foot tall stone walls surrounding
“C’mon, we need to report it’s here,” she said in a hushed voice. “And the guy who was watching is gone—he probably saw us.”
The man glanced at her quickly as he reached the corner of the wall. He pressed his hand flat against the stone. “It’s freezing.”
She reached up and placed her hand next to his. “It just came from somewhere cold—really cold.”
He tipped his head back, looking up. She followed his eyes and they both stared up at a fifty-foot tall obelisk covered with glowing blue symbols. There was one standing at each corner of the wall. The top of the wall was covered with several inches of snow that glowed against the dark sky above them.
He grinned at her. “Let’s just take a fast look around.”
She looked back at him with uncertainty, but followed behind him as he began moving. They skirted the edge of the wall until they came to an archway. There was a gate, but it was wide open.
She grabbed his arm, stopping him. “Just a quick peek?”
He nodded and continued through the opening to the estate. The ground under their feet was covered in a thin layer of slushy snow. It was melting fast in the heat and soaked through their shoes. The smell of soggy wet earth was already beginning to fill the air.
They looked around to find themselves standing at the far end of the grounds—it looked similar to a garden with benches, hedges, statues, and leafless trees. There was even an empty swimming pool surrounded by tables and chairs layered with snow.
Every building in sight was made of grey stone and carved with symbols. Stone paths branched off of a main walkway in different directions, each ending at one of the small stone houses that lined the edge of the garden. At the end of it, straight ahead of them, was the enormous main house. It was on the opposite end from where they’d entered and took up the entire space.
The woman leaned over. “It looks just like the drawings we saw in the—”
“Shhh! Get down.” He grabbed her arm and pulled her behind the snow topped hedges.
They held their breath and watched as two men passed by, heading for the front gate. Once the men were out of view the woman closed her eyes and shook her head.
“We gotta get out of here,” she whispered, backing toward the way they came. “If we get caught they’ll—“
Suddenly the man was thrown to the ground, sinking in the sloppy melting snow. The woman started to flee but couldn’t get any traction and slipped. She was quickly grabbed from behind; a hand was firmly placed over her lips. The glowing blue symbols on the hands indicated they belonged to an Akori.
An angry voice filled her ear. “What the hell are you two doing here?”
The man on the ground let out a huge sigh of relief as he recognized the voice. He got to his feet and shook the icy water from his hands. “Damn, I’m glad it’s only you—I thought we were done for.”
The woman was immediately released and shoved into the man. She whipped around to face the one who’d had a hold on her.
“Well, don’t you look—different,” she said, sizing up their aggressor. “I haven’t seen you in at least—”
“Get out, before you screw up the entire plan. Let them know we’ve got the girl under control and she won’t be an issue—no matter what happens. I’ll visit as soon as it’s safe.”
“Will do,” the man said. He took her hand, pulling her toward the beach. “We’ve seen enough anyway.”
Standing in the garden, Addy stared out at the ocean in the distance. It was hard to believe just yesterday she’d been looking at snow capped mountains from that exact spot. It was by far the most wonderful place they’d ever been. Usually, the landscape looked pretty much the same the morning after the estate moved to a new location. Addy was shocked when she woke up and found they were in the middle of a busy tourist town, right on the beach.
The morning after a move, everyone who lived at Tremain gathered together and Addy’s grandfather Fate would say a few words. She looked on as people slowly migrated to the garden to listen to him speak.
Addy spotted her grandfather’s childhood friend Bernard and his wife Doris entering from her left. Only five humans, including her and her grandfather, lived at Tremain. They were two of them. The other human was Addy’s best friend Kim.
Bernard and Doris both looked up and waved to Addy then began walking toward her. Her favorite thing about Bernard was that under his harmless looking exterior, he wasn’t harmless at all. Despite standing at about five foot eight inches, and being a bit on the portly side in his old age, he was much stronger than he looked.
“Good morning,” Bernard said, “This place was quite a surprise.”
“Surprise doesn’t cover it.” Addy put her hands up, motioning around. “Why’d he move us here? Not that I’m complaining.”
“I’m as baffled as you are,” he said, following her eyes. “I had no idea we were coming here of all places.”
Doris pointed toward the winding stone staircase leading from the terrace off the dining room to the garden. “They look as thrilled as you are.”
Addy looked up and watched as her friends Matt and Renee made their way down the steps to the garden. Matt was three years older than her, but he turned out to be one of Addy’s best friends. Their uncle Josh was waiting for them at the bottom of the stone steps.
Bernard smiled as Matt grabbed Renee and messed up her hair before walking away to talk to someone else. “How many years has it been since the three of them moved here?”
“It was fifteen years last month. Goodness, where does the time go?” Doris looked up at Addy. “We’re going to have to stop calling you kids soon.”
“I remember the first day they showed up at the door. Matt and Renee were both clinging to Josh.” Bernard shaded his eyes and looked over at Josh and Renee, who were still standing by the stairs. “They were maybe five and seven. Matt was so protective of her they had to sleep in the same room for months.”
Matt was only about two years older than Renee, who’d just turned twenty, but he still treated her like a kid. She was one of the few Akori born without any powers.
“I remember that. We were so little then—they were sad all the time.” Addy pushed her slipping sunglasses back up on her nose. “I think I was four.”
Doris nodded. “All Matt could talk about was how many days until his parents came back. The fact it would be years was too much to wrap his little head around.”
“Well, it’ll only be a few more years now.” Bernard pressed his index finger to his chin. “They’ve been Scattered fifteen, so maybe five more.”
“Their parents shouldn’t have been using their powers anyway,” Doris said, shaking her head. “It’s irresponsible to risk leaving your children like that.”
When an Akori completely depleted his or her powers they disappeared, or Scattered as they called it. That’s what happened to Matt and Renee’s parents. Once their power built back up they’d rematerialize. The problem was that it took around twenty years to happen.
Addy never really thought much about the Akori’s powers, but she agreed it was wrong for any Akori to risk Scattering when they had children depending on them. “Since the only thing their powers are good for anyway is slightly shifting time, it does kind of seem like they could’ve just stopped using them.”
Regardless of their power, Akori were essentially humans to Addy—but she’d never say that to them. Aside from the blue symbols marking the tops of their hands, they looked exactly like humans.
“We don’t know the circumstances surrounding what happened, and it’s not our place to judge.” Bernard reached over and took Doris’s hand. “Let’s go take a look around. I’ll see you when your grandfather comes out, Addy.”
The garden was getting crowded but her grandfather still wasn’t anywhere in sight. Glancing at the time on her phone, she also started wondering what was taking her friend Kim so long to come out to the garden. Addy headed down the sidewalk toward her villa to get her.
Seeing the estate without any snow was like looking at a whole different place. The grass was soggy, but there wasn’t one single patch of the white stuff left in sight.
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