Ancient Relics (Shadow of the Ancients Book 1)

Ancient
Relics

Shadow of the Ancients -
Book
1

2
^nd
Edition

By Ellema Ummia

© 2015-2016 Tusk and Hoof Publications

Louisville, KY, United States of America

ISBN-13: 978-1537468105

ISBN-10: 1537468103

Authored by Ellema Ummia

Edited by Kenneth W. Sweeney

1
^st
Edition Cover Art by Megan Creech

2
^nd
Edition Cover Art by Kenneth W.
Sweeney

Concept Creation by Kenneth W. Sweeney

Tusk and Hoof Publications is an intellectual
property of The Tusk and Hoof Corporation. Ancient Relics is produced by Tusk
and Hoof Publications and published through Amazon.com, Inc. subsidiaries
CreateSpace.com and Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP).

Special thanks to the following:

Writers Helping Writers FB Group

Aubrey Rich, Alan Seeger, Barry Knister, Arabella
Wraye, Marilyn Davis, Sallianne Hines, Curtis Berry, Zinjy Qatheworld, and
April Wilson-Nolen.

Indie Writers Unite! FB Group

Elaine Raco Chase, Joan Szechtman, Craig Robertson,
Jon Waugh, Sarah Merchant, and Jolea B. Minnick.

Pat's First Kindle Book (From Start To Finish) FB Group

Hyneck Palatin, Derek Murphy, Philip Obermarck, and
Gail Seymour.

Cover Art was created using GIMP 2 photo editor.

Images used to create the cover include:

“AT-13763 Kuppelfigur Athene am Kunsthistorischen
Museum 8970”, by user Hubertl and downloaded from Wikimedia Commons under
license Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International.

“Artist’s impression of the quasar 3C 279”, by
ESO/M. Kornmesser from the European Space Observitory and downloaded from
Wikimedia Commons under the license Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
International.

“Evil comes with black sunrise;

It comes to make its dark reprise.

Veiled in smoke it comes for all;

Each world it claims will surely fall.

The Reapers come for mortal souls,

to stoke the flames of ember coals.

The Fallen Realms will burn once more;

To hold its vigil at death's door.

Fallen souls hear the Abyssal word;

From realm to realm it can be heard.

A call to arms the darkness calls;

From fallen realms to the crystal halls.

The Nine trumpet about their odds,

for, now they believe that they are gods.

Darkened souls and darkened minds,

the darkness blinds while evil binds.”

- Ellema (Era of Man, Mid-Phoenix Epoch)

For eons, I have remained silent in my observation
of the dealings between the Asein and the lesser races. For this reason I am
known to lesser races as Silent Ellema.

I have only come forward to break this silence
in-order to relate the events of the late Phoenix Epoch and prepare those who
read these tales for the coming battle.

War propagated by the battle-forged Asein of the
Continuum, and the fallen ranks of Asein corrupted by the Etutu, rage on since
time primordial.

Such conflict led to the disappearance of science,
math, history, and culture out of the ages that predate this age. As a result,
many civilizations throughout this realm have forgotten the tales of old.

Tales such as the plague of the Etutu that infects
the Asein, and the darkness that came to birth from the War of the First Ones.

It is with a heavy heart that I must prepare your
people for a war that will decide the fate of life and the living consciousness
of the Source, called the Or’I.

In my teachings, I relay that all precautions must
be taken to protect the knowledge of life at any expense other than taking a
life in return. However, in this undertaking, lives will be lost for the
greater good of the all, including the Or’I.

There is a place called the Napistum Dimtu located
beyond the bounds of the Pandor'I realm. The Chief of the Regalis, Ase
Iduazagu, constructed the Napistum Dimtu by using the Or'I source energy to
form a single crystal-like tower.

She fashioned enclaves and hallways within the
structure until the tower became more like a grand shining tree of luminescent
crystal.

The upper portion, called the Ellenu, housed the two
early Asein factions.

Each faction maintained the precepts of the Or'I in
accordance to the dexter and sinister halves of the Or'I consciousness. The
dexter half, or right half, was the Zumru of Thoht, while the Zumru of Regalis
formed the sinister half.

Zumrus are schools of thought, where the Asein of
each half would congregate to discuss the dealings of the moment.

Within the lower portion of the Napistum Dimtu,
called the Arallu, are housed the Babbu.

Babbu are the gateways to each of the realms and are
part of a grand network used by the Asein.

These Babbu are made of black onyx like crystal, so
black that one could loose themselves within the darkness if not careful. The
Babbu can be reached through the main junction within the Hall of Amun'ti.

Each room within the Amun'ti Gate Complex forms a
six-sided gate room. Each of the six semi-translucent walls brilliantly shines
with a glow that seems to come from within the walls themselves.

Silver and white decorative eaves line the tops of
the walls along the ceiling and down the corners, as well as the base of the
walls along the floor.

Many of these rooms exist in the Hall of Amun'ti,
each with seven pedestals, called Asar.

Each Babbu has an Asar mounted before it, and each
wall has its own Babbu.

Fashioned from completely clear crystal pillars with
a bowl shaped enclave mounted on top, the Asar can be used by the Asein to view
into the realms for which each Babbu is destined. The pillar comes-up about a
meter and a half, which makes it easy for us to peer down into the mercurial
pool that sits within the bowl.

The Asar can be used to not only view the events
unfolding within the destination's realm, but act as a communication device to
those connected realm.

The vibrant blue and purple portals that form inside
the circular center of the Babbu, while active, connect to only one realm each.

Commonly found in the Babbu chambers is the Chief of
the Guardian faction, Ase Anesidora.

Being an Ase, Anesidora stands higher than most of
the Asein, standing at three and a half meters tall. She frequents the Babbu
rooms to search for recruits for her relatively new faction from throughout the
realms of the Or'I.

With her straight platinum blonde hair draped over
one shoulder, she peers into the Pandor'I Asar.

Caught within the gaze of her beautifully glowing
royal-blue eyes, Anesidora watches intently as the focus of her attention
conducts her duty.

Behind her, another Asein by the name of Adelaide
joins her in the gate-room.

“The Council is gathering to meet on the fate of
Pandor’I,” Adelaide says in a soft voice as if not to disturb Anesidora.

“I shall be with them in a moment,” Anesidora kindly
replies.

Adelaide approaches the Asar and looks in to see
what has Anesidora’s concentration so attentively locked.

Looking into the image created within the basin of
the Asar, the two see a young Tharisian woman in combat armor running with a
small force of likewise dressed warriors.

The Tharisian people are a humanoid race, and by all
definition human.

Average in height compared to the other races of the
Pandor’I realm, Tharisians stand between a meter to a meter and a half tall
with a moderate build on average.

Hair colors range from silvery-blonde to
golden-blonde, light brown to dark brown and black, and shades of red ranging
from almost orange to the fire red color of Iduazagu's hair.

Adelaide seems naive to the on-goings of the lesser
races, as are most Asein of the Continuum.

The existence of the Asein race predates the
recorded histories within the realms of the Or'I, and they have only just begun
to understand the concept of time tracking during the most recent of Epochs of
their history.

“Have you discovered a new Sentinel, Ase Anesidora?”
Adelaide inquires of her Mistress.

Anesidora grows a slight, almost unnoticeable, smile
as she proudly confirms, “I have indeed, and I believe she may be the Parasu
for Pandor’I.”

Parasu in the language of the Asein means 'decider.'

During each realm's Purussum, the Parasu decide the
fate of their realm by using the Tablet of Destinies, called the Dup Shimati.

The Continuum chooses only one Parasu for each realm
once in every Purussum, or galactic rotation.

With the Dup Shimati in-hand, the Parasu uses its
power to set the course of the future and correct any misalignment in the
timeline caused by the Xulzeru of the Fallen Asein.

Adelaide nods in understanding with Anesidora’s
appointment for the young Tharisian woman.

“Let us go to the council meeting now. The rest must
surely be ready and waiting for us,” Anesidora says as she waves her hand over
the Asar to close the interface.

As a superior race to the more mortal lesser races,
the Asein have an elevated mental clarity and abilities associated to gods of
the lesser races.

The abilities of the Asein include the ability to
manifest within specific moments in time and they can manipulate time-space.

Because of the dangers of manipulating the timeline,
the Continuum vows not to interact with it any longer.

For this reason they choose a Parasu, and use the
Dup Shimati as the vessel of power for attuning the realm on its designed path.

Adelaide and Anesidora turn to the gate-room’s
center to use the room's Asar terminal and exit into the Hall of Amun’ti.

From the Hall of Amun’ti, Anesidora and her
counter-part make their way up from the Arallu to the Asru Emqu, or Hall of
Wisdom, which is located in the center between the Arralu and Ellenu.

The Asru Emqu is the meeting place of the Asein to
discuss matters of importance, and debate points of contention with all other
Asein.

It is a fairly plain circular room, encircled by
steps wide enough for the council to be seated in their designated spots.

In the middle of the room is the flow of the Or’I
consciousness, or Source energy, radiating down like a waterfall of pure
consciousness.

The energy flows into every corner throughout the
realms of the Or’I, keeping all within attuned to its consciousness frequency.

It was here in the Asru Emqu that the early Aseins
asked the question that would lead to creation of the Etutu, the Xulzeru, and
the fall of worlds.

We call this question the Inim Kus, or 'Words of
Destruction.'

As Adelaide and Anesidora enter the Asru Emqu,
Anesidora makes her way to the speaker’s place, which is a round platform near
the center of the room.

It is slightly elevated from the floor, and has a
crystalline podium attached to it, which is not much dissimilar to the Asar of
the Babbu.

While this Asar could still be used, it is not used
any longer, causing the Arran Sentinels of the Guardians to observe it as
merely a decorative fixture.

Adelaide takes her seat with the other council members
as Anesidora prepares to begin her dialog with the council.

Genevieve, the Grand Master of the Continuum,
announces a call to order from the Continuum.

As with many Asein, Genevieve stands tall, with fine
silver hair, and lightly-glowing gray eyes.

Some Asein have white eyes that appear to glow or
radiate energy, while others have darker eyes that are difficult to see any
hint of radiance.

In the School of Regalis, many Asein have hair like
fire and eyes as black as the darkness of the deep.

All Asein stand, on average, more than a meter
taller than the humanoids of the lesser races.

Many of the leaders stand yet taller.

With a bolstering voice that echoes throughout the
Asru Emqu, Genevieve announces, “I hereby call this meeting to order.”

She moves the meeting into progression by saying,
“The first issue at hand is to discuss is the plight of the realm of Pandor’I.
Anesidora will start with her opening remarks.”

Anesidora takes her queue and begins, “The forces of
the Xulzeru have taken far too much territory. A stand must be taken, and I
predict the Trillian galaxy is the place for this confrontation.”

Adelaide motions for proof by asking, “What evidence
do you have for this calculation?”

“The Sentinels have brought to my attention that the
forces of the Xulzeru begin, as we speak, to mount a raid on the Trillian
galaxy and its remaining Babbu complexes,” Anesidora dutifully replies.

She further explains, “Their intention is to take
control of the Babbu network in Pandor’I. As you know, the hub complex for the
Pandor’I gate network is in the Trillian galaxy.”

Genevieve looks around the room to gather the
thoughts of the council, and then looks back to Anesidora before commenting,
“We have lost far too many of our kind as it is. Why should we risk any more
for the sake of territory claims?”

Anesidora understands the plight Grand Master
Genevieve refers.

The War of the First Ones stole the lives of
millions of Asein in a struggle over the Hall of Amun’ti.

Anesidora owes her own existence to the sacrifice of
Iduazagu herself, leading out of that revolt.

With steel resolve Anesidora asks, “Have you all
forgotten my duties? Have you forgotten why we are at war? Should we simply
just let the Fallen take over everything before we begin to respond? By then,
it may be too late to act.”

After a very brief pause to let the questions sink
in she adds, “We must make a stand against the Xulzeru, and the Trillian galaxy
is the location for this stand. Failure to do so is ill-advised.”

The council collects their thoughts again.

After a thorough examination of the evidence
presented, Grand Master Genevieve announces, “The majority agrees. One of the
council must send emissaries to the Trillian galaxy to gather forces, and gauge
the probability of attack and the probability of success if we defend it.”

Adelaide responds to the call, “I will be willing to
make this sacrifice. There is much to learn of these lesser races and I wish to
see them for myself.”

Anesidora asks Adelaide for a favor before she
departs, “While your emissaries are there, will you send one to the woman we
viewed in the Pandor'I Asar? There is much she needs to be prepared for, and
the Sentinels have their attention occupied elsewhere.”

Adelaide bows her head honorably as she replies, “I
will do this for you, Ase of the Guardians.”