NOVEL NEXT 71: Prologue: Something Is Coming
Earthens, we are back with the second volume of the Ayela Arcana bringing you rare knowledge from the mysterious sphere of Shurwinn, the land of our reclusive cousins in Andromeda Galaxy. The story began in Book One where you learned of those with unusual abilities and even stranger reveries.
You met Ryst Nova and discovered the man who was in her dreams. What did Dr. Nova find when she boarded that starliner for Sturm?
Her best friend Peydran found his one and only in Ren Crieve. What did they do when Ryst left them on Shurwinn?
You thought you learned who Sibsil Creed was, but did you find out who wrote the songs? Once you understand the lyrics, you'll know the truth of Creed and the Known Cosmos Earth Press.
The slow burn is over, so get ready for the heat. Sibsil Creed promised happy endings, so let's be about it. There are mysteries to unravel and stories to tell.
Aren't you going to turn the page?
NOTE: Our audience is everyday readers, not academics, so numerical values (dates, units of measure, time) have been translated into common English to preserve the flow of the storytellers. To those who take issue with our decision to do so, you are entitled to your opinion. In other words, "Fuck off."
- Known Cosmos Earth Press, 2861
In the year 2334, the humans of Earth developed spacecraft that they thought would carry them out of Sol System. But they were surprised at what they found. When they reached the orbital plane of Neptune, a vast armada appeared, blocking their exit—a fleet of starliners too numerous to count, each waving a white flag of peace. The Earth ships received transmissions in English, Hindi, and Arabic: "This is a diplomatic retinue. May we meet for trade negations?"
And so the Earthens learned that beyond Sol was a collaboration of spheres, unified by a desire for peace. Nine Galaxies—populated by humans. There was no war. There were no governments; there were Trade Guilds—Manufacturing, Prison, Hospitality, Medica, Education, and so on.
The 9 Galaxies operated on a corporate structure. If your business succeeded, you had prosperity. If your business fell out of favor with the Guilds, you had no Trade partners and floundered. Weapons manufacturing did not exist, for no one would purchase weapons, and no one would trade with anyone who made them. Murder was unheard of.
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Earthens had to choose. They could adapt, form their own Trade Guild structure, and join the 9 Galaxies. They would be welcomed. They could Trade for sophisticated technology, allowing for faster cross-galactic travel. There was a Universal language, with many cognates in the Earthen languages.
For whilst Earthens had thought themselves alone in the Cosmos, humans from the 9 Galaxies had been in their midst. The choice was up to them: change their sphere into Trade Guilds and partner with the 9 Galaxies, or remain isolated in Sol. For murderers were not allowed freedom of movement in the 9 Galaxies.
In 2337, Earth joined the Known Cosmos. This is a story of what followed.
- Sibsil Creed, Stories of Shurwinn, (2764)
Recreating the history of Shurwinn is a task no historian relishes for the peoples were disparate and their objectives varied. But what we have been able to piece together is that a band of misfits on Earth rejected authority around the time Earth joined the 9 Galaxies in 2337.
Distrustful, these mostly vegetarian pacifists decided that they couldn't rely on the leaders of Earth to make decisions for them. They thought that the warring governments of the past would continue in a new form. So, they rejected what everyone else had surrendered to and devised their own plan. A wide, wide variety of people pooled together, invested in starliners, and colonized an undesirable desert sphere in far-off Andromeda Galaxy.
Shrewd business skills and masterful marketing made the separatists a powerhouse in the Trade Guilds. They chose to be isolationist and marketed themselves as such, creating a demand for exclusive Shurwinn products across the Known Cosmos. Despite their isolationist philosophy, they were a remarkably successful colony.
There is much, much more to the story, however. And far more can be told about the reclusive, secretive Shurwinn.
- Sibsil Creed, Stories of Shurwinn, (2777)
RYST
Journal
Four years— Four years!— since I last crossed Andromeda on a starliner and relocated to Shurwinn. It's different this time, though. I'm not shaking with anxiety wondering why I can hear the thoughts of every person aboard. I'm not panicking about surviving an attempt on my life.
No, I went to Shurwinn and excavated layers of truth about my reality: the one I'm living personally and the one that is going on all around me.
I know something isn't right in the Known Cosmos. We think that eliminating war gave us peace and prosperity, but I know better. When my head was split open and I lay dying, I saw something. Some other place. And I have never been the same. I sense everyone and everything. I hear people's thoughts and feel their feelings. I know just how miserable humanity is and how deeply all life in the 9 Galaxies suffers.
No, I am not well. I still struggle with mysterious symptoms for which my medica colleagues can provide no explanation. But I don't have to understand it to know that something is very wrong.
I touched another world as I lay on the threshold between life and death, so I know that there is more for us. I just don't know how to find it.
Perhaps this trip to Sturm is one more step on my way. Yes, I'm going in search of the man who haunts my dreams. I'm closer than I've ever been to reaching him, and he just might be on Sturm. But he isn't the only thing hounding me.
It's the tangle. It dogs my every step, pressing in on me, pushing from within me:
Something is coming. Something is coming. Something is coming.
Get ready, Ahtah. When I find you, something is coming for us.