Magic Stars (Universe on Fire Book 3) Read online

  MAGIC STARS

  UNIVERSE ON FIRE SERIES

  BY IVAN KAL

  Copyright © 2019 by Ivan Kal

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  If you liked this book, please consider leaving a review on Amazon. Reviews are appreciated!

  Sign up to my mailing list to be notified when a new book is released: Mailing List

  Contact the author:

  https://www.ivankal.com/

  Facebook.com/ivankalauthor

  [email protected]

  Table of Contents

  PROLOGUE

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  INTERLUDE I

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  INTERLUDE II

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  INTERLUDE III

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  INTERLUDE IV

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  INTERLUDE V

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  EPILOGUE

  PROLOGUE

  Space was on fire—an entire star system consumed with an energy storm that prevented anything from passing through.

  Or at least most things. The energy storms were a common occurrence in the Neutral Zone, the former heart of the Zhal’Qash Empire. What remained here were only broken worlds and scars left by the ancient war between them and one of their subject races, the Val’ayash. The entire Neutral Zone was considered one of the most dangerous places in this area of space, and entrance to it was controlled by the two remnants of the old Empire: the Zhal Confederation and the Qash’vo’tar. The Val’ayash had been considered dead, extinct ever since the end of the war, but they were not. Deep within the system, in the eye of the storm, several planets and a star survived. The eye of the storm was filled with ships, stations, and orbital platforms. There were hundreds of crescent shipyards in the star’s orbit, as well as refineries and mining operations around gas giants. There were entire planets covered with cities. The storm protected the system from prying eyes.

  This was the home of the Val’ayash…and something else.

  The stranger, who was by some called Oxylus, had only recently learned all of this. He did not make a habit of learning about the history of every universe he visited, as he rarely stayed for long. He was not a native, wasn’t born in this universe; in fact, he was a being capable of traveling the multiverse at will, one of the rare few who could achieve such a thing.

  But his task did not include meddling in the affairs of those who were still mortal. His task was singular: find Chaos and Order, and kill them. The two beings were in many ways like him, while in others they couldn’t be more alien. He had been clashing with them for a long time, and now he had found a universe that they were developing for their purpose. They had a variety of ways to accomplish their goals, but the one they used most often was to send a representative of a kind, a herald, to guide and twist an entire race to their purpose—and Oxylus had cause to believe that the Val’ayash were one such race.

  Outside of the energy storm, obscured by pieces of a broken planet, waited a massive ship. It was hundreds of kilometers long and wide, looking like blunted, elongated arrowhead. The ship itself was invisible, both to the naked eye and any sensors that people of this universe had available. But the ship was no ship at all; the compressed-matter hull made out of the most durable metal alloys from several universes was only a cover, a shell for what lay beneath.

  Oxylus sat deep inside the vessel, in the core of the being that was protected by the shell. He sat on a chair that looked much like a throne, in a round, white and blue room. There weren’t any navigation consoles, nor any consoles around at all. The ship that was not a ship did not need them. It had two things that no other vessels did: first, it was not a ship, but rather an intelligent beast that traveled the stars, one moving under its own free will. Second, there was a powerful entity that controlled all of its non-biological systems.

  A person appeared next to Oxylus, a woman dressed in a long flowing dress with hair that moved and looked as if it were on fire. The ancient AI had been a constant companion to the stranger since long before he became what he was.

  The AI’s avatar glanced at Oxylus before speaking.

  “The drone is back,” she informed him.

  “And?”

  “The incursion is there. I’ve detected traces of them on one of the moons. I couldn’t get a closer look for fear of being detected, but I believe that they have one of their fortresses there.”

  “Do you think that they built it here or that they brought it over from somewhere else?” Oxylus asked. The origin of the fortress could tell him a lot. If it had been constructed here, it would be limited by the technology of this universe, or at least its materials. If it had been brought over from another, it would be better in every way.

  “No way of knowing without taking a closer look, which could alert them to our presence,” the woman said.

  “And the rest?”

  “The system inside the storm is well defended for a galaxy of this caliber. There are a few thousand warships, of those I could count, as well as defense stations and platforms,” she answered.

  “Not much, then. Moirai could assault the system herself,” Oxylus mused.

  “Of course. The technology here isn’t on her level, but they do have some things that might be able to hurt her. In any case, these Val’ayash aren’t the issue—Chaos and Order are. I am certain they have more things hidden here, as they had last time. And if their herald is here…”

  “I could bring over our armies,” he suggested.

  “In which case all of our work is pointless. They will sense such a large incursion into this universe and know that you are here. You will not catch them unaware. We clashed with them head-on last time, and it didn’t work out so well. If we bring enough forces to overwhelm theirs they will just leave this universe, or do what they did last time.”

  Oxylus sighed, closing his eyes. “We could use assets from this universe.”

  “We don’t have enough agents here to build a fleet powerful enough to take this system. Few in this galaxy have such technology.”

  “There are the humans,” he offered.

  “In another fifty to a hundred years, perhaps. Do you want to wait that long?”

  “I could,” Oxylus told her.

  “But you won’t.”

  “But I won’t,” Oxylus agreed. “We could help the humans along a bit. These Val’ayash are feared and hated; a bit of e
ncouragement and the humans, Zhal and these Qash’vo’tar could form a fleet powerful enough to invade the system. I could then tag along, keeping myself hidden, and strike at them when they don’t expect me.”

  “If one of their heralds is here, you would be leaving yourself open to attack,” the woman said.

  Oxylus frowned. “Perhaps we can find someone here to deal with the herald.”

  The woman snorted. “There are no people here powerful enough. None had broken through before the two universes clashed, and these ‘mages’ are all weak.”

  “They are weak now, but perhaps we could change that,” Oxylus said, an idea forming in his mind.

  “What are you thinking?” she asked.

  “Ethorria. I haven’t looked closely, but I did detect a few powerful beings on that world,” Oxylus said.

  “You want to enlist their help? If the Titans find out that you are meddling with their worlds, they’ll be pissed.”

  “They already are.”

  “True, but they haven’t acted against you yet,” she reasoned.

  “They will eventually,” Oxylus said with a wave of his hand. “It’s inevitable—they’re too arrogant to allow someone as powerful as I to act without their oversight. They fear Chaos and Order too much.”

  “Perhaps, but going to Ethorria without being sensed by one of them will be difficult,” the woman said.

  “All things of worth are. It will pay off in the end,” Oxylus said, making his decision.

  The woman sighed and then disappeared, and a large mind that had been listening to the conversation suddenly sent a thought his way.

  “NO FIGHTING NOW?”

  “No,” Oxylus sent back. “Not yet. Soon.”

  He felt her displeasure, but she understood; and, pulling her mind back, she left him alone with his thoughts.

  CHAPTER ONE

  Captain Kane Reinhart stood next to Admiral Leon Villanueva and watched as their convoy prepared for departure. It was more than he had assumed would be coming on this mission. He was back on Ethorria, after a week of leave on Earth, preparing for a trip to one of the city states of this world. He had spent the last week with Aiko, having some quiet and relaxing time on a beach. They deserved it after the last several years spent in space. But now they were being separated, which was a bit hard. They had spent every day together for years, but she had been assigned to the new super carrier, the Fury, and would spend the better part of the next year at Senka overseeing upgrades to the ship as well as developing tactics and a doctrine for the Fleet. It was a boring job, but someone had to do it.

  The negotiations with the Qash’vo’tar and the Zhal were underway and United Terran Systems were sharing their magi-tech with them, even teaching their people for whom it worked. They were keeping the best parts to themselves, of course, and they hadn’t revealed Ethorria yet—they’d just told them that they had been studying the phenomenon, one originating from an unspecified event that had changed the laws of nature. Kane wondered if they would be able to keep Ethorria a secret for much longer, but they only needed to hold out just until they built up a few more ships and magi-tech weapons that would keep Earth safe.

  But Earth was not his problem now. The convoy was heading to one of the city states of Ethorria. The city in question, Emerith, was an old one, and was apparently one of the more powerful forces on this world. Ethorria didn’t have kingdoms or nations, but rather was fractured into much smaller entities that resembled city states. They didn’t know much aside from what they could learn from interactions with traders and diplomatic teams who came to the portal. People from Earth were yet to truly be allowed into Ethorria. A few of their own traders had made trips to the closest city state, Epoch, and they did have a sort of an embassy there, but so far they had not been invited to other city states—until now. This was the first time they had been, and it was a great opportunity for them. Because they had not only been invited to a different city state, they had been invited to a summit between most city states on this continent, the purpose of which they still didn’t know.

  The military and their Intelligence Sector didn’t know much at all about the state or politics of this world, or this universe in general. They knew that they weren’t contained to this planet, that they traveled to others, but they did not use spaceships to do so. Instead, they had something that they called the World Gates, and IS was very interested in finding out everything that they could about them.

  Aside from their being invited to the summit, the greatest opportunity was from the location: Emerith was the seat of the Deravi Magical Academy, one of the most powerful and prestigious academies on this world. It was an opportunity for them to get some eyes on real magical doctrine. So far, Earth had relied on their alliance with the Wanderers and their spellscripts, but they lacked a great deal of knowledge concerning magic. They didn’t know how to teach it, or how to even cast spells, and any knowledge like that would be a huge boon to Earth.

  The convoy consisted of twenty-two troopers, mostly mundane ones. Their equipment was what had been standard for Earth for over a century. The combat suits were the latest designs, however—made out of kotarium and plastic Kevlar that covered their torso, they also had a standard military helmet, with additional plates over their thighs and forearms. The new Kevlar was surprisingly light, but that was because the inside of it had spellscripts that reduced the weight and were powered by ambient magic. It didn’t reduce the weight completely, though, which was why it could be powered by ambient magic rather than requiring a power cell.

  That part of their equipment was the only thing that had spellscripts. Every United Terran Systems infantry man had military-grade mods implanted. They had temperature-regulating mods to allow them to survive in extreme conditions, ocular mods that allowed them to see in the dark as well as to modify the light intensity, and finally battle-stims mods that they could activate and use in variety of ways. Their weapons consisted of the military-standard assault rifle NK37, a rifle that was based on the old-world HK-G36. The newly developed technologies and advancements in material sciences meant that it was now a fairly lightweight weapon that was almost twice as durable as what it had been based on. The optical sight was a smart device that could adjust the magnification based on inputs from the user’s implant. With thirty-five rounds in a magazine, it was the backbone of the military—or used to be, before the Qash’vo’tar arrived and they discovered magitech.

  The Admiral and Kane had agreed that they should not bring only their newest weapons and technologies. Most of it was magitech based, and they were now going deep into the world that knew magic far better than they. They did not want to get into a situation that would have them lose their magitech options to something unforeseen.

  Of course, they did carry some more advanced weapons, too. They each had a laser rifle attached to the modular racks on their back. The laser rifle, the LS-2, was a newly designed weapon, and was able to collapse into a more compact size. Most of the soldiers had them mounted on their lower backs, as their upper backs held another newly developed toy: a portable infantry jump pack. They weren’t as good as the ones that Kane’s CES suit had, but they would allow them to traverse various inhospitable terrains as well as reposition or gain an advantage in a fight. Some of the troops had different weapons, from snipers to shotguns and grenade launchers, but most carried the NK37 and LS-2 rifles.

  These soldiers were something that this world had never seen before, but they were also going into a world that they had no real knowledge about. The infantry were getting into their rides. The two armored vehicles were both completely mundane as well, each based on the old reconnaissance vehicles, about eight meters in length and weighing over twelve tonnes. The BV-17s were hover vehicles, one of the few such designed that weren’t also magitech. They were necessary for this trip, as Ethorria didn’t really have roads that could allow them to achieve any kind of great speed in wheeled vehicles.

  They were also bringing two Senka de
signed and built magitech tanks. Kane looked to the side where they were parked just next to the base gates. The strange white tanks were hovercraft as well, and their turret was a two-pronged fork that didn’t have a barrel. Kane had seen them in action and knew that they were powerful. Aside from them they were also bringing three mech-frames. Kane’s Leviathan, and those of his teammates: the Orion and the Artemis, piloted by Lt. Imari Okoye and Lt. Commander Erika Hansen, respectively. The three mech-frames were perhaps the most magical of their weapons, as they were in fact awakened golems augmented with Earth tech. At nearly twenty eight meters tall, wide and bulky, with their silvery sheen and weapons mounted on arms, they were terrifying to look upon. They had a humanoid proportions and likeness, as a golem couldn’t be awakened unless it resembled the mage that awakened them. They were powerful weapons, but Kane had already seen the writing on the wall. They would soon be obsolete; already Earth had stopped producing them. Their experiment had been a success, but they were just not viable going forward. Fighters were the way of the future, as they didn’t require a bond with a mage, but could still use magi-tech. A loss of a fighter wasn’t as big as a loss of a mech-frame and a mage. Still, for special missions they were a unique and valuable asset.

  Another vehicle that was part of their convoy was a large, twenty-meter-long mobile command center. It resembled the trucks of old, complete with trailer, except far more advanced: magi-tech shields, hover capability, satellite com dishes on top, and two missile launchers. It was where their support staff alongside some scientists and diplomats were going to stay. But the last vehicle was probably the most important: their mobile power plant. The fusion core was inside the cylindrical vehicle that was their recharging station. Nearly all of Earth technology since they were conquered by the Qash’vo’tar relied on batteries. Their power cells were the best that they had encountered even out there among the other races, and with them being able to tap into them for their spellscripts they were indispensable. While they had pushed further than anyone in the area of power storage, the cells still needed to be recharged eventually. They had no idea how long they would be away, so bringing a source of power was of utmost urgency.