When Worlds Collide: Solarian Chronicles I Read online

  Mallory Anderson

  When Worlds Collide

  Book One of the Solarian Chronicles

  First published by Mallory Anderson 2021

  Copyright © 2021 by Mallory Anderson

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise without written permission from the publisher. It is illegal to copy this book, post it to a website, or distribute it by any other means without permission.

  This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

  Designations used by companies to distinguish their products are often claimed as trademarks. All brand names and product names used in this book and on its cover are trade names, service marks, trademarks and registered trademarks of their respective owners. The publishers and the book are not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book. None of the companies referenced within the book have endorsed the book.

  First edition

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  This is dedicated to my mother and Jo, who never told me I couldn’t do it, my father and Suzette, who made sure I paid attention in school, and to my children for putting up with my long hours behind a computer screen.

  Contents

  All the Shattered Worlds

  All-American Girl

  An Echo of Souls

  Two Lives, One Girl

  Past and Present Desires

  Dreaming of Starlight

  Stirring of Memories

  Broken Dreams

  Blades and Shadows

  Stars Bleed

  Dragon’s Blood

  Fists and Resolve

  Even Angels Fall Sometimes

  An Old Friend

  Twists and Turns

  Broken and Mended

  Ice and Snow

  Unforeseen Connections

  Silver Linings and Forgotten Birthdays

  One the Edge of a Knife

  Blood and Stars

  About the Author

  All the Shattered Worlds

  Alarm bells began ringing throughout the palace, and Angel, Princess of the planet Solaris, bolted upright. Her betrothed, Prince Sathe of the planet Elagon, jumped to his feet beside her. They heard someone racing down the hallways toward her rooms, and several seconds later, Queen Selene burst through the doors, her huge, angel-like wings flaring out. Blood and soot stained the pure white gown she wore, and the acrid tang of smoke hung heavy in the air. “You’re needed,” she said, her every breath a gasp.

  Without another word, they raced through the halls, bells still pealing frantically. Outside, they could hear the yells and screaming of people, their people, panicking. Once they were out of the Palace, there were three massive, horse-like beings waiting for them. Known as Dellings, they were very impatient, their blue eyes rolling in their large but delicate heads as they tossed anxiously, hooves sounding like bells as they pawed the cobblestone path. All three of them mounted up, and the Dellings took off at a headlong gallop no ordinary horse could compare to. “What’s happening, Mother?” Angel asked over the thunder of hooves.

  “There was a riot at the prison, and they’re all marching toward the palace, burning and killing as they go.” Queen Selene felt Sathe’s intense stare. “The Stone family started it, leading the revolt, and they’re at the head of the rebel army.”

  The Stone clan had two brothers, Kane and Malik, and two sisters, Yazmina and Ciera, and the destruction of Sathe’s home planet of Elagon, Solaris’ closest ally, had been at their hands. Sathe and his younger brother Ari had been on Solaris, but their parents, the King and Queen were killed.

  The Dellings raced through the streets, weaving their way in and out of the frightened civilians. A young child rushed into the street, and Angel leaned down, her hand fisted in her Delling’s mane, and scooped him up. Several feet down the road, safely out of the way, she deposited the screaming child on a doorstep as they swept by. Faster, Sepherino, she urged her Delling. The black mare Sathe rode, Freya, had bound herself to him, making the Elagonian prince the first non-Solarian to have ever connected with a Delling, so close were his allegiances to Solaris and the royal line.

  Up ahead, they could see smoke billowing an angry red from the huge inferno engulfing everything in sight. The entire might of the Solarian army, plus several hundred of Elagon’s remaining troops in red and black armor, stood at the ready. The archers were in back, their bows taut and arrows sighted, then the infantry stood with spears and swords, and finally there was the cavalry, the frontlines, who numbered in the thousands. They and their mounts stood silently, their blue and silver armor gleaming red from the flames.

  Damian and Diamonique met them as they made their way to the front lines, their white uniforms splashed liberally with blood. Another captain, in the red and black of Elagon, met up with Sathe. “It’s an enormous group of rebels, armed with anything and everything,” Neo said, his posture ramrod straight, his voice tense. “The Stone family marches in front of them, demanding allegiance to them, and killing everyone who refuses to join them.”

  * * *

  Several minutes later, they heard them coming, the loud laughing, vulgar war songs being sung, chants for the Royals’ deaths and more echoing up toward them. Selene moved to the very front of her troops, Angel and Sathe behind and to either side. A few minutes more, then the rioters seemed to materialize out of the smoke. Malik was the youngest at one end, then his sister Yazmina, the oldest brother Kane, and the oldest of them all, and their leader, Ciera, who was gripping the sword of a fallen guard. They all stopped as they saw the combined might of Solaris and Elagon waiting for them.

  Ciera came forward, her wild brown eyes alight with madness, showing no fear of the army waiting for them. “To the rulers of Solaris, you will abdicate from the throne, and your family will leave from this land forever, giving rule of this planet to the Stone family,” she said, her husky voice reaching them over the roar of the surrounding blaze.

  Selene laughed coldly, and the wind gusted, carrying her words effortlessly. “I would rather see my planet destroyed than to have any of you step foot in the Palace of Angels.”

  “So be it!” Ciera cried. She raised her arms, and the rebels surged forward.

  The archers released their arrows, then the mounted forces advanced, swords and spears causing chaos. The Dellings of the royals maneuvered their way through the masses, their riders concerned only with the family. Sathe quickly took down Malik before facing off against Kane, while Angel and Selene matched up against Yazmina and Ciera.

  The battle was extremely savage, and they were all cut and bloodied. They had been fighting for several minutes when they all looked up at a savage cry of victory. Angel’s eyes widened as she saw her mother fall, a wicked-looking dagger in her chest. Angel screamed, the light-weight sword just a blur of steel in her hand. She quickly dispatched Yazmina before advancing on Ciera, a wild gleam in her eyes, the four-cornered star on her forehead blazing with a bright light.

  Sathe and Kane’s battle was no less fierce, matching blow for blow, but the prince eventually wrenched the blade from Kane’s hand. The prince forced him to his knees, the tip of his broadsword to Kane’s throat. “You killed my parents; you destroyed my entire planet. Give me one reason why I shouldn’t do your body a favor and separate it from your head?” Sathe said i
n a low growl.

  Kane was silent, only a sneer on his face, and Sathe pressed the tip harder, and blood began trickling down Kane’s chest. “However, I’m not like you,” the prince replied. He dropped the sword tip and turned away, thinking him defeated. With a loud yell, Kane pulled a dagger from the top of his boot and leaped forward, sinking the blade to the hilt in Sathe’s back. His teeth bared, he jerked the blade down.

  Sathe sank to his knees and fell forward, his eyes wide with surprise. Angel caught him before he hit the ground, ripping the dagger from his back. She gently turned him so he was looking up at her. “No, no, please,” she said, tears falling like rain. “Don’t leave me.”

  He reached up and brushed her cheek. “You can do it,” he said, feeling his strength fading as blood pooled in the corner of his mouth. “You have the strength.” His hand fell away, his eyes closing. She lowered her head, tears still falling silently as her shoulders shook. Ciera and Kane grinned as they advanced on her, swords ready. Angel’s eyes flew open, and the wind began gusting violently. She still had her own sword, and she grabbed Sathe’s from his limp hand.

  She rose to her feet, spinning like a tornado, and the blades of the swords crossed, blocking her attackers’ own blades coming at her. Angel wielded the two blades easily, pushing past the crushing numbness that made her want to curl up into a ball and die. Her eyes seemed to glow from within as she caught Kane, Sathe’s broadsword buried halfway through his body. She gave a cruel smile at the stunned look on his face as he fell. She turned her stony gaze on Ciera, who just smirked, “Let’s go, your Majesty.”

  They jumped for each other, and their swords met with a shower of sparks. Ciera’s broke under the force. She tossed the broken blade away with a laugh as a red glow surrounded her hands, then threw the energy ball straight at Angel. She used her sword to deflect it, and the blade spun wildly out of her hands.

  * * *

  All fighting ceased around them, but Angel kept Ciera in her sights as the wind continued to whip around them, thunder rumbling loudly and lightning striking from the clouds. Ciera was breathing heavily, having barely dodged her own attack. “You think this is over? Not by a long shot.” She closed her eyes and began chanting in the dark language of mages long thought destroyed, and Angel’s eyes widened.

  Most of the others seemed to pick up on Angel’s unease and began drawing back slightly, fear leaping into their eyes. A small, red ball glowed, being fed from the flames surrounding them. As the fires died, the ball grew, leaving nothing but heavily smoking ruin. Ciera laughed madly as the ball reached its final massive state, flickers of flames shooting through the core with bright flashes. “Taste a little Hellfire, your Majesty!” she said in a shrill scream.

  It hit her in the chest, throwing her back as it exploded. She flew through the walls of several shops and homes before finally slamming into one that didn’t give. She fell into a heap on the ground, several chunks of wood and stone crashing down on top of her. Ciera let out a wild, cackling laugh, her fists overhead as she screamed up at the heavens, and the rioters began cheering. The combined forces of Solaris and Elagon stood in stunned silence.

  A stone rolled from the top of the pile covering Angel, then another, and they cascaded down as the heap seemed to rise and fall, as if it were breathing. Blue beams of light flickered briefly, then shot up toward the heavens from the gaps. Ciera’s laughter faded away as the debris suddenly blew away in a massive explosion of energy. As stone and wood rained down, a figure climbed to its feet. The cheers that came from the Solarians and Elagonians turned to screams of horror as they saw their queen coming toward them. An ugly, black char replaced the fair skin on her chest and throat. One wing was undamaged, still white and beautiful, but the other was skeletal, with only blackened bone remaining. What scared them the most, however, were her eyes, glowing a bright silver, and sparks of white light jumping from the star on her forehead.

  Clouds continued racing across the sky, and rain began pounding down as a thick bolt of lightning struck the ground just a few feet away. Angel floated up about twenty feet in the air. “Cute trick, Ciera,” she said. Her voice had an odd, echoing quality that raised the hair on the arms and necks of those around them. “You read the dark scrolls well, but I see you didn’t learn from the mages’ destruction. I guess I must educate you like we did them.”

  Angel held her hands at her waist, and a brilliant white light grew at a furious rate. Damian gasped, bleeding from a head wound and several cuts, his brown eyes wide. She’s going to use the Solarian Will? Does she have the strength left?

  When the ball was a little larger than the size of her head, her body began spinning, her wings wrapping around her. She started out slowly but began picking up speed. She raised her arms above her head, spinning so fast she was just a blur. “No,” Ciera said in a low whisper, then took off running.

  * * *

  Somewhere in the spinning vortex that was Angel came a dark laugh. “If you know what’s coming, then you should know running is futile. The Will has already locked on your energy, and it will follow you to the ends of the planet and beyond.” The ball of energy had grown to the size of a large boulder, blue lightning crackling all around the sphere. Suddenly, she stopped spinning and hurled the enormous mass of raw power. It flew as if there was a string attached between it and Ciera. She stopped and turned, raising her hands as if trying to ward off her impending demise.

  Her scream cut short as the energy incinerated her completely. The shock wave from the blast didn’t harm the Solarians or Elagonians, but it killed every enemy around them, and the flash of light blinded those who remained. As the light cleared, Damien saw Angel sinking slowly to the ground. When the toes of her white boots touched the ground, she collapsed with a shrill cry of pain, her eyes closed tightly. Damien ran to her side. “What can I do, your Majesty? I’ve already sent for the Healers.”

  She took his hand. “Take me to Sathe.”

  “Of course.” He picked her up gently and carried her, her charred skin cracking open.

  He gently lowered her next to the prince’s body, and she brushed his hair back from his closed eyes, tears in her own. She could feel her strength waning, and she knew her people weren’t safe yet. She was dying, and the planet of Solaris had long since bound itself to her line. She bent and kissed Sathe gently. May we find each other in the next life and have peace, she prayed.

  She closed her eyes, the fluid language that was ancient Solarian flowing effortlessly from her blackened lips in a steady, unrelenting prayer. Damien and Diamonique realized what she was doing, and they closed their eyes, lending their young queen their strength, should hers fail. Tears fell from their eyes as they realized what she already knew.

  She tilted her head back up to the heavens, her voice growing in power and volume as a blue light surrounded her and slowly grew, enveloping everyone around her. She felt her heart falter, then pick up again, and she began drawing on her borrowed strength. Losing all sense of herself, she felt as if she were floating bodiless with nothing to anchor herself to. Then the Dellings were with her, giving her their energy. It wasn’t just Sepherino, Donay, and Freya, but every Delling on the planet. With it, she could ground herself long enough to perform the last, and most dangerous, step.

  A silver beam shot from the star, hitting the top of the massive blue dome, where it shattered into millions of fragments. Each of those enveloped a person, and they fell into a catatonic state. She felt the last of her borrowed strength fading as she, Sathe, and Selene were the last three surrounded. The light of the star faded as her eyes closed, and she slumped forward. The little bubbles began vanishing as Angel’s chest settled one last time, then was still.

  Two seconds later, the ground shook in a violent upheaval and the Firerange to the South began spewing forth white hot melted rock and scorching hot dust high into the air. Giant cracks began forming across the surfaces of the planet. The winds swirled violently, and the Great Waters reached bo
iling levels, rushing into the cracks as they appeared. Land fell into the vast gaps and more melted rock was quickly rising to the surface. Angel and Sathe disappeared just as a huge torrent of more rock spouted up from the ground. The planet continued to collapse in on itself, even throwing the massive Palace of the Angels down during the violent destruction. Everything seemed to condense, contract, then condense again before a gigantic explosion sent dust and debris deep into the far reaches of space. The glowing core of the planet slowly faded and flickered before going dark, and the once beautiful planet of Solaris was no more.

  * * *

  Many millions of light years away, at the other end of the universe, deep in another galaxy, there was a wonderful blue and green treasure trove of life. In the maternity wing of the special hospital, a woman in an extensive suite overlooking a river smiled down at the beautiful newborn baby girl in her arms. She gently kissed the dark blue four-cornered star that glimmered on the infant’s tiny forehead, identical to the one on her own. A bright blue beam connected them, and the infant looked up at her mother with wise, blue eyes. “You did so well, my little princess,” Selene said in a soft whisper, the tiny fingers curling around her own. “You saved us all. Welcome to your new home, my little Angel. Welcome to Earth.”

  All-American Girl

  Seventeen-year-old Angel Storm woke up with the alarm blaring. It was only 4:30, and the sun wasn’t even up yet. She stretched, then got out of the bed and got dressed in some old worn-out clothes before sliding on a light windbreaker. While there wouldn’t be frost on the ground outside just yet, she knew it would still be chilly. In mid-September, at the base of the Adirondack Mountains in upstate New York, it always was. Downstairs, there was half a pot of coffee on the counter, and she filled a small thermos, put in her cream and sugar, then poured in the coffee and shook it. She stopped at the back door and pulled on some steel-toed boots before heading out to the largest of their three barns.