Prologue:
Oblivious to the crashing of the waves that crested onto the shore only a few feet from the edge of his black robe, Ibris Elton, known as the Preacher, knelt in the wet sand on the island of Hetale. He shivered. Etar’s blue light held no warmth, but bathed the sea, sand, and the white cliffs that rose behind him in an eerie blue glow.
Even when Trin, Thamon’s second sun rose, there would be no warmth. The cold season had arrived, and both suns would never rise far above the horizon for many months. Ibris wrapped his robe around himself and raised the hood against the cold wind that flung the spray from the waves onto his back. It didn’t help.
Ibris shivered not only because of the cold but because he knew that no matter what he chose, his people would suffer. Horribly. He moaned. He couldn’t call them his people. They weren’t his people. They belonged to Aaron now, and it was his fault.
The knowledge that he would suffer didn’t matter to Ibris. For him, life was suffering. But that didn’t mean he wanted others to suffer as he did. He had dedicated his life to alleviating the suffering of others.
But the way he had chosen had been the wrong way. He knew that now, but what could he do?
Aaron had granted him the warm season to convert the Islands peacefully. And now the cold season was here, and the full conversion that Aaron thought had taken place on the Islands was an illusion.
Ibris wasn’t sure how long it would be before Aaron discovered the truth, and his wrath would rain down on the Islands as it had on the rest of Thamon.
If he was the only one paying the price of his failure, he could bear it. But it wouldn’t be him alone who suffered. No matter what he did now, he could never make up for the decision he had made so many years before.
It didn’t matter that he had believed that he was doing the right thing. It didn’t matter that he had only been a child. It didn’t matter that his best friend and cousin, Dax, had chosen with him.
It didn’t matter that he was an orphan, and the only adults he knew were the ones who told him he was doing the right thing.
It didn’t matter because there had been times since then when he could have turned back, but he hadn’t. He had continued down the same path because it was the only one he thought would work.
And if he was telling the truth to himself, he had been a coward. Afraid to change his mind.
But things had gotten worse. Stryker had found the top third of the pendant that was supposed to be hidden forever because of its deadly power. What if he found the other two pieces?
And then there was his cousin, Dax. They had once had the same mission. But Dax had changed. Dax had never learned the skill of mental manipulation, and as a result, had chosen the path of physical violence. Now they were both on the Islands together. He was trying to save the people, and Dax was trying to please the man that bound them.
But, Ibris could no longer hide from the fact that his choice to serve Aaron had failed. It was time to do what he should have done years before. He could only pray that he was doing the right thing now and that it wasn’t too late.
Ibris buried his face in his hands and prayed. Prayed not to the God that he preached about, but to the God of his people. Prayed that his God, Ophy, the one he had known as a child, did not abandon him now. Prayed that Ophy, the goddess of light, would understand that he had not betrayed Her, but had tried to serve Her in his own way. Prayed for his family and friends who had been destroyed by Aaron and Stryker that they would forgive him. Prayed that he would find the strength to do what he had to do. Prayed that his new choice was the right one.
Above the roar of the waves, Ibris heard the bell of the Temple. It was time to return for the first service of the day. Once again, he would stand in front of the seven Kai-Via and preach the gospel of Aaron-Lem, trying to save the people from the wrath of Aaron and Stryker and know that he was failing the people. But not for long.
However, the people he was now choosing to betray were the most dangerous men on the planet Thamon. He would need help. Ibris prayed that he would find it.
