The Light of All That Falls by James Islington

Author:James Islington
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Orbit
Published: 2019-12-09T16:00:00+00:00

The crimson light filtered through the sole window, glinting dully off the steel floor, illuminating Tal as he finally stirred.

Davian glanced up from his study at the desk, where he’d been scrutinizing the reams of notes that Tal had been making about Zvaelar for the past few months. Tal had offered them to him the previous night, and they had been well worth the read.

He’d slept only a little, his body accustomed to wrenching itself up at first bell. Even so, he felt better than he had in a long time. Before retiring, Tal had restored a portion of Davian’s Reserve—it was nowhere near full, but neither was it close to running out anymore. That was enough, for now.

“Learn anything interesting?” asked Tal with a yawn, glancing at the sheets in Davian’s hand.

“A few things,” Davian admitted. He flicked around, then held up one entry in particular. “You say here that you think the al’goriat might be created from some combination of human bodies and Dark—but you don’t know for sure?” That had seemed strange to Davian. Al’goriat were supposed to be Banes, and Banes were supposed to be the creations of the Venerate.

Tal stretched. “I actually thought that they were a myth until I got here. Something the Andarran resistance made up to make us sound even more evil. Rumors of them have been around for almost as long as the ilshara, but trust me—if we’d known how to make and command creatures who could manipulate time, the war with the Darecians would have been over before it started.” He rubbed his face. “I don’t think that they could do what they do, or even exist, away from Zvaelar though: they cannot seem to come within the radius of this tower’s suppression, even though they are equally attracted to the well of Dark sitting underneath.”

He shrugged. “The other Banes are all inextricably tied to the Darklands, to the rift—without that connection, they die—so the dar’gaithin, and now you, are proof that it is on some level accessible from here. But it’s clearly still… barely so. The al’goriat seem more linked to the inherent corruption of this place. I think their abilities might actually stem from it—which may be why they’re able to manipulate time, even within the time bubble Gassandrid created.”

Davian nodded thoughtfully. He had wondered that about the al’goriat.

Tal watched his expression. “I made the assumption about the bodies because of the human likeness, and because we didn’t see any for the first week or so here. It’s all just speculation, though. I couldn’t even tell you whether the dar’gaithin have been the ones making them, somehow, or whether they are happening as a result of something else. By accident, even. The only thing I’m sure of is that the al’goriat obey the dar’gaithin, so long as they can’t see their source. And anything that they can see with a source… well. You’ve probably experienced that by now.” He rubbed his eyes. “Any other burning questions before we get started?”

Davian hesitated, then put the sheaf of paper down.

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