The Twice King (an Outlier prequel novella) by Daryl Banner

Author:Daryl Banner [Banner, Daryl]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Frozenfyre Publishing
Published: 2018-01-05T22:00:00+00:00

The Three

At the top of a tower called Cloud Tower—aptly named as it was said to kiss the clouds, what with all of Sanctum being literally “Lifted” now—Aardgar stood beside Baal, his brother in colorful silks. A brother he wasn’t even certain he had. One of two, as it turned out. In just the space of days, his whole existence changed. Again.

It had been two weeks since his brothers infiltrated Cloud Tower and slayed the others in charge. The only one who was spared was the sharp-tongued Zema, who was then put in chains and kept in a place called the King’s Keeping, which served as a royal imprisonment cell of sorts. She was still there, fed only twice a day, and without anyone else to keep her company. Despite his brothers telling him that she and her devious peers already planned Aardgar’s demise after his use to them expired, Aardgar still felt a stab of pity for her. What if she was just a pawn in someone else’s plan? What if they all were?

If it weren’t for the visions the Goddess gave him, he would have dismissed this colorful man’s claims of kinship at once. But the visions long ago did not lie; Baal and Baron were, undoubtedly, his blood brothers. He could see it in their eyes, in the shapes of their jaws and lips, in the way they held themselves. They were all three of a kind.

But Aardgar did not grow up with them. Aardgar did not experience the long centuries with them. He did not know them at all, even if they’d come to save him from yet another certain dooming fate. Still, after several lifetimes spent isolated and without a single soul to cling to, Aardgar longed for the companionship they offered.

“The city … is broken,” muttered Aardgar, eyes gazing over the Lifted City, the place he once knew as Sanctum, a safe space for his people, a place he swore would never become the elitist city that it had. “This is not the Atlas I envisioned. This is not—”

Aardgar gave into a fit of coughing just then. Baal looked upon him, then gently patted his back. “Take your time, brother.” He smiled. “Your voice needs much more time to rest. It is still young.”

Aardgar snorted as he righted himself. “You just called a thousand-year-old man’s voice ‘young’.” He eyed his brother. “I have countless questions.”

“Countless you can ask,” Baal returned. “I will answer what I can.”

“Mother and father …” Aardgar had started to speak, but just the mention of those two people felt so … alien to him. Did he even remember what they looked like? Had he dreamed so many different versions of them over the centuries that their existences were forever altered, the truth never to be known again? Still, he pushed to get his words out. “They thought you two were taken young.”

“I didn’t know the power of my Legacy. I pulled Baron with me. Forward we went,” Baal said, the story coming to him as if he’d told it a hundred times, “and backward again.

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