Void War: The Keeper of Sin

The Keeper of Sin

A Void War Novel

Book 3 of the Gatekeeper Trilogy

By A J Watson

© Copyright 2015 Anthony James Watson

Smashwords Edition

Licence Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

This book is dedicated to my sister Shelley.

Table of Contents

Pronunciation Guide

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Five

Chapter Twenty-Six

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Chapter Thirty

Epilogue

About the Author

Excerpt

Excerpt Chapter 1

Excerpt Chapter 2

Excerpt Chapter 3

Pronunciation Guide

Name (Phonetic pronunciation)

Anmith (Ann myth)

Boava (Boh ar var)

Bünd (Buund)

Cestus (Ses tus)

Claudia (Claw de ar)

Dirgano Yex (Dur garn oh Yecks)

Ethedow (Eth a dowe)

Galg en Rad (Gullg n Rud)

Galia (Gar lee ar)

Hornace (Hor nuss)

Ivkezier (Eve ka zeer)

Jemez (Zhems)

Kiel (Key ill)

Kilandrastika/Kilandra (Kill an draz tee ka/Kill an dra)

Korana (Core ar na)

Krarne (Krahn)

Lyc (like)

Mason (May sen)

MasoKora (May so core ah)

Mordek (More deck)

Needa (Knee dar)

Ral Seth (Raal Seth)

Reshadri (Re shad ri)

Ry (Rie)

Selig (Zel ig)

Senfu Jurin (Zen foo Dew rinn)

Sesqui / Sesquitians (Ses kwi / Ses kwi shons)

Shareal (Shar reel)

Shoma (Show mar)

Talyn Mikayla (Tal in Mick ay la)

The Dral (The Drarl)

Tolani (Toll ar knee)

Une (Oo neigh)

Uneia (Oo neigh ar)

Unema (Oo knee mar)

Unum (Oo numb)

Velus (Val es)

Vigaj (Ve gar)

Yana (Yarn ar)

Zastudil (Zas too dill)

Zirguth (Zer gooth)

Prologue

Some days I think it’d be better to nuke the planet’s core and be done with the whole thing. You may think I’m being hyperbolic, but I assure you I could actually destroy the world in a few minutes, if required. Not that it would actually do any good; or even stop my troubles. My life is too complicated to escape that easily.

By now I’ve probably lost you, so to explain, I have to go back to the beginning. It's nothing as boring and clichéd as my birth or the big bang, but something much more important.

Most people will never know that before the first single celled organism formed on our planet, a vast civilisation spanned our apparently insignificant corner of the universe. Well, at least the edge of their cosmic dominion encompassed the area. But opposed to what you are probably thinking, this civilisation was not that technologically advanced. Sure they had technology to make their lives easier, but they didn’t possess void engines, teleporters, laser weapon systems, or anything like that. No, this society was bound to the propulsion and forces of its member’s bodies alone.

You may be wondering How is this possible when they spanned the galaxy? That limited thinking is one reason why our planet is as messed up as it is. I’m not trying to insult you; it is simply a by-product of our lives.

As a species, we are limited to our physical perceptions and what our devices can detect. We are built from matter; but visible matter only accounts for less than 5% of the total energy density of the universe. Dark matter and dark energy consume the bulk. Of course these terms are crude from our limited understanding, but they will suffice for now.

The species I mentioned earlier, for lack of a better term, is primarily composed of dark matter and dark energy. As such they fall under very different ‘laws of physics’. They exist in space, free from the confines of any planet. They can pass through what we consider normal matter, and this is where the problems start. But I’m jumping ahead.

I’m not going to bore you with the details of their everyday lives, or the history of their civilisation. One reason is that I don’t know it all. Another is that I really don’t want to know what I do; and I’m doing you a favour. All that is necessary for you to understand is that they were not a united species. I will use a parallel that you can understand, but the reality is quite different than this.

The species was divided into hundreds of slightly different races based on genetic structure. This wasn’t like a slant to the eyes, or skin colour, but on a more fundamental level. The differences were in how their bodies were held together sub-atomically. Now before we go further I need to point out that this species looks nothing like the multitude of life forms from science fiction stories. All of those, even the most unusual looking creatures, have one thing in common. They all have traits of living things that can be found on our planet. They have a way to interact with the world by grabbing, kicking, jumping, hearing, seeing, etc. But not the race I’m talking about.

If you were able to see their bodies you may mistake them for a large glob of chewing gum, though littered with gaping holes as if repeatedly skewered. They interact with the universe in such an alien method that you would scarcely comprehend it. I’ve been dealing with their crap for the better part of my life and still don’t fully comprehend, so don’t feel too bad.

Now back to my earlier point, these sub-species manipulated their surroundings, and their bodies, using different sub-atomic reactions. Each method was unique to the particular strain. When the race was young, there was plenty of empty space to play with so their varying traits didn’t interfere with each other. They simply moved apart. That could only work for so long as they filled galaxy after galaxy. That’s when the fighting broke out.

Now as you may think, beings that alter reality on a sub-atomic level don’t ‘have at’ each other with crude projectile weapons and sharp implements. No, they break down atomic structures; modify elemental bonds; bombard with massive magnetic and gravitational forces; and any other nasty thing they could conjure. This process started at mere annoyance during border disputes, but rapidly built to lethal levels as the conflict erupted into full scale galactic war.

Seeing how everything else about this species was different, you might expect their deaths to be odd as well. Lethal ‘damage’ to these creatures happened when a certain amount of sub-atomic bonds were altered or destroyed. This is a crude analogy but is about as close and we’re going to get. The dark matter of their bodies didn’t decompose but merely drifted through space, generating gravity and energy that we are barely able to detect. So while alliances were made and broken, several sub-species were completely wiped out; creating vast fields of floating gravity and energy.

More than a few allies felt that their best chance for victory was to merge into new, more powerful strains. Consequently, the hundreds of differing types dwindled into only a few dozen. The hostilities continued until in the end, and I use that term very loosely, only two factions remained. I’ll call them the Ig’s and the Ook’s. While their physiological differences are unimportant to regular beings, their actions do need to be singled out.

These last two factions realised that if the war continued along its current course, the entire race could be wiped out. Rather than trying to come to a truce, the Ig’s came up with a brilliant idea. As I mentioned earlier, the dead bodies were mostly inert and drifted harmlessly around space. Well the Ig’s figured out how to use those corpses as re-animated obedient soldiers. Before we get into the how, which holds great impact for us, let’s move forward to the results.

The Ook’s numbers started dwindling and the tide of balance was tipping significantly out of their favour. They frantically tried to figure out the Ig’s methods, but knew they would be destroyed before they could. Needing to buy time, they assaulted the large fields of corpses directly. Using their unfathomable abilities, they created some of the most powerful gravitation forces in the universe; black holes. Before you jump out of your seat and try to explain how many different ways I’m scientifically wrong, let me clarify two points. First, the majority of black holes that exist today have nothing to do with this conflict. They simply came into being via various methods, some of which we already know. Secondly, you are forgetting an earlier point I made; being that what our limited thinking believes is fact is very different from the actual truth.

Now this entire black hole making tactic served its purpose. It delayed the Ig’s long enough for the Ook’s to figure out the ‘secret ingredient’. I warn you now; this next bit is the meat and potatoes of what I’m telling you. It is the cause of all our troubles, the source of all our power, and may even be the basis of our salvation. Are you ready? Well, too bad if you’re not. The clever little cookies discovered that if you mix in some matter, that’s what you’re made out of, you get an instant dark matter zombie.

Now as I let that sink in, let me hit you with something else. The matter used is only effective if it is taken from a living organism, which killed the subject fairly quickly. Do you start to see where the problem may lay?

To begin with there were no issues. They had plenty of simple organisms around to play with. Over time they evolved into flora and fauna with about as much intellect as a spoon. But, on a cosmic scale, this rapidly changed. Living matter was getting bigger and smarter.

Whichever side had more living organisms held the upper hand. So they attacked each other’s supply lines. The Ook’s had found a fantastic stockpile of living mater when they discovered the gigantic beasts roaming our insignificant planet about 160 million years ago. As the amount of matter needed per corpse was equivalent to a small spoonful, you can see how the dinosaurs posed a significant resource. The Ig’s desperately sought out to find this massive supply and, after a few million years did just that.

As our planet was deep inside the Ook’s territory there was no chance of claiming it for themselves. So they sent an icy space rock into our planet, greatly wiping out the dinosaur threat. Now, they employed other tactics to wipe out the dino’s before they sent the asteroid, but they weren’t as effective as a massive rock squashing their heads.

As you can image, our planet was left alone for a while after that. Both sides lost interest in it, thinking matter based life couldn’t survive. They found out millennia later just how wrong they were.

Humans have only been present on Earth for a blink of the cosmic eye, but for a limited species we have had a significant impact on our little piece of the universe. While the changes are visually unimportant for other material beings looking at us through a telescope, they are like a neon sign to the Igs and Ooks.

The pollution and other crap humans have spewed into the atmosphere have altered the planet’s bonds. Not enough to cause any reaction that we can detect, but we are dealing with a species that see atoms as if they were a toy. This brought the Ooks back in droves to nab people and take what they required.

Not everyone that claims an alien encounter is telling the truth though; many are crackpots that just want attention. There are those however that remember their encounter completely, albeit with the wrong facts.

The abductees’ limited perception couldn’t comprehend what was happening; so their brain made it up. Its remarkable how much your perceptions to what you don’t know are open to the merest suggestion of something you do. As everyone has heard alien abduction stories they come to expect certain associations, and the brain fills in the blanks.

Many people died in the initial process, not that the Ooks cared. That began to change however.

The Igs and Ooks discovered that taking matter from a human caused death before enough material was extracted to make the process worthwhile. At least they had the decency to return the corpses to earth; creating many of the unexplained deaths throughout human history.

The process needed improvement or they would run out of material before they could revive all their fallen brethren. So in their infinite wisdom, they came up with the idea of swapping dark matter from the corpse, with the living matter from the host organism. Initial results quintupled the amount of matter extracted before death; this was however still unacceptable for their purposes so the experiments continued. This led them to the discovery that became the bane of my existence.

Instead of swapping inert dark matter for living matter, they inserted the living matter first, waking the dark matter zombie. They then extracted the living dark matter and placed it in the donor organism. Each piece of living dark matter naturally wanted to link up with others of its kind. The process caused tendrils of dark energy to form between each chunk of dark matter. It was this linking that allowed for a 100 fold increase in extracted materials. With this new process, one human could awaken nearly a thousand zombies; but the procedure had an unforseen side effect.

With sufficient dark matter linked with dark energy, sufficient being about half of what is actually embedded, sentient creatures started seeing bizarre things. Their brains were able to harness the dark energy and their perceptions shifted to accommodate. The brain being as lazy as it is filled in the blanks with what it already knew. People began to see demons, angels, mythic creatures, great old ones, and other weirdness. Some barely maintained their sanity by focussing them into artistic endeavours; paintings, novels, Sci-Fi TV. But many others weren’t so lucky.

Most abductees couldn’t handle what they saw and drove themselves insane. But a few stronger individuals came to realise what was going on. The new energy coursing through their bodies allowed them to perceive reality similar to the Igs and Ooks. They saw the species acquiring new subjects and dumping them unceremoniously back to earth. These few people took it upon themselves to track down every legitimate returnee and guide them through their new perceptions. As there was only a handful to assist, many returnees still dealt with it alone. But over the years that improved.

To begin, this group chose to simply observe and help those that needed it. But as their numbers grew, and time progressed, they could see a pattern forming. None of the returnees that accepted their new perceptions ever got sick. They had also barely aged since their return, which for some had been nearly three decades.

With the brain tapping into the dark matter, a link was made with the more basic and primal instincts of the host. From this link, the dark matter and energy essentially merged into a separate entity, living a mutualistic relationship within the host. This entity doesn’t have any real intelligence, it simply behaves instinctively. As any living organism does, it tries to stay alive. The easiest way for the symbiont to do this is to keep the host from harm. It's for this reason we refer to ourselves as Keepers, though I'm undecided on which organism is doing the keeping.

In any event, the symbiont kicks the host’s metabolism into overdrive, forcing a rapid response to injury and disease. The body being in constant hyperactive repair prolongs its life. I myself am getting close to a century and still look and feel like I’m in my 30s.

So why is this an issue? People living a healthier, longer life has to be worth losing a bit of flesh, right? I thought that at first too, but experience is a heinous dominatrix. For reasons I’ll get into later, my life is quite dangerous and I constantly place myself in harm's way. As a result my body needs to heal more than regular people toiling away with life as usual. Normal protection from the flu or healing scrapes and bruises is one thing; even repairing a broken bone only takes a few months for regular people. The dark matter entity simply speeds things up dramatically.

Regenerating a missing limb or reconstituting a pulped heart takes a lot of effort that the human body normally can’t handle. The entity repairs what it can but eventually it needs to grab material from another source, namely itself. Through a process similar to mitosis, it creates more of itself to merge with other cells throughout the host body. So to regenerate a severed limb, parts of the host's legs, chest and whatever else are hybridised and moved to form the replacement extremity.

All this would be OK if it was the only change made. However with more of the dark matter symbiont present, it starts to develop a more advanced mind. The oldest and most powerful Keepers have the most mentally advanced symbionts. They are still only a simple mind, but have intelligence similar to that of a feline. Occasionally the elders have woken up in another region, with no knowledge of how they got there. After extensive tests and constant observation they realised the symbiont was controlling their actions; and that it was getting smarter and stronger as time went by.

Many of the hosts that reach this stage feel a tremendous mental affinity towards the Ooks, and a specific hatred of the Igs. Some have even sabotaged their brethren and attempted to join with the Ooks. This goal was only thwarted via the constant vigil and testing in progress. It was surmised that as the Ooks were the faction that ran the process on humans, they embedded a natural affinity to themselves. This is cause for another greater concern that I will get to shortly.

You have been waiting patiently for me to quantify my initial statement of being able to destroy the planet, and now I think you know enough to handle it. Several Keepers theorised that as they could heal well beyond normal levels, and perceive things like the alien species, then other unusual abilities were feasible. After much testing, and more than a few deaths, they proved their theory. By tapping into the energy of the symbiont, they were able to harness a fraction of the abilities the Igs and Ooks wield. In case you forgot with the information overload I’m presenting, that means they could alter sub-atomic bonds. Just think about that for a few minutes, it's OK, I’ll wait.

You probably let your mind race for a while with all the possibilities. Maybe you thought of ways to better your financial position by turning lead into gold. Maybe you wanted to benefit mankind by changing the atomic makeup of a super virus to turn it into a super vaccine. Or maybe you wanted to be Jesus and changed your skin so that it was greatly repelled by water. There are those that can modify themselves enough genetically to not require oxygen and fly through space.

While these are all possibilities, and have been done in some manner, there are many more dangerous ones. How about changing the entire steel frame of a skyscraper into rust; or increasing the explosive reaction of that nuclear bomb you bought? Does that sound like fun?

I could go on all day about what is possible, but that goes against the point of all this. While some amazing things can now be accomplished, it does create a toll on those doing it. After a while it was discovered that the more the abilities were used, the more the symbiont evolved. To do these things required using, among other things, dark energy. Where do you think this dark energy came from? That’s right, straight from the internal factory I like to call Symbotron.

So now you may not think the abilities are all they are cracked up to be. The more they are used, the less control you have over your own mind and body. Granted it does take a while for the symbiont to develop, but it does keep me up at night.

The Igs and Ooks would be very interested in this information, thus it has been kept hidden. None of us use our powers around them; well that’s not entirely accurate. Several of the Ooks have come close to discovering our secret and we were forced to defend ourselves. Suffice to say there were no survivors after taking them by surprise. While I would love to go up to their leaders and tell them to leave us alone, I know it wouldn’t work. I have born witness to the Ooks unleashing their full power upon each other and let me assure you that if we pissed them off, the earth would be obliterated before we could count to ten.

We are in a tenuous position. To increase our abilities enough to tackle them head on, we need to increase our power. But doing that brings us closer to working for them. Maybe that was their plan all along? It is only a matter of time before they discover what we can do, if they haven’t already.

Unless you have been hiding in a cave for the last century, you know the human race has reached the point where they can travel amongst the stars. We have met other matter based races and befriended some, while making enemies of others. I have watched from the sidelines as the great Void War evolved. I’ve watched the other races closely and discovered a troubling fact.

The Igs and Ooks have experimented on them as well. In every alien race that humans have met, friend or foe, there are people like me; those that have tapped into the dark energy that courses through their husks. Thankfully many of them are as secretive about their abilities as we are, but that is not guaranteed for them all.

The other major concern is that recently I found evidence that some of earth’s allied races had their home planets within Ig territory. Thankfully those races had just barely scratched the tip of their potential, but it does cause great consternation. Once their symbionts have evolved enough, they will be genetically compelled to work for the Igs. Our once allies would be our hated foes. This is cause of much debate among the accepted Keepers.

Given that there are so many of us you would think that every returnee is brought into our ranks, but this is not the case. To maintain our secrecy we have to be very selective. We still help them adjust; we simply don’t tell them the truth of their situation. We never leave them alone however, someone is always watching.

We have admitted members from all of the species we’ve encountered to date, regardless of their position in the Void War. Every member understands that our situation goes far beyond racial disputes among the visible matter species. Our root concern is the continual survival of all.

For the moment we are fairly safe on earth. As we travel further into space, we get closer to the Ig’s territory, even delving straight into it in some parts. As you can imagine the fighting at the border regions is the most intense. The Ooks don’t care that much about a handful of humans being captured and processed, but they are very territorial when dealing with those they have already used. They protect their creations from the Igs aggressively.

We are unsure if this is because they know our secret or if it is just out of protecting their own. But they will go out of their way to ensure the returnees are not captured by the Igs. Even if that means destroying the very thing they are trying to protect. I’ve seen the Ooks annihilate a vessel with 10,000 people aboard, just to stop the Igs capturing one returnee. It is part of my duties to prevent these situations from occurring in the first place. I don’t have the inclination to catalogue my exploits. Just know that my services are required daily, and that I’m very busy.

You may be wondering why I’ve recorded all this, considering how sacrosanct the information is to us. Well the short answer is that the Keepers have a difference of opinion in how we should handle things. The scope of which has nothing to do with this information. If we ever meet in person, and I’m not in mortal danger, I’ll be happy to explain things. Until then I’ve left this message as a backup. If the current majority get their way, things could get very grim if they fail. This information is critical to the survival of our species; our way of life. The wards I had placed on this recording, and on its hidden location, could only be bypassed by someone with abilities strong enough to make a difference. Those I trusted to place the wards assured me that only someone with the desired brainwaves could retrieve this information. You getting this far proves that you are worthy of our trust.

Inside the container you will find a brief dossier on me, and a few others that I trust implicitly. You should have the skills needed to track us down. If the worst has happened and we are all dead, please continue the struggle on our behalf. The included syringe contains living dark matter. You should know what to do with it. Good luck; and I hope to see you soon.

Talyn Mikayla Everett

Commander in the AFS Defence Force.

The holographic recording ended and Yana's disembodied spirit sank with the weight of the information. She knew it needed to be in the hands of someone powerful she could trust, and immediately thought of Velus. Just by concentrating she sealed the floating orb back into the pedestal amidst the beautiful garden; securing the important message from prying eyes.

She then raced out of the deserted cavern that was once Kilandra’s home, still in disrepair after their first encounter with a Reshadri bokor. Yana had no idea on how long the message sat waiting, but felt timing was critical. She had been developing her abilities and believed now was the time to truly test them. Thinking only of Velus, she willed herself to his location, wherever that might be.

Chapter One

The small vessel burst from the vibrant star’s core sending a ripple across the molten surface. Massive eruptions along the ripple’s path spawned a fiery minefield for the pursuing juggernaut. The considerably larger vessel veered away, giving the fleeing Dral pilot a modicum of distance.

The Dral had been playing hide and seek with the Selig behemoth for the last few days, but the Dral sensed its imminent conclusion.

It appeared the Selig felt it too, as his vessel fired an intense elemental blast at the fleeing craft. Avoiding the attack would obliterate the short gain the Dral’s hop through the star provided. The Dral gazed at his assembled crew of