Lani’s secret obsession with Reality could get her banished, if her careless curiosity doesn’t get her killed first.
In the shrouded village of Veil, a society gifted with the ability to manipulate Energy has lived in peaceful seclusion for centuries. Contact with the outside world of Reality is strictly forbidden for all but Riders, the elite warrior class.
As an apprentice Source Mage, Lani is destined to create the portals between worlds but never traverse them firsthand—until she inadvertently binds her Energy to Real-worlder Rand. Now they will both die unless Lead Rider Aarol can locate Rand and convince him to leave Reality and come to Veil.
All hopes of a quick and quiet mission are lost when they are ambushed by a mysterious assailant who knows the one weakness of every Veiler and isn’t afraid to use it.
Lani’s secret obsession with Reality could get her banished, if her careless curiosity doesn’t get her killed first.
In the shrouded village of Veil, a society gifted with the ability to manipulate Energy has lived in peaceful seclusion for centuries. Contact with the outside world of Reality is strictly forbidden for all but Riders, the elite warrior class.
As an apprentice Source Mage, Lani is destined to create the portals between worlds but never traverse them firsthand—until she inadvertently binds her Energy to Real-worlder Rand. Now they will both die unless Lead Rider Aarol can locate Rand and convince him to leave Reality and come to Veil.
All hopes of a quick and quiet mission are lost when they are ambushed by a mysterious assailant who knows the one weakness of every Veiler and isn’t afraid to use it.
Lani took a deep breath and glanced at her mentor, Zoran, the gray-bearded Elder Mage, who met her eyes and nodded almost imperceptibly. The wide blank wall of the Portal Chamber loomed before them. Between her and the wall stood five people in a line, their backs to her. Four of them, two men and two women, were Riders, dressed in solid black from head to toe. They stood perfectly still. Lani couldn’t see their faces, but she knew from experience that their expressions were stern and focused. This was not a routine crossover exercise.
The fifth person stood unsteadily in the center of the line of five, his head lolling to the side. The Riders to either side of him each held one of his arms, supporting him but also ensuring that he could not escape. Lani couldn’t guess his age. His hair was cut short, and he had no beard, which would normally indicate youth. Lani knew, however, that his appearance had been prepared for the crossover, adjusted to suit life across the barrier. Even his clothing was strange to her. His white tunic had no closures that could be seen, yet it was tightly fitted, which made her wonder how one could even put it on. The rounded neck was unadorned, and the garment itself was starkly plain. The leggings were oddly cut so that his legs appeared thin and gangly, too long for his insignificant height. The fabric was an unnatural shade of blue and looked to be a rough heavy texture. His foot coverings were fashioned from some kind of leather, but they were bone white and low cut, not even covering his ankles.
Lani exhaled, bringing her thoughts back to the Portal Zoran was about to open. She wasn’t part of the manipulation, but as Zoran’s apprentice, she needed to watch him work the intricate weave. The blank wall in front of them shimmered slightly. A tiny circle in the center became transparent, then gradually widened. Lani sighed quietly as the world on the other side appeared.
Far in the distance, a single lamp shone high up on a pole, its light casting a white oval on the ground below it. The walls of the passage held large square openings at regular intervals, and the higher ones were faced with what looked like dark cages. A narrow ladder connected each cage to the one above it. Further down the passage, against the right wall, there was a large dark square box of some kind.
The eerie silence of the scene was suddenly broken by a sharp cry. The man-boy had woken out of his stupor and now struggled against the iron grip of the Riders. He shook his head in confusion or perhaps denial. Lani knew why and shuddered at the thought. She couldn’t imagine how it would feel to have had all memories erased, including your own identity.
“On my mark,” the red-haired Rider on the far right barked, startling Lani back to the task at hand. The captive struggled more vigorously, trying to back up away from the strange scene in front of them. The Riders holding him adjusted slightly, lifting him so that his feet barely touched the floor.
“Now!”
The Rider’s deep voice rang out the command. In perfect unison, the four stepped forward, carrying the man-boy into the image before them. The scene warped slightly, as though there were a thin film between the Portal Chamber and the world beyond. The image stretched around the five as they stepped through until it suddenly snapped with a barely audible POP.
As soon as they all had both feet on the ground on the other side of the divide, Lani turned to watch Zoran. He made a slight motion with his hands and the circle of vision closed in on itself. In the blink of an eye, the wall was solid again, and Lani and Zoran stood alone in the chamber.
On the other side of the barrier, the captive collapsed to the ground as the Riders loosened their grip. His knees hit the hard stone, and instinctively he thrust his bare hands out to catch his fall. The ground was damp and cold. In an instant, he was hit with an onslaught of sensory overload. His ears rang with sounds too loud from every direction—conversations starting and stopping mid-sentence, blending into and around each other to defy comprehension; heavy metallic beating mixed with screaming voices; a steady high-pitched buzz coming from the light in the distance. Behind those sounds, there was a low droning hum that rose and fell rhythmically but at irregular intervals, like large insects flying in erratic circles in his head.
The passageway was still dark but was now much clearer than it was on the other side of the barrier. He could see in dizzying detail things that he could not just moments before. The walls to either side were made of stone bricks, dark gray on the left and reddish brown on the right. Through the openings in the walls, he could see lights flickering and shadows moving. The passage was more of a corridor, and it opened to meet another further down, where lights could be seen moving one way or the other. The lights seemed to coincide with the rhythmic droning sounds.
He inhaled with a gasp, suddenly aware that he had been holding his breath, and instantly regretted it. His nose and throat burned from an acrid stink coming from somewhere to his right. Other smells wafted around him—roasted meat, burning wood, something sour. A sudden gust of wind blew down the passageway toward them, and he was hit with the vile odor of rotting waste and worse, that seemed to originate from the large box before them. Any thought of trying to run or call for help disappeared as his vision blurred, and he felt the fluids of his own stomach work their way up his throat. The dark-haired Rider to his left sidestepped smoothly as he groaned and then retched, vomiting violently.
When the heaving of his stomach slowed, he collapsed completely, rolling onto his side, and laid his cheek on the clammy stone ground. No longer caring about the filth he could imagine he was lying in, he squeezed his eyes tight and concentrated on keeping his stomach fluids down as he panted shallowly in the stench.
When he thought the waves of nausea were under control, he opened his eyes. A dark gloved hand was holding a cloth in front of his face. He grabbed it gratefully, used it to wipe some scum off his chin, then held it over his nose to try and block out some of the stink. With his free hand, he pushed himself shakily to his knees. The red-haired Rider had dropped to one knee beside him. His eyes were surprisingly soft now, with a hint of pity and understanding. The others remained standing, alert and watching the darkness around them. They seemed oblivious to the sounds and smells that attacked him so relentlessly.
“Welcome to Reality,” one of the Riders said from behind.
The man squeezed his eyes shut and tried to recall how he had come to be there. Images shifted in his mind, swirling around each other in constant dizzying motion, but when he tried to focus on a single thought, it would fade. He gasped in horror as each hint of a memory dissolved until there was more gray mist than anything else.
Once more, a wave of panic ran through the man, and he shivered. The Rider produced a dark brown coat and gently draped it over his shoulders. The familiar touch of silk in the lining and the clean musky smell of leather brought on a wave of emotion, and he blinked back tears. He slowly slid his arms into the sleeves and hugged them around himself, clutching the sides of the garment as if he feared it would be taken from him.
“You will find what you need in this jacket,” the Rider told him in a gentle voice. “Everything has been arranged. You will acclimatize soon enough.”
Fighting to make sense of the words, he tried, once again, to reach into his memories, and then let out a frustrated sigh as he encountered more swirling mist in his mind. He brought his arms up over his ears, trying to block out the maddening sounds around him. When he spoke, his voice was rough.
“Why am I here? Why can’t I remember anything?” His voice caught as another breeze wafted a second wave of nauseating reek over him. He swallowed deeply to push the bile back down his throat.
“Shhh…” the Rider soothed. “No questions now. It would do you no good, for this memory will fade like the rest once we sever your bond.”
“Sever my bond? What bond? What are you talking about?” He scrambled backward, away from the Rider, only to come up against another Rider’s legs. Strong hands reached down and held his arms from behind. Nimbly avoiding his flailing legs, the red-haired Rider grasped his right hand, prying it away from his side. On the third finger shone a large emerald set in an elegant silver ring. The man’s eyes grew wide in horror. Somewhere in his misty mind, a deeper instinct screamed Danger!
He thrashed wildly now, driven by an inner madness, but was held fast. The Rider placed his hand over the ring and murmured something too softly for even his accentuated hearing to make out. A tingling heat spread through his hand, and the ring, which was molded perfectly to his finger, growing with him since infancy, slid off with impossible ease. A heartbeat of shock at the sight of his naked hand was all he managed. Suddenly his finger was on fire, and the pain rapidly spread up his arm toward his heart. His scream was muffled by a gloved hand that clamped down over his mouth. He was separated from his Life-stone, and it felt as though his very soul was being pulled from his body.
Now holding the ring, the Rider pulled a square cloth out of his pocket and placed it on the ground. For a moment, he turned the ring from side to side, admiring the beauty of it in the faint light. The delicate silver weaving around the stone was exquisite. The ring twitched, pulling toward its host. A Life-stone and its human mate were never meant to be separated.
“Hurry,” growled one of the Riders holding the struggling man. “Someone’s going to notice all this noise he’s making.”
With a quick nod, the red-haired Rider gingerly placed the ring in the center of the cloth and carefully folded the corners over it. He held his hand over the bundle, palm down, and a burst of blue light pulsed from his hand onto the cloth, shattering its contents. Immediately, the man’s screams ceased, and he crumpled into the arms of the Rider behind him.
Working quickly now, they carefully carried him to one side of the passageway and laid him down against the brick wall. One of the female Riders pulled a small silver flask from her tunic, propped the man’s head up on her arm, and poured a generous amount of liquid into his mouth. Much of it spilled out and down the front of his shirt and jacket. He sputtered and gagged on the rest but swallowed instinctively. His eyes flew open and he cast them about wildly. His mouth opened and shut like a fish struggling to breathe out of
water, and hoarse gurgling sounds were all that gave hint of his attempts to speak. With another choked cry, he clutched at his throat, and then collapsed, unconscious once more. She gently laid his head back down on the pavement. The strong smell of alcohol wafted up to her, and despite all her training, she gagged.
“Let’s be done,” she said gruffly as she stood. “We’ve been here too long.”
The four Riders turned in unison to face the brick wall behind them. Seconds later, the wall shimmered and rippled, became a mirror for a quick moment, and then shifted to show the interior of the Portal Chamber. At an unseen signal, the four stepped through the barrier and disappeared. Behind them, the young man lay unconscious, drunk, against the dark wall of the alleyway.
The moment the barrier snapped shut behind them, the Riders’ tensed muscles and razor-edged awareness peeled away with an almost visible ripple. The lines on their faces softened and they broke into playful banter.
“You owe me a week’s laundry, Peyta,” Sian jibed as she pulled her gloves off and ran her hand through her long hair. “I told you he’d toss it in the first two minutes.”
“Ah, they always do. I don’t know why I keep betting against it.” Peyta shook her head in mock disappointment. “I guess I hoped this one would be tougher.”
Ravern snickered. “Not likely! He didn’t even put up a decent struggle.”
“Even Riders have trouble maintaining control during their first exposure,” Aarol’s disapproving tone took them by surprise, “and Riders are well prepared for it. I’d like to see you stomach Reality right after you’ve had a mind-wipe, Sian.” He turned his back on the others abruptly and stalked toward the door at the far end of the room. Ravern and Sian raised their eyebrows at each other and shrugged. Peyta dashed to catch up to Aarol.
“Aarol,” she called out in sincere concern. “What eats you?”
She laid a hand gently on Aarol’s shoulder and he hesitated, head bowed. He seemed about to speak when the others caught up to them.
“Aarol, don’t tell me you’re going soft,” Ravern chided. “You know he will get on just fine out there, and he will never know what he’s lost. His Power was grounded, and the bond is severed. Veil is but a hazy dream to him now.”
Aarol fingered the small pouch hanging from his belt. He could feel shards of the shattered Life-stone through the soft leather. When he turned around, his face showed no sign of his inner thoughts. His laugh came from deep in his chest, and the mood lightened immediately.
“Ah, Ravern, you misunderstand me as always. Now, let us report in and finish this. I wish to bathe and rid myself of Reality’s stench. Then we can eat.” The others expressed their agreement heartily, and the four swept out of the chamber without even a glance at the old Mage or his young apprentice standing against the far wall.
The village of Veil exists in some sort of alternative dimension to reality. Its inhabitants are gifted with the talent to control energy; they all get chosen by a life-stone after they are born, which helps them control their powers. There are different kinds of life-stones, and the future of the kid is determined by it, as they are sorted into orders based on it. If they get chosen by the amethyst one, they are Magi and are taken from their family right away. All others, except for artisans, who can stay in the village, need to leave their families at the age of seven; these are scholars, riders, or healers. They then grow up in some sort of school, where they learn to use their powers. Magi are able to open portals to reality, but only Riders are allowed to pass through them.
The book follows Lani and her friends. Lani is a Source mage, the only one of her kind among the students; therefore, she gets private lessons from her mentor, Zoran. She can directly manipulate the energy around her. He is friends with Celina, a mind mage, which means she can change or delete people's memories, and elemental mage Jess, who can control the elements.
One day she accidentally opens a portal to reality too wide. She's seen by someone on the other side, who then has an accident; she passes the portal. Zoran somehow noticed that and sent a Rider to bring her back to the Veil. She then collapses, and her condition won't get better; it's quite similar to what happens to Riders after going to reality too often, as they lose their life energy to the inhabitants of reality, even though they protect themself by wearing gloves and avoiding touching people, but it's happening way too fast. They then figure out that she transferred her life energy to the injured boy, who's called Rand, and Zoran sends the Riders Aarol and Ravern to convince him to come to Veil.
The writing style was really good, and I was drawn into the world of Veil right away. I really loved how the magic system and history of Veil were gradually introduced; I wasn't overwhelmed by it at any moment. I also really liked the main characters and how they were brought to life and how they and their relationships with each other evolved over the course of this book; Rand's character development was especially great. The story was really gripping, and I was hooked from the beginning to the end.
I highly recommend this book for fantasy fans.