Raine (eBook)

Dawn Risa Jodell (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2025 | 1. Auflage
508 Seiten
Bookbaby (Verlag)
979-8-3178-2701-4 (ISBN)

Infos

Fantasy/sci-fi which imagines interdimensional travel. Set in a future failing Earth on the southern California coast. Amidst pollution, drought, famine and rapidly dwindling census, Gideon ekes out a mostly solitary existence. Until he meets a girl on his oily beach. Salemnia, a love/connection stretching across time and dimensional boundaries, brings two lovers - Ashiara (aka Shae) and Gideon - together. Ashiara hails from Raine.Another dimension of prosperous jungle beside a crystalline sea. With the ability to Walk, Ashiara can traverse dimensions at will. Crossing dimensions remains anathema in Raine, but those who avoid execution are dimensional ambassadors. Communicating with other worlds vital, power worth the risk. Growth in knowledge through interdimensional relations, possibility of rescuing refugees from dying worlds, all attainable through the gift of Walking dimensions. Ashiara believes herself the only Walker alive and wonders if its a curse. Gideon, unknowingly connected to both Shae and Raine, believes in this ballsy girl and her super powers. Through the lens of love and science in equal measure, several questions emerge: Can any dimension remain entirely utopic or dystopic? If your dimension was rich and plentiful, would you share? What inherent risks, or hidden gains? If your dimension was dying and you had the chance to leave, would you take it? What would you owe once you arrived?

Dawn Risa Jodell is a Gen-X, west coast native, Michigan / Minnesota nomad, artist, tree-hugger, green-thumb, writer, dancer, singer, dreamer who believes in aliens, multiple dimensions and cyclical history, not linear. Makes a living as a Labor and Delivery Nurse. Currently working on Raine's sequel: Escale'. Lives near her two grown children in the war-zone of Portland, OR.

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Fantasy/sci-fi which imagines interdimensional travel between utopian/dystopian worlds. Set in a future failing Earth on the southern California coast. Amidst pollution, drought, famine and rapidly dwindling census,Gideon ekes out a mostly solitary existence. Until he meets a girl on his oily beach. Salemnia, a love/connection stretching across time and dimensional boundaries, brings two lovers - Ashiara (aka Shae) and Gideon - together. Ashiara hails from Raine. Another dimension of prosperous jungle beside a crystalline sea. With the ability to Walk, Ashiara can traverse dimensions at will. Crossing dimensions remains anathema in Raine, but those who avoid execution are dimensional ambassadors. Communicating with other worlds vital, power worth the risk. Drive evolution and broaden your culture by traveling dimensions, reaching other worlds, breaking down discrimination and barriers to freedom. Growth in knowledge through interdimensional relations, possibility of rescuing refugees from dying worlds, all attainable through the gift of Walking dimensions. Ashiara believes herself the only Walker alive and wonders if its a curse. Gideon, unknowingly connected to both Shae and Raine in myriad ways, believes in this ballsy girl and her super powers. Through the lens of love and science in equal measure, several questions emerge: Can any dimension remain entirely utopic or dystopic? If your dimension was rich and plentiful, would you share? What inherent risks, or hidden gains? If your dimension was dying and you had the chance to leave, would you take it? What would you owe once you arrived?

Textauszug

RAINE

1.

Gideon! Let go. Let go of me!

But he held tight: I will not.

Then, the water began to fill his chest, welling up from his stomach, creeping up the tissues lining his lungs. Every breath sucking air out, rather than in. The orbs of Shae’s eyes became engulfed in black - no white, no brown – an oil slick coating. In them, he saw the reflection of his fear; his own eyes, peeled and wide, exposed, staring back at him. Her tightly pursed mouth couldn’t block her scream inside of his skull.

Let go!

Her face was clenched, desperate. Looking into the cold, blank, face of his own fear - his throat closed, and his chest shuddered to pull in air. Gray began to slide over him. In its shade his fear diminished, that panicked longing for air as well. Not important; the jumble of his list of priorities. Lying in an inert pile of rubbish at his feet, they were gone as him.

Let go, she said. So, he did.

After that, the rest was effortless.

Floated, until his back settled against a hard surface. Blank white ceiling before him flickered to life. Saw two girls with their hands entwined facing an ocean of deep midnight blue. There were birds gliding above the sea, the girl’s faces craned back on their necks to watch the flight. Gid’d never seen so many birds. Tow-head blondes, the girls wore matching dresses. Movements effortlessly synchronized, symbiotic. Completing each other, iterations of themselves. Twins. Couldn’t move, couldn’t look away; not that he cared to. The beauty of the tableau tightened his chest. He’d reach for them, if he could.

Static - black and white scramble - distorted the picture, and it faded for another to take its place. Jealene, his mother, beside the ocean, young, alive, present, right in front of him after all this time. Her green eyes reflected the sun, which seemed brighter, closer, than he remembered it. Turning towards, her gravid abdomen came into profile. Gid’s throat caught to realize the fetus within was him. Her smile toothy, mouth open, she seemed so happy – like he remembered. What things he chose to remember, anyway. His aunt moved onto the ceiling’s display; also younger, a slim, strong muscled version with a face that matched Jealene’s. In his whole life, Gid’d never seen his aunt at the beach. They were waiting, obvious in the tilt of their heads, the scanning horizontal movement of their faces.

That which they awaited, began to rise from the ocean; black, dark, formless. Until the waters receded. A man: eyes a sparkling cerulean blue, ringed about the iris in deep navy, one hand outstretched toward the women who stood trembling on the sand, reaching back. Their hands are too far apart, Gid realized with despair. They’d never meet, wasn’t possible. Behind the man rose a fourth being, taller, darker, foreboding. It wore a mask of teeth, hair a plume falling in a tail along the bracing metal of its armor. A soldier. A gun. Gid swallowed. His throat felt pressed.

The static resumed, snatching the images back from where they’d come.

Then the pain began.

Gideon lay crumpled on the forest floor, at her bare feet. Dead.

So still; no breath, no voice. His skin purpled, his lips the darkest, but his hands and feet were blanched white. Eyes rolled back so the lids hung half open, seemed to stare at her despite that. Tendrils of her long, dark hair trailed his chest, as she dropped to her knees, listening intently. Nothing. Dead.

Shut up, Ashiara, it’s not over, she growled inside her own head. Already panicked, anyway. Didn’t know where they’d ended up because she’d had no time to plan a landing, to even think. Couldn’t attend to her surroundings, though she felt the danger pressing in. All she saw was an immobile Gideon.

I’ve killed him.

Her shaking hands fisted as they pressed down hard on his chest, repeatedly. Didn’t stop until foam bubbled from his mouth, then she gave up. I’ve got to get into his blood. Only needed to think it; she was inside his veins, kicking out diuretic to pull fluid from his lungs, spitting adrenalin into its stream, striking his heart to beat from the inside, as she surfed through his serum, around his body, over and again. Springing back out, she screamed his name, echo dangerously reverberant. No response. Didn’t dare raise her voice again, because she’d not cleared the area.

They could be anywhere.

“Gideon…,” her voice trembling, childish in its terror. Hand gripping his chin, she scooped the froth from his mouth. Pulling in all the sweet air she could, she spread his jaw, placed her lips over his and blew right from her soul. Came up, drew another deep breath, and pressed her mouth to his again. Wake up Gid, wakeupwakeupwakeupwakeup! Her third breath pushed into him, and she felt his teeth graze her lower lip, as his torso gave a giant spasm. Pulled back quickly, to watch him turn his head to the side and retch out more water. With a giant gasp, his arms flailed, one knocking the side of her head.

“Gideon!” Scrambled to turn him on his side. With eyes rolled back, tremors shook his body. He began to emit a low deep moan. Her eyes flickered over the dense flora, vision paranoid, so then tricky. They could be anywhere. “Gideon answer me! What’s wrong? Gideon?” Could only hiss in desperation. Not responding, his face grimaced tight, like a giant fake smile, and the moan got louder. Lowered her face so that her lips touched his, “Shhhh. Gid, you’ve got to be quiet!” Abruptly, his moan ceased, though his body continued shaking. Sweat beaded his forehead, eyes buckled in a squint.

“Shae?” His voice shuddered.

“Yes. Yes.” Mouth by his ear now. Struggling to come to all fours made it clear pain had a vise-grip. Grunted into the ground, his forehead pressed to it. Rolling to one side, he stiffened against the shudder, shouldering the pain, face turning towards her. An opaque film of purest white covered the entire surface of his eyes. Blindly, he stared in front of him.

“Shae? I can’t see.”

That makes two of us, she thought. His voice was calm, because he was centered on the pain, on completely over-riding it. But she could see his questions, and just underneath that, his fear. Scanned the perimeter, foliage thick, hard to see in any direction. Unsafe.

“Gideon, we’ll figure that out, ok? We need to figure out where we are and move.” Where they were going to go, she had no clue. Hadn’t thought that far ahead. Miracle of him busted but alive, here in her dimension – all her mind could work right now.

“Shae, is that you? Your voice sounds strange. I can’t understand what you’re saying.”

Frankly, she was startled speechless at this. Then, Shae saw Gid’s frog suit starting to flicker and ignite. Her own as well. Forward of them was a boulder covered in moss, a sharp crack down its widest side offering a lee. Placing her hands under his armpits, she tugged him to standing. Stifled grunt the only indicator of pain, as he leaned on her like a fatigued soldier, bulky strong and weak at the same time. Only sound from her, an intermittent shushing – the universal language of secrecy. Guiding by placing his hands on her shoulders, she crept them towards the boulder.

“How are you so tall suddenly?” Gid asked

Voice slow, muddled in confusion, but he was correct. His arms reach was even with her shoulders. Question she had no answer for, only shushed him again. Reached behind herself to press the top of his head, making him duck, then curl beside her along the ground. Kept their left hips, with their brilliant glowing drawings, turned toward the earth to stifle their light.

Not a second too soon. Heard the snap of nearby underbrush. Then another, even closer. Something approaching. Her lips next to his ear, she gave one more whispered hush and drew her finger across his throat. Never rash and a known quick study, Gideon did exactly as asked, becoming inanimate once again. Obediently playing dead when he’d only just been brought back to life. Felt the steady thud of his heart through his back, its secure length pressed along her chest – the only sign he was alive.

She had 50 degrees of vision through the long fingers of kalipa leaves, before the stone blocked her view. What can see, can be seen. More crackling, stealthy and measured. Near enough no she could hear their breath. At least three shadows. Them. Now she heard the tink of cital shell-armor strike the boulder - mild and only in passing - but right by their heads. Stiffened tellingly against Gid. Felt his fingers twist until they were entwined with hers, a grip that squeezed off blood flow.

“They aren’t far,” one said. The other grunted back in reply.

“Fan out. It’s one of them. I believe it is her, the one we seek.” This lead Assassin’s voice had a cold steely baritone like a stinger lodged deep inside her ear. Anger and Fear twisted inside of her gut, and silently, she rose onto her elbow. Hovered in a protective crouch over Gideon’s torso, as she watched without blinking.

“Yes, Phaeder, sir.”

Brusque reply put a name to her masked pursuant. She turned that icy-metal voice from a warning into a target. Phaeder: My enemy. Four of them moved in...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 13.12.2025
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Fantasy / Science Fiction ► Fantasy
• ISBN-13: 979-8-3178-2701-4 / 9798317827014