Magi Nexus Read online

  MAGI NEXUS

  Star Magi Saga

  Book 2

  By

  Andrew Dobell

  Booklist

  The Magi Saga – Urban Fantasy

  Magi Dawn: The Magi Saga Book 1

  Magi Rising: The Magi Saga Book 2

  Magi Omen: The Magi Saga Book 3

  Magi Edge: The Magi Saga Book 4

  Magi Odyssey: The Magi Saga Book 5

  Magi Descent: The Magi Saga book 6

  Magi Rebirth: The Magi Saga book 7

  Star Magi Saga – Space Fantasy

  Maiden Voyage – Prequel

  Star Magi – Book 1

  Magi Nexus – Book 2

  Wasteland Road Knights – Post Apocalyptic

  Liberation

  Exploration

  Revelation

  Determination

  Tales of the Magi Saga

  Angel of Tarut

  His Love

  Hack Imperfect

  Casino Red

  Uprising

  A Thoroughly Modern Witch

  Pilgrimage

  The New Prometheus - Cyberpunk

  The New Prometheus

  The Prometheus Gambit

  The Prometheus Trap

  Prometheus Vengeance

  The Magi Saga Short Stories

  Only available through my mailing list;

  www.andrewdobellauthor.co.uk

  The Angel of Tarut: The Magi Saga Prologue

  His Love: A Magi Saga Short Story

  Anthologies I am part of:

  The Expanding Universe – Sci-Fi

  The Expanding Universe 3 – Sci-Fi

  Pew Pew – A fist full of Pews

  Bobs Bar 1

  For more, including Free Short Stories and Artwork, Sign up to my Mailing List.

  www.andrewdobellauthor.co.uk

  Acknowledgements

  Thank you to my wife and family for joining me on this crazy adventure!

  Thank you to my Editor, Ed, for this hard work.

  Thank you to my cover model, Vicki Blatchley, for being the face of Amanda.

  Thank you to Tania Claire for your help on my cover shoots.

  Would you leave me a Review???

  Thank you for taking the time to read my book. If you enjoyed it, please consider posting a short review on Amazon.

  Word of mouth is an author’s best friend and much appreciated.

  Thank you.

  Andrew Dobell.

  The best place to keep up to date with this news is in my Facebook group.

  https://www.facebook.com/groups/MagiSagaFans/

  So, come on over and say hi! I’d love to hear from you.

  Other stuff

  You can help support me through Patreon and get early access to new content:

  https://www.patreon.com/CreativeEdge

  Table of Contents

  About this book

  Lexicon

  Characters

  Previously…

  Unification

  The Last Piece

  The Procyon Resolution

  Homeward Bound

  Grav Bike Race

  Prime Meeting

  Crackdown

  Arkady Plus

  Multiverse Issues

  The Sphere

  Cheesecake with Friends

  Reassigned

  The Baron

  Visitors

  Attack on Canis

  Application

  Meeting on Mace

  Pillow Talk

  Undercover

  Developments

  Attack the Blockade

  The Accord

  Chess Moves

  Hunting Party

  Offensive

  Regroup

  Terran Foundation

  Epilogue

  Author Note

  About this book

  Thank you for reading book 2 of the Star Magi Saga.

  This is the continuing adventures of Amanda-Jane Page, and this series follows on from the 7 book Magi Saga series.

  Star Magi is part of a wider universe of books that is growing all the time, and there are events and characters in this book that have come from elsewhere in the universe, and even from outside of this universe.

  While you don’t need to read any of the other books that contain events that are referenced in this book, they do add depth to the story.

  Firstly, the character of Jinx actually comes from another writer’s universe. Jinx was first featured in M. D. Coopers book A Surreptitious Rescue of Friends and Foes.

  I am working on a collaboration book with Cooper called Quantum Legends, where Amanda visits his universe, and Jinx returns with Amanda back to this universe. This book takes place between Star Magi 1 and 2.

  I highly recommend checking out Cooper's books. I love them, and I’m very much a fan.

  Another book that takes place between this book and the previous one is Quantum Legends 2, where Amanda visits Barry Hutchison’s Space Team Universe. I can also highly recommend these books, too.

  Finally, another collaboration that actually happened before Star Magi 1, but is referenced for this first time in this book, is with Timothy Ellis’s Jon Hunter book Crossover, where Jon Hunter visits my universe and helps out Jaiden on one of his missions.

  And finally, also referenced is the BOB’s Bar books. BOB’s Bar 1 took place during book 6 of the Magi Saga series, and BOB’s Bar 2 will take place just after this book.

  Lexicon

  Terms

  Magi – Humans who can harness Essentia and bend it to their will to work ‘Magic’.

  Scions – Creatures of nightmare and legends. Vampires, werewolves, and more. Created by the Archons.

  Nomad – Magi who serve the Archons or Crux. Magi who walk the dark path.

  Essentia – An extra-dimensional exotic energy that when used to fuel the wishes of a Magus. Creates Magic.

  Aegis – The Magical shield that Magi use to protect themselves.

  Aetheric Realm – The Spirit World.

  Riven – Humans with no Magical ability.

  Initiated Riven – Riven who are aware of Magic.

  Archons – Ancient creatures of god-like power, creators of the Scions. They once ruled Earth, and they want to rule humanity again.

  Crux – Ancient alien creatures of immense power who fought the first Star Magi and lost. They retreated to an area of space close to the galactic core.

  Aeon – Beings that live between universes and outside of time. Amanda’s mother, Sophia, is an Aeon.

  Organisations

  Nexus Arcadia – The central group of Magi in space. Primarily made up of Dynasties.

  Crux – Ancient god-like creatures of evil who want to destroy the Nexus. Also, the group of Nomad Magi, Dragons, and Scions who follow them.

  Foundation – Created by the Tempus Dynasty, the Foundation is the neutral Magi group who host the Nexus Council.

  Dynasties – Ancient, aristocratic, and powerful Magi families.

  Characters

  Amanda-Jane Page – A Magus from Earth. The daughter of an Aeon (extra-dimensional being) and human, she’s been marked as someone with a destiny in the fight against the darkness.

  Valerya – A Riven human woman who’s been fighting the Crux for thousands of years.

  Aris – A stoic Riven soldier, and companion of Valerya.

  Sabine – A Magus from New Orleans, trained in special ops. She’s a sensation junkie and occasional lover of Amanda’s.

  Rane Ormond – Daughter to the matriarch of the Ormond Dynasty and the wild-child of that family.

  Samhain – Amanda’s sabretooth cat familiar.

  Trevelyan – Ancient Magus. Chair of the Earth Magi Council, and a member of the assembly leading the Terran Alliance.

  Dasha Ormond – Foppish brother to Rane.

  Ylena Ormond – Magus. Mother to Dash and Rane. The matriarch of the Ormond Dynasty

  Jinx – AI from another universe.

  Astrid – Magus leader of the paramilitary group, the Wraiths. Friend to Amanda.

  Anastasia – Nomad Magus from Earth with plans to gain power.

  Previously…

  Following the events of the Magi Saga, the Archons (ancient God-like creatures) had been freed from their prison in the Aetheric Realm (Spirit World).

  During their long captivity of ten thousand years, they had plotted their escape with the Crux (ancient God-like creatures that reside deep in space), with a plan to join forces to take back control of the galaxy.

  Amanda had been hunting the Archons on Earth for over a year. When she finally found one of them, an Archon called Lilitu in New York, a flight of Void Dragons attacked and liberated Lilitu and the other Archons.

  The attack was successfully covered up by the Magi of Earth and their Magic, but the Magi Council of Earth decided that they needed to take a more active hand in defending the Earth from similar attacks.

  The Magi had first taken to space over ten thousand years ago, shortly before the Archons had been imprisoned by the Demiurge, (another god-like creature who disappeared into space after that event).

  Since then, the Magi of space have spread through the galaxy, with a concentration of them based around Sol that called themselves the Nexus.

  The Nexus is spread across the Orion arm of the galaxy, over an area six thousand light years across, and is made up of many old, powerful aristocratic Magi families called Dynasties. These Dynasties can trace their heritage back to the first group of Magi ever to explore space.
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  The Dynasties, having defeated the Crux around the time the Archons were imprisoned, now squabble amongst themselves, fighting for territory and clinging to a fragile peace.

  As the Magi of space expanded and grew, the Earth was left to progress at its own pace and was eventually quarantined. The Earth is viewed as primitive and backwards by most Dynasties, apart from the Dynasties of the Foundation. The Tempus and Ormond Dynasties support and protect Sol, and when the Terran Magi, led by Amanda, visit and ask to join the Nexus, they defend their claim.

  This upsets the other Dynasties, who have held power comfortably for millennia, and they begin to plot against them.

  Sol needs five systems within its territory to join the Nexus, and Elden Tempus of the Foundation offered them five within Foundation Territory, on the proviso that the terrans could persuade them to join the new Terran Alliance.

  On their return to Sol Prime, a station at the edge of the Sol system and home to the Ormond Dynasty, the station is attacked by Crux Dragons and Nomads who try to liberate a Crux Dragon the Ormond’s had captured. During the fight, Anastasia, a Nomad (Dark) Magus from Earth absorbs the Anima (soul) of the captured dragon and escapes.

  Now, Amanda must convince five systems to join the new Terran Alliance.

  Unification

  The Aerie, Crux Space. 19,000 Light Years from Earth.

  Rizar sensed the approach of their ultimate destination, and urged his steed, the mighty Vyko, to lead the way and gate back to the material realm. He concentrated his mind and reached out to her.

  ~Vyko, our destination approaches.~

  ~I am aware, Rizar,~ the Void Dragon answered, a patronising note to her tone. Rizar smiled to himself, he enjoyed needling Vyko whenever he had the chance, but she gave as good as she got in that regard, too.

  Magical energy surged around the dragon as it reached out once more and pressed its will upon the fabric of reality and tore a hole back into the material realm with an expanding wave of exotic blue energy.

  Vyko beat her wings once more and dove for the gate. Rizar always enjoyed these moments, but today, he needed to be aware of his surroundings more, and he looked back over his shoulder to check that the flight of dragons behind him were following.

  The sight that greeted him made him proud, and was both impressive and daunting at the same time.

  Over one hundred Void Dragons soared through the Wyrmhole, it's blue glow backlighting the dark reptilian shapes as they changed course slightly to follow Vyko through the gate.

  Their mission had been successful, and now they would return home to formalise things.

  Feeling proud of his achievement, Rizar focused his attention back on the gate before him just moments before Vyko burst through it and back into the material realm. The energy of the gate splashed over him like an invigorating shower of life-giving energy, and then they were back. Behind him, the other dragons in the flight burst through as well and moved to follow him.

  Satisfied that everything had gone to plan, Rizar looked forward once more at the vista that greeted him. This was the Aerie, the home of the Crux Nomads, or the Corpus Nomadica, to give them their proper name.

  Ahead, a vast rock riddled with countless holes and caves, surrounded by a field of smaller asteroids—each of which would be the size of a small planet by themselves—filled the void of space. The huge central rock was also covered in cities and settlements, some of which reached out into space to connect them to the surrounding asteroids.

  Pinpricks of light were everywhere, revealing a huge population living here, close to the centre of the galaxy. Unlike the space around Sol, where their mission had taken them, here, the night sky was filled with the light of countless stars, many of them closer to the Aerie than Proxima was to Earth.

  The result of the void being so filled with stars meant that the Aerie was constantly lit up by the nuclear fires of these stars. Ahead, beyond the Aerie, the brightest area of the galaxy glowed, backlighting everything.

  Deep within that irradiated cluster lay the supermassive black hole at the centre of the galaxy, and the secret that it held.

  Rizar focused on his mission again, pulling his attention away from the stunning vista before him and urged Vyko on. They made for what could be considered the north pole of the Aerie, and the vast, flat-topped asteroid that floated above it, locked into place by the towers that reached up to it from the surface of the Aerie.

  Rizar made out the huge flat area that was his destination ahead. It was surrounded by enormous mountains, while the largest peak looked more artificial and rose three times higher than the other mountains. It too was covered in the glow of a thousand, thousand lights upon its ebony surface. Rizar guided Vyko down and soon landed gently on the rocky floor.

  Vyko folded her wings in as she settled, while the other dragons in the flight came in to land behind her. Rizar concentrated and pulled on the Essentia around him, using its Magical power to enact his conscious desire to be standing on the floor.

  With a whip-snap of displaced air, he Ported from the back of Vyko and appeared on the floor before his steed. He looked up at her.

  ~Thank you, Vyko, you have served the Crux well once again,~ he sent through his mental Link to her.

  Vyko inclined her massive head to him, and moved off to one side, revealing a group of creatures nearby, and beyond them, a growing crowd of Nomads Porting off of their steeds.

  Rizar walked forwards and approached the creatures, who, for the most part, looked anything but human. The one who did look human stepped forward and inclined her head. She was beautiful with ruddy tanned skin, long, straight black hair, dusky eyes, and a long black dress that did nothing to hide her curvy body. Her looks alone would be enough to intimidate most Riven men, but as a Magus, he knew it was just one element of this creature and the others behind her that gave Rizar pause and made him tread carefully.

  They were powerful, and Rizar could feel it. He could sense the incredible connection they had to Essentia and the reserves of magical energy within them. They were clearly on alert, with their Aegises up and glowing brightly in his Aetheric Sight.

  “Thank you,” the woman said, her voice felt like velvet, but there was steel behind it.

  “Of course. It is our pleasure to serve the Crux and their allies,” Rizar replied. “I trust you were not too bored by the trip out here?”

  She smiled, but it was the smile of a predator. “We shall see if this was worth it…” she answered, and Rizar sensed a threat behind her words as if she was saying: if this didn’t work out favourably for them, there would be trouble.

  Rizar pressed his lips together, unsure how to answer her for a second before he recovered. “I’m sure it will be.”

  Essentia flared behind him, and Rizar sensed the appearance of another inhuman power; one that could rival this woman, but maybe not all of the Archon’s combined.

  Rizar turned to see the nearly ten-foot figure of Vine, one of the Crux, standing there. She looked somewhat female, with her slightly wider hips and the impression of breasts, but that was as close as she really got to looking human. Her skin was charcoal grey and looked like it was divided up into armoured plates. She wore some robes that hung from a belt on her waist, but little else. She stepped forward towards Rizar and the Archons.

  He turned to face her and lowered his eyes in deference.

  “My Lord,” he said in a low tone.

  “Welcome home, Rizar, you have excelled once again. The Crux thank you and your fellow riders for your service in bringing our guests to us.”

  Rizar bowed slightly. “My pleasure, my Lord.”

  “Archons,” Vine continued, focusing on the creatures behind him. “Welcome. It is with great pleasure that I welcome you here to the Aerie. I am Vine.”