Prologue
The Holy City of Elesta, Third Realm
The jewelled eyes of the ornate gold statue opened and the Elder God looked out, surveying his richly adorned High Temple.
The god rose amorphously, stretching to fill the temple like an invisible mist. He briefly admired the twelve-foot high statue created in his image, before focusing his attention on the hundreds of worshippers who were kneeling around his High Altar. He felt each of their prayers as a warm hum in the back of his mind.
As he watched, a slight golden glow emanated from those who were praying to him.
This was the Elder Mass, a weekly ritual to honour the Elder God. Similar scenes were currently being performed at his temples throughout the Third Realm. He couldn’t imagine any god feeling more powerful than he did now, basking in the concentrated faith of his followers.
Silvana, his High Priestess, stood at the temple’s High Altar. Dressed in pale blue robes, she smoothed her long silver hair away from her face, before beginning a ritual of blessing. As she spoke the Holy words, a light formed around her hands.
The glow from the worshippers rose into the air above their heads. It formed a rippling wave that filled the god, before it fell and settled back on the worshippers again. The god savoured the resulting momentary sensation of power and bliss.
The worshippers also felt a sense of euphoria and looked up from their prayers in wonder.
The High Priestess smiled and raised her arms theatrically as she spoke:
‘Praise be to El, Lord of the two rivers and Elder of the gods.’
‘Praise be,’ the congregation murmured in reply.
The god allowed his form to rise through the high vaulted ceiling and out into the world. The bright sunlight warmed him as he stretched and expanded again, floating above his prosperous domain. He felt the prayers of worshippers at a dozen temples and many more private shrines.
The god smiled contentedly. He was about to move on when he began to feel a sensation he had almost forgotten existed. He felt a strong pull, more insistent than gravity. He resisted on instinct and was successful in doing so for a moment, before the force increased in magnitude. He felt his form unravel, before collecting again somewhere else.
‘Spirit of El, I summon you to do my bidding. The living command the dead. You will obey.’
El formed his consciousness into a blinding pillar of light as he found himself within the boundaries of a summoning circle. He looked with disdain at the arrogant dark robed woman who had summoned him. When he spoke, his voice had an unquestionable authority.
‘We are El of the two rivers, Elder God of Third Realm. Explain yourself quickly, mage or you will not live to command anything.’
‘Spirit of El, the order of Aurele now commands you. You will serve the one true god or suffer banishment from this world.’
El laughed out loud. ‘Dark Mages are not famed for their sense of humour. You may be the first exception. However, you would be wise not to test our patience further. Bow down now and we may suffer you to live.’
The Dark Mage did not respond, but stood watching the god with a self-assured air. The pillar of light slowly expanded until it reached and dissolved the boundaries of the summoning circle. The woman stepped backwards quickly, while trying to cover her eyes.
In an angry burst of light the god destroyed the mage completely, and had moved swiftly back into the world before the ashes of the disintegrated corpse had settled.
‘Unbelievable!’ El muttered to himself. He felt the prayers of his worshippers again, but his heart was no longer in it.
He closed his eyes before muttering:
‘Game interaction; save and quit, full exit.’
‘Game interaction confirmed,’ a female voice said.
The world around him faded and El opened his eyes to reality. He sighed as he checked the time on the large digital clock he kept by his computer. He left the Alternate Reality interface on the computer folding up and shutting down, as he stood and tried to shake some feeling back into his limbs. He put his hand to the back of his head. The interface had rubbed against his balding head uncomfortably. Not for the first time, he vowed to do something about it.
He walked downstairs into his kitchen and started to make some toast and coffee. He was exhausted and hungry after working all night on a marketing campaign for a new client. The visit to Third Realm was supposed to be a pick me up before another day at the office. Instead the events had served to add to his worries.
As the water in the kettle started to boil, a bell rang. He sighed again, before going to see who was bothering him at such an early hour. He looked at the small view screen by the door and saw two soberly dressed men with fixed cheerful smiles. ‘Godbotherers,’ he muttered, smiling at the irony of his prejudice.
One of the smartly dressed men smoothed his long black cashmere trench coat as El opened the door.
‘Mr Ellis Jecks?’ the man asked.
Ellis nodded.
‘Mr Jecks, we represent the order of Aurele. We were most disappointed you turned down our offer. We were hoping you would reconsider letting Aurele into your life.’
Ellis had a sinking feeling of nausea. It was one of the last feelings he ever had.
***
One
United States of Europe (USoE)
Forged in the destructive pressure of the World Depression, the USoE has emerged as a mid-21st Century Hyper power. The strong, ethical leadership of the Authority has led to the union’s recognition as the undisputed economic, technological and military power of the world.
Omega Division Head Quarters, Berlin
Stephanie Kane stood in the reception of the Berlin headquarters of Omega Division. The building looked like a modern office block from outside, with blue reflective glass windows offering privacy from the outside world. Only a discreet omega symbol above the entrance had confirmed the woman was in the right place. Once inside, the reception was imposingly spacious and modern.
‘Welcome to Omega Division, Ms Kane.’ An immaculately uniformed woman stepped forward. She smoothed her white-blonde hair, satisfied it was still held in a tight bun. ‘I am Lieutenant Winter. Major Lloyd has asked me to show you around and answer any immediate questions you may have about your new position.’
Winter looked Kane up and down briefly, noting the blue dyed streak in her dark hair and the two discreet piercings in her eyebrow and nose, but resisting any discernable sign of disapproval.
‘Thank you, Lieutenant,’ Stephanie replied in a crisp English accent, her confident tone causing Winter a small measure of surprise. ‘Please call me Stephanie.’
Lt. Winter nodded slightly. She gestured toward some uncomfortable looking chairs at one side of the room and both women sat down.
‘Do you work in the Information Warfare section too, Lieutenant?’ Stephanie asked.
Winter nodded again. ‘I have had the privilege of working in this section for approximately twelve months.’
‘Perhaps you could tell me a little more about Omega Division? Major Lloyd was a little vague when he came to visit me.’
Winter looked at Stephanie in surprise. ‘I didn’t realise you had been recruited by the Major personally.’
‘Yes, he visited me at Cambridge a few months ago. Apparently my tutor knew him when he was at Cambridge and recommended me. Do you know Professor Hughes?’
‘I am aware of his book of course. I must admit that most of his theories on string and quantum theory are quite beyond me though,’ Winter replied.
Stephanie nodded politely. ‘So tell me more about Omega Division?’
‘Of course. Omega Division is the elite service of the European army. Only the best of the best are recruited. We are somewhat the envy of the rest of the world.’
‘Is it true most of the soldiers are orphans?’ Stephanie asked.
Winter nodded. ‘Your question is quite relevant. If you will excuse a brief history lesson I can cover that.’
Stephanie nodded. ‘Of course.’
‘In 2013 the members of the European union were facing the pressures of world depression, which led to some necessary rethinking of budgets in certain areas. The armed forces were facing their own problems, in terms of attracting suitable recruits to deal with the ever-escalating war on terror and rogue states. When the United States of Europe was formed in 2015, it became policy for orphans and children taken into care to go into military institutions instead of care homes.’
‘I see,’ Stephanie interrupted.
‘It was similar to what happened in Russia after the break-up of the USSR, but on a larger and significantly more organised scale. The military took in children the member states could not afford to house, provided them with an excellent education and instilled discipline and the opportunity to learn a trade. In return, the army gained huge numbers of new recruits. Cadets who could be crafted into exceptional soldiers with strong loyalty to the USoE.’
‘There must be a great advantage of being able to train recruits when they are at their most formative stages,’ Stephanie said dryly.
Winter showed no sign of noticing any sarcasm. ‘Indeed. With the widespread problems in society at the time it was a bold and successful move.’
‘So with the regular army being made up of super soldiers and Omega Division being the elite, they must be something special,’ Stephanie suggested.
‘Like I said, we are quite the envy of other countries’ special forces.’ There was a moment of silence. ‘Perhaps we should start the tour?’
Winter stood up and extended a hand to Stephanie who was struggling to free herself from the deep chair. Both women walked through a metal and hard objects detector on their way out of reception and into the main building. Two armed guards nodded their acquiescence to the women entering.
‘Obviously security is very important here,’ Winter said. She passed an identification card in a clip holder to Stephanie. ‘You must wear this at all times. The central computer can track you through it and ensures everyone is where they are supposed to be. Anyone without a card will be detected quickly.’
‘What’s to stop you from using someone else’s card?’ Stephanie asked.
‘Apart from the fact cards are looked after carefully, they contain biometric information in the smartlight chip. If the card and person do not match, again, the
Computer will detect it very quickly,’ Winter replied. ‘The card is your identification as well as a charge card for food and drink purchases and key card for your personal locker.
The women walked through sterile looking corridors, with modern looking office areas on either side.
‘We have nine floors above ground. General conference rooms on this ground floor, Gymnasium and catering facilities on the first floor and administration on every other floor up. All the interesting things are below ground’
‘Below ground?’ Stephanie asked.
‘Yes, we have ten floors below ground where the main operations facility is based. The floors are shared between military intelligence, Information Warfare, internal military affairs and operational planning and logistics.’
Stephanie nodded. The women reached a bank of eight elevators, four on either side of the room. The elevators on one side of the room had black doors and on the other side of the room they were silver. A diagonal line divided the marble floor; black marble on one side and grey on the other. Winter moved toward the black elevators.
‘These go down, the silver go up. Obviously, security for below ground becomes greater as you will see.’
The doors opened on the closest elevator as the two women approached it. The inside of the elevator was made up of mirrors on all sides. A blue digital keypad was projected onto the mirror on the right hand side, which curiously did not appear in the reflection on the other side of the elevator. Winter typed a six-digit code on the keypad, which shimmered for a moment before morphing into a projected menu. Of the ten floors now displayed, only floors minus 4 and minus 5 were available for selection. Winter selected floor minus 4. The doors closed and a thin electric blue light bordering the elevator performed a three dimensional sweep of the lift interior. After a moment, the elevator moved down swiftly.
‘So does Omega Division get involved in Special Forces duties? Black ops, counter terrorism, assassination, that sort of thing?’ Stephanie asked.
Winter frowned as if she found the question distasteful.
‘In Information Warfare Defence we deal with a variety of things. Anti-terrorism duties will of course be part of this. There is an element of policing the Virtual Internet. Preventing and investigating electronic attacks on our member states’ networks also takes up our time. In a war situation, our aim is to develop and maintain the ability to wage war by other means. Floor minus five is IW Offence, devoted to work in this area, under Lt. Colonel Beslan. As I am sure you can imagine, the ability to control, or incapacitate enemy infrastructures and networks is an integral part of modern warfare.
Before Stephanie could reply, Winter continued.
‘However, any matters other sections of the regiment may deal with are not our concern.’
Stephanie nodded quickly. ‘I am sorry if I spoke out of line.’
Winter did not reply. After a moment the lift stopped. As the elevator doors opened, Stephanie caught her breath in surprise at the scale of the vast busy room before her.
‘Welcome to Information Warfare Ms Kane,’ Winter said with a small smile.
The Holy City of Elesta, Third Realm
The jewelled eyes of the ornate gold statue opened and the Elder God looked out, surveying his richly adorned High Temple.
The god rose amorphously, stretching to fill the temple like an invisible mist. He briefly admired the twelve-foot high statue created in his image, before focusing his attention on the hundreds of worshippers who were kneeling around his High Altar. He felt each of their prayers as a warm hum in the back of his mind.
As he watched, a slight golden glow emanated from those who were praying to him.
This was the Elder Mass, a weekly ritual to honour the Elder God. Similar scenes were currently being performed at his temples throughout the Third Realm. He couldn’t imagine any god feeling more powerful than he did now, basking in the concentrated faith of his followers.
Silvana, his High Priestess, stood at the temple’s High Altar. Dressed in pale blue robes, she smoothed her long silver hair away from her face, before beginning a ritual of blessing. As she spoke the Holy words, a light formed around her hands.
The glow from the worshippers rose into the air above their heads. It formed a rippling wave that filled the god, before it fell and settled back on the worshippers again. The god savoured the resulting momentary sensation of power and bliss.
The worshippers also felt a sense of euphoria and looked up from their prayers in wonder.
The High Priestess smiled and raised her arms theatrically as she spoke:
‘Praise be to El, Lord of the two rivers and Elder of the gods.’
‘Praise be,’ the congregation murmured in reply.
The god allowed his form to rise through the high vaulted ceiling and out into the world. The bright sunlight warmed him as he stretched and expanded again, floating above his prosperous domain. He felt the prayers of worshippers at a dozen temples and many more private shrines.
The god smiled contentedly. He was about to move on when he began to feel a sensation he had almost forgotten existed. He felt a strong pull, more insistent than gravity. He resisted on instinct and was successful in doing so for a moment, before the force increased in magnitude. He felt his form unravel, before collecting again somewhere else.
‘Spirit of El, I summon you to do my bidding. The living command the dead. You will obey.’
El formed his consciousness into a blinding pillar of light as he found himself within the boundaries of a summoning circle. He looked with disdain at the arrogant dark robed woman who had summoned him. When he spoke, his voice had an unquestionable authority.
‘We are El of the two rivers, Elder God of Third Realm. Explain yourself quickly, mage or you will not live to command anything.’
‘Spirit of El, the order of Aurele now commands you. You will serve the one true god or suffer banishment from this world.’
El laughed out loud. ‘Dark Mages are not famed for their sense of humour. You may be the first exception. However, you would be wise not to test our patience further. Bow down now and we may suffer you to live.’
The Dark Mage did not respond, but stood watching the god with a self-assured air. The pillar of light slowly expanded until it reached and dissolved the boundaries of the summoning circle. The woman stepped backwards quickly, while trying to cover her eyes.
In an angry burst of light the god destroyed the mage completely, and had moved swiftly back into the world before the ashes of the disintegrated corpse had settled.
‘Unbelievable!’ El muttered to himself. He felt the prayers of his worshippers again, but his heart was no longer in it.
He closed his eyes before muttering:
‘Game interaction; save and quit, full exit.’
‘Game interaction confirmed,’ a female voice said.
The world around him faded and El opened his eyes to reality. He sighed as he checked the time on the large digital clock he kept by his computer. He left the Alternate Reality interface on the computer folding up and shutting down, as he stood and tried to shake some feeling back into his limbs. He put his hand to the back of his head. The interface had rubbed against his balding head uncomfortably. Not for the first time, he vowed to do something about it.
He walked downstairs into his kitchen and started to make some toast and coffee. He was exhausted and hungry after working all night on a marketing campaign for a new client. The visit to Third Realm was supposed to be a pick me up before another day at the office. Instead the events had served to add to his worries.
As the water in the kettle started to boil, a bell rang. He sighed again, before going to see who was bothering him at such an early hour. He looked at the small view screen by the door and saw two soberly dressed men with fixed cheerful smiles. ‘Godbotherers,’ he muttered, smiling at the irony of his prejudice.
One of the smartly dressed men smoothed his long black cashmere trench coat as El opened the door.
‘Mr Ellis Jecks?’ the man asked.
Ellis nodded.
‘Mr Jecks, we represent the order of Aurele. We were most disappointed you turned down our offer. We were hoping you would reconsider letting Aurele into your life.’
Ellis had a sinking feeling of nausea. It was one of the last feelings he ever had.
***
One
United States of Europe (USoE)
Forged in the destructive pressure of the World Depression, the USoE has emerged as a mid-21st Century Hyper power. The strong, ethical leadership of the Authority has led to the union’s recognition as the undisputed economic, technological and military power of the world.
Omega Division Head Quarters, Berlin
Stephanie Kane stood in the reception of the Berlin headquarters of Omega Division. The building looked like a modern office block from outside, with blue reflective glass windows offering privacy from the outside world. Only a discreet omega symbol above the entrance had confirmed the woman was in the right place. Once inside, the reception was imposingly spacious and modern.
‘Welcome to Omega Division, Ms Kane.’ An immaculately uniformed woman stepped forward. She smoothed her white-blonde hair, satisfied it was still held in a tight bun. ‘I am Lieutenant Winter. Major Lloyd has asked me to show you around and answer any immediate questions you may have about your new position.’
Winter looked Kane up and down briefly, noting the blue dyed streak in her dark hair and the two discreet piercings in her eyebrow and nose, but resisting any discernable sign of disapproval.
‘Thank you, Lieutenant,’ Stephanie replied in a crisp English accent, her confident tone causing Winter a small measure of surprise. ‘Please call me Stephanie.’
Lt. Winter nodded slightly. She gestured toward some uncomfortable looking chairs at one side of the room and both women sat down.
‘Do you work in the Information Warfare section too, Lieutenant?’ Stephanie asked.
Winter nodded again. ‘I have had the privilege of working in this section for approximately twelve months.’
‘Perhaps you could tell me a little more about Omega Division? Major Lloyd was a little vague when he came to visit me.’
Winter looked at Stephanie in surprise. ‘I didn’t realise you had been recruited by the Major personally.’
‘Yes, he visited me at Cambridge a few months ago. Apparently my tutor knew him when he was at Cambridge and recommended me. Do you know Professor Hughes?’
‘I am aware of his book of course. I must admit that most of his theories on string and quantum theory are quite beyond me though,’ Winter replied.
Stephanie nodded politely. ‘So tell me more about Omega Division?’
‘Of course. Omega Division is the elite service of the European army. Only the best of the best are recruited. We are somewhat the envy of the rest of the world.’
‘Is it true most of the soldiers are orphans?’ Stephanie asked.
Winter nodded. ‘Your question is quite relevant. If you will excuse a brief history lesson I can cover that.’
Stephanie nodded. ‘Of course.’
‘In 2013 the members of the European union were facing the pressures of world depression, which led to some necessary rethinking of budgets in certain areas. The armed forces were facing their own problems, in terms of attracting suitable recruits to deal with the ever-escalating war on terror and rogue states. When the United States of Europe was formed in 2015, it became policy for orphans and children taken into care to go into military institutions instead of care homes.’
‘I see,’ Stephanie interrupted.
‘It was similar to what happened in Russia after the break-up of the USSR, but on a larger and significantly more organised scale. The military took in children the member states could not afford to house, provided them with an excellent education and instilled discipline and the opportunity to learn a trade. In return, the army gained huge numbers of new recruits. Cadets who could be crafted into exceptional soldiers with strong loyalty to the USoE.’
‘There must be a great advantage of being able to train recruits when they are at their most formative stages,’ Stephanie said dryly.
Winter showed no sign of noticing any sarcasm. ‘Indeed. With the widespread problems in society at the time it was a bold and successful move.’
‘So with the regular army being made up of super soldiers and Omega Division being the elite, they must be something special,’ Stephanie suggested.
‘Like I said, we are quite the envy of other countries’ special forces.’ There was a moment of silence. ‘Perhaps we should start the tour?’
Winter stood up and extended a hand to Stephanie who was struggling to free herself from the deep chair. Both women walked through a metal and hard objects detector on their way out of reception and into the main building. Two armed guards nodded their acquiescence to the women entering.
‘Obviously security is very important here,’ Winter said. She passed an identification card in a clip holder to Stephanie. ‘You must wear this at all times. The central computer can track you through it and ensures everyone is where they are supposed to be. Anyone without a card will be detected quickly.’
‘What’s to stop you from using someone else’s card?’ Stephanie asked.
‘Apart from the fact cards are looked after carefully, they contain biometric information in the smartlight chip. If the card and person do not match, again, the
Computer will detect it very quickly,’ Winter replied. ‘The card is your identification as well as a charge card for food and drink purchases and key card for your personal locker.
The women walked through sterile looking corridors, with modern looking office areas on either side.
‘We have nine floors above ground. General conference rooms on this ground floor, Gymnasium and catering facilities on the first floor and administration on every other floor up. All the interesting things are below ground’
‘Below ground?’ Stephanie asked.
‘Yes, we have ten floors below ground where the main operations facility is based. The floors are shared between military intelligence, Information Warfare, internal military affairs and operational planning and logistics.’
Stephanie nodded. The women reached a bank of eight elevators, four on either side of the room. The elevators on one side of the room had black doors and on the other side of the room they were silver. A diagonal line divided the marble floor; black marble on one side and grey on the other. Winter moved toward the black elevators.
‘These go down, the silver go up. Obviously, security for below ground becomes greater as you will see.’
The doors opened on the closest elevator as the two women approached it. The inside of the elevator was made up of mirrors on all sides. A blue digital keypad was projected onto the mirror on the right hand side, which curiously did not appear in the reflection on the other side of the elevator. Winter typed a six-digit code on the keypad, which shimmered for a moment before morphing into a projected menu. Of the ten floors now displayed, only floors minus 4 and minus 5 were available for selection. Winter selected floor minus 4. The doors closed and a thin electric blue light bordering the elevator performed a three dimensional sweep of the lift interior. After a moment, the elevator moved down swiftly.
‘So does Omega Division get involved in Special Forces duties? Black ops, counter terrorism, assassination, that sort of thing?’ Stephanie asked.
Winter frowned as if she found the question distasteful.
‘In Information Warfare Defence we deal with a variety of things. Anti-terrorism duties will of course be part of this. There is an element of policing the Virtual Internet. Preventing and investigating electronic attacks on our member states’ networks also takes up our time. In a war situation, our aim is to develop and maintain the ability to wage war by other means. Floor minus five is IW Offence, devoted to work in this area, under Lt. Colonel Beslan. As I am sure you can imagine, the ability to control, or incapacitate enemy infrastructures and networks is an integral part of modern warfare.
Before Stephanie could reply, Winter continued.
‘However, any matters other sections of the regiment may deal with are not our concern.’
Stephanie nodded quickly. ‘I am sorry if I spoke out of line.’
Winter did not reply. After a moment the lift stopped. As the elevator doors opened, Stephanie caught her breath in surprise at the scale of the vast busy room before her.
‘Welcome to Information Warfare Ms Kane,’ Winter said with a small smile.