Rise of the Mare (Fall of Man Book 2) Read online

  Rise of The Mare

  The Fall of Man

  Book Two

  Jacqueline Druga

  A PERMUTED PRESS BOOK

  Published at Smashwords

  ISBN: 978-1-61868-679-4

  ISBN (eBook): 978-1-61868-680-0

  RISE OF THE MARE

  The Fall of Man Book 2

  © 2015 by Jacqueline Druga

  All Rights Reserved

  Cover art by Quincy Alivio

  This book is a work of fiction. People, places, events, and situations are the product of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or historical events, is purely coincidental.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author and publisher.

  Permuted Press

  109 International Drive, Suite 300

  Franklin, TN 37067

  http://permutedpress.com

  CONTENTS

  ONE - VALA

  TWO – TANNER

  THREE – VALA

  FOUR – TANNER

  FIVE – VALA

  SIX – TANNER

  SEVEN – VALA

  EIGHT – TANNER

  NINE – VALA

  TEN – TANNER

  ELEVEN – VALA

  TWELVE – TANNER

  THIRTEEN – VALA

  FOURTEEN – TANNER

  FIFTEEN – VALA

  SIXTEEN – TANNER

  SEVENTEEN – VALA

  EIGHTEEN – TANNER

  NINETEEN – VALA

  TWENTY - TANNER

  TWENTY-ONE – VALA

  TWENTY-TWO – TANNER

  TWENTY-THREE – VALA

  TWENTY-FOUR – NITO

  TWENTY-FIVE – VALA

  TWENTY-SIX – TANNER

  TWENTY-SEVEN – VALA

  TWENTY-EIGHT – TANNER

  TWENTY-NINE – VALA

  THIRTY- TANNER

  THIRTY-ONE – NITO

  THIRTY-TWO – VALA

  THIRTY-THREE – TANNER

  THIRTY-FOUR – NITO

  THIRTY-FIVE – VALA

  THIRTY-SIX – TANNER

  THIRTY-SEVEN – NITO

  THIRTY-EIGHT – VALA

  THIRTY-NINE- NITO

  FORTY – TANNER

  FORTY-ONE – NITO

  FORTY-TWO – VALA

  FORTY-THREE – TANNER

  FORTY-FOUR – VALA

  FORTY-FIVE – NITO

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  ONE - VALA

  My warning came in plenty of time to avert any danger. A part of me knew it was not an empty threat. However, I chose to listen to the advice of others and in the end, the innocent ones suffered.

  I was sought after because of what I am. I had run for my freedom only to lead a condemnation on others.

  My existence on this Earth came on the eve of the end of mankind’s reign. I was born into a powered down world, void of any gadgets. I remember the early days of my life, when my mother struggled to feed me, find proper shelter, when there were no medical men. A time when quiet was the defense against the savage beasts that hunted us down and devoured us by night.

  Those were my young years. Most of those memories were fuzzy at times. A good portion of my life was sheltered and protected; I was bred to be ‘chosen’. We were taught to look a certain way, act and speak in a manner that was proper.

  We were told it was an honor to be chosen by the Ancient Sybaris, to be their fighters, their entertainment, chamber maids or more.

  They came to our town monthly, picking through us like fresh fruit at a market stand.

  Deep within my soul, being chosen was never what I wanted and when the opportunity to escape arose, I took it.

  Not long after I crossed the age of adulthood, I ran for my life… or so I thought.

  My stupidity did not think through the well fantasized escape. I failed to think of my sister that I left behind. Or my mother. Disappointing as she had turned out to be, she was still my mother, and perhaps my leaving was the reason for her selfish turn against me.

  Arrogance, however, had caused the deaths that eventually catapulted my return to the Esperanza Straits, the area where I grew up in a little village called Akana.

  Allow me to go back to the beginning.

  There are Sybaris and there are humans. Sybaris need a certain amount of human blood not only to keep their physical strength and beauty, but also a steady intake of human nutrients kept them from deteriorating and becoming Savages.

  There are two breeds of Sybaris. The Ancients, which are human in appearance, and the Savages. The Savages are distorted, monstrous beasts, who are nothing more than mad animals that attack, mutilate, then drain the human body of all blood. They move like apes.

  One human being can supply one Sybaris for decades, however, should the Sybaris drain the human too quickly, the human becomes nothing more than a Savage himself.

  The Ancient Sybaris age slower than man, and if nourished properly can survive millenniums. While they can consume fruits and vegetables, they require human fortification for sustenance.

  The Sybaris once had great power over the Earth, until man outsmarted them, forcing them into the shadows. They rose to power again while man battled a global plague, one that evolved into devastating wars.

  They had diminished to mere beasts, and once replenished on the blood of humans they took control of the world, promising a better life to the humans that survived.

  In a sense they did. In the Esperanza Straits, a Sybaris built communities for man; there was no hunger, fear, hiding, sickness, or wars.

  There was also no freedom.

  We dressed alike, acted alike, dared not speak our minds, and were taught only what the Sybaris wanted us to know.

  That was only one pocket of the Earth. Outside of Esperanza Straits, Day Stalkers, that were nothing more than transformed humans, ravaged what was left of the barren world, stalking humans and animals, devouring them, fighting for their blood against the Savage Sybaris. The Ancient Sybaris, or Civilized Ones, feared them as much as the humans did.

  All the while, the human survivors that remained fought for their lives, hid from the beasts, and grew in numbers so as to one day eventually reclaim their world.

  I wanted to be a part of that movement, that rebellion, to rise up and live in a world without Sybaris.

  No one knew where the Sybaris come from. The Sybaris claim they were always there. Some say they came from the stars. I was given a book called The Bible. That story claims that Man’s God created the Earth and the sun. He also created man and woman, who broke God’s laws by eating the forbidden fruit.

  Of course, I will not chance ever eating an apple again. If Man’s God truly does exist, I do not want him angry with me.

  I learned about this God while I was in Angeles City, the stronghold of the rebellion. I learned of that God, music, I watched as people laughed, sang songs, ate food that was different, and everyone was an individual. Unlike in the Straits.

  I learned to speak and act like them, understand them. I learned about people before their fall.

  My intention was to take arms and stand side by side, fight with them and die with them.

  The world was a beautiful place once, I wanted it to be that again.

  I had fled my home in Akana, stumbling across the rebellion. I had a gift that the Sybaris wanted and the rebellion needed.

  Unfortunately, the Sybaris’ need and want for me was greater than the protection I could offer Angeles city. I was given a warning, and then they attacked.

  A second warning was given
and it wasn’t a chance I could take. I had to tuck all the knowledge I had learned deep inside and try to find that person I was before arriving in Angeles City. I had to become once again what the Sybaris expected of me.

  Though leaving my friends in Angeles City wasn’t easy, I had to return to Akana.

  My fight against the Sybaris had not been abandoned, I just had to fight the battle a different way.

  I had to do so from within.

  TWO – TANNER

  I liked Vala, I really did. Still, a part of me didn’t trust her. I don’t know why. Perhaps it was her ‘better than you’ attitude she projected, or the arrogance she was unaware of. Davis saw it, he didn’t say much about it.

  He is our leader, and while he doesn’t always make the right decisions, he tries, and we respect him. He’s been like my father since I was a child. I don’t remember my real parents. Even though I was five years old when I last saw them and should have some sort of recollection, I don’t. I was told their ending wasn’t kind and Davis took me in immediately.

  Davis is a big dude, with a huge heart and a knack for playing guitar. A lot of the elders talk about Davis in past tense. They say, “Oh, man, he was like a big country star. Back in the day …” I’m not sure exactly what that meant. Everyone old enough to remember the world before it ended uses the saying, “back in the day’.

  Best I can figure is he was famous for singing. I don’t get his singing voice, it’s the same as his talking voice, deep with a yang to it. People like it though. They ask him all the time to sing.

  I do what he says, out of respect and, well, because Davis was around before the world went to pot and he knows things. Davis also doesn’t dismiss me even though I’m young. One would think, in a world that was pretty much scratched out, at nineteen I would be respected. Instead, I’m still treated as a child.

  I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that in the beginning, a lot of kids didn’t survive. They were killed by Savages or they were starved out.

  In Angeles City, we are the remaining hub of old world civilization, or as close to it as you get. We remember the world and make it a point to teach others.

  We also get strays from the Straits. That’s the area where tiny villages are set up for people by the Sybaris. We call these people Minnies, a nice nickname for minions, because that’s what they are with the Sybaris.

  They know only that world and what the Civilized Sybaris tell them. The Civvies raise them, train them, choose them, and feed from them.

  And heck, the Minnies just hold out their arms and let them take the blood. Me, me, me, pick me!. I’ll be your slave, your servant, your livestock!

  They even let them take their children. Yep. The Civvies take the human children, raise then until young adulthood, then turn them. They do this because they can’t have their own kids.

  Unless of course, they mate with a Mare. A Mare can be male or female, and is either born or created, I don’t know the specifics. Some say God sent them to take down the Sybaris, like Moses. People believe he was the first Mare because he led the humans away from the Ancient Sybaris and that starved them out.

  The Sybaris claim the ‘Gods’ created them as a gift. Although, I don’t think the Sybaris of thousands of years ago thought Moses was all that much of a gift.

  Just my observation.

  Either way, a Mare can be dangerous or a godsend to both humans and Sybaris.

  Vala is a Mare.

  This complicates things when it comes to my feelings for her.

  I said something to Davis the night before the Lyons Estates attack. Vala had been getting these creepy visits from her so called teacher, Iry. This teacher was a young Sybaris. Why he was bothering her so much, I don’t know. He warned Vala that an attack was coming, and Davis dismissed it as a lie.

  Vala, no matter how cool her abilities, is not in control of them. Marie, Vala’s appointed mother figure, took her to a small town outside of Angeles City to show Vala what happens when a Mare loses control.

  The town was overrun by Day Stalkers and the Mare had struck out wildly in defense, killing the Stalkers and the people of the town.

  I followed them to the town because it was my job to keep an eye on Vala, and I told Davis. He was not happy. He and Marie got into it, and Vala stopped speaking to me.

  That evening, I told Davis how I liked Vala but a part of me was unsure. Even though she went through the bunker training where they taught her how to be like us, a part of her wasn’t.

  “Why do you think that is?” I asked him. “She seems nice enough, still, there is something I don’t trust.”

  “Maybe it’s not her you don’t trust, rather what she is, or who she is,” Davis suggested.

  “I don’t understand.”

  Davis replied in a nonchalant manner while fiddling with his guitar. “Well, you can take the boy from the country, but you can’t take the country from the boy.”

  “What the heck does that mean?” I asked. “Seriously.”

  “I never said that to you before?”

  “No.”

  Davis looked up at me with a smile. “Okay, I’m from the country.”

  “This country. America.”

  He laughed. “You sound like Vala. Country is a term for more simplistic living. The area, the people, it’s more open, fewer buildings. Sometimes south, sometimes deep in the woods or on a farm. Animals, tress, country living. I’m from the country. Down to earth, home boy.”

  That made me laugh.

  “Most people from the country talk like me.”

  “That slip sliding, drawn out way you talk and sing?”

  “Yes.” Davis nodded. “My way of acting. Even though I live out here in the city now, or what’s left of it, I still act like that country boy. You can take the boy from the country, but the country is still in here.” He pointed to his heart.

  “Ah.” I nodded, finally getting what he meant. “So like in Vala’s case, you can take the Minnie from the Sybaris, but can’t take the Sybaris from the Minnie.”

  “In a way, yes. You can take her away from the influence, but the influence will always be there. Like growing up Catholic.”

  “Huh?”

  “Never mind. Do you understand?”

  “Yes. Vala was raised by them, she carries that infliction that they embedded in her.”

  “Whoa. Good word choice.”

  “What about Rusty?” I asked. Russell, or Rusty as we called him, was from the Straits. He had designed the deprogramming protocol that Vala went through.

  Davis shrugged. “You have to ask him. I know the boys are raised differently.”

  “Vala says they aren’t.”

  “Tanner, what is it you want to know?” Davis huffed. “What are you searching for?’

  I didn’t have an answer. I only knew something about Vala didn’t feel right, and I just didn’t know what that was. I wanted to know. I wanted to fully like her and trust her, however, a part of me wouldn’t allow myself.

  That answer was not one Davis could give me and was one I had to discover on my own.

  THREE – VALA

  I didn’t sleep that night after the brutal attack from the Day Stalkers. I saw two friends slaughtered, one of whom was carrying a child. The baby had been ripped from her womb and ingested in front of her.

  Mindy was her name. She was to learn from me about living in Akana. We were planning to send her to Akana so I could use my gift of projecting, of leaving my body and traveling, and gather information from the Sybaris through her. We were hoping she would be chosen because of the baby, and I could tap into Mindy when she went to the city of the Ancients. Once there, I could discover their weaknesses in order for the rebels to take them down.

  That plan had changed at the hands and mouth of a Day Stalker. I had strongly suggested to Davis beforehand that we didn’t need to send Mindy; I could find the Ancient City and go there myself.

  Because I was a ‘Mare’, I was sought after by bo
th sides. To the Sybaris, I was life, I gave them the ability to create a new species that was invincible. To man, I was the ultimate weapon, because I easily could defeat the Sybaris.

  To some I was a blessing, to others I was a curse. I had not only the ability to travel out of body, but to make things happen. I could pick up a simple stick, believe it was a mighty weapon, and destroy the enemy with just the power of thought. That portion of the gift was still not within my control, therefore I was dangerous to anyone around me.

  Who cared if I was in the City of Ancients, and if I were a danger to all of them? They, the Savages, the Elder Sybaris, the Day Stalkers, had to be eliminated from this world for man to finally be free.

  Even knowing the weaknesses of the Sybaris, we still needed a plan of attack. A strategy of war.

  We had been struck by an unexpected battle which weakened us. This battle was the reason I left when the sun rose.

  The death of Mindy hit me hard, but not as much as the death of Marie. She was a mother figures, a woman who was kind without asking for anything in return. I trusted her and loved her. She was also brave.

  When the Day Stalkers came, so did Nito. Nito was a Sybaris with great power. She was a leader, and she had been around for thousands of years. She was there when men first defeated the Sybaris and rose when man fell.

  Not only did she hate me, she wanted me, and Nito would stop at nothing. I found out my mother was giving in to Nito’s bribes.

  Once I didn’t return Nito came for me. Marie battled her and lost. I couldn’t stand the thought of anyone else from Angeles city dying because of me.

  I left as the sun began to rise in the sky, leaving a note regarding my departure.

  It had been nearly a month since I had left Akana, and it was time for a choosing ceremony to occur. I needed to make it back for the ceremony, to be chosen, to get inside the Ancient City. To defeat not only the Sybaris, but mainly Nito.