The Slakrverse Tales - Ep. 8 - OVERSEER: Disappearance

Prince Naygan, of the Royal house of An, has a problem: his pregnant girlfriend is kidnapped and possibly dead! How do you move on from such an event?

Transcript

What’s up everyone? Welcome to the Slakrverse Tales! Each episode, we feature an original Fantasy or Science Fiction story from the Slakrverse! 

I’m your host, Mark Jefferson.

Today, we observe an event in Prince Naygan’s past that upended his entire life. How do you cope with a loved one’s disappearance? Especially when she is carrying your love child?

The story is named “Disappearance” and looks at the root cause of Prince Neygan’s journey to the City of Ihn, and all  the adventures that follow.

I produced everything you hear in this podcast at the Slakr studios. The only thing I didn’t create was the music and sound effects. Special shout-out to pixabay.com and all the wonderful contributors on that site.

Pixabay offers royalty-free photos, illustrations, vectors, videos, GIFs, audio and sound effects. I use their website and think they offer an excellent product. Check them out at Pixabay.com.

OK, on to the story. May I present: OVERSEER: Disappearance by Mark Jefferson.

Naygan was so excited, he thought he would burst. He had found the discovery of his life! Naygan glanced at the beautiful woman kneeling beside him, grinning. The woman looked up from the strange scratch marks carved into the stone platform they both studied. She smiled back at him.

Naygan turned back to the floor, embarrassed. He was uncomfortable working with a woman in public — men and women did not associate outside courtship or marriage in his culture. He imagined his father’s dis-approving glare, and frowned.

The woman differed from anyone Naygan had ever met. Naygan felt an undeniable pull towards her, and she felt the same. The woman, Sayya, seemed comfortable working with men. The City of Ya did not forbid men and women from associating with each other like his city—and Sayya was smart. Smarter than anyone Naygan had ever met, and she wasn’t shy or taciturn like the women in his city. She had large, expressive brown eyes, and never removed the dark head covering she wore over her hair. Not even during their intimate times. Naygan wasn’t sure what color hair she had, but she was beautiful anyway.

“Look at this!” She pointed to a square stone containing several curved marks. She unfolded a piece of parchment, comparing the marks to several she had copied from the doorway. “They’re the same!”

Naygan snatched the parchment from her hand and studied the looping marks. “These markings are the same as the doorway!” He looked up, an excited grin crossing his face. Sasha grabbed the parchment back, studying it.

“That means this dais leads somewhere.” Seyya peered at the block, reaching towards it with a trembling hand. She touched it, but nothing happened. Pressing harder, it ground against the floor, then moved. Something under the stone scraped, shaking the dais, and Sayya pulled her hand away. 

The block popped out a finger-length, and Seyya pulled it free. She looked into the resulting hole, then turned to Naygan. “Pass me that crystal.” She held her hand towards Naygan, and he placed the glowing crystal in it.

Seyha positioned the crystal above the hole the crystal and reached into the shadowy depression, rooting around for a second. Locating what she searched for, she pulled on it, and the top of the dais clicked. 

Naygan started, then with hesitant hands lifted the edge of a dusty trap door. The two looked inside the compartment with bated breath. A small, fur-lined compartment contained a thick leather tube. The two looked at each other, breathless. Naygan reached in, pulling the tube out with gentle hands.

Seyya snatched the tube from Naygan, putting it on the floor. ‘Naygan glared at her. “Hey! Be gentle with that! We don’t know what’s inside it!”

Seyya glanced at him, then turned it on its side. She twisted an end cap, and with a quiet pop, it came off. A rolled parchment lay inside. Seyya drew in a quick breath, dumping the parchment on the dais in front of them.

They two glanced at each other again, a confused expression spreading across Seyya’s face. She turned to Naygan. “What is this?”

Naygan took the parchment from her, turning it over in his hands and shrugging. He glanced at the carved dais. “It looks like the scratches on the platform, but… different.”

Several other diggers stopped what they were doing, noticing the two. With an excited buzz, they crossed to the platform, studying the scroll with Naygan and Seyya. The closest digger reached for the scroll, and Seyha passed the scroll to him. Several other digger clustered around the man, studying the scroll. Seyya leaned back with her hands resting on her hips and stretched her back. The movement showed her protruding belly, and Naygan flushed. He had told no one of his relationship with Seyya, much less she was pregnant. His family would never approve.

Sayya was a commoner from the City of Ya, and not proper marriage material for a prince. His father, the king, would disown him if he found out, and Naygan was not sure what to do. If it were his choice, he would marry Seyya. He had already offered a dozen times, but she didn’t want that. It would soon be past the point he could hide her pregnancy from his father, and he dreaded that time. His father would ask questions. Questions he wasn’t comfortable answering.

Naygan joined the group, surveying the parchment. He thought it looked like a map, punctuated with several areas of scratch marks. Naygan studied the map, attempting to memorize it.

Naygan noticed a soft rustle. He looked up, startled, then someone threw a blanket over the light crystal. Everything went ark. A loud thump sounded from somewhere by the light crystal, and someone screamed. Naygan took an alarmed step back and tumbled off the platform, on the stone landing with a muffled grunt. Several more screams sounded behind him.

Alarmed, he scrambled backwards, banging his head on the stone wall behind him. His head rocked forward and stars flashed in his eyes. Naygan shook his head, clearing out the cobwebs. He reached back to touch his bruised skull and felt something sticky run over his fingers. He snatched his hand away, grunting in pain. Motion swirled around him, and he heard Seyya scream. 

In a panic, Naygan jumped to his feet, ready to battle whomever attacked them. He pulled a blade from his belt and sensed Mana flow through him. The dagger’s blade lit in an icy blue fire, providing enough light to see his attackers. Dressed in black, they seemed to mingle with the shadows. 

Naygan crouched into a fighting stance, ready for attack. One shadow flicked something at him, but he batted it away. He charged the attacker, blade held high, but at the last second changed his stance and plunged the blade deep into the man’s belly, ripping across it with savage abandon. With a groan, the man slipped from him, blood and intestines pouring from his stomach. Naygan spun, batting another thrown weapon aside. Several attackers converged on him.

Glad he had not bothered to remove his protection bracelets, he pumped Mana through them, granting him superhuman speed. He dodged one attack, stabbing the fellow in the armpit as he flew past, stabbing another in the neck and ripping out his throat. The others halted, melting into the shadows.

Naygan resumed his crouch, ready for another attack. Nothing happened. Naygan made his cautious way to the illumination crystal and pulled the blanket covering it off. Several bodies littered the floor, and Seyya had disappeared!

Although weak, he scanned the area. “Seyya!” 

Someone groaned, and Naygan ran to a man clothed in black. He turned the man over, shaking him. “Where is she? Where is Sayya?” He smelled like copper and dust.

The man gurgled, the light draining from his eyes. Naygan checked each body, but they were all dead. He limped through the open door, but found nothing. He noticed no was sound but for his labored breathing.

Naygan dropped to his knees. He gazed at his hand and noticed blood dripping from it. He looked down at his belly, and his eyes widened in shock as he found a dagger handle sprouting from his stomach, blood leaking through his shirt.

Naygan sat against the wall and removed a small medallion from under his shirt. His strength failing fast, Naygan took several deep breaths, then pulled the dagger from his belly while he stifled a cry. Naygan pressed the medallion against his wound and sensed the last of his Mana pass from him into the medallion. Then he passed out.

He wasn’t sure how long he lay unconscious, but he stirred when he heard alarmed voices running down the corridor. He reached for his knife, but he had dropped it somewhere in the room. Several armed guards approached him. “Prince Naygan!” one called.

Naygan groaned, clutching his stomach. “They’ve taken her! We need to find her!” He groaned again, his eyes closing. He coughed, blood spraying out.

One guard kelt beside him, pulling a metal disk from under his breastplate. He concentrated on it for a moment, then turned to Naygan. “Where are you wounded, my lord?” His voice shook.

Naygan moved his hand, and the guard gasped. With quivering hands, he placed the metal amulet against Naygan’s belly. Relief washed through him. He took a deep breath, then his eyes closed, and he knew no more.

I hope you enjoyed OVERSEER: Disappearance. This is the catalyst that sets the fourth OVERSEER book in motion. It takes place just two years after the first two books.

I have written about a quarter of the book, and this is the first chapter. Think of it as a prolog. We are introduced to Naygan and why he was banished from the royal court, even though he is the King’s son.

His illicit love affair brought shame on his family, and the king disowned him because of it. A few months after the events in this story, Naygan’s child showed up in a basket at his doorstep with no explanation. By this, Naygan knew his Seyya was still alive. Cut off from his family and any form of income, Naygan made his way to the City of Ihn and became an Earth-Shaper under Minon’s tutelage. He took his daughter with him and does his best to raise her properly. 

After fulfilling his multi-year commitment to Minon, he returns to his home city of An and takes employment as an Earth Shaper building the kingdom’s underground railway system.

I’ve always wanted to write a treasure hunt, and this seemed like a good way to introduce the idea. As I’ve mentioned before, each book in the series has something it needs to accomplish, and this book is no different. Naygan has a task to complete, even if he doesn’t know it yet.

The Most High, a god-like being that rules the OVERSEER universe, has a hand in orchestrating these events. Not that he causes bad things to happen, but he uses various situations — even bad ones —to his advantage. The Most High has a boss, and his boss expects results.

Along the way, the Most High may just reward Naygan with true love — if he can recognize it.

OVERSEER: Tranquil is still in the writing stage, and I have several projects in the fire. I hope to get back to it sooner rather than later, but I must finish other projects first before I can pick this back up — this podcast season being one of them.

The magic system is unique to the OVERSEER universe. Everyone can use magic in this setting. Magic is neither good nor evil — it is a natural force. All individuals, regardless of ability, can cast spells starting at a young age. They collect their magic power, known as Mana, and store it every day in crystal rings they wear. They use this Mana to cast spells, and for money as well. At the story’s beginning, Naygan has training in combat magic and some magic defenses due to his position as a Prince of An. Otherwise, he has no exceptional magic abilities.

I spent many months crafting the OVERSEER universe, and I hope it shows in the finished product. I’ve had several comments from readers that magic seems like a natural extension of the OVERSEER world. That wasn’t by accident. I have about 70 pages of notes I created before I started writing the first book. It was tedious work, but I’m glad I did it now. I refer to these notes often when writing an OVERSEER story, and they have saved my bacon several times. There is nothing worse than inconsistencies in your world-building. I assure you, readers will notice.

Writing has always been my passion, and I’ve written several books. You can find me on amazon.com. Just look up Mark Jefferson Overseer. Select a book, then click on my name in the Author section.

You can view all my published books on that page. If you like this story, try reading some of my novels. I think you’ll enjoy them!

I’ve written many short stories that take place in this — and other — settings, and I may feature some of them in upcoming podcasts. Several of these short stories are in my published books as prologs or epilogues, while others are unpublished. Either way, I hope you’ll enjoy them all!

Some stories I’ve written use different and novel magic systems. In the Overseer universe, magic permeates everything and all people use it. In other stories, magic is science-based and only those trained can use it. One story I’m working on has magic in the water, and users store its power in silver and gold rings. The world is a mountain that floats on a sea of clouds, and metal is rare. It’s just a sample of what’s coming.

<NEXT PODCAST>

This is the final podcast in this season. I hope you’ve enjoyed listening to them as much as I have in creating them. I plan on doing a few bonus episodes, using other short stories I’ve written but are not part of the OVERSEER universe.

Next season, if things go as planned, I will introduce Stout, a halfling Thief/Magic user, and his adventures as he navigates childhood and early adulthood. A Halfling is like a Hobbit from J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings series.

It will comprise 10 episodes, and will be called Feral Child.

If you enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe and tell your friends about it. Thanks for listening to the Slakrverse Tales.

This is your host, Mark Jefferson, signing off.

Cheers everyone!