Free Bane of the Dead (Seraphim Revival Book 1) by Jacob Holo Page A

energies needed to power the world’s gravity drives and fold engines.
    A single city sprawled across the white planetoid, and in the center of that city was the Sovereign’s Palace. The palace pyramid rose up from the surrounding villa with slopes like finely polished mirrors. It towered over everything else.
    Seth glided across the small world’s surface, past hidden doorways that led into the sensitive interiors of the Core where the seraph factories and the Choir dwelt. He skimmed across towering buildings dwarfed by the pyramid before him.
    Seth spotted the landing platform: a thin strand of silver vaulting out of the pyramid’s side. The platform stood large enough to accommodate scores of craft and whole squadrons of seraphs, yet it appeared insignificant next to the Palace.
    The long silver arm ended in a bulbous circle equipped with all manner of docking stations. Already, dozens of vessels were moored across its circumference. Seth spotted two gleaming silver seraphs among them.
    “The Renseki are here,” Quennin said, slowing for the final approach.
    The seraphs used by the six Renseki pilots all shared a common design. Their armor shone like sculpted silver. Ornate lines swirled, twisted, and formed delicate curlicues across their bodies and wings. One seraph stood taller than the other, its ornamental lines more prolific.
    “There’s Mezen’s,” Seth said.
    “The other one must be Zo’s,” Quennin said. “I doubt the twins or the old guard would be called in without those two.”
    Seth pulled above a vacant seraph dock and eased down until his feet touched the ground. He retracted his wings behind his back.
    He pushed the seraph out of his mind, wiggled his own arms, blinked his own eyes. The cockpit receded and opened. He climbed out of the pilot alcove and walked onto the landing platform.
    Seth looked up, finding a perfect simulacrum of early morning sky where the planetary engines had been. To his right, Quennin’s seraph dipped down, made contact with the dock and locked into place. Seth walked over to meet her.
    Quennin stepped out of the seraph and glanced over at the Renseki seraphs.
    “First an unexplained summons from Vorin,” Quennin said. “And now the Renseki show up. Something big is going on.”
    “So it would seem,” Seth said.
    An automated aircar stopped in front of the two pilots. Low doors opened, stairs extended, and the two pilots boarded the oval, open canopy craft. A local gravity field energized around the vehicle, and it took off, swooping along the circumference of the landing platform and traveling across the long arm towards the Sovereign’s Palace. Though the car accelerated harshly, Seth and Quennin felt none of it.
    The aircar sped through the twenty-story archway at the far end of the connecting arm and took them into the Palace’s labyrinthine interior. Other cars zipped by as short glimpses of color.
    The car quickly arrived at the Sovereign’s private residence, deep within the Palace. Seth and Quennin exited the automated car, which promptly took off to assist other travelers.
    A great foyer opened up before them, wide and tall and supported by a dozen fluted columns. Tiny white, silver, and black tiles covered the floor with intricate curling patterns that led the eye towards three staircases.
    Quennin grinned when she saw who had waited for them. A petite woman leaned against a column, possessing friendly blue eyes and long black hair woven in a complex braid. She wore the traditional long coat of the Renseki with its numerous flourishes of silver curls.
    Zo Nezrii looked up. She smiled brightly and waved.
    “Quennin! Seth! Good to see you two.”
    “Always a pleasure, Zo,” Seth said. “Though I wish I knew why we’re here.”
    “Any idea what this is all about?” Quennin asked.
    Zo shook her head. “Not a clue. Vorin and the Choir wanted to wait until you two arrived.”
    Seth grimaced. “What would the Sovereign reserve for us that he