Lower Earth Rising Collection, Books 1-3: A Dystopian Contemporary Fantasy Read online

  Lower Earth Rising Books 1-3

  Eden Wolfe

  ESN Ink

  Contents

  From the Author

  FREE: The story that came before…

  Sketched Map of Lower Earth

  Selfsame

  Lower Earth Direction, Year 402

  YEAR 402

  1. Aria

  2. Aria

  3. Aria

  4. Maeva

  5. Uma

  6. Adam

  7. Lucy

  8. Maeva

  9. Archer

  10. Aria

  11. Uma

  12. Adam

  13. Uma

  14. Trudith

  15. Rose

  16. Rhonda

  17. Irene

  18. Maeva

  19. Lucius

  20. Aria

  21. Rhonda

  22. Isaac

  23. Adam

  24. Lucius

  25. Adam

  26. Sara

  27. Maeva

  28. Rita

  29. Lucy

  30. Irene

  31. Maeva

  32. Aria

  33. Archer

  34. Aria

  35. Archer

  36. Maeva

  37. Archer

  38. Maeva

  39. Rose

  40. Lucius

  41. Maeva

  42. Archer

  43. Maeva

  44. Aria

  45. Aria

  46. Aria

  47. The huntress

  48. Aria

  49. Aria

  50. Roman

  51. Lucy

  52. Aria

  53. Maeva

  54. Adam

  55. Maeva

  56. Lucius

  57. Aria

  58. Maeva

  59. Ariane

  60. Aria

  61. Rose

  62. Maeva

  63. Rose

  Culling

  Lower Earth Direction, Year 407

  YEAR 407

  1. Leadon

  2. Leadon

  3. Irene

  4. Maeva

  5. Roman

  6. Leadon

  7. Carole

  8. Uma

  9. Roman

  10. Irene

  11. Leadon

  12. Sara

  13. Trudith

  14. Lucius

  15. Roman

  16. Lucius

  17. Trudith

  18. Leadon

  19. Irene

  20. Rose

  21. Maeva

  22. Leadon

  23. Maeva

  24. Sara

  25. Uma

  26. Maeva

  27. Irene

  28. Leadon

  29. Uma

  30. Roman

  31. Trudith

  32. Lucius

  33. Maeva

  34. Irene

  35. Leadon

  36. Rose

  37. Roman

  38. Lucius

  39. Trudith

  40. Roman

  41. Irene

  42. Lucius

  43. Leadon

  44. Rose

  Subversive

  Lower Earth Direction, Year 408

  YEAR 408

  1. Ariane

  LATER THAT YEAR

  2. Gillian

  3. Daphna

  4. Uma

  5. Roman

  6. Irene

  7. Ariane

  8. Gillian

  9. Leadon

  10. Trudith

  11. Roman

  12. Trudith

  13. Daphna

  14. Ariane

  15. Irene

  16. Uma

  17. Roman

  18. Trudith

  19. Daphna

  20. Uma

  21. Ariane

  22. Gillian

  23. Leadon

  24. Daphna

  25. Uma

  26. Ariane

  27. Uma

  28. Ariane

  29. Leadon

  30. Irene

  31. Roman

  32. Trudith

  33. Uma

  34. Irene

  35. Roman

  36. Daphna

  37. Ariane

  38. Leadon

  39. Daphna

  40. Uma

  41. Ariane

  42. Irene

  Preorder ECHO BREAKER today!

  Also by Eden Wolfe

  About Eden

  Download DEVIANTS for free

  Want to know what happens next?

  From the Author

  Welcome to Lower Earth.

  I began this series when I felt a mortal fear for the existence of our world. Talk of nuclear bombs with presidents trying to one-up each other got me asking…

  What if they actually do it? What will become of us then?

  Snap forward a few years and we’re in a global pandemic lockdown.

  That was not in my plans.

  I needed an outlet. Fear was once again taking hold in me.

  So I wrote. And this series is the result of many hours of anxiety, doubt, existential questioning, and my own bout of illness.

  Welcome to Lower Earth. May we never live there.

  ~Eden

  FREE: The story that came before…

  Before Selfsame, the world of Deviants in Cork Town lived freely but under constant fear.

  Read the prequel, Deviants, for free, just by joining the Selfsame Readers Club.

  Click to join now and get your free book download…

  Sketched Map of Lower Earth

  Click for a full resolution map online

  Lower Earth Direction, Year 402

  FOURTEENTH GENERATION

  SINCE THE DUST

  UNDER THE REIGN OF QUEEN MAEVA II

  GEB COUNTY DIRECTION

  Commandante - Irene (Irilena), warrior priestess of Gana

  Great Geneticist - Lucius of the first line

  Primary Overseer - Roman of the first line

  Senior Overseer - Uma of the nineteenth line

  Experimental Sequencing - Adam of the first line

  Male Bioinformatics Unit - Isaac of the first line

  GANA PROTECTORATE

  Chief Priestess - Habana, warrior priestess

  Keeper of the Chief - Batrasa, warrior priestess

  OUTER COUNTIES MANAGEMENT

  Prefect on Three-Year Cycle

  DARK COUNTIES PROTECTORATE

  Prefect on One-Year Cycle

  CENTRAL MASS PROTECTORATE

  Under Command of the Queen’s Guard

  STRANGELANDS SECT

  Head Sister - Sahna, former warrior priestess of Gana

  YEAR 402

  1

  Aria

  Aria dropped her spear on the grass and stepped into the water’s edge. The pond water lapped at the base of her leather boots. She let the muscles down her back relax and her shoulders lower. Even though the leather cloak sat heavily on her, she never dared to leave it behind. She watched a water spider skid across the pond surface. The combat pitch behind her was still empty.

  The next attacker would come soon.

  Aria took in the wet air, letting the smell of moss and algae fill her nostrils. But only for a moment. She relished the seconds between fights.

  She rested her hand on the lava rock pendant and uttered a blessing to the settlers, to those who had come first, those who had fought and won and rebuilt life on Lower Earth when the world was dying. She prayed for strength beyond her cu
rrent state, despite all she had already invested in her training. She had to be more, had to be better. She had to be ready for the day when the men of Upper Earth arrived on their shores. She prayed it to the Queens of Before.

  Her prayer didn’t last long. A scent wove its way to her.

  Woman approaching. 170 degrees. Southwest. Heavy steps. Rushing. Breaking branches and slashing brush. Clumsy. Run scenarios: easy to subdue.

  Aria sighed. The farce of "physical challenges" was tiresome. Batrasa’s creativity was waning with age and the prisoner women were motivated out of a selfish desire for favor more than providing a real fight. Ariane needed threats that were closer to the eventual reality of Upper Earth’s men. The disappeared women on the Forgotten Islands were hardly sufficient.

  A hundred feet away now. Assess capabilities: limited. She is at full run. Insufficient lung capacity.

  She rolled her eyes. The woman was panting from the effort, already mostly spent in the excitement of the attack. Aria let her reach within two arms lengths.

  Aria spun, stomach grazing the ground, spider stance, and safely out of the trajectory of a rusty knife the woman swung in Aria's general direction.

  "What the - " the woman paused for a half-second, and Aria was upon her.

  The woman didn’t stand a chance. She was on the ground, on her back, arms spread and wind knocked out of her. Aria didn’t let her move.

  “Get off me!”

  Aria pressed her knee further into the woman’s throat. She assessed her attacker from her vantage point on the woman’s chest. The woman was more feminine than others, long dark hair while most on the island had it cropped short. She had high cheekbones and dark eyes that matched her dark skin. Broad hips and long legs that kicked left and right in an effort to free herself. Clearly a former priestess from Gana. Her face pulled into a frustrated grimace.

  “I said, get off me!” The woman tried to lift her arms, but Aria had her pinned on each side. The knife fell from the woman’s left hand.

  Her heartbeat accelerates. She is defeated. Maintain pressure on left side of neck, induce unconsciousness on any struggle. Signs of another weapon in her right pocket.

  “I am not getting off you until you surrender.”

  “I am going to rip your head off, the instant you let me free.”

  “You won’t.”

  “I will.”

  “No, you won’t.”

  “And why wouldn’t I?”

  Aria bent her head down to speak in the woman’s ear. “Because you know I’d have a dagger in your heart before you could even raise a fist.”

  The woman exhaled, exasperated. “Fine. Then I give up.”

  Aria stood, letting the blood flow again into the woman’s arms. The woman brushed off the dirt and massaged her forearms.

  “This is getting too easy,” Aria shouted into the air, knowing Batrasa wasn’t far.

  “She was doubly armed,” Batrasa emerged from the shadows of the brush, “She had both knives and a razor-edged chain.”

  “Not that it made any difference.”

  “I see your point.” Batrasa rubbed her forehead.

  Aria walked to the old woman, a warrior priestess herself, noting how her former jet-black hair had changed within a matter of months. It was almost completely white now. “You have to make this more challenging, Batrasa. Your silly games are hardly enough to prepare me anymore. What’s the point of bringing me out to this island if you aren’t going to throw your best at me?”

  Batrasa inhaled. “My responsibility is the quality of your training. Just because you cheat doesn’t mean-”

  “Cheat? How am I cheating? She came at me, I neutralized her within seconds, done.”

  Calm. She is provoking.

  Batrasa coughed. Aria had to turn away from the stench of it. Acrid, the smell of decay.

  She’s degenerating. It won’t be long now.

  Batrasa composed herself, standing tall again. “And you think your reaction time was good enough? You think you’ve got this all figured out? No wonder the Queen won’t let you in the capital. You’re cocky and careless in your response.”

  Control blood rush. Reduce stimulation, reduce blood pressure. She's seeking a reaction.

  Aria returned her heartbeat to normal. “You don’t give me enough valid opportunities.” Batrasa coughed. Aria recoiled as another waft of Batrasa’s breath reached her. “How many times have I complained about the quality of your simulations? It’s unacceptable. If you’re going to bring me all the way out here, get me on a boat for a day, just to give me the same old exercises-”

  Scent of sweat, 120 degrees.

  Aria spun around but it was a moment too late. The attacker had a rope around her neck and tightened it.

  “Hello, Queen Ariane,” hissed a masked woman, thick in the shoulders and with breath that smelled like sulfur.

  “I am no Queen.” Aria resisted the pull of the rope.

  Maintain oxygen, prevent swelling. Run scenarios: She is former Queen’s Guard. Only they are designed with such strength. Limited ability to assess consequences; weakness in predicting outcomes.

  “Oh, but you will be. If you can get out of this, that is.”

  Aria managed to speak, “You underestimate me.”

  Another voice approached behind her, “You underestimate us.”

  Aria heard a knife unsheathe.

  Focus on sound. Determine the number of attackers.

  She listened for a period that was no more than a split second.

  Four. At least two knives. Rope tightening. Run scenarios: method of escape: whip crack.

  Aria crouched as quickly as she could with the rope still around her neck, and then snapped upwards. They had no time to react. The woman’s hands loosened on the rope and Aria rammed her head into the second woman’s face, breaking her nose. Aria ran before the third and fourth could lift their arms toward her.

  She was across the combat pitch within moments. It wasn’t only that Aria had the greatest speed on the pitch – she had greater speed than anyone. She’d known it her whole life; it was part of her design. No one in Lower Earth could match her.

  “And now,” Aria calmed her breath again, “Now I would run. So you can come at me again if you’d like, but I’ll cross the island before you can tie your shoelaces.” Aria looked at their feet. “They don’t give you shoes?”

  Batrasa approached Aria from the left, “Too many used the laces to hang themselves.”

  Aria kept her eyes on the women, each breathing heavily, something between defeat and despair across their faces. Aria closed her eyes and listened to the sound of each of them breathing.

  Woman to the right, nearly in tears. Disappointment. What were they promised in exchange for winning the attack? Run scenarios: most likely their freedom. A valuable prize.

  Aria walked to the woman to the right, the smallest of the four. Dark hair and green eyes.

  Green eyes. She comes from Geb. Her betrayal was great. They are rare here.

  All the women of the capital had green eyes, though the outer counties still had some variance. Aria’s were chestnut brown, cracked with green around the far edges.

  No one had eyes like Aria’s eyes.

  As she approached, the woman lowered her head.

  “You. How is your confinement on this forgotten island?”

  The woman’s eyes remained on her feet.

  “Do they treat you poorly here?”

  “No, ma’am.”

  Her heartbeat accelerates.

  “Do you fear me?”

  The woman shrugged.

  Aria stepped closer to her and lowered her voice. “Look at me.”