Synarchy Book 1: The Awakening - DCS (my reading book txt) 📗

PROLOGUE
"Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting; The Soul that rises with us, our life's Star, Hath had elsewhere its setting. And cometh from afar."
- William Wordsworth


The Fifth Planet…
The Second Time…

The stress of knowing what was to come weighed on him, even in his dreams. At least he was not alone. The change in frequencies had warned them but only a few remembered to listen. Messengers from God, from the true Source had come and were labeled outsiders, some were killed. The planet had become a manifestation of the darkest fears of its men and women.
Menes bolted upright. Sweat highlighted the tension from his temples down across his heavy jaw. His violent heartbeat added a menacing soundtrack to the images of his dream as they invaded his conscious state. Dragging his hands over his damp face, Menes shut his eyes to search out the 2D frequency that would return his energy level to balance and lower the spike in his blood pressure.
When the last bit of tension was exhaled he reopened his eyes, glancing at the sleeping woman next to him. Relieved she hadn't woken, he carefully uncoiled from the silk bedding and padded over soft carpeted floors into the bathroom.
He moved easily without superficial light. The flecks of gold in the walls around him shimmered as if conducted by his steps. He raised his hand to pass over a cerulean crystal embedded in the marble, causing a tranquil glow to fill the room. When he stepped up to the sink, crisp cold water fell as if it anticipated his need. Cupping both hands under the steady flow, he splashed his face several times before meeting his image in the mirror.
Sighing, he dropped his gaze towards the faucet and the water stopped. He hated being unable to convince more of his people. It left him frustrated even though he tried to accept it for what it was. The tick of universal time brought the inevitable truth; his nightmare was a premonition of the future.
Menes carried that thought as he returned to the woman who still slept. When his eyes touched her his aura pulsed with a dim gray light; sadness. She would leave physically, returning to spirit until she chose whether or not to come back. Unfortunately, the scar of this event would be burned into her DNA, becoming a fear she must face in another lifetime should she revisit this dimension.
When he was back beneath the sheets, Menes drew her against him. For just an instant he slipped through his door in her shields like a scared child taking solace in the willing unconscious reas-surance she gave him. The steady rhythm of her breath lured him back to sleep.
When next he woke it was to the sound of terrified screams, and the deafening rumble of the earth splintering around him. The end was here.

§

“We have failed again.”
"There is great suffering.”
“Just like the first time.”
“I have lived it.”
“We all have.”
“What shall be done now?”
“I believe we have an idea.”
“Ah yes. That is a very good idea.”
“Thank you.”
“Shall we try it?”
“Yes, let’s. Go and collect volunteers.”
“Think it will work this time?”
“Third time’s the charm.”


 


"I will die to see my will done, and it will be done."
-Stefano Vasco Terenzio
Forty-eight hours before his death.

 
Chapter 1
“Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
- Benjamin Franklin


June 6th, 2012
Undisclosed location
Alcyone Island 11:11 PM

He's dying?"
"It's a wonder he lived this long."
"Stubbornness. Pure stubbornness." The comment brought collective sad smiles, and softer laughter.
"Vasco?" The bedroom door opened, the dim light from within blocked by the shadowed figure of the man in the doorway.
Vasco turned from gazing sightlessly at the grandfather clock in the hallway. "Yes sir?"
"He wants to see you." Steel gray eyes clouded with hidden emotion looked at two others. "All three of you."

§

There was nothing lavish in this room, the furniture as sparse as the walls. What did take up space was all mahogany wood, sturdy, masculine. Neither knickknacks nor small keepsakes touched the dustless surfaces. Nothing decorated the mantle above the burning fireplace.
There wasn't place for those things in the room of a man who didn't exist. The only thing that indicated someone might occupy the room (besides the dying man in the canopy bed) was a framed photograph on the nightstand. It showed a woman captured in a moment of happiness. You could see it in her shyly lowered blue eyes, and the slight curl of her smile. Those allowed in this room had often said she should have smiled wider. She'd always had such a beautiful smile. Her husband had replied, it was just enough.
Marcello S. Terenzio was one hundred years old. He lay there with his eyes closed, twisting the simple gold wedding band around his finger as if he needed to be reminded of its presence. It became more of a habit after his wife died.
Demetrius Terenzio left as the triplets filed silently into the room, giving his children the requ-ested time alone with their grandfather. When the door clicked shut Marcello released an audible heavy breath, well aged light gray eyes blinking open.
Simone M. Terenzio-Russo smiled gently at her grandfather, the first to move to his side. "You wished to see us."
Marcello stopped fidgeting, covering his granddaughter’s hand in his own. "I must be brief." It was such a rarity to clearly see emotion rolling through those enigmatic eyes. "My Mari is waiting for me." He paused to take another heavy breath. "You have never been to the vault. I have arranged for the plane to take you."
Lucien Terenzio, the youngest by seconds, stood behind his sister and asked curiously, "The vault? What's in the vault?"
"Wrong question, Lucien." Vasco Terenzio said it quietly as he slowly walked to their grandfa-ther’s side. "Why?"
Marcello smiled, unmasking his pleasure with Vasco's question. "When you get there you will know." He dropped his head back against the propped up pillows, raising his eyes to the ceiling. "I almost wish I could live to see it. Well, with these eyes at least."
"See it?" Simone asked.
"The Ascension."

§

June 6th, 2012
Somewhere in the Caribbean
Phoenix Isle 11:26 PM

A full circle in a star cluttered sky threw an eerie, omniscient glow over the thickness of the greenery below it. To say that the moon’s unblinking stare knew something the organisms on Earth did not was a truth not yet discovered. But it would be.
A wet heat blanketed the acres of jungle, surrounded by the picture perfect calm of clear blue waters. Exotic wildlife was forced to share their home on this small island, twenty miles away from the main one that had seen activity of a human kind since the mid 1920s. Power grew here. It did not wait silently; it spread its hands out like the tentacles of a tumor and touched everything it had been intended to and more.
A house barely visible past the low hanging branches of the cypress trees was a recent addition. Stilts protected it from the mild swamp that occupied this particular corner of the island and full wall windows displayed the darkness within. It wasn't until the shrill ring of a telephone cut through nature's maternal hum that a small light snapped on. On the fourth shrill, the phone was answered.
"What?"
"He's dying."
"Sudden but nothing I didn't already know." The reply was both groggy and slightly annoyed.
"He's not transferring power to his daughter. He's giving it to the triplets."
This information was unknown, and seconds of silence followed. "How do you know that?"
"S.V.T. Securities put a bug in his room two days ago. They are on their way to you now. He's giving them access to the vault."
Thinly trimmed eyebrows shot upwards. "What?!"
"Mmm hmm."
"Bastard."
"Easy, cousin. We planned for this."
He sighed in frustration, pushing his richly tanned hand back through the thick strands of his graying black hair. "I've never been in the goddamn vault. This will give them an edge."
"True. Even so, I'm sure our grandfather would have agreed…” There was a slight curl to Olivia Terenzio’s lips as she spoke. “…who better to take on a Terenzio, than a Terenzio?"
"The stakes are too high to take this lightly," he snapped back quickly, annoyed at the amusement he caught in her tone.
"I take nothing lightly."
"Fine. Have you heard anything from Kayla?"
"Not yet. We will."
"This needs to happen soon. The more the triplets know, the harder this will be."
"You worry too much."
"You don't worry enough." He frowned as he said it.
"Pull the stick out of your ass and start enjoying your job. We'll win."
"We better."
"We will. Get ready for your guests." A dial tone punctuated the words.
General Amadeo Terenzio glared at the phone, resisting the urge to slam it back into its cradle. Tossing the thin sheet aside he climbed out of bed, glancing over his shoulder at the now open pair of eyes peering back at him curiously.
"Get dressed, get out. Your money is on the table in the living room." Without another word he stalked over to his closet, opening it up to the line of uniforms and expensive suits. A uniform was selected. Time to go to work.

§

June 7th, 2012
Somewhere in the Caribbean
Alcyone Island 12:12 AM

Brothels, while illegal almost anywhere else in the world, were not on this island. That made The God’s Tempest an extremely popular place for tourists and the locals. It also made the working boys’ and girls’ profession a lot safer. The brothel, cleverly shaped in the form of a pirate ship, was rarely empty, both men and women catered to by a wide variety of professionals. Disease free, discrete, and extremely talented, both in and out of the bedroom.
Rich wallpaper that pictured the darkly lit interior of the various cabins on a ship stretched around windows that were purely for aesthetics. Oil lamps hung low on the walls throwing more shadow than light over the corners of the Grand Galley’s red carpeted room. There was little privacy for the customers, but most here enjoyed indulging in their exhibitionist tendencies.
For once Xavier Terenzio - Zhane, Deputy Director of Homeland Security for the United States of America, was not here to gratify his sinful desire. A few women he'd made a night of it with before his engagement stopped to chat with him, only to look briefly disappointed when he declined any offers.
Ignoring the animalistic sounds coming from the lounge chair behind him, he polished off his second straight bourbon and kept glancing down at his watch in impatient intervals until the woman he was expecting appeared.
"Do you have it?" Xavier asked without preamble, dusting narrow bluish gray eyes from her generously exposed cleavage up to her face.
Red painted lips smirked devilishly at him as matching polished fingernails squeezed between her cleavage and emerged with a mini CD. "Every word for the last twenty-four hours."
It was his turn to smile as his eyes zoned in on the tiny little case. If there was one thing almost every Terenzio male had a sweet tooth for, it was the company