The Rising - Ennead 2

Prelude to Tetrad 3

Welcome, reader, to the Second Ennead of the Rising. I hope it is engaging enough to earn your love. Just in case you've jumped right into the Second Ennead, without reading the first, here's a little background.

First off, The Rising is not about a single person. Granted, the books have some characters that you will hate/love more than others. But they're just that - characters. The Rising is a series of stories/scenes (sometimes in different formats) that form a larger story.

In the previous book; Ennead 1, The Societies and the Magi were introduced.

The Societies, are ancient and secret schools with practitioners of something akin to 'magic' that they call Paths. Paths allow the human mind/soul/ka/qi to touch various dimensions of the world we know (or think we know). Similar to ordinary secret societies, they have a structured hierarchy and membership around the world.

There are Six Society Paths, denoted in order of establishment from First to Sixth. Initiates of the Societies, once brought to knowledge of one Path, may never gain knowledge of another. Societies also have ways of referring to their members.

The Societies, their socionyms and Paths are:

First Society - The Faerie - Dreams/Emotions

Second Society - The Alchemysts - Materials

Third Society - The Psychics - Thought

Fourth Society - The Summoners - Life/Animation

Fifth Society - The Elves - Chance

Sixth Society - The Knights - Self

For millennia Societies have guarded against a darkness that normal men cannot see. Now the Rising comes, and they are weaker than they should be to stand against it.

And then there's the Magi. People granted innate use of phenomenal abilities that blend over the Paths. Their ability has something to do with something they call Talismans. Short story version: Magi and the Societies don't get along.

In the first Ennead, powers that be within the Societies make plans to welcome Magi into their fold: a proposed Seventh Society. As a leadership candidate they can possibly manage, they choose the daughter of a Magi they were slightly fond of - The Spider. In the background, Leaders of the Society are revealing their most precious secrets to normal men and consorting with the enemy (Daemons).

The new Spider, Faith Temitope 'Temi' Annan Adeola, is put in a sort of training program - to pick up the Paths of the Societies, starting with the Third Society. Her teacher is Denise Cho, a highly ranked member of said Society whose boyfriend is partly aware of what lies behind the Veil.

All three are drawn into a pot of trouble when they save a little girl called Morgan Fay from a Daemon bent on killing her. Her single protector during the attack, a sub-par Knight by the name of Carlos Estevario, is inexplicably transformed into a Magi at her touch. This is found to be the unprecedented effect of her Talisman, The Merlin.

Across the Atlantic, a  short while later, a young lady by the name of August Gaines is tried for a Fourth Society crime that she sort-of-kind-of didn't commit. Her brother busts her out and takes her to a person who can keep her hidden, the Spider Magus. Things go a little bit sideways when she is turned into a Magus herself.

In the space of a month, a sequence of events occur that leave Denise's sister (A Knight - Seventh Society) critically injured. Various players make their opening moves as August (now, The Mordred Magus) rushes against time to patch up the injured Knight.

Temi, in the meanwhile tracks down what she thinks is the key to creating new Talismans and Magi. Carlos tags along for the ride. It gets real hairy when forces of darkness (quite literally), attack a concert venue. This pushes a number of people to step up; makes a whole lot of people die and sets a stage for someone to snap.

The book ends with a number of tragedies, a few of which are not mentioned here so that it's not as shocking as it could be when you actually them.

And that's what happened in the first ennead of the Rising.

Now, you're done reading a lot of words that probably made very little sense. Head on over the the story proper. And while you're at it, get ready to choose a side, because there's a lot of them.

Thanks for reading. Head on over to the Third Tetrad of The Rising.

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Tetrad 3, Scene 10 of The Rising.

This Scene includes events that Occur between Year -8 and September in Year 1 of the Rising.

Characters within this scene include:

Manuela Corazon de la Cruz: A misguided teen who's far too young to be doing what she's doing

Justin Mamoa: An Elf with extremely strong convictions and questionable methods. Manuela, above, is his ward within the Societies.

Levi Mamoa: Yet another Elf. Son of Justin and a year older than Manuela

August Gaines: A side character, mentioned in passing.

Henry Gaines: A man who draws great ire from Justin.

Anais: A very dangerous Magus, bearer of a message from another very (very) dangerous Magus.

Targets: A group of people who collude with Magi. Once again, very dangerous.

Paola de la Cruz: Mother of Manuela.

Bill Fontaine: An FBI agent who knows far too much.

Yaa Asantewaa Boateng: The Fae, Leader of the First Society.