10-book 3D Bookshelf

Homelands

As with many tales, this one begins in the ordinary, everyday existence of an individual.

An individual who is destined to become known as 'The Comoral'.

A farmer's son, he is surprised to hear voices calling out to any who hear their message. But they are voices in his mind, and this is an unheard of ability amongst his people.

Declared to be something abhorrent, he is driven from his home to face death in the Wastelands that border his village.

There he is rescued and 'adopted' until he encounters those whose voices he had heard.

The history of their lands tells of a threat to peace, and to their very existence. And it forewarns of the return of that threat.

He discovers he has no small part to play as there are others, like him, with poers of the mind that he must ally to the cause of defending their lands against an invading enemy force; both physical and mental.

Thus it is that he is sent on his way, naïve and inexperienced and having received little guidance, to prepare for the defence of their Homelands.

Far Shores

A battle has been won, but the enemy remains a threat but he is not in their Homelands. He resides across the great waters in the lands from whence the attacking army came.

This requires further action and it is decided that the enemy must not be allowed time to recover from his losses, regain his strength and return to threaten them once more.

One decision, easily made, is not the end of the debate. Heated arguments, raised voices and determined individuals win out, and only a nominal force is to be sent to confront the enemy in his own lands.

The nominal force of one is augmented by a stowaway on the vessel used to carry the adventurers to those far shores.

There they must face many challenges, from facing down wild beasts, brokering peace between two tribes of very small people, destoying a mechanism of fear and death and, of course, confronting the enemy himself!

Distant Worlds

Other invaders have come. Offworlders. The planet has an occupation force and a brutal regime of government.

But even these are not the true enemy.

To confront the real enemy it will be necessary to recruit allies from elsewhere to create an armada to carry the fight to the enemy in his own sanctuary.

The process is slow, and much persuasion is needed to convince the peoples of distant worlds to join the conflict.

But mere words are insufficient.

Direct action is required to prove that the alliance is for all member species and not a select few.

When their numbers are sufficient, and all elements are coordinated, the first objective is to breach the blockades around the allied systems to enable the armada to form up for the assault on the enemy's system and home planet.

Destiny

The conflict descends into bitter fighting as they near their objective. When the battle above the planet ends there remains one final objective.

The enemy leader.

In the final confrontation the two enemy leaders face each other across an empty room.

The enemy leader is fully armoured and does not concede defeat, despite the demise of his forces.

When he is ultimately defeated, but that does nothing to end the surprises.

It is at this moment their true enemy is revealed.

The resultant conflict culminates in the final destiny of the Comoral, and the fate of all the allied species.

Apprentice

Years, centuries, millenia have all passed and another invader has brought oppression and misery to the world of the Comoral and the Homelanders.

The Comoral has faded into legend, yet the tales of his accomplishments continue to be told.

And the re-telling of the tale catches the attention of a young man. He follows the story-teller from location to location, waiting for an opportunity to get the old man alone.

He is attentive and knows the story backwards and forwards. He has questions.

When the old man invites him to follow him out of the city, he barely hesitates before agreeing.

What he does not expect is to be successful in passing through the security measures. Nor does he expect to encounter the heroes of those legends.

Sanctuary

Population growth necessitates the introduction of controls. Controls that far more than unpopular than anticipated.

Unrest spills over into violent protests and rioting even as the government instigates a search for another planet to which they could relocate a part of the populace.

A vessel is launched and the search begins.

An uneasy peace settles over the world, with everyone eagerly listening to the progress reports.

Governments rise and fall, and the search continues until the much anticipated news is received.

A suitable planet has been found!

Hope surges to a new peak, only to be shattered by the news that the planet is already occupied.

By giants!

With nowhere else to run, they turn to the creation of domed citadels intended to protect the people from an invasion.

But that sanctuary is not what it seems to be, and the only one prepared to speak the truth is silenced as they begin to migrate into the domes.

Exodus

Life in the domed city is peaceful, calm and stress free. Idyllic, you might say.

But it is boring, tedious, regimented and restricted, especially in the work places. Tasks have specific, overly-generous, timescales and finishing quickly is frowned upon, with starting a new task before the allotted time has completely expired being a punishable offence.

For some, it is a paradise, others don't care either way. For a third, rare, group it is tedium incarnate.

When patience expires for one of that group, the individual is escorted to the Ministry of Justice by a group of Regulators.

Despite the serious nature of the charge they are convinced they will be back at their workplace the following morning.

Their dismay when they are sentenced to be deported, thrown out of the Domed City, and banished to the land of the Apathetics is understandable.

If that's not bad enough, imagine their confusion when they arrive at their destination only to find it is a city beneath the Domed City - an exact duplicate, in fact!

Ingress

Life outside the dome settles into a routine, neither tedious nor exhilarating, it is a comfortable existence.

But when a child, exhausted and malnourished, arrives and collapses at the door, it is an omen of changes in the very near future.

He is not of any known community, a stranger, yet he knows of Kimoc and recognises him just before he passes into unconsciousness.

When he recovers, he immediately asks Kimoc to assist him in finding his father, who was last seen when he went to deliver food to the dome.

Food deliveries to the dome are unheard of!

Without hesitation Kimoc agrees, unaware that getting back into the dome was going to be far harder than getting out.

Not that it would deter them...