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The ragtag group from Jalard have finally reached Shemet, Sharma's
capital city. Scarred and bereft, they bring with them the grim
tale of what happened to their village, and a warning about the
ancient powers that have been awakened and now threaten all
humanity. Despite this, some of them still hope that reaching
sanctuary within the Synod will mean an end to their hardships, but
these hopes are soon dashed. Sharma's ruling class are caught
within their own inner turmoil. When Jaedin senses that there are
moles within their ranks, not only does his call to crisis fall
mostly on deaf ears, but some who do hear seek to thwart him when
he tries to hunt these infiltrators down. Meanwhile, across the
Valantian Mountains, Gavendara is beginning to muster its forces.
Using ritualistic means to augment their soldiers, their mutant
army is like nothing the world has ever seen before. The Zakaras
are coming. And Sharma's only hope of stopping them is if it can
unite its people in time.
"Everyone from Jalard knew what a bloodoath was. Legendary
characters in the tales people told to their children often made
such pacts with the gods. By drawing one's own blood whilst
speaking a vow, people became 'Bloodsworn'. And in every tale where
the oath was broken, the ending was always the same. The Bloodsworn
died." It has been twelve years since The War of Ashes, but
animosity still lingers between the nations of Sharma and
Gavendara, and only a few souls have dared to cross the border
between them. The villagers of Jalard live a bucolic existence,
nestled within the hills of western Sharma, and far away from the
boundary which was once a warzone. To them, tales of bloodshed seem
no more than distant fables. They have little contact with the
outside world, apart from once a year when they are visited by
representatives from the Academy who choose two of them to be taken
away to their institute in the capital. To be Chosen is considered
a great honour... of which most of Jalard's children dream. But
this year the Academy representatives make an announcement which is
so shocking it causes friction between the villagers, and some of
them begin to suspect that all is not what it seems. Just where are
they taking the Chosen, and why? Some of them intend to find out,
but what they discover will change their lives forever and set them
on a long and bloody path to seek vengeance...
The vibe has soured somewhat since a violent clash in the Janus
nightclub a few months ago, so Neal opened an establishment on the
outskirts of town and called it 'Dinnusos' hoping it would become a
new nucleus for urban bohemia. Dinnusos is on the forgotten side of
town. It is not the sort of place one stumbles upon by accident, it
is the kind which enchants people. Rumours say that it was once a
fancy hotel, many years ago, but no one is quite sure. Now it is a
retreat for the lost souls of urbia. Whilst mingling in the bar
downstairs one may find oneself in the company of poets, dreamers,
outsiders, and all manner of misfits and rebels. And if that is not
interesting enough, there is a whole labyrinth of rooms on the
upper floors to get lost in, if one is daring enough to explore its
ghostly halls...But it seems that not just Neal's clientele, but
the entire population of the city, begins to go crazy when beings,
once thought mythological, enter the mortal realm and start to stir
chaos. Eight characters. Most of them friends, some of them
strangers. Each with their own story to tell. All of them destined
to cross paths in a surreal sequence of events which will change
them forever.
The Janus Cycle can best be described as gritty, surreal, urban
fantasy. The over-arching story revolves around a nightclub called
Janus, which is not merely a location but virtually a character in
its own right. On the surface it appears to be a subcultural hub
where the strange and disillusioned who feel alienated and
oppressed by society escape to be free from convention; but
underneath that facade is a surreal space in time where the very
foundations of reality are twisted and distorted. But the special
unique vibe of Janus is hijacked by a bandwagon of people who
choose to conform to alternative lifestyles simply because it has
become fashionable to be "different", and this causes many of its
original occupants to feel lost and disenchanted. We see the story
of Janus unfold through the eyes of eight narrators, each with
their own perspective and their own personal journey. A story in
which the nightclub itself goes on a journey. But throughout, one
character, a strange girl, briefly appears and reappears warning
the narrators that their individual journeys are going to collide
in a cataclysmic event. Is she just another one of the nightclub's
denizens, a cynical mischief-maker out to create havoc or a
time-traveller trying to prevent an impending disaster?
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