Echoes of a Shattered Age by R. J. Terrell Read Free Book Online

just as much risk trying to travel through the heavens, something about enticement, and how very few humans could handle it.”
    “Why did she leave in the first place?” Kita asked. “Couldn’t she study here?”
    “No,” Kenyatta answered. “In order to develop, she had to travel to where her teachers live. Apparently, Ghana is one of the few places in the world that has a number of people touched by the Gods in some way. From what she says, there aren’t many people in the world who’ve been touched by the Gods, and those that are, are never close together. But Ghana has more than a handful of these people she calls Ascended . However powerful she’s become, they are well beyond her, hard as I find that to believe.”
    Kita rubbed his face. “Well I’ll admit right now that all this is a bit over my head.”
    Kenyatta nodded. “Mine too.”
    “So how do we contact her? You just think about her and she’ll come?”
    Kenyatta rubbed his hands through his long, thinly twined locks and sighed. “Taliah once told me that siblings who are very close could establish a bond that is so strong, they can feel each other’s presence. Wit the abilities she possesses, she can communicate with me telepathically. Only problem was that I was not born with the same abilities as her, so me have to clear my mind and tink of exactly what I want to say to her. If my mind is clear enough, she can receive whatever thoughts I’m directing at her.”
    “Well you better get at it then, my friend,” Kita said. “I feel like we don’t have a lot of time.”
    More than half the day had gone by after their conversation before Kenyatta successfully established a telepathic link with his sister, and an hour after that, she was on the island with him and Kita.
    Taliah was almost Kenyatta’s height, with flowing, thick black hair neatly combed and freely hanging past the middle of her back. From her body radiated a power that seemed to glow just beneath her smooth brown skin. Her eyes, although round, came to a slant at the ends, and the whites of her eyes were as bright as any Kita had ever seen.
    Taliah wore a beach dress that was made of linen and was tied at the waist on the left side. The dress was a beautiful blend of white background with brown palm trees and pale pink flowers. To Kita, everything about her was exotic. Even her smile was a blend of gentleness and ferocity that could be likened to a panther. When she walked, she moved with the same grace as the mystical cat and exuded an aura that was just as beautiful and dangerous. The most distinct feature about her, however, was what separated her from her brother. Although she was Jamaican, she lacked most of the Jamaican accent that Kenyatta had. Having spent most of her life in different countries, and a very long time in Ghana, her native accent had faded to no more than an occasional spark of her islander lingo.
    After a while of catching up, they spoke of the strange emanations that Taliah said were coming from the direction of the Edge of the World. “I been feelin’ the energy for a while now,” Taliah said. “For a few months, I thought it might come and pass, since it was so random. But in the last few months it’s been getting stronger. It wasn’t until just a few weeks ago that it became so strong that I was able to understand it.”
    She sighed. “Some fool is summoning a powerful demon. Maybe more than one.”
    Kita and Kenyatta looked at each other and then back to Taliah.
    “Someone is summoning a Quentranzi demon,” she continued. “The most powerful of all the fiends in the dark world.”
    “Demons?” Kenyatta frowned. “Someone is summoning demons?”
    “That would explain what we’ve been feeling,” Kita said.
    “This presents us with even more of a problem than a simple demon,” Taliah said. “If this person, whoever he or she,” Taliah paused, “or it is, can summon a Quentranzi, that means two things. First, this person has the