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Liminal Space (Shadows & Light Book One), page 1
LIMINAL SPACE
SHADOWS & LIGHT BOOK ONE
(AMARANTHE ♦ 23)
G. S. JENNSEN
2025
LIMINAL SPACE
Copyright © 2025 by G. S. Jennsen
Cover design by Sergey Nivens. Cover typography by G. S. Jennsen.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, except for brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher at:
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Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.
The Hypernova Publishing name, colophon and logo are trademarks of Hypernova Publishing.
Liminal Space / G. S. Jennsen.—1st ed.
LCCN 2025918670
978-1-957352-30-5
AMARANTHE UNIVERSE
* * *
AURORA RHAPSODY
Aurora Rising
STARSHINE
VERTIGO
TRANSCENDENCE
Aurora Renegades
SIDESPACE
DISSONANCE
ABYSM
Aurora Resonant
RELATIVITY
RUBICON
REQUIEM
ASTERION NOIR
EXIN EX MACHINA
OF A DARKER VOID
THE STARS LIKE GODS
RIVEN WORLDS
CONTINUUM
INVERSION
ECHO RIFT
ALL OUR TOMORROWS
CHAOTICA
DUALITY
COSMIC SHORES
MEDUSA FALLING
THE THIEF
THE UNIVERSE WITHIN
SHADOWS & LIGHT
LIMINAL SPACE
THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING (2026)
NAKED SINGULARITY (2027)
SHORT STORIES
Restless I • Restless II • Apogee • Solatium • Venatoris • Re/Genesis • Meridian • Fractals • Chrysalis • Starlight Express • Extinguishing the Stars
Learn more at gsjennsen.com/books or visit the Amaranthe Wiki
DRAMATIS PERSONAE
* * *
Alexis ‘Alex’ Solovy Marano
Space scout and explorer. Prevo.
Spouse of Caleb Marano, daughter of Miriam and David Solovy.
Caleb Marano
Former intelligence agent. Space scout and explorer.
Spouse of Alex Solovy, bonded to Akeso.
Nika Kirumase
External Relations Advisor, Asterion Dominion Advisor Committee.
Former NOIR leader.
Mnemosyne (“Mesme”)
Katasketousya Idryma Member; former 1st Analystae of Aurora.
Miriam Solovy (Commandant) Corradeo Praesidis
Leader, Concord Miliary. Leader, Anaden Advocacy.
Marlee Marano Eren Savitas
Concord Asst. Ambassador. Advocacy Intelligence Chief, Non-Anaden Affairs.
Dashiel Ridani Nyx Praesidis
Dominion Industry Advisor. Advocacy Dir. of Intelligence.
Richard Navick Mia Requelme Jenner
Concord Dir. of Intelligence. Owner, Confluence Expo.
Malcolm Jenner (Admiral) Morgan Lekkas (Major)
AEGIS Fleet Admiral. Cmdr. AEGIS Fighter Craft.
Olivia Montegreu Valkyrie
Leader, Riamere Cartel. Prevo companion to Alex.
Kennedy Rossi
CEO, Connova Interstellar.
OTHER MAJOR CHARACTERS
* * *
Akeso Lakhes
Sentient planet. Praetor, Idryma.
Species: Ekos Species: Katasketousya
Arien Colonnei Lance Palmer (Cmdr)
Khesa Prutet High Chair. Dominion Military Advisor.
Species: Elakri Species: Asterion
Arnal Nikto Laurent Kovalne
Leader, Nikto cartel. Physicist.
Species: Anaden Species: Elakri
Casmir elasson-Machim Maris Debray
Leader, Anaden military. Dominion Culture Advisor.
Species: Anaden Species: Asterion
David Solovy Miaon
Professor, Concord SWTC. Former anarch agent.
Species: Human Species: Yinhe
Deunan Colonnei Noah Terrage
Former truva. COO, Connova Interstellar.
Species: Elakri Species: Human
Devon Reynolds Perrin Benvenit
Dir., Concord Special Projects. Dominion Admin. Advisor.
Species: Human Species: Asterion
Felzeor Prah’ka Nanh’ain’mi
CINT agent. Leader, Galenai Ruling Council.
Species: Volucri Species: Galenai
Galean Ozeal Resamane Ozeal
Former Tarazi rebel. Desbida; former Tarazi rebel.
Species: Belascocian Species: Belascocian
Graham Delavasi Stanley
Former SF Intelligence Dir. Morgan's Prevo counterpart.
Species: Human Species: Artificial
Grant Mesahle Thomas
Owner, Mesahle Flight. CAF Aurora Artificial.
Species: Asterion Species: Artificial
CONCORD
* * *
MEMBER SPECIES
Human
Anaden
Novoloume
Naraida
Khokteh
Barisan
Dankath
Efkam
ALLIED SPECIES
Asterion Taenarin
Katasketousya Volucri
Fylliot Yinhe
PROTECTED SPECIES
Ekos Icksel
Faneros Ourankeli
Galenai Pachrem
Godjan Vrachnas
THE STORY SO FAR
* * *
Read a summary of the events of Amaranthe #1-13 online at gsjennsen.com/synopsis.
RIVEN WORLDS
Fourteen years have passed since the events of AURORA RESONANT. Caleb has fully bonded with Akeso, the living planet that saved his life, and he and Alex have made their home there.
CONTINUUM
Alex introduced Nika to Concord, the multi-species government formed after The Displacement to take the place of the deposed Anaden Directorate. Nika warned Concord of the Rasu and received a cautious promise of support. When Nika returned home to the Asterion Dominion, she discovered the other Advisors had created the Omoikane Initiative, a massive project designed to accelerate technology, warfare and logistical plans to combat the Rasu.
Concord was facing conflict on two additional fronts. Negotiations for the Savrakaths, a lizard-evolved Mosaic species, to become an ally of Concord broke down when CINT discovered they were developing antimatter weapons; Marlee also discovered they were enslaving another species, the Godjans.
The lack of a strong Anaden leader led several elassons to foment a rebellion against Concord. Eren’s lover, Cosime, was killed when Torval elasson-Machim bombed the Savrakath’s antimatter facility. Meanwhile, Malcolm was captured by the enemy during a mission to rescue Godjans on Savrak. When Concord approved an alliance with the Asterion Dominion, Ferdinand elasson-Kyvern began a coup to overthrow Concord.
The Rasu launched an attack on the Asterion world of Namino, and Concord sent a fleet to defend their new ally. They were unprepared, however, for how difficult the Rasu were to kill, and the battle turned against them. A leviathan shapeshifted to swallow Miriam’s ship, and Rasu infiltrated the vessel. Miriam activated the ship’s self-destruct mechanism to prevent the Rasu from acquiring Concord secrets, killing everyone on board.
INVERSION
The Rasu reached the Namino surface and activated a quantum block, cutting the planet off from the Asterions’ d-gate network. Marlee was injured by a Rasu and trapped on the planet; Grant was able to rescue her and retreat to an underground bunker. Caleb stole a ship and went to Namino to find Marlee. He joined the Asterions trapped there in attempting to disrupt the Rasu invasion, at great personal cost to him due to Akeso’s aversion to violence.
Concord defeated Ferdinand’s coup attempt, and Ferdinand fled to a safe house with a group of sympathetic elassons. Corradeo Praesidis and his granddaughter, Nyx, returned to Concord after a fourteen-year absence. Disturbed by the state of Anaden affairs, Corradeo decided to resume the mantle of leadership and wrest control away from Ferdinand and the rebelling elassons.
Miriam became one of the first humans to be returned to life via regenesis. She struggled with the transition, as well as with maintaining control of Concord after the coup attempt. Alex and Kennedy reverse-engineered the Machim double-shielding technology and deployed it on AEGIS ships to prevent the Rasu from boarding vessels in the future. Further, the Kats began delivering Rift Bubble devices that created an impermeable barrier around a planet.
The Savrakaths lied and told Concord that Malcolm was dead. Mia, seeking revenge, tricked the Anadens into attacking the Savrakaths; when her deceptions were discovered, she became a fugitive.
Alex a
ECHO RIFT
Malcolm escaped his Savrakath prison and returned home, surprising everyone. Mia, devasted by his apparent death, refused to reconcile with him so long as he declined regenesis. While in hiding on Pandora, Mia clashed with Enzio Vilane, a wealthy businessman and secret mob boss. When he tried and failed to kidnap her, she agreed to a plea deal with the authorities and returned to Romane—but not to Malcolm.
Corradeo disbanded the rebel elasson group and established a new, Concord-friendly Anaden government. He convinced a brokenhearted Eren to come work for him as an intelligence agent.
Alex and Caleb investigated rumors of an advanced civilization, the Ourankeli, annihilated by the Rasu. They found a lone survivor, who told them of the powerful weapon they created to kill the Rasu. The three of them traveled to the last settlement of Ourankeli, rescued them from a Rasu attack, and brought the refugees to Concord.
The Savrakaths sneaked an antimatter bomb onto Concord HQ. Richard and David were able to find and disarm it seconds before detonation. In response, the Kats exiled the Savrakaths, trapping their planet inside a modified Rift Bubble called an Echo Rift.
The Rasu reappeared to attack Toki’taku. The Taiyoks refused a Rift Bubble, but together with a Concord fleet, the Asterions were able to beat back Rasu forces. However, the Rasu captured an unprotected Concord vessel and, now armed with the locations of Concord worlds, launched an assault on the Khokteh planet of Ireltse.
ALL OUR TOMORROWS
The Concord fleet arrived at Ireltse to find it under massive Rasu assault. When the Rasu deployed a quantum block, Valkyrie temporarily sacrificed herself to protect Alex. After Alex and Caleb destroyed the quantum block, Concord forces defeated the attackers. Pinchu was gravely injured in the Rasu offensive, but Caleb healed him using Akeso’s life energy. After Valkyrie rebooted herself, we learned she was in a relationship with Thomas, the Aurora’s Artificial.
An anti-regenesis terrorist group called the Gardiens, led by Enzio Vilane, attempted to assassinate Miriam to discredit regenesis technology. Malcolm went undercover to infiltrate the group, while Richard uncovered evidence that Enzio was the son of Olivia Montegreu. Separately, it was revealed that Enzio had reconstituted Olivia from scattered records of her Artificial and neural imprints.
Morgan rejected Marlee's romantic advance, prompting Marlee to pursue dangerous cybernetic upgrades; Morgan decided to rejoin the military. Corradeo opened formal diplomatic relations between the Anaden Advocacy and the Asterion Dominion, and Nika gave her friend Maris the task of negotiating with Corradeo.
When the Rasu attacked the synthetic Ruda homeworld, the Ruda struck a deal with their fellow machines, agreeing to betray Concord in exchange for shapeshifting technology. They forced Miriam's fleet to withdraw by threatening to turn their planet into a massive EMP weapon.
Judging Nika’s kyoseil manipulation abilities had reached a threshold, Mesme brought Nika to the Reor colony in the Oneiroi Nebula. Nika plunged into a pure energy pillar, absorbing its power, and emerged transformed.
CHAOTICA
Following Nika's transformative encounter with kyoseil in the Oneiroi Nebula, Alex challenged Mesme for an explanation. Mesme said everything it did was to save the people—Alex, Caleb, Nika, Dashiel, Miriam, Corradeo—who would save the universe, if it could be saved. Their argument ended with Alex still angry and distrustful of Mesme.
Nika discovered her new abilities allowed her to open wormholes, control kyoseil actions, and perceive all kyoseil interactions across space. She enabled other Asterions to access wormholes and began experiencing glimpses of their thoughts.
During a dinner party on Akeso, Nika forced Mesme to reveal that the planet was created using kyoseil, explaining Caleb's persistent connection to Akeso across quantum barriers. This revelation led Alex to deduce that diati seeded the Kats' Ekos-1 intelligence, while Dzhvar seeded Ekos-3. Mesme revealed kyoseil's ancient origins as the third primordial species alongside diati and Dzhvar.
The Rasu launched devastating attacks on multiple worlds, but Miriam successfully used the new Ymyrath Field device based on the Ourankeli weapon. Escalating their offensive, the Rasu began using antimatter weapons capable of destroying adiamene.
During a Rasu attack on Mirai, Nika deployed the Asterions' new miniature Rift devices called Kireme Boundaries. While managing multiple devices remotely, she became lost in the kyoseil consciousness until Dashiel rescued her. Recovery proved difficult as other Asterions' thoughts bombarded her mind, until Mesme taught her to block the mental intrusions.
As Rasu attacks intensified, Alex and Nika devised a desperate gambit. They injected captured Rasu with a virutox containing kyoseil information, then infiltrated Rasu systems to release these “saboteurs,” spreading intelligence about kyoseil throughout Rasu networks. Nika reluctantly asked the kyoseil to activate its abilities for the Rasu, knowing the enemy desired kyoseil to control their distant sub-units.
While they worked, Alex noted how Mesme knew what was going to happen at the Oneiroi Nebula and wondered if Mesme might be a time traveler. Nika argued time travel was impossible, but Alex posited that with enough energy applied to a point on the spacetime manifold, it might be possible.
On Hirlas, Caleb, Eren, and Felzeor became trapped during a Rasu assault. Cornered at a waterfall with no escape, Caleb made a desperate sacrifice, bleeding into the planet's soil and water. Through his blood, Akeso channeled its life force into Hirlas itself. The planet awakened and systematically annihilated every Rasu present, reducing them to atoms before tearing the atoms apart. Caleb nearly died from blood loss, but Akeso kept him alive, and Akeso's consciousness now resided permanently in Hirlas.
Internal conflicts erupted among Rasu factions, triggering the civil war Alex and Nika hoped to incite. The Rasu abruptly withdrew from their invasion to engage in battles within their own territory. Miriam reacted with fury upon learning of Alex and Nika's actions, fearing the eventual victor would prove unstoppable. Alex argued they faced imminent defeat and she’d bought crucial time.
Alex and Nika confronted Mesme with their time travel theory. Mesme confirmed it traveled back 982,000 years from eight years in the future, and that events were progressing better than in the previous timeline. The confrontation ended with Alex and Mesme reconciling, though Mesme admitted to keeping one final personal secret that didn’t affect their war against the Rasu—its former identity.
DUALITY
Two months after Alex and Nika used kyoseil to kick off a Rasu civil war, Miriam and the Rasu War Council worked diligently to strengthen defenses on Concord worlds, while using the Ymyrath Field weapon to strategically disrupt the civil war when one faction started to gain the upper hand.
Malcolm stepped up his infiltration of the Gardiens in an attempt to uncover evidence needed to expose Enzio Vilane and his nefarious plans. In order to protect Mia, he continued to avoid any contact with her. Enzio engineered a series of regenesis mishaps and tainted neural imprints in order to sow misgivings about regenesis among the public.
Alex and Nika investigated the Rasu Stygian faction’s suspicious inactivity, discovering that Stygian territory was saturated with kyoseil and populated by massive Rasu forces. On the other side of Stygian territory, Alex detected a mysterious scar across the spacetime manifold.
