Rayner Ye
No More Magic
Copyright © 2021 by Rayner Ye
The following book is fiction.
Any names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
All rights are reserved.
No part of this publication may be
reproduced, scanned, or transmitted in any form, digital or printed,
without the written permission of the author.
www.rayneryeauthor.com
To my readers.
This prequel helps you understand where YuFu has just come from before he returns to diamond fishing.
For those who do and don’t like magic in their sci-fi and who haven’t read the previous two space fantasy time travel series (Plan8 Slaves and Red Star), I hope that RRT and amethyst temples make more sense now.
After wondering where to take my books next, I asked my husband for advice. He said that thriller is where it’s at, and I’ll find more readers if I take the magic out. He alos said, “The magic is no magic,” so I got Maki and Crowleen to close the portals at the end of the Red Star trilogy: Chairman’s Escape.
YuFu’s Run has no magic concerning time travel of river and rain travel, so if you prefer more science in your sci-fi, you might like the technology and things going wrong with technology.
For those who like science fiction and fantasy, the time portals will open again in another, different series.
This prequel novelette shows the closure of the portals, to aid your understanding when secret agents refer to it in this continuation series about the Mayleedian Secret Service.
Table of Contents
The End of Magic and Time Travel
Half-failed mission
YuFu
Map of Mayleeda Moon
Map of Planet Eeporyo
List of Characters
The End of Magic and Time Travel
Maki snuggled into Daddy’s chest when their fish-shaped planned suspension vehicle lifted. Teeyen’s snow-covered mountains and valleys looked like giants hiding under a fleece. As he nestled in the warmth of Daddy’s arms, he knew he’d never let him go again. A month ago, Z’Das had agreed to release Daddy and Aedre from their burden. No more secret agency work.
Even without teleportation, shape-shifting, and body-snatching, Foster would remain an undercover op. She’d get trained in ninja skills. After that, she’d have biotech and cyberware fitted, get more training, and then join Three’s team of androids and cyborgs. With all the knowledge the Mayleedian Secret Service had gleaned from the magic of river and rain travel, Z’Das was keen to create more undercover divisions. But Foster had said cyborgs were illegal on Mayleeda Moon, so she might travel to planet Nerthus and work as a secret agent there.
Aedre and Daddy wanted normal lives, though. God willing, Z’Das had agreed they could leave the Mayleedian Secret Service.
After hours of flying over the ocean, they met Cheen’s western desert and continued to the peaks. They touched down outside the pyramid and watched binary suns sink behind distant dunes. When Maki first moved to Mayleeda from the Firesnake, at night time, he thought the gas giant looked like a vast black hole in the sky. But he got used to it. Mayleeda counted on it as Maki depended on Daddy. While gravity kept Mayleeda in Tushing’s orbit, love kept Maki in Daddy’s.
Bright purple light radiated mountains and sky. Maki and Daddy jumped to their feet and spun. They squinted at a ragged silhouette, stalking out of the amethyst pyramid time portal. Before, Maki almost peed in his pants when he saw the six-foot-tall crow ninja with her sheath of throwing daggers across her feathered breast. Now, he felt close to her and understood the ancient time-traveller and Keeper of Keys had saved his life.
Darkness returned when ultraviolet disappeared.
Without saying a word, Crowleen stretched out an open palm. Daddy reached into inside his coat pocket and picked out the remaining amethyst star. “No more RRT?”
“Aye. No more river and rain travel.”
Maki spread his arms wide and waved them. “Don’t forget water travellers from outside the boundaries. Can they come to Plan8?”
“You should know better than me, lad. You’re the one with the book.”
“Half a book.”
“Have you read it all? The half book that is?”
“Yes.” He puffed out his rib cage. “I’m the best reader in my year at school. International Mayleedian isn’t even my first language, but I’m still stronger at reading and writing.”
Crowleen ruffled his curls but got her fingers hooked. She chuckled and untangled them. “Clever lad, aren’t you?”
Daddy placed a hand on his shoulder. “He sure is.”
Crowleen cocked her head and gazed at Daddy. She leaned in and sniffed the surrounding air with her beak before extending a hand and resting it on Daddy’s chest. “That’s odd. What happened to you?”
“Something intense.”
“What?”
Daddy unzipped his jacket and pulled up his top. In the centre of his chest, the white outline of a six-pointed star within a circle radiated light. It was easily as big as Daddy’s hand.
Maki gave a small yelp. “What?”
Daddy nodded at him and the crow, then smoothed his tops down again and zipped up his jacket. “Foster and Aedre have them too.” His eyebrows bumped up as his gaze rested on the crow. “How did you realise? I’m wearing enough clothes to cover the light.”
“Sensed it. I’ve been the keeper of keys for over a million years.” Crowleen cocked her bird-head the other way. “What new superpowers do you have?”
“Superpowers?” Daddy slid his hands into his pockets and stood with legs astride. “Who said I have superpowers?”
“Come on, man. You must have something. If the three of you got those symbols on your chests, you must have some kind of superpower.”
Daddy stared at the moon and whispered, “Superpowers.”
Crowleen heaved a sigh. “Well, you use them wisely.” She tossed the star-key and caught it, then turned it over, gazing at the amethyst. “Well. I’ll be seeing you.”
Maki’s shoulders sagged. “Don’t we get a hug?”
