MILLENNIALS

An inter-millennial adventure series.

Book 1: Calderons Light

By Pieter Milan

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Short Plot Summary

125,000 years in the future Earths 10 billion population now live in over 15,000 ancient
sustainable cities built within 12-kilometer-deep cylinders called Terra. The Terra were built
in 2120 and the 15,000 populations are unaware of each other, however, they are overseen by
the Millennials, anonymous evolutionary biologists who hibernate for 1,000 years at a time.
Once a millennium they simultaneously awaken together as a community to monitor and
maintain the Terra communities on Earth and to conduct research. They consider themselves
guardians of humanitys evolution, world peace, order and knowledge. The Millennials have
awakened to avert an anomaly - one cylinder, Terra Aurora (see maps below), is on the verge
of war.

Terra Aurora

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Map Ground floor, horizontal cross-section of Terra Aurora

Terra Aurora

Diagram North facing cross-section of the cylinder, rendered to scale.

Calderon Vizan, a Professor of the Hunt, prophesied indigenously to defeat the Enemy King
and ascend the throne of Terra Aurora, is quietly recruited by the Millennials. To them, it has
become clear that Calderons war is in fact only the latest attack in a wider ancient inter-
millennial cold-war between the Millennials and the Skyjackers, an ancient sect bent on
enacting a twisted philosophy of global chaos. Only Calderons light signature, with the help
of his students so-called magic, can eliminate the Skyjackers engineered Enemy. This is
his story.

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Prologue

Terra Aurora is an ancient civilization much like our own. They live within a great cylinder,
11 km wide. At the base of the cylinder is a beautiful, dangerous and highly magical jungle.
Its people live in what they call the Sky Cliffs, great walls of stone and steel surrounding the
jungle that rise endlessly.

The ancestors of Terra Aurora have built up to 5 km or 12,000 feet high into the Sky Cliffs,
although it is possible, laws prevent construction above this level. There are 700 floors or
levels, sometimes called plateaus. The ancient levels were built out of the Sky Cliffs millennia
ago by these ancestors, great engineers of incredible precision.

Map Ground floor, horizontal cross-section of Terra Aurora

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Each level is 1.5 km deep - beyond this depth is a steel wall reinforced by an impenetrable
magical force field. Over 700 floors (each is 5 meters high), this gives the population
approximately 31,337 square km of space where they can work and live. As a comparison,
Manhattan Island in New York had an area of 21.6 square km with a population of 1.6 million
in 2014.

The total housing potential of Terra Aurora is 787,500 (450 rooms on each of the 700 floors
with an average of 2.5 people per room). Their population is under control and in the last 200
years, they have never occupied more than 650 floors at any time. The total population is
currently 731,251.

Terra Aurora

Diagram North facing cross-section of the cylinder, rendered to scale.

On the south-east quadrant is housing for living. Each room in the housing complex is 100
square meters. The rooms go back in rows of 10 towards the darkness of the steel and stone

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Sky Cliffs. Some floors are not developed and are used only as sources of minerals and ores,
used for construction.

Due to the finite set of resources within the cylinder, they have built an ancient system of
sustainability, their entire eco-system of consumption and development is accurately accounted
for down to the smallest micron. All waste is reconstituted into utilizable materials or sources
of energy.

For millennia before the development of technologies, the ancestral Terra Aurora lived and
worked in dark caverns and tunnels, and for this reason, scientists believe they evolved their
magic of light. To this day each morning, they are compelled biologically to magically
ignite. They douse themselves in a magical flame that recedes within their skin giving them
their ancient glow. It is also still used in the hunt.

On the surface they are a primitive hunter-gatherer culture yet the prey they kill and plants they
harvest are magical. Also, their technologies are extremely advanced and deeply integrated
with each Terra Aurorans sophisticated magical nervous system. They hunt for magical prey
in the jungle. Farming does take place but only on the uppermost levels, the location of the
most non-magical sunlight. Hospitals, telecommunications and other essential services are
ancient, built directly into the Sky Cliffs. Research facilities are based on the ground floors,
above the underground Universities, except for the Magical Technologies and Magical
Energies faculties and related commercial research facilities, which share space on an upper
level.

The force fields behind the steel walls at the back of each level surround Terra Aurora and
create an impenetrable boundary that does not allow escape. Although the society is now
largely content and, except for some groups of youths from each new generation, there is no
longer a desire to leave. The people of Terra Aurora can fly with great precision. Distinguished
Doctors of Magic and esteemed scientists of technology have attempted to build flying
machines in past centuries to attempt exploration above the cylinder. However, due to several
horrific accidents, these were eventually outlawed before the great renaissance where they
recognized the grace of their existence and became content.

Magical flight is permitted only by adults over 17 in the skies above the jungle at light speed
and only in order to transit to other Sky Cliff levels. Access, including flight, below level 2
and immediately above the jungles surface is only permitted under supervision either by:
security forces; military; licensed commercial operations; tourism; harvesting; and distillation;

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hunt forces; and academic e.g. a student attending a University course in Hunting may use
jungle flight only if supervised by a Professor of the Hunt.

Under the North West quadrant is Oceans gate. The sun also rises over the North West. There
a great salt ocean rises and falls under the Sky Cliffs in that corner. Ancient magic prevents
divers from going beyond the boundary of the cylinder and so the people of Terra Aurora are
uncertain of where the ocean originates. It is unclear whether the great cylinder is surrounded
by rock or a hypothesized deep-ocean. However, the people of Terra Aurora do not concern
themselves with this. Rather, their enlightened philosophy is: to exist within the great Sky
Cliffs and expand their lives through enrichment of the plateaus; to live in balance with the
jungles of Terra Aurora at the base of their great cylinder where the ferocious and ruthless
Enemy reside; to learn and grow through study and the practice of their light magic and the
sciences.

Above the great salt ocean are the Royal Residences, great halls of ancient tradition. Yet there
has been no Royalty within the residence for over 2,000 years. A magical and technically
detailed prophecy bestowed on Calderon, a great hunter, that he would be King. The
government validated its authenticity.

This is his story.

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Part 1. Terra Aurora

Chapter 1. Hunting

One must never consider the dangers that exist when moving forward on a plan which
has already been agreed to. It must be exacted without thought for all the potential
obstacles, living and imagined. In so doing a warrior is indeed a focused talon, capable
of achieving that which the Enemy might jealously envy.

Creed of the Terra Auroran Armies of Light, King Anoton Vizan, 127052 AD

The jungles of Terra Aurora are filled with such Enemy. Their magic has been historically
subverted by animals in tandem with the thick fauna surrounding the upper and outer borders
and rooted tunnels of the jungle, an antidote to imbalance. The people of my clan, the ancient
Terra Aurora of Light, have always known our role is equally vital. Surrounding the jungle are
the Sky Cliffs, where we live. Made of stone and steel, they rise endlessly to the heavens.
Once a great warrior scaled the cliffs until legend held, he got so high there was no air to breathe
and he fell miles to his death at the base of the jungle. The jungle is wide, and the great cylinder
within which we live is beautiful. In order to sustain our way of life, we must venture into the
jungle to hunt magical prey and to gather rare, magical plants and fresh illuminated water.

Calderon Vizan was the name bestowed upon me at birth by the government. It is the name
given to a unique child of light (a Terra Auroran infant), the one born to be King precisely
1,000 years after King Anoton Vizan, the last monarch of Terra Aurora, signed the creed. Why
they should require that I be King is a matter of prophecy. While we have no monarch, we live
in peace and harmony simply by going about our day to day business which is regulated by the
elected government. I am 38 now and may seem old to some but for most elders, I am but
barely a man, unready for the throne.

Still, I am a Professor of the Hunt, a job I work hard to do well. Our universities sprawl deep
within the bellies of the four quadrants of the cylindrical Sky Cliffs that surround our garden
world. The quadrants are not physically marked, they are determined by the rise and fall of the
sun which tell us North from East and so forth. I house many dozens of teams, young hunters,
in the dormitories of the Hunting Domain within the southeastern most corner of Terra Aurora.
After I was granted tenure the faculty committee assigned me the southeastern location after
much debate and struggle, typical of the infighting within the university. Centuries of tradition
give a significant social standing to the hunter but the students development must be graduated
and this takes care and precision. The hunter must rise to distinction only after passing through

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measurable boundaries and in addition, all accomplishments must be completed to the
individual satisfaction of the overseers.

I had fought my corner as an accomplished hunter to advocate that the next generation of
hunters be prepared to practice their craft from day one. This meant the earliest of starts, in the
pre-dawn pitch of darkness and frost. The darkest corner is in the south-east at before dawn
for the prime hunting months of March through June, spring to early summer. From there,
hunters can venture out from their corridors and tread carefully into the forest to find the perfect
spot to stalk the morning's prey. Before much time was lost and the strategy was less precise.
We had resided in the north and because of this, the animals knew where we were from the
shadows we cast. Even the moon at that time of the morning betrayed our position with its
pale yellow and lime glow. So, after much debate, the move to the south-east was granted and
I could begin my chapter as Professor of the Hunt, with no excuses.

My teams of undergraduates must not only pass their written examinations they must also bring
home fresh kill every night. As a secondary duty, they must harvest magical plants and collect
distilled illuminated water. Those responsibilities do not require darkness or stealth, broad
daylight is sufficient and that curriculum is delivered by the botany and aqua departments.
While these are independent disciplines, the departments try to work together to deliver a
cohesive curriculum. The hunt is more important than botany and water as we have ample
illuminated water supplies and magical fauna, but without fresh kill from magical beasts, our
people would starve.

Magical nutrients from animals are necessary for us to live. Cured meats can only last for 6
months. To ensure sustainability, we must live off of the daily hunt. My students are primarily
hunters but they often accompany the botany and aqua majors on extensive plant harvesting
and water distillation exercises, mainly as protectors from the Enemy. Because magical
animals are so important to our way of life, we work closely with the zoology department to
ensure that we only hunt animals in abundant supply. Similarly, botanists only harvest plentiful
fauna. Water reserves are monitored for magical nutrients essential to the oils and powders we
require to preserve our way of life.

The ancient trees of our jungle have thick trunks, ten meters in diameter, and are several floors
high, growing together densely to form a canopy, though some branches do hang low and touch
the ground. Conservation laws restrict entry to the jungle by residents. Farming is
accommodated on upper levels of the Sky Cliffs through magically generated indoor climates.

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Jungle level cultivation and farming are prohibited to ensure the habitat remains strong,
although even if we had wanted to farm we could not, the magic of the foliage is too strong.

The Enemy is the main area of focus for todays lecture and as I rise this morning, bathing in
candlelight, shaving my chin carefully, I try to focus on the students who are about to learn
this, the darkest part of our existence. All our people ignite in the morning, which causes us
to glow a unique colour and brightness, our light signature. My build is lean and muscular as
you would expect for a hunter and of course, I am tall, all hunters must be at least 6 feet 3
inches tall. Wearing comfortable sandals, light cotton pants with a short sleeved shirt, all in
dark brown, I am ready to ignite.

I make a right-handed fist and then flick my four fingers open, causing a tennis ball sized
fireball to appear and hover 5 centimetres above my palm. I raise my hand lifting the levitating
fireball above my head. I then drop my arm quickly and the fireball falls, dousing my entire
body in magical flames. For a moment I enjoy the sensation of exhilaration, warmth and power
that comes from the ignition. Then I close my eyes and nod my head gently. The white flames
recede into my olive skin giving me the internal glow necessary for the pre-dawn raids
performed by hunters.

I require all students to have ignited prior to class so that we may begin the hunt, without
warning. As I walk the 10-minute journey down to the great halls it is barely 4.55am, my
favourite time. The students will be no doubt cutting themselves shaving or having problems
with their ignition processes. They only learn to ignite at 17 when their bodies become capable
of sustaining the glow of Terra Aurora magic for extended periods of time and not all can do it
at that age. This is partly why not only are the places within my class are so difficult to get
into, but why the classes are in some years particularly small - hunting requires a strong
consistent glow, that most cannot achieve until their early twenties. This year I have a small
class, only 14 students. However, the quality and strength of their magic and their physical
power are unusually high. I always insist on personally teaching first-year hunters and this
always means that I am hunting at pre-first light. Only the first year team hunts at pre-first
light, as they require the most darkness to hunt.

I light the mornings candles and fill the emptiness of the lecture room with a dense white cloud
that obscures all except for the first 2 rows and the centre aisle. Controlling weather is a simple
enough activity especially when its done indoors, it only requires a nod at my age. I begin

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drawing out the floor plan on a notepad of light that hovers above the lectern. I mark out the
names of the students and review their progress records.

Luka is the fiercest attacker, extremely fit and quick yet heavily built with an impatience that
regularly costs him his kill, this leaves him deeply unsatisfied at the end of most hunts, despite
being the most feared by prey compared to his classmates. It is important that I teach him the
most restraint of all. I must be tough on him until he can finally realize his first ferocious kill,
only then will he, ironically, settle down. He is the most difficult to manage of all the students.
Yet this toughness on him has earned me the respect of the entire class.

I did have some practical experience that the students respected. The volume of kills I brought
the clan during my prime stalking years became well known. While my experience with the
Enemy where I led a battalion to reclaim a portion of the Western region which had become
overrun by the Enemy was hailed as my greatest victory by the elders, the students were far
more interested in the hunt. My stories of defeating the Enemy are more complex and political
in nature. When they were 5 or 6 they would have heard of my kill experiences directly from
their parents, many of whom would have hunted with me. Multi-generational hunting families
are common. Of my year, indeed of the 10 years before and after my prime hunting years, I
held the record for the most and largest kills.

For me, I think my greatest hunting success was the great magical lion of the blue iridescent
Aldgrine night lake. At night time only when the moon is full on the warmest days of the
summer, twice a year in July and August, the lake rises up and glows, shimmering and blue.
There a great lion who when sitting was 8 feet tall with a mane of yellow, orange and gold
flames, would sit in the centre on a rock. He would purr and lick his paws grooming himself
in the sparkling reflection. His vanity was a legend, as was his power, though none had heard
him roar. Some thought he was actually the Enemy, taken refuge in this form only to trick us.
But, I didnt believe it. I knew he was really an animal and that while he was quick and could
harness magic, he was not the Enemy so he could not change form. Hiding on the rock base
where the lake formed I had taken a long straw to breathe underwater as the water rose and
covered myself in blue river weed from the underground Lansi that occasionally fed the rare
lake Aldgrine. Disguised I glowed blue and was indistinguishable from the temporary
shimmering lake. I lay face up and waited to see the great lion parading himself vainly, with
me as his mirror. After a few minutes of watching him preen I pounced and struck him cleanly
through the heart with a sword of light and flame that killed him instantly, and humanely, as is
our law. His fur is to be used at my coronation and his meat has been cured and salted to be

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used at initial ignition ceremonies for the hunters, botanists and distillers. The magic of his
flesh, particularly rare, provides essential nutrients that assist the new students to become alive
with our ancient magic.

An ebullient student came bounding in but settled down quickly once he saw me at the front.
He was Raglor, a fine apprentice, his mother had been one of the first female hunters and his
father was an exceptional botanist. He had a particular gift for stalking, his sense of smell and
eye for detail in examining tracks were exceptional. His weakness was in the water, he could
not stalk water tracks and his hunt magic was still too weak to manage a kill on his own.

I quickly jotted down my notes on the remaining 12 students as they began to pile in. They
whispered amongst themselves as they saw my head down working but eventually their
murmurs became rowdy as they started laughing and sharing stories of the hunt the day before.
Some students began touching the cloud bank behind them with their magically electrified
knives or daggers creating a small thundery noise that soon became distracting to me. I smiled
inwardly.

Silence, hunters! I said, raising my voice.

They immediately sat in their chairs and became still with seriousness. It was 5.15am.

This morning before the pre-light stalk we will begin our voyage towards intimate knowledge
of the Enemy. Now, who can tell me about the Enemy? I asked.

I scanned their faces, looking for a hint of awareness.

Jenta, a 5th generation hunter with unusual red hair that tended to catch fire without warning,
squinted with the seriousness of a seasoned hunter. He had yet to master self-control and this
spontaneous follicle combustion, a diagnosed condition, had cost him numerous kills. It had
to either stay alight or remain extinguished, and it needed to do so at his command or not at all.
He, like Raglor, was not competent at water tracking. The other students looked off into the
distance, some yawned while others dangled their legs in front of their tall stools. Lukas right
leg twitched impatiently, he clearly wanted the hunt to begin. I waited a few moments before
focusing on Jenta.

I looked at him and caught his eye.

Speak, I said.

Me Professor? he asked, glaring at me with the ferociousness of a natural hunter.

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I nodded once.

The Enemy live in the jungle. They are everywhere and have powerful magic. The animals
and the plants at the top of the jungle and the borders of the jungle have magic that can tackle
the goal of their magic. It can stop them from achieving what they want to do. All they want
to do is to leave the jungle and live in the sky cliffs. They want to destroy us. They do not
want to live with us peacefully, he said unflinching, looking directly at me the entire time. He
spoke with a crispness and chilliness that was abrasive.

His gravity and seriousness belied his youth. He had lost a sister to the Enemy and so he knew
of the danger first hand. To him it was personal and there was a subsurface anger to his
response. Only his occasionally sparking red hair during his response gave me a hint that he
was not entirely in control and still a youth. He had wanted to go to the hunt site before his
sister went on that tragic day. She was a distiller and he did not think she was ready to hunt
alone, nor the team she went with. But he was too young at the time and did not articulate
himself in a way that was taken seriously when he tried to raise the alarm. The Enemy had
devoured her alive. Her screams echoed throughout the cylindrical Sky Cliffs of Terra Aurora
and the halls of her deep encircling floors. He had nightmares about this for months, but
eventually, they stopped and he was left with a steeliness and the deepest guilt for not helping
her. To me, it was clear that this residual anger and guilt was heavy and the source of his
control problem. But, when channelled correctly through practice and academic exercises, he
could easily overcome it and become a distinguished hunter in his own right. He would one
day honour the memory of his sister by becoming one of our bravest and most decorated
hunters, of that I was certain. I had read the report on the investigation into her death. He was
right about his sisters team not being ready.

His response to my question was solid, reasonably well put together but lacked depth.

Good, excellent. Now, what else? Tamba, you, what else can you tell us about the Enemy?
I said pointing to the hunter sitting to the left of Raglor.

Sir, Professor, I know that we also play an important part in maintaining order, it obviously
isnt just the magic of the plants and animals, said Tamba.

Tamba was the only lad in the class with a girlfriend. His tone was cocky, as though I had
asked him a stupid question. I smiled as I shook my head. I do not mind arrogance, so long as
the answer is right - a wrong answer could cost a hunter the kill or worse, their life.

Excellent Tamba. Now, someone else explains what role we play? I continued on.
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Before I could select another hunter, Luka spoke up with his eyes lowered.

One must never consider the dangers that exist when moving forward on a plan already agreed
to. It must be exacted without thought for all the potential obstacles living and imagined. In
so doing a warrior is indeed a focused talon, capable of achieving that which his enemies might
jealously envy recited Luka with precision and steel.

Everyone listen to Luka. Luka, say it again I said sternly.

Some of the students who were on the verge of dozing off perked up. Luka repeated himself,
word for word, eyes down, he then looked up at me. I nodded and continued.

This is the creed of the Terra Auroran Hunter. We work as a unit. We have a plan. We feel
a healthy fear and then move forward regardless. We remain focused at all times. That means
precision and restraint I said.

Luka nodded once with a gritty smile.

So far we understand the process of the hunt and we understand the role plants and animals
play, but we are yet to understand the physiology or tactics of the Enemy. We have not
examined the contents of the plan of attack that we must exact. We have only just begun. Open
your books to page 293, chapter 10 I said, leafing through my teachers edition of Hunting
Fundamentals, 101.

I began to explain to them the blood-chilling reality of facing the Enemy. Their biology of
mud and twisted magic, leathery skin and open wounds. How they feed off of the living and
have no sense of decency in relation to the suffering of others due to their strange relationship
with pain. Their ruby red eyes that awaken in shadow. Their King, the monster of the Western
Gully who towers above them as they feed off of the flesh of the living below. They feed off
of the same prey as us, they are competitors in the hunt.

What is worse is that while it has not yet been declared, we are on the verge of a great war
with the Enemy. It is only a matter of time, and possibly not long now before they will attack
in such a force that we will require an activation of the Terra Auroran armies of light for the
first time in over 2,000 years. While you are only just beginning your education and are
cloistered within the university, the dangers you face in the hunt are real. We must always be
alert for the Enemy. It is why I must always accompany you at this stage. However, you may
well end up fighting in the war, in hunting battalions, alongside the armies of light, in multiple
incursions, before you graduate I said.

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I noticed some of the lads grinning at each other.

Tales of battles may sound heroic however I would not wish them on anyone. Only a fool
would crave war I said.

Pelor, a graceful young woman sitting to Lukas right, shook her head with a pained look on
her face.

Right, lecture over. We will discuss strategy and tactics over the coming week. However,
right now, we have 15 minutes before first light I said.

I then organized the 12 men and 2 women into 3 teams of 4. This was to be their first hunt
primarily under their own direction. Previous hunts I had overseen. They must work together
to achieve the goal of the hunt. Luka was to lead from the back team, with the weakest students,
Kaylan, Lykor and Obrint. I put the two women in the first and second teams. Pelor was
assigned to the first team, as she was the most powerful and precise warrior, only likely to be
outdone by Luka, should he learn to control himself. The second team included Raglor and
Jenta and was led by Junlo, an experienced tracker, was on reconnaissance. The second team
would structure the strategy with their advance knowledge of the jungle including where
animals were located and problems related to light and weather.

Let the hunt begin! I declared and the students crept quietly into the stalk.

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