FV – Portal

Fortuna Verto

Cover Artwork

Finally comes the third book of the body for the Celesi Veil trilogy, which may be considered a sequel for Essentia Animus (which was the second book of the soul) even if a reader should find no problem reading this book by itself (without reading either of the previous books first). This book is also the conclusion of the entire trilogy, with a final chapter that brings the entire trilogy to a grand closure (highly recommended to read the final chapter only after all other books are completed, even if reading out of order). There are no other complications with even starting with this book, before any of the others, as this story is so considerably distinct that it no longer even takes place upon the same world as the previous two, let alone having completely new characters. This book then completes the pattern of the trilogy, leaving no room for future stories to be told.

Fortuna Verto continues the events of Essentia Animus to advance society into a sci-fi interpretation of Celese, bringing events to a distant world of another star.  At the same time, events interpret a real-world advancement into a similar sci-fi age of another planet that shares Earth’s galaxy, a planet that has also been linked by the Celesi Veil.  While this story is the conclusion of the trilogy, it is also fully capable of standing alone in its own light, as the world of Celese itself is no longer a place the characters will be journeying through.  However, the events of the story are a spoiler for all previous books, in case that matters to anyone.  English remains predominant in both worlds of the story, but the presence of both sides makes certain Aethyx terms stand out, while Earth-styled scientific terms will also stand in a powerful contrast.  Instrumentation remains an important aspect of the Elemental Era, but the influence of the gift has grown distant after discovering the superiority of the elements.  Harnessing the elements had eliminated some of the original limitations of instrumentation, allowing for a self-sustaining focal source that provides solutions to problems such as automation.  This turns the development available from the previous modern-day sense of a fantasy to one that is deep-future.  Finally opening access to the passage across the veil will open this progress in comparison to a very similar deep-future parallel world without such fantasy elements, contrasting the laws of physics with the laws of elements in a convergence of time and space.

This story takes place in earth-year 3115, over a millenia after the events of Vitae Memorandum, and about eight centuries after the events of Essentia Animus.  At this point, Celese had already developed into a hyper advanced world, having already accomplished interstellar travel, which is what had brought the story away from Celese in the first place.  Within the Yhndaeqi Star Cluster lies the world of Ruixse, a newly cultivated world that was found capable of life but otherwise devoid of it.  Almost half a millenia after life became stable in this world, the people there are gradually adjusting to their new everyday lifestyle.  Their binary star system has Ruixse orbit Yhndae while Taeqhyx drifts into different distances from Ruixse.  While Taeqhyx drifts close, the world is filled rich with elements, leading to a solar phase of prosperity.  Right now, Ruixse was instead experiencing a void phase, with Taeqhyx far away.

At the same time, this story also takes place within the Centri System, on the planet Aestus.  Aestus had been discovered by Earth over six centuries ago, an already populated but vastly under-developed world filled with alien life.  The species there were known as Conduits as a rather rough term for their dual blooded system.  In the time since, all conduit culture had been completely replaced by human culture as humanity rushed in to technologically advance the life-supporting world.  In the time since the loss of their culture, conduits had at least achieved a very rough sense of ‘equality’ with the humans they were now sharing their planet with, even if oppression had lasted over four centuries.  As Aestus orbits around Kenta and the fainter star of Proma, Toli orbits off in the distance in a cycle of solar seasons, shifting the planet globally between a time of high warmth and extreme cold (in addition to the slighter regular seasons).  The last Diatal season was 3075, with the next being in 3155, leaving the planet in the middle of a cold Noctal season.

Lyunhtaeviyqia (Lyun) Iezhysevyeihr is also known as Rosalia (Rosa) Chalcedony who has been a Ruixsi Elf until she became an Aestean Human.  Nearly 13 solar cycles old at the start of a new solar cycle, winter had started the new solar cycle off with the harshest conditions in her lifetime.  Her heart set into the thrill of instrumentation, she had been finding the diminished effect of elementals to be highly destructive towards her personal ambitions.  The largest cause of her grief remains the tight access to the crystalline components required to harness what little elements remain available.  Desperate to make ends meet, she finds herself in over her head when everything she knows about instrumentation is technologically shifted into something far more foreign.

Korinna (Kori) Wisteria is also known as Axlnyhqiezrae (Axln) Qhtyzaexhiezyhan who has been an Aestean Conduit until she became a Ruixsi Human.  With her 13th sidus just five months before her next birthday, the 21 year old had never witnessed harsher climates before.  With a devotion to learning and discovering the unknown, this left her with little recourse for most of her days but to seek solace within the protective shelters she had long called her home.  However, even spending her countless hours invested in the development of complex software projects didn’t succeed in occupying all of her interests, she craved to discover something new and unexplored.  Denying herself any such opportunity, she is left to one day unexpectedly discover knowledge that has yet remained untapped by anyone in the entire Orion Nebula.

Much like the other books, this book also has a teaser-styled chapter 0, while having a similar rhythm of chapters straight up to chapter 80 once again. The final chapter exists beyond the scope of the story, described as chapter infinity, rendering the cycle of the books into a full combination into its eternity and should not be read until all other books in the trilogy have also been read. Early elements of this book get dark very quickly, featuring considerable dark desperations before landing some very personal struggles across both worlds. Chapter 5 converges the two split perspectives, as both worlds are then explored from an innocent perspective. This story does contain a few explicit scenes of sever bodily harm that had to be described explicitly for the context of other story events, though such intense scenes remain infrequent.

*: This chapter is the final chapter spanning the entire trilogy, and should not be reviewed until after completing the remainder of the trilogy.

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