The Absent Memory is the sixth book in the The Metalwood Saga.
Marking the beginning of "Season Two" of the series, the novel shifts the primary focus to the ancient elven homeworld of Valaralda following Earth's translation across the galaxy. The narrative dramatically expands the scope of the universe, introducing the celestial threat of the Fall, the true origins of the Twins, and the forgotten science of soulmagic, while following the scattered heroes as they navigate new worlds and recover their lost histories.
Synopsis
The Fall and the Key
In the advanced Valaraldan city of Ilyrion, Trey (Tarathiel) and Arra (Alleria) struggle to recover their memories of the lives they led twenty thousand years ago. Trey attempts to reclaim his old position at the Anthropological Society to continue his research into "The Fall" (Guruthos), a cosmic extinction event that arrives every 100,000 years. However, he is rejected by President Myrddin, who considers Tarathiel's original planet-moving "Sending" to be a disastrous "Folly" that crippled elven society.
Aided by an eccentric fan named Lashel, Trey and Arra visit their ancient home in the town of Errenmel. There, Trey recovers his old study journal from a hidden wall compartment. As his ancient memories unlock, Trey realizes that a "Key" to activating a planetary Defense Mechanism against the Fall is buried in the Tomb of Akhenaten in the Thesserin Desert, and he resolves to find it.
The Shadows of Memory
In the Under of New San Francisco, Allain and his mistwoven clone, Allain2, discover the former Cothellon leader Lorelei wandering with her mind broken by extreme gatesickness. After Shock Crew is attacked by a squad of identical gray-robed mages, Allain discovers he can use his mistweaving magic to create illusions of absence, turning targets invisible. This inadvertently causes the identical attacking clones to instantly merge and collapse into a single unconscious mage.
Allain, Allain2, and Lorelei take their captive shadowmage on an interplanetary spaceship to Valaralda. There, they meet members of an ancient religious order called the Eglaria (the Devout) and are taken to a massive, clandestine underground facility called "Memory". The facility's leader, a charismatic man named Talon, utilizes a rapid gatesending therapy to successfully restore Lorelei's mind. Upon awakening, Lorelei immediately demands to speak with Trey.
The Signal and the Banishment
At the Ilyrion Space Agency (ISA), Orym is recruited by Director Arkiem and Chief Magitech Officer Druindar. They have detected a mysterious, highly stable darkprime signal emanating from Earth's Mediterranean Sea—specifically, pointing directly from the supposed location of Atlantis to the Thesserin Desert on Valaralda. Orym recruits his old Cothellon colleague, Luthar, to join a submersible expedition back to Earth to investigate.
Meanwhile, the imprisoned Quynn is freed from the Under by a Devout mage and brought to the Memory facility on Valaralda. Talon identifies Quynn as a Prime Mage suffering from a trauma-induced "soulblock" and abruptly gatesends him away. Quynn awakens on the hostile jungle planet of Eryn, where a Devout mage named Saul informs him that the planet's indigenous intelligent life was wiped out by the Sundering.
Ambarhal and Cariel's Origin
Following her death, Elanil finds her soul trapped in the violet-skied realm of Ambarhal. She is forced to walk a gauntlet of ghostly Trees, discovering that the Trees are actually prisons made of trapped souls. She watches helplessly as her mother, Melenora, is consumed by one. Elanil eventually confronts the "Twins"—who reveal themselves to be malevolent cosmic entities named Nelenor (the black Tree) and Velion (the gold Tree). The Twins are imprisoned in Ambarhal, but eagerly await the Key and Guruthos to usher in their escape.
Concurrently, in the Thesserin Desert, the old woman Mirra tells Rylan and Dill the ancient origin story of the mage Cariel (Magona) on the planet Eryn. Enslaved by the rylak, Cariel is brutally blinded and maimed by her master, Hloldr, while trying to stop the rape of her friend Tilla. Left to die in the Kalmansa Wilds, the blind Cariel manages to magically soulbind with a wildcat (kabul), gaining the ability to see through its eyes and utilizing its coagulant saliva to heal her fatal wounds. Through this connection, she discovers her immense magical power.
Key Characters
- Trey (Tarathiel): Slowly recovering his ancient memories, he discovers he originally orchestrated the Sending to save elves from the Fall, and now seeks the Key in the Thesserin Desert to activate the Defense Mechanism.
- Arra (Alleria): Trey's wife from twenty thousand years ago, who struggles with her lack of returning memories.
- Allain & Allain2: A mistweaver and his living clone. Allain discovers the ability to mistweave invisibility and travels to Valaralda to seek help for Lorelei.
- Lorelei: The former Cothellon leader whose mind is shattered by gatesickness before being repaired by Talon in the Memory facility.
- Orym: Investigates a mysterious darkprime signal originating from Atlantis on Earth, leading a submersible team from the ISA.
- Quynn: Escapes captivity only to be forcibly gatesent by Talon to the deadly jungle planet of Eryn.
- Elanil: Trapped in the afterlife realm of Ambarhal, she discovers the horrific truth about the Twins and the soulprisons.
- Talon: A charming but dangerous operative running the clandestine "Memory" facility beneath Ilyrion.
- Cariel: In a flashback, her brutal origins as a blinded elven slave on Eryn are revealed, showing how she first discovered soulbinding magic.
Magic and Lore Introduced
- Soulmagic and Soulspecting: The underlying force behind Prime magic. By touching another person while holding a leaf from a Prime Tree, a Talented mage can peer into a person's soul, which appears as a circle divided into seven "Aspects".
- Ambarhal: A violet-skied realm created by Guruthos where souls are trapped after death. The ghostly Prime Trees in this realm are actually "soulprisons" made from trapped individuals.
- The Twins (Nelenor & Velion): Far from benevolent deities, the Twins are revealed to be terrifying, malevolent entities trapped in Ambarhal, waiting for the 100,000-year cycle to escape their prison.
- The Eglaria (The Devout): An ancient, fanatical religious order dedicated to the Twins. Some highly ranked mages in the order possess the unstable ability to split their souls into multiple identical clones.
- Mistweaving Invisibility: Allain discovers that mistweaving can be used to create the absence of a thing, rendering targets entirely invisible.
- The Fall (Guruthos): Confirmed by the Department of Magical Research to be an actual physical object resembling a highly eccentric comet that approaches Valaralda every 100,000 years, bringing total destruction.