Cover

Copyright

JMJ

FOURTH WORLD: Book One of the Iamos Trilogy

Copyright © 2015 by Lyssa Chiavari.

Revised text © 2021 by Lyssa Chiavari.

Published by Snowy Wings Publishing

snowywingspublishing.com

Cover designed by Najla Qamber Designs.

Model photos by Mosaic Stock Photography.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the author except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Dedication

FOR THE LEOPARDS:

reach for the stars

Prologue

The sky looked red.

That was all I could think as I gazed out over the desiccated plain. The once-gray rocks and boulders, strewn about the old dry coastline, were now almost completely covered with rust. Orange-tinged clouds swirled above my head, the air thick with choking dust kicked up by the harsh wind that raked over the parched ground.

Even though we'd been forbidden to leave the safety of the citidome, I’d decided to take the risk that night. I had wanted to see the sunset—really see the sunset—for what could be the last time. It had been so long since I’d seen the sky, I couldn’t remember what it looked like.

But I certainly hadn’t expected it to be so red.

The oxygen was too thin. It made breathing difficult, painful. I couldn't believe how quickly it was depleting now, at the end. Last year on my annual we’d still been able to go outside. But now we had to huddle in our enclosed cities, looking out at the world through the tinted filter of smooth blue glass. And even that option wouldn't last much longer. The world really was ending.

It was much too soon. This was the first day of my eighth year, my enilikin. I still had my whole life ahead of me. I hadn’t even completed my schooling yet, thanks to Gitrin. It would be at least another year, now, before I was ready to take my place in the ranks of the geroi.

But in their last report, the scientists said that our planet couldn't sustain us another year. My heart stuck in my throat at the thought. Standing here, looking at this, I knew it to be true. Sometime in the next six-hundred days the last of our atmosphere would be gone. The energy sources used to power the citidome would be entirely depleted. And if the colony on Hamos wasn’t stabilized—if we didn’t complete evacuation by that time—we'd all be dead.

I’d be dead. Before I even got a chance to live.