Casual Acquaintances and Enemies

Casual Acquaintances and Enemies is the first book in the Something Saga. Was published in January 2013, and re-released in August of that year containing an end of chapter icon, a glossary and a re-styled chapter titles. The book was written by Tiberius Vallon and self-published on the kindle store and CreateSpace. The book details the investigation by Levitas Succorro, as he tries to find escaped prisoner Emma James , and deal with his own problems.

Synopsis
Levitas Succorro and Wreth McKay are Inspectors and friends who work together to solve crimes.

Sylvester Meanish visits his old war buddy in prison, Emma James; both of them committed vicious war crimes, in the civil war that rocked the Plateau to its foundations - the same war that Levitas and Wreth fought in. During the visit Sylvester gets setback by Alistair Roach, the governor of the prison and a war buddy of Levitas and Wreth, who questions him about his motives. Emma is surprised by the visit, and he leaves soon afterwards.

A day later the Elders, the ruling triumvirate of the plateau, meet to discuss the recent breakout of Emma James, and decide to send in Levitas; against the objections of Consair. Levitas and Wreth begin investigating the breakout, and speak to Alistair Roach. They all go to Emma’s vacant cell, from there they discover a hidey tooth and that Sylvester Meanish was the last person to visit her. Levitas storms out and flies away, as he and Sylvester have history.

At the same time a man call Desmond Destiny, meets with and takes the soul of, another man in his house. Destiny then leaves with three jars full of consciousness, and takes them to his zombie assistant. It is then reveled that Destiny and Zipper are selling Hidden men to Sylvester.

Meanwhile Levitas arrives at his home and meets with his niece, Ginger. Ginger gets a phone call from Kirsten, for Levitas to go visit Antagon, Sylvester and Emma’s superior officer during the War. Ginger and Levitas leave shortly afterwards.

Meanwhile, Wreth is visiting Sylvester at his home. The Nekyomantium is astounded, by the size and architecture of the manor. Sylvester is fast asleep in his throne-like-chair, when his butler wakes him, and Wreth proceeds. Sylvester reveal he was with his boyfriend at the time of the prison break; he manages to distract Wreth long enough for the question of why he was at the prison to not be brought up. However, at the same time he gets into a heated argument with Wreth, who leaves a few moments later. Sylvester then rounds on Emma, who had been in the next room.

Levitas and Ginger arrive at Antagon’s prison, and go talk to him. When they get into his Prison, they find it full of flowers and trees, which Antagon grows. Antagon reveals to them, mainly through witty double-talk, that he doesn't know anything about how Emma escaped prison; and Levitas and Ginger leave.

We then meet Dorn Ruadonn, a Kepos living alone on Halfcrest Island, whose day job is to guard the Master gem. At night Sylvester and Emma come to the island, to take the gem. Dorn laughs at them, and is shown to have some sort of history with the both of them. A horde of Hidden men surround Dorn and he has to fight them, while Emma and Sylvester make their way towards the Master gem. When Dorn see’s this he defeats the Hidden men, and starts to fight Emma. After a long and bloody battle Dorn emerges the victor, and starts to battle Sylvester who cheats and pushes the Master gem of its plinth bringing the whole island down to earth. Sylvester and Emma then pummel Dorn, and throw him off the island. Sylvester attacks Emma for interfering in his fight, and they both leave.

A day later Levitas, Wreth and the rest of the Inspectors are being disciplined by Wes for their failure to not find Emma James. When they all go back to their desks, Levitas decides to go to a friend for help on a case. The friend happens to be Aimee Maeker an antique dealer, who holds an obvious crush on Wreth. Levitas asked her to give him a list of artifacts that ALoMA own. Aimee begrudgingly complies, and gives Levitas the list. After noting down what ALoMA had lost, Levitas thanks Aimee.

Back at the office, Levitas tells Wreth everything he has found out. Levitas explains that Sylvester and Emma are planning something, and what is missing from ALoMA have to do with it. Levitas then announces that they’ll take all the information to Pitact. Pitact is in the middle of a discussion with Wes, when Levitas comes in. Wes berates him, and Pitact tells him to shut up. Levitas explains to the Grand Elder that Sylvester helped Emma escape and is hiding her. Pitact tells Wes to take a squad of Sentinels to arrest Sylvester and Emma. He tells Levitas to stay here and wait for orders, which Levitas ignores much to Wreth’s displeasure.

When both Inspectors arrive at Sylvester’s house they find the gates broken, as a sign that Wes and the squad of sentinels have been here. Levitas and Wreth go discover tunnels underneath the manor, and explore them. Soon afterwards they find Sylvester, Emma and a host of one hundred Hidden Men standing in a cavern. Sylvester unveils that he has found the Staff, an ancient device that was lost thousands of years ago. When he attaches the Master gem to the Staff, Wes and the Sentinels jump out and proceed to arrest Sylvester and Emma. Sylvester kills Wes with the Staff, while Emma and the Hidden men dispatch the Sentinels. Afterwards Levitas and Wreth jump out and proceed to fight Sylvester, Emma and the Hidden men. They lose, and Sylvester threatens to shoot Levitas unless Wreth releases Emma; he does and is fired into the wall by Emma. Dorn shows up, after Sylvester tries to wind Levitas up, and rescues Levitas; it is then reveled that Dorn is another war buddy of Levitas’. They all manage to escape before Emma and Sylvester kill them.

After picking up Ginger from school they all go to Aimee’s shop, and Wreth has a panic attack in the back of the car. When Aimee sees Wreth she leaps at him, Dorn manages to save him though. Levitas brings Aimee up to speed on what’s been going on, and asks for her to go into town and buy things they need.

At the same time Pitact and Kirsten are eating lunch; when Consair arrives with Sylvester and Emma, it is reveled that they've been working together. Pitact fights the Hidden man, but Sylvester kills him by firing two blasts of the Staff at him. Kirsten then flies into a rage and charges at Sylvester, who hits her across the face. Emma and Kirsten then begin to fight, as they were enemies back during the War.

Back at the shop, Wreth has figured out what’s happened and tells the others that Kirsten and Pitact may be in danger. When they go into the Council Conurbation, they find Kirsten and rescue her, but not before they have to fight a group of Sentinels, and find out that Consair is in league with Sylvester and Emma.

Back at the shop Kirsten reveals what happened to Pitact, and the others tell her what’s been happening. At the same time Sylvester and Emma infiltrate the Citadel and, using the key they took off Kirsten and Pitact, unlock the passage to the Infinity Tangent, which is a huge space station orbiting the planet. Once there, Sylvester sends Emma to kill Levitas. Emma fights Levitas and the others, but only just manages to beat them; she discovers Ginger and abducts her along with Aimee and Dorn. Upon waking up Levitas and Wreth discover whose missing and travel to the Citadel to rescue their friends.

After an argument with the Computer, they travel to the Infinity Tangent. After exploring for a bit, they find Emma and fight her, managing to win by soaking her in water. Soon after they make their way to the bridge, where Sylvester is. After freeing Dorn, Aimee and Ginger they get into a fight with Sylvester that is only stopped when Emma enters and threatens Ginger. After beating up and insulting Levitas, he looks around for the Staff, which he dropped. Emma finds it and snaps it in half, because it was used to kill her gods. Sylvester attacks Emma, and in the distraction Levitas traps Sylvester in a ball of metal.

The group then set about disconnecting the Master key and throwing it out the window. Just before they can have a big battle, Ginger presses a button that activates a fail-safe, which will kill every living thing on board. Levitas offers to take Emma with them, but she rebuffs him. After two minutes of panicking Levitas’ group manage to activate the Eternity Tangent and teleport down to the street, and Sylvester’s group manage also to teleport down to the street. Sylvester and Emma are arrested after crashing into the sidewalk and a car, respectively.

A week later: Emma is broken out of hospital after revealing to Levitas, that Antagon gave Sylvester the idea. Sylvester is taken to jail after being fed a salad filled with laxative, it is also said that he killed Levitas’ wife and child. Kirsten is promoted to acting Grand Elder. Levitas goes to visit Destiny who is revealed to be his grandfather, and ex-doctor. At the end of the day, Levitas returns home and falls asleep in his own bed.

Character List

 * Levitas Succorro
 * Wreth McKay
 * Aimee Maeker
 * Dorn Ruadonn
 * Ginger Bellows
 * Alistair Roach
 * Sylvester Meanish
 * Emma James
 * Antagon
 * Pitact Nirvanus
 * Kirsten Dregg
 * Consair Fagise
 * Sylvester's Butler
 * Helen Quasko