The Mercy of Gods

The Mercy of Gods introduces humanity to a catastrophic new reality when the alien Carryx, a vast imperial civilization spanning thousands of worlds, discovers and conquers Anjiin—a planet that humans colonized three and a half thousand years ago. For the people of Anjiin, this conquest represents total annihilation: entire cities are destroyed, one-eighth of the population is systematically killed to demonstrate submission, and the survivors are enslaved or imprisoned. The novel follows the experiences of researchers, scientists, and ordinary civilians captured during the invasion and transported to the Carryx's massive world-palace, a colossal alien structure orbiting an unknown star where thousands of different conquered species labor under strict Carryx authority. What begins as a story of academic competition and scientific breakthrough—the achievement of Tonner Freis and his research team in making Anjiin's two incompatible biochemical systems coexist—transforms into a narrative of survival, loss, and the discovery that humanity is far from alone in facing subjugation. The world-palace becomes a prison, a laboratory, and ultimately a battleground where the captives must navigate an incomprehensible alien hierarchy, competing against other enslaved species for survival while grappling with grief, trauma, and the slow realization that their captors view them as tools rather than conscious beings deserving of mercy or understanding.

At its heart, The Mercy of Gods explores what happens when civilizations collide across vast gulfs of understanding and power. The Carryx operate according to principles fundamentally alien to human morality—they do not recognize concepts of good and evil, viewing subjugation as natural and inevitable as a woodcarver using a branch. Yet within this seemingly absolute oppression, the captives discover possibilities: the power of knowledge, the unexpected leverage of biological understanding, the formation of resistance movements, and most crucially, the fact that their captors have blindnesses and vulnerabilities of their own. The novel becomes a study in asymmetric power and the ways that small, fragile organisms might survive—or even threaten—vastly more powerful systems through intelligence, collaboration, and an understanding that the universe itself may be larger and more contested than even the mighty Carryx realize.

The Mercy of Gods opens on Anjiin with a community of researchers enjoying the triumph of their breakthrough discovery: Tonner Freis's team has successfully created a system allowing the native Anjiin biochemistry to coexist and interact with the human-origin biome brought to the planet millennia earlier. In the opening celebrations at the Scholar's Common, whispers of academic intrigue hint at coming trouble—a rival named Llaren Morse appears to know of plans to disrupt Tonner's research team, scattering its members to different institutions. When Tonner and his colleagues investigate, they discover that Samar Austad, chief administrator at Dyan Academy, has been pushing the funding colloquy to implement this reorganization, using Rickar Daumatin as an intermediary. The team debates strategy, but before they can mount a serious counterattack, Austad is murdered, the crisis dissolves, and momentary relief settles over the group.

That relief proves devastatingly short-lived. A mysterious astronomical phenomenon appears in Anjiin's sky: seventeen massive objects, visible through gravitational lensing, maneuver with clear intelligence and deliberation. Scientists including Llaren Morse identify them as artificial structures—vast alien machines approaching the planet. The objects deploy spore-like particles toward Anjiin, and within hours, the true horror unfolds. An alien consciousness announcing itself as the Carryx declares Anjiin under its authority, and a weapon system begins systematically annihilating one-eighth of Anjiin's population in a calculated genocide meant to demonstrate Carryx supremacy. Military installations are obliterated. Cities burn. The ancient peaceful world transforms into a war zone in mere hours.

In the chaos of the initial invasion, key members of Tonner's team are captured: Dafyd Alkhor, Else Yannin, Tonner himself, and Irinna are taken to a holding corral. Jessyn experiences the bombing of her neighborhood and narrowly escapes, searching desperately for her brother Jellit among the survivors. Other team members—Campar, Nöl, and Synnia—are either killed in the fighting or separated by the invading forces. The survivors are loaded onto alien vessels, where they experience horrifying passage through "asymmetric space," a dimension where causality becomes inverted and time loses meaning. In a dark, crowded chamber below-decks, hundreds of Anjiin's captured elite endure weeks of captivity in degrading conditions, rationing food and water, struggling with sanitation and fear as rumors spread about what their captors intend.

They are eventually transported to the Carryx's world-palace, a colossal artificial structure of incomprehensible scale. The prisoners are divided among different sections, though Tonner's core team is reassembled along with Rickar Daumatin, who had been captured separately. A large Carryx with two pairs of black eyes introduces itself as their "keeper-librarian" and cryptically states that usefulness ensures survival. They are assigned living quarters—awkwardly designed alien architecture that mimics human needs—and are given a test: they must make red orb-like organisms from one planet nourishing for a blue, turtle-like creature from another. Failure, they understand, means death.

The team throws itself into the work, establishing laboratory protocols and dividing responsibilities. They make steady progress understanding the organisms' metabolism and requirements, but the world-palace proves far more dangerous than a simple research assignment. Violent creatures called the Night Drinkers, who compete for the same resources and space, mount repeated attacks on the human lab. In one assault, their colleague Irinna is killed by a bomb hidden in a box the Night Drinkers had delivered earlier. The loss devastates them all, particularly Tonner, whose leadership begins to fracture under the weight of responsibility.

Yet crisis forces adaptation. Jessyn discovers she can manufacture her psychiatric medication from the berries the team is studying, restoring her mental clarity and allowing her to function despite the trauma of captivity. The team begins weaponizing the berries, creating a compound lethal to the Night Drinkers. They successfully deploy these bioweapons against their rivals, systematically destroying the Night Drinkers' nesting grounds and driving the creatures into submission. For a brief moment, they taste victory—they have proven capable of violence, and some of the enslaved species around them have begun to fear humanity.

Meanwhile, Dafyd discovers that he can navigate the world-palace more freely than expected, and he uses this mobility to make contact with other human survivors scattered throughout the facility. He finds Jellit, Jessyn's brother, who leads another group of humans—approximately three hundred in total are discovered, organized by their original specializations on Anjiin. Through clever use of translator devices acquired from surrendered Night Drinkers, Dafyd and Else begin mapping the world-palace and discovering the vast populations of enslaved species that maintain the Carryx civilization. They witness alien species ranging from crystalline sentiences to liquid intelligences, all of them equally bound to serve their Carryx masters. In quiet moments, the two fall deeply in love, finding moments of tenderness and physical intimacy amid the horror of their captivity.