"The Shadow of Ingenium" by Alexey Pekhov, summary Automatic translate

A fantastic detective story with elements of dieselpunk transports the reader to the autumn-flooded streets of the divided city of Rierta. Written in 2018, this book is a gritty tale about the price of using supernatural powers, political intrigue, and the inevitable retribution for cruel acts. It is the second installment in the "Contemplator" series. It continues the story of the former military personnel begun in the first book.

Searches and secret deals

The events unfold in a chilly autumn. Former military man Ethan Shelby suffers from ingenium. This special gift causes severe addiction and hallucinations in the form of a frightening shadow. Together with his former comrade, Ewan Crawford, he infiltrates the closed government district of Rierta. They pass police checkpoints on the roof of a freight train and an old maintenance tram. They find the empty apartment of secret police informant Richard Rack. There, they are met by the armed mercenary McLeady.

Ethan negotiates on the phone with McLeady’s employer, aristocrat Wilbur Whitford. The Deputy Minister of Waters confirms the information. The wanted scientist Krazhovsky is handed over to Joachim Bryce. Bryce serves as the chief researcher for the dictator Mergen. Ethan soon meets a woman named Murreol. She fights against the ruling regime and its modified bodyguards, the Weepers. She wants to infiltrate Bryce’s mansion to retrieve secret recordings. Shelby buys the estate plan from the Alawite merchant Meliken.

A radical group attacks the Iron Giant Bridge, attempting to bring infected mutants into Rierta. Ethan helps Gendarme Sergeant Frank and Private Dempsey repel the attack. He uses a heavy backpack flamethrower and incinerates the attackers in the old barracks. In the chaos of the battle, they temporarily collaborate with one of the mourners. The student revolt is brutally suppressed, and the central section of the bridge remains open.

Carnival and old secrets

During the Star Festival, Ethan and Muir attend a riotous carnival at the Dyson estate. Bryce’s former lover gives her the key to the scientist’s personal safe. At the festival, Ethan communicates with Sile, a dangerous intelligence agent of the Iskiri Empire. Unexpectedly, Muir attracts Bryce’s attention. During a surprise attack by a Weeper, Ethan creates a towering wall of fire. The heroes flee. Muir uses her teleportation ability, transporting them to the speedboat at the cost of great physical exhaustion.

To stealthily infiltrate Bryce, Shelby goes to a shipwreck graveyard. Hiding there is a Native American named Crow, who carries the strange, talking head of his dead brother. The Native American performs a macabre ritual and creates amulets from bird feathers. These objects distract guards, making the wearer invisible. At the shipwreck, Shelby finds Confederate agent Jake Osmund. The foreigner is hunting Crow on behalf of Kingdom Intelligence. Ethan frees the bound Osmund in exchange for guarantees of safety for the Native American. The Confederate promises to transport the Flyhenok tribe to free lands.

Using feather magic, Ethan and Muir pass unhindered by the gendarmes at Bryce’s estate. They discover a secret underground prison and the trapped mutants. In a darkened office, Bryce reveals the terrible truth. Muir and her late brother, Arthur, are the biological children of the deposed Dux Rierta. The creator of the ingenium, Ballantine, experimented on them as infants. Bryce offers the girl an alliance in exchange for the opportunity to study her unique blood. Muir coldly shoots Bryce with a submachine gun. During their retreat, Shelby incinerates a massive walking robot using ingenium.

Betrayal and Alliance

The next day, Muir learns bitter news from the press. The girl’s mentor, Colonel Willie, has taken the blame for the death of the dictator’s thirteen-year-old son. He is publicly executed by drowning in Owl Canal. The girl realizes that Whitford is cunningly manipulating lives for absolute power. She agrees to secretly marry the Minister of Waters. Whitford promises to release his arrested comrades, Ian and Belfoer. Ethan acts as guarantor at a nighttime wedding under the humpbacked Arrow Bridge. Silver coins are sent to the bottom of the canal, sealing their unbreakable alliance.

Shelby meets with the elusive Crone, the crime boss. The meeting takes place in a flooded underground cathedral, its walls glowing with liquid motorium. He promises to destroy the ingenium refinement technology. The Crone takes a copy of Ethan’s abilities. She provides her modified mercenary dolls for a raid on the Imperial embassy. Ethan, Whitford’s mercenaries, and the dolls storm the building under the cover of early morning. The bandit Soli serves as a scapegoat.

In a fierce battle, Ethan incinerates the embassy’s guards. In the dungeons, they find a terrified scientist named Krazhovsky. Shelby burns the diaries of scientist Henstridge during a confrontation with Agent Sile. Muir teleports away with the main invention. Sile engages in a deadly duel with the doll on the boats. Sniper Rianna kills the Isqir spy with a precise shot from her rifle.

Change of power

That night, Whitford gathers loyal military men and aristocrats at the summer palace. Muir displays his father’s family ring and declares his claim to the Crown of Drops. The conspirators seize the dictator’s residence without a fight. Mergen is killed in his office. Whitford gains complete control over the mourners with a chemical antidote.

The Minister of Waters cynically violates the treaty. It turns out that Muir’s friends have been killed. Whitford’s mercenaries, led by McLeady, are ordered to eliminate the girl and Ethan. Shelby deploys phosphorus grenades and engages in a firefight in the palace’s dark cellars. He kills the mercenary Yorkie. Muir is seriously wounded by McLeady. She manages to teleport Shelby far away to the snowy rooftops of the Burs district. The girl chokes on her blood and dies in Ethan’s arms, begging him to save Rierta.

Fire of Justice

Shelby miraculously survives thanks to Crawford’s care and Native American medicinal herbs. For two months, he hides on the wild, uninhabited islands of the eastern shallows. He painfully recovers from his bullet wounds and struggles with bouts of madness. The shadow of the ingenium grows stronger, taking on human features. He learns from old newspapers that Whitford has officially announced the death of his young wife at the hands of terrorists. The new ruler of Rierta basks in the glow of glory. Confederate Osmund visits Shelby before his departure and strongly advises him to leave the country.

Ethan returns to the dictator’s rebuilt palace. He abandons stealth and kills a mourner among a pile of old objects. Shelby surrenders completely to his destructive fire power. The ingenium’s shadow takes on the familiar face of the dead Muir and becomes his staunch ally. Shelby confidently passes through the guards, burning mourners and guards alike. Hellfire mercilessly destroys the interiors, the greenhouse, melts glass, and vaporizes water and steel. Ethan reaches Whitford’s private office. The flames instantly engulf the terrified usurper and engulf the entire residential wing of the palace. The hero accepts his fate, forever merging with the roaring fiery element.