Era of Wrath sample

This is a sample of the second book: Era of Wrath.
You can get it on Amazon  Paperback ebook

The end of his reign

 

Sounds of battle echoed in the main hall of the king’s mansion and it was very hard for me to face my brother. As always, Adon, fought carelessly, allowing his feelings to take over. His accomplices had already been defeated and he was the only one standing. Even Lugio realized that this battle was between us and remained aside, waiting. I could not hurt him, but my mind kept going back to Victoria and her battle with Alduin. I had to get through Adon and help her. Suddenly, my little brother stopped shooting and stood in silence, frozen in time, an expression of horror slowly spread on his face. I frowned and lowered my sword reluctantly, noticing how the roar of battle had subsided.

‘’What happened?’’, Lugio wondered and looked out of the window.

‘’King Alduin…’’, Adon murmured and run deeper in the mansion.

‘’Zero the demons stopped fighting!’’, I heard Lugio’s voice, as I followed my brother. I didn’t want to cheer just yet. Upon entering the room Adon had run in, my feet stopped moving when I witnessed something unpredictable. Victoria stood there, motionless, like a statue. Her hands reached to the front, her face was peaceful and everything on her had turned to stone: clothes, swords, charm. On her feet laid the king, unconscious. I came back to reality and run to stop Adon from reaching his king.

‘’It’s over.’’, I told him and he kneeled down, hiding his face in his hands.

‘’King Alduin is no longer king.’’, my brother’s trembling voice was heard. I couldn’t believe the amount of worth he gave to that bastard. Glancing down at his unconscious body, the urge to tear it to shreds surfaced. I had to hold back though and let the organizations decide on his fate, since they might be able to extract some vital information from him. I scanned the room and noticed the odd decorations. The walls were covered in weaponry, chains and paintings hanging in between red fabric pieces that hung from different parts of the wall. I chuckled lightly at the king’s taste and took down a few chains to tie both Adon and Alduin up. I was disappointed in my brother and how quickly he gave up after realizing his king had fallen. I removed the king’s sword and a diamond charm he had on him. Just then, Lugio walked in.

‘’The demons have returned to the Outpost. They refused to fight any longer.’’, she announced and I nodded. It was remarkable how deeply connected they were to Alduin.

‘’Victoria…’’, Lugio mumbled and approached the statue.

‘’I don’t know what happened, but I’ll find out though. I won’t leave her like this.’’, came out of my mouth with determination as I approached the statue. When my fingers touched her cheek, my heart sank to the sensation of the cold stone. My mind kept working like crazy, trying to come up with an explanation.

‘’We must find a way out of the flow and notify everyone that Alduin has been defeated.’’, I heard Lugio’s voice from the back of the room.

‘’Find the weapons’ room. Victoria had mentioned that there are objects there that can create gates of zero time.’’, I answered without turning my head to acknowledge her. My eyes were fixated on Victoria. I heard the fuss, my former colleague trying to figure things out in this big space. Voices of wonder and shock echoed behind me as people arrived to witness the scene.

‘’What happened?’’, I heard James’s voice, who, witnessing the battle end abruptly, run in the building searching for us.

‘’Start counting bodies, we have a lot of work to do.’’, I mumbled, trying to get my thoughts in order. I pulled a red fabric from the wall and covered the woman’s figure. I turned my back to see a team of fighters that followed us, await our commands. I glanced at James and he nodded positively.

We led the team to the outer space of the cave, while Lugio with her own team figured out how to use the charms that opened gates.

‘’Organize the corpses quickly!’’, James’ s voice echoed in the cave, giving orders to the agents entering from a gate of zero time. Four members of the council, two from each organization, along with their closest followers, were in the mansion, along with a few demon representatives in order to retrieve the bodies of their own. Hours went by quickly and as the battle aftermath unfolded, I decided to sit on the stairs outside the mansion, wondering what would happen next. The organizations were going to fight in their own way to decide who would influence the flow the most. A meeting was about to take place inside the mansion and I had to attend it, along with lord Zein, Queen Elizabeth and a few council members including James, and Lugio. My brother, Alduin and his accomplices, that still fought back, were sent to a high security prison in the headquarters of the ambassadors of the queen.

I observed my surroundings for quite some time now. The ground was muddy from the blood of the numerous beheaded or dismembered corpses. The heavy smell of death and decomposition filled my nostrils. I scrunched my nose, but the view didn’t faze me. Death was something I had accepted many years ago. I recalled my parents’ death and feelings I had hid deep in my psyche began to emerge. It was way easier to avoid these memories while training constantly or completing missions given to me by lord Zein. Loss had hit me hard once more, as I wasn’t sure what had happened to Victoria.

When the time came for the meeting to take place, I entered the mansion and headed for one of the rooms that Alduin probably used as a meeting room. The four members of the council were already there and so were Lugio and James.

‘’Let’s begin.’’, Lord Zein announced and we took our seats. It was clear in everyone’s faces that even though Alduin had been defeated, it was difficult to rejoice. The air felt heavy.

‘’First of all I believe that for the best possible management of the flow of the dead there should be members of the council here at all times responsible for it. One from each organization.’’, he kept on and looked at Elizabeth.

‘’I agree. We need at least two hundred guards and twenty organizers from both our organizations’’, she added.

‘’I suggest that Greg and I take over management and pick our teams to join us here.’’, a redhead woman named Sirlin Zeran spoke. She was a member of the Brotherhood’s council. The blonde man next to her, named Greg Kimler, who belonged to the Ambassador’s council, nodded positively.

‘’I don’t see a problem with that. Your cooperation in past situations has proven valuable and will be an asset to the Flow’s management.’’, Zein agreed.

‘’What are we going to do with the demons?’’, James asked.

‘’We must not interfere with their way of life. The way the Flow is organized is already very functional. ‘’, the queen replied, surprising me. I recalled the way Victoria pleaded for the demons not to be harmed.

‘’I agree. It is remarkable how they stopped fighting right after they realized their king’s defeat.’’, Lugio added.

‘’But your majesty. Can’t you see the opportunities that unfold before us? We could advance our medical and technological researches and use these creatures for better results…’’, Greg began saying and I felt disgusted on how easily he admitted the reason he wanted in on the flow’s management.

‘’No!’’, Elizabeth raised her voice with determination. ‘’I promised Victoria nothing would happen to the demons’ way of life and I plan to keep that promise.‘’, my stomach tied up.

‘’You promised?’’, I asked with a frown, the first time my voice was heard during the meeting.

‘’She asked me not to let anyone harm them after she petrified.’’, she answered drily making my heart ache. Victoria knew this was going to happen to her and yet she chose not to tell me. I held my head, trying to hide my desperation and disappointment.

For the rest of the meeting I stood in silence, grasping on as much information as I could. A plan on cooperating with the demons was decided as well as the way of managing the flow in general. Everything looked good in theory, but I knew better. I was sure that Greg would smuggle demons secretly to use them in experiments for the researches he funded. When we tackled the issue of Alduin’s execution I decided to interfere.

‘’Aren’t we going to question him first?’’, I asked and looked in their eyes, one by one.

‘’There is no reason to wait any longer. He is guilty for far too many crimes. We cannot keep him alive since we are unsure of what he could do.’’, the lord spoke. They were afraid of him, even now that he was imprisoned and had no dragon.

‘’Shouldn’t we extract any information we can first?’’, I insisted and when no one answered my question I frowned.

‘’What about Victoria?’’, I asked demandingly.

‘’There is nothing we can do. We respect her sacrifice, but we cannot help her. We don’t even know why she ended up like this.’’, Elizabeth replied.

‘’And you’ll just leave it at that?’’ My voice was as steady as I could keep it. I stood from my seat and focused my eyes on the lord’s black ones, my wolf growling inside of me.

‘’Give me ten minutes with the king. Perhaps he knows how to bring her back.’’ I waited for his answer, sensing the negativity in the room pierce through me.

‘’Very well.’’ His words were followed by glares of disapproval coming from the members of the meeting. I nodded, pleased with his answer and turned my back to leave. Then I noticed someone familiar standing next to the open door. The arch priestess Dibbella, in her traditional clothing, accompanied by other priestesses, walked in the room with a very serious expression.

‘’I have a request.’’ Her face was covered in scars, different from the characteristic burn mark on her chin, scars given to her by Alduin.

‘’We are listening.’’, the queen spoke and stood from her seat to better face the demon.

‘’We want to place Victoria’s statue in a temple in the Outposts. We worshiped Selest our whole lives. Selest is now part of Victoria and we wish to worship her properly. She is our queen now. The demons deserve to have her near them.’’, her words troubled me.

‘’What do you mean?’’, lord Zein asked.

‘’You cannot possibly understand as you are no demon. When Victoria absorbed Alduin’s dragon she took his place as the leader of the flow. No one knows why but everyone feels the connection with her now. Please let us have her close to us.’’ Her words sounded like a pleading, but her expression was strict.

‘’We can’t just hand over the statue.’’, Elizabeth replied, making me hold a chuckle, since she showed zero interest in Victoria’s situation just a few moments ago.

‘’It is our right.’’ The demon exclaimed frustrated. Her eyes remained on Elizabeth’s for an entire minute. The tension in the air made everyone shift on their seats.

‘’She is right.’’, I announced and looked at her, trying to mentally share my approval. If Victoria was the queen of the Flow of the Dead, her body belonged to her followers. Suddenly my mind overflowed with memories from the moments I had spent with her.

‘’We shall give her to you only if you built a temple right outside the mansion so that we have immediate access to it when needed. You will also allow guards to check on you.’’, the lord announced without seeking anyone else’s agreement. Nobody tried to disagree with him though. The arch priestess frowned and remained silent for a few minutes before nodding positively.

‘’When the building is finished you can move her.’’, the blonde man added and sat back down on his seat.

I lost track of the amount of time I had spent deep in thoughts, beside Victoria’s covered body. My eyes were frozen on the red carpet under my feet and my mind was filled with questions. I couldn’t get over the fact that she withheld the truth from me. I stood up and after glancing at her one more time, I walked out of the mansion and approached one of the people who opened gates of zero time. I went through a gate that led to the headquarters of the ambassadors of the queen. It was extremely difficult to get used to this way of transportation, since it made me feel dizzy and nauseous. Most of the people traveling threw up or even lost consciousness for a few seconds. I walked towards the high security prison, determined to receive the information I wanted. After explaining to the guards that I had permission to enter, they let me approach the king’s cell. He sat on the white bedding at the corner of the cell, the walls and metal bars of it were covered with intricate curses, designed to hold him in. When he noticed me walk near him, he crossed his arms over his chest and smiled ironically. He wore the white clothing all prisoners wore and didn’t seem to have lost his spirit even in the face of death. I frowned lightly and stood right in front of the railings.

‘’What do you want Eserith?’’, he asked, his tongue dripping irony.

‘’Is there a way to bring her back?’’, I asked, cutting straight to the chase. He chuckled and I noticed how humane and somehow older he looked, now that his eyes weren’t red. It looked like ten years had been added on him and even his obsidian hair had a few grey strands.

‘’There is.’’

‘’Tell me...’’, my impatience was evident in my voice.

‘’You have to get me out of here first.’’ His words made my frown deepen.

‘’No. Just tell me how to bring her back.’’

‘’Or what?’’, he asked, adding to my words and laughed mockingly. ‘’I will be executed any day now. There is no way to threaten me. I wouldn’t survive much longer without a hidden personality anyways.’’

‘’I know you have feelings for her. Tell me how…’’ My voice was steady, but something stirred inside me. I didn’t wish for any other man to have feelings for her. I saw her as mine. These thoughts made me realize that I had to subside my wolfish side.

‘’Even though she was the one who dethroned me, that only proved to me her capability of becoming a great queen. She still is one of my greatest desires.’’, he commented and rose his eyebrows, expecting my reaction. My expression remained unchanged as I waited for him to present the solution to my problem. He let out a deep sigh and for the first time he seemed tired. ‘’Even if I tell you how to do it you can’t make it happen without my help.’’

‘’Don’t underestimate me.’’, I uttered, rage boiling inside me.

‘’This time I am not. It is simply impossible for you to do this.’’, when he saw me cross my arms in pure annoyance he sighed again and kept on. ‘’The reason Victoria is petrified is because when the vessel absorbs all the active dragons on earth nature offsets the power balance and forces her to be on hold. The only way to cancel this situation is if we present another dragon to her. After that, even when the dragon returns to the flow of souls, she won’t be petrified again. ’’

‘’How can we make that happen?’’, I pressed on, trying not to give a lot of thought to the fact that Victoria decided to follow the path to be petrified after all.

‘’There are dragon souls in the Flow, but it is extremely difficult to locate them and even harder to take them by your side. Can you do that Zero? Can you travel in the depths of the flow, locate a dragon soul and make it your hidden personality?’’ I tightened my fists realizing that only Alduin could do something like that. He was the king of the Flow for centuries and had already taken a dragon as his hidden personality before.

‘’I cannot get you out of here.’’, I said and deepened my frown when I heard him laugh.

‘’You would do anything for that woman, wouldn’t you? You would risk setting me free and even giving me a hidden personality. Betray everyone? All the people you fought for and all the people who had supported you?’’ His words troubled me even more. The only person I felt remorse for betraying was lord Zein and his family. He was the only one I ever felt a connection with. It was truly dangerous to let this man free, but he was no longer king and he didn’t possess the dragons Victoria had. I was sure we could take him out the moment she was awaken. Plus Victoria was needed. No matter if she wanted to be petrified or not. She was the queen now and without her presence the demons would be vulnerable. We wouldn’t be able to keep the promise about no one harming them.

‘’So predictable.’’, the former king mumbled and smirked. I turned my back to him, walking away. I had to consider the situation and make the best possible choice.

Pacing around the prison’s hallways I noticed many of the former king’s accomplishes, one of them being my brother, Adon. I stopped my steps outside his cell to see him sitting on the ground, his back propped against the left wall, his head hung between his legs, arms placed on each knee. He didn’t move anything but his eyeballs when he looked at me. I felt disappointed in him. I expected him to keep fighting for what he stood for. I kept walking, deep in thoughts.