Book III of The Immortal Epic
IMMORTAL
GENESIS
BY
KEVIN D. BLACKMON
ASCENDANT PUBLISHING
NORTH CAROLINA
2018
Published by Ascendant Publishing
Copyright © 2014 by Kevin D. Blackmon
Cover art by Darryl Taylor
Copyright © 2018 by Kevin D. Blackmon
All rights reserved.
ISBN-13: 978-0-9844721-5-4
Printed in the United States of America
Also by Kevin D. Blackmon
The Immortal Epic
Immortal Journey
Immortal Conquest
Table of Contents
Act I 2011 AD
Chapter I Begin to End
Act II 2171 BC
Chapter II The Elves of Lylandria
Chapter III The Fall of the Giants
Chapter IV Captain Lorena
Chapter V The Crimson Spear
Chapter VI The Journey Home
Chapter VII The Guardian of Ashwood
Chapter VIII Vampire Hunter
Chapter IX Plans Interrupted
Chapter X A Sadistic Joke
Chapter XI War in the Earth
Chapter XII Ambros vs Byron
Chapter XIII The Chest is Opened
Chapter XIV Return to Ashwood
Chapter XV The Temple of High Magic
Chapter XVI Meeting Sylvia
Chapter XVII The Allure of the Sun
Act III 2011 AD
Chapter XVIII The Son Becomes the Father
Epilogue
IMMORTAL
GENESIS
ACT I
2011 AD
CHAPTER I
BEGIN TO END
“You don’t know how much I’ve missed you,” I cried, holding Seraphine tightly in my bathroom floor. “It felt as if I had lost a part of my very soul and no amount of tears could fill that void. I was afraid I had lost you forever.”
“I’m sorry I frightened you. I’m sorry I left,” she apologized with tears breaking from her green, elvish eyes to tumble down her face. “There’s something I need to tell you, but I need to get you to a hospital first.”
“No. There’s no time. We need to tell Kieran that Dirk stole my power,” I told her while struggling to stand from the tile floor.
“Are you well enough to stand?” she asked as she helped me to my feet.
Before I could answer, a creeping sickness came over me, causing me to lose my balance.
“No. No. No,” I heard Seraphine answer her own question as she eased me back to the floor. Noticing blood on the broken tiles, she carefully inspected the back of my head. “Oh, Kevin, your head’s bleeding. I’m going to call for an ambulance.”
While I was lying on the cool tile, she stepped into the hall where she had dropped her purse before helping me. The room was spinning, so I closed my eyes for a moment. “Kieran,” I called, but my voice sounded weak, even to myself. “Kieran, I need help. Kieran!”
I was no longer a vampire, so I was sure that I couldn’t speak telepathically. Even though my powers were gone, perhaps Kieran could still hear me with his.
He and Kelena suddenly appeared in the hall next to Seraphine and were shocked to see me lying in the bathroom floor. Kelena quickly pushed through her twin brother to help me. Since becoming a being comprised of light and energy, her body passed through him like a spirit.
“Kevin, are you okay?” she asked, becoming solid, so she could lift my head up from the broken tile floor.
Before I could answer, she gasped and placed a hand on my chest. “Your powers are gone! Dirk has stolen them!”
“WHAT?” Kieran asked angrily. “Dirk was here?”
“Where is he, now?” Kelena asked even though she was probing my mind for answers.
“He’s going to kill Manius,” I answered.
“But killing Manius will only release the phoenix fire within him, making him as powerful as us,” Kieran argued.
Recalling the attack, I told him, “Dirk used some sort of magical gauntlet to strip my immortality away. He could do the same to Manius and take all of his power before killing him.”
Turning to look at her brother, Kelena said, “We must stop him before it is too late.”
“Then we must hurry,” he answered, fearing it may already be too late.
“Hi. You must be Seraphine,” Kelena said, finally acknowledging her.
Kieran turned his attention to the tall, beautiful woman standing quietly behind him in the hallway.
“Pleased to meet you,” she said with a bow of her head.
“Well, hello,” Kieran greeted her, taking her hand in both of his. “My sister and I have been anxious to meet you, but please forgive our hastiness.”
“I’m going with you,” I told him, beginning to sit up. “We have to get to the Pentagon and warn Manius.”
“Whoa! Whoa!” Kieran expressed, holding a hand out to stop me. “You can’t go in your condition. You need to see a doctor.”
“I’ll be all right.”
“And Manius isn’t even at the Pentagon,” he continued. “He resigned. After the meeting he had with his dark enforcers, he cleared out his desk and left for the underground warehouse in the Arctic.”
“Well, let’s go,” I said, holding onto Kelena’s arm as I stood up straight.
Glancing at his sister, “I’ll leave the decision to Kel,” he said before teleporting away to the Arctic warehouse.
From the expression on her face, I could tell Kelena didn’t feel comfortable taking me along this time, but she nodded that she would.
“Seraphine too?” I asked with excitement.
With a breaking laugh and a shake of her head, she gave in. “Yes, Seraphine can come too.”
I squeezed Kelena tightly and motioned for Seraphine to hurry over. Sensing a spark of jealousy, I let go.
“Um, you may want to dress a bit warmer there, baldy,” Kelena suggested. “We are going to the Arctic Circle,” she reminded me.
“Oh yeah, that’s right.” Feeling well enough to walk without getting dizzy, I went into my room to put on a couple layers of clothing and my hoodie. Seraphine chose one of my sweaters and a leather jacket. She put on my Superman cap and pulled her hair out through the back. I don’t know what it is about a pretty girl wearing a hat, but they are exponentially prettier.
Kelena laid her hands on our shoulders and teleported us to the Arctic. I felt cold before my eyes adjusted to the darkness. I immediately crossed my arms and shivered until my body grew accustomed to the drastic change in temperature.
We were standing outside the entrance to a concrete facility built into a snow-covered mountain, the same facility where Kieran found his sister’s heart. A large square above the doors emitted an eerie blue glow against a dark, starry sky.
“Kieran must already be inside,” I told them. “Let’s hurry.” I ran to the double doors, but they were locked. “Kelena, you’ll have to open the door for us?”
With a thought she unlocked it and held the doors open for us to enter. I took hold of Seraphine’s hand, and the three of us ran inside. We hurried down the lit corridor to another locked door that Kelena had to open. Seraphine and I followed her left down another icy corridor.
“What is this place?” I asked as we ran down the hall past heavy steel doors.
Surprised that she knew, Seraphine answered my question. “This is the Global Seed Vault in Norway.”
“Seeds?” I asked, confused as to why they were locked away here in the Arctic.
“In case of a major catastrophe, this place is stocked with the seeds of many of the world’s plants,” she explained.<
br />
After passing through another airlock, we reached what appeared to be a dead end.
“The Seed Vault only masks its original purpose,” Kelena added.
“Which is?” both Seraphine and I asked in unison.
With a wave of her hand, Kelena opened a magical doorway into a secret segment of the warehouse.
“Manius’ armies may have driven the old races to extinction,” Kelena began to explain, “but their magical artifacts were not destroyed as he made them out to be. They were collected and stored here in the mountain. Only he and Dirk knew of its location.”
“Until my fellow man discovered it,” Manius added as we entered the warehouse.
He stood with Vistilia and Kieran next to a large wooden crate. He wore a nice business suit like he had come straight here from his office. Vistilia wore a white sweater with jeans, a fur hat, and black boots.
“Explorers set up camp here to excavate the area and study their findings, so I had to take over management of the operation,” Manius added with an expression of regret.
“You killed them,” I said in disbelief.
“No, of course not,” he voiced in defense. “I sent them home with no memory of their findings, so I could keep this place secret. That’s when I decided it was best to hide it like Byron hid his cult many years ago. This facility is known to some as the Doomsday Vault because it’s a safe haven for the world’s diversity of crops in case of a Doomsday scenario. It’s ironic that this place not only houses the seeds to rejuvenate life, but it also houses the power to bring about the very Doomsday that the world fears.”
“Don’t let him scare you,” Vistilia said to ease the tension as she walked over to greet us. “Well, don’t you look healthy,” she said, giving me a hug. “How do you feel?”
“Slow,” I answered with a disappointed laugh. “My muscles feel tight, and my body feels heavy. I miss being a vampire.”
“You feel warm to me,” she said with a smile.
“Excuse me,” Seraphine interrupted. Her hint of jealousy caused me to smile.
Turning to her, Vistilia moved in close for a hug. “Beautiful Seraphine, how wonderful it is to finally meet you in person. My name is Vistilia.” Glancing at me, she told her, “You should hang on to this young man.”
“I will,” she vowed with a smile at me, taking my hand in hers.
“Now we must do something about these clothes,” Vistilia said of what Seraphine chose to wear from my closet. “Those just won’t do,” she commented, shaking her head.
“Most of those are mine,” I pointed out.
“But they’re not for a lady,” she laughed. Tapping her chin a moment while she thought, she made a simple wave of her hand that magically changed Seraphine’s entire outfit. “Now that’s much cuter,” she commented.
“What do you think, Kevin?” my beloved Seraphine asked, feeling beautiful.
Looking over her, I clearly liked the new clothes. She wore black boots like the ones Vistilia had on, black leggings with a black and white skirt, and a white wool coat over a black sweater. I felt the flesh of her hand change as I held it and saw that she now had on red gloves.
“You look angelic,” I answered, looking into her emerald green eyes.
Taking my hand in both of hers, she thanked me. Knowing that she is always courteous and proper, especially in public, I knew she would save me a kiss for later.
“Now, that’s better,” Vistilia said before moving over to Kelena.
With a gleam of fire in her eyes, she warned her, “Hug me, and I’ll go supernova.”
“Aww, Kelena, don’t be like that,” Vistilia said disappointedly. “Don’t allow the werewolf’s fury that still lies within you influence your emotions.”
“And that is the very power that I’m talking about,” Manius pointed out.
“What do you mean?” Kieran asked, suspicious of him.
“We’ve grown too powerful for this world, my old friend,” Manius clarified, using his bare hands to break open the lid of the crate. “Years ago, our conflicts could be contained, but now, we risk destroying everything. We are unworthy of this power.”
“Why have you really come here?” Kieran questioned, lifting him with an invisible force.
“After all this time, I finally know its purpose,” Manius uttered within Kieran’s telekinetic grip. “We’ve only been caretakers. It must be contained within a single vessel. The phoenix fire isn’t meant for us.”
“Who? Who is it meant for?” Kieran demanded.
Before Manius could answer, Dirk teleported into the room behind me! “Well. Well. How convenient you're all here,” he announced devilishly. “Thank you, Kevin, for telling everyone I was coming. You continue to prove yourself useful,” he said, rubbing my bald head as he walked past me.
Kelena immediately drew her arm back, summoning a black whip that looked like a tear in space. “DO NOT TOUCH HIM!” she roared, rising into the air.
Extending the dark gauntlet that he still wore, Dirk caught the whip that snapped at him and pulled her into the gem set in the palm. She was gone! Kelena’s entire body was absorbed into the blue gem!
“NO!” Kieran leaped at Dirk and transformed into a fiery tornado, engulfing him. “I will tear you apart and reabsorb you! I should have never released you!”
With the heat growing quickly in the icy room and black lightning striking all around us, Seraphine pulled me behind a rack of large, grey plastic containers.
Vistilia watched the exhilarating events unfold while Manius broke the boards of the crate he had begun opening, revealing a chiseled, black box within.
Dirk tumbled within the tornado of fire. The thick permafrost that covered everything in the room began melting and pooling up in the floor. Like his twin sister, Kieran was absorbed into the gauntlet!
Just when Manius was about to open the black box, Dirk rushed over and backhanded him across the room. Instead of killing him, he plunged his gauntlet into Vistilia’s stomach! She gasped and a look of shock befell her. He pulled his hand out, and she fell to her knees. The gauntlet was covered in a strange, translucent blood. Dirk gripped the top of her head with the gauntlet, and a blue light began emanating from it.
“VISTILIA! NO! This is not the way it’s supposed to happen!” Manius yelled. Leaping across the large warehouse to rescue her, Dirk caught Manius in air with an invisible force.
“No. No, father,” Dirk said calmly. “Not until I finish taking mother’s power. Not until I become God.”
Being mortal again, I felt helpless hiding, but there was nothing I could do.
Seraphine pointed to the label on one of the containers that we were behind. It said that it contained two obsidian swords. Seraphine and I quickly pulled the container down and opened it, revealing the swords. They were crafted from metal and chiseled volcanic glass. One of the swords had a black obsidian blade and the other was green. She took the black one, so I took the other. It was surprisingly light.
Before rushing out to face what could be our deaths, Seraphine pulled my face around and kissed me. “I love you,” she whispered.
“I love you, too.”
The two of us ran out from behind the rack of containers. Seraphine ran behind another rack while I charged at Dirk. I raised my sword to cut away Dirk’s magical gauntlet, but while he still drained knowledge from Vistilia and held Manius, a simple gaze held me in place.
Laughing, he said, “You are powerless, Kevin. What do you think you can possibly do to someone such as me?”
With my sword still above my head, I answered, “Distract you.”
Just then, Seraphine leaped out from hiding and impaled him with the black obsidian sword, causing him to yell out in agony and lose his concentration.
No longer held by his paralyzing gaze, I followed through with my swing. The sword passed through his arm with no resistance from flesh or bone. It felt as though I had sliced through liquid. His arm remained intact, but the dark gauntlet fell to
the floor.
Vistilia collapsed as Dirk looked down at the black blade protruding out his chest. His skin began to boil and bubble. Hot plasma burst from his skin like tiny solar flares.
“This power has corrupted you,” Manius said to him.
“You’re one to talk!” Dirk spat before falling to his knees. “That woman started all this! She brought suffering and death upon us all, and you still stood by her!”
“I know,” Manius agreed sadly. “I’m sorry, old friend.”
Lifting the lid of the black chest, Dirk was painfully ripped apart and pulled within, leaving the black sword on the floor.
Manius hurried to check on Vistilia who was still lying unconscious on the wet floor. Thick, clear blood oozed from her stomach where Dirk had punched her.
“Vistilia, can you hear me? Please be okay,” he prayed, kissing her forehead and placing his cheek against hers.
The strange blood that covered her stomach seeped back into the terrible wound before healing shut. Even her white sweater repaired itself. A smile formed on her lips. “My heroes,” she whispered before opening her eyes.
Breaking into a laugh, he said, “Still playing games, I see. You had me fooled with the blood.”
“It’s all part of the show,” she explained, pulling him close for a kiss.
While Manius helped her up, Seraphine repeated, questioningly, “Part of the show? So you weren’t really hurt?”
Vistilia walked over and hugged her. “I’m perfectly fine, dear. Thank you. Where I’m from, people don’t live one life; we live many. We play roles in grand adventures in worlds we create.”
“Will you bring my friends back to life? Bring Kieran and Kelena back,” I cried.
“Be patient, sweetie. We’re waiting for one more to arrive,” she said, looking up at water dripping from the concrete ceiling.
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