by Eric Vall
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Chapter 1
Enchanted lights floated in the air above us and looked like stars against the dark-blue ceiling of the Lunar Palace dining hall. The smell of cinnamon and roasted ham filled the air, while the sounds of laughter and liquid being poured into mugs resonated around me.
The celebration had begun.
After months of playing cat-and-mouse with the elusive Sage, we’d finally captured and killed Olivier. I’d given the honor of his execution to my dragon mate, Valerra, and she practically glowed with accomplishment. She’d finally been able to fulfill her promise to avenge the deaths of her family, and I’d handed the bastard to her on a silver platter.
Watching his long overdue death quickly became a moment I knew I’d never forget, and it was all I could do to not rip Valerra’s blood-soaked dress to the ground in front of everyone. The lady dragon had towered over Olivier’s limp body like a goddess, and everyone had been in awe, including me.
The only problem now was the Breach was still open. Our attempt to finally close it had been shut down hard by a faceless shadowy figure whose ominous voice still echoed in my head.
I shall not be overcome.
It was a spine-tingling warning, and something powerful enough to stop me with Alyona’s power bound into mine was definitely not something to be trifled with. After today’s celebrations, we would embark on a new journey, one that would add even more power to mine.
And it had to be enough to take down this ruler of the underworld.
“Evan?” a soft voice whispered in my ear and snapped me back to the present.
“Yeah, sorry,” I murmured to my wife, Alyona.
She tucked a raven-colored forelock into the rest of her stark white hair and bit her pink lower lip. Even though she was the most powerful priestess in Rahma, she was prone to worrying about everything. Her amethyst eyes peered into mine with obvious concern, and I laced my fingers through hers on her lap.
“Are you not happy with our progress?” she asked under her breath.
“No, it’s not that at all,” I replied. “I was replaying Olivier’s death in my head, which was obviously a wonderful memory, but this is going to be an even bigger task ahead of us now. We have no idea what we’re up against. I only saw a shadow and orange eyes.”
“It’s rather daunting,” Alyona admitted with a frown. “There has to be some way to learn more about the beast you saw.”
“I wish I could just Google ‘shadow beast with orange eyes,’” I muttered. “I bet I could find something there.”
“Google?” My wife arched a single eyebrow in curiosity. “Is that a new spell?”
“Nah, just something from Earth I could really use here,” I chuckled before something caught my attention. “Well, would you look at that?”
Alyona and I both turned to see Valerra and my Aunt Emma with their heads pressed together as they whispered and giggled together. It was an unlikely pairing, though not because my aunt had anything against dragons. Valerra just normally kept her tough walls up, even with me. It was rare to see her smile and chat with anyone, but the two seemed to be getting along perfectly.
I was incredibly curious as to what they could possibly have in common, so I tuned my dragon hearing into their conversation.
“I wonder if the little one will look like Evan,” Emma murmured. “He was such a handsome child, even as an infant. And those eyes!”
“Oh, I have indeed prayed our child would have his eyes,” Valerra agreed. “They were the first thing about him that caught my attention. Well, once I stopped trying to fight him for coming into my territory.”
“He was always wandering where he didn’t belong,” my aunt giggled.
Well, damn, she wasn’t even upset Valerra had tried to eat me when I first got here?
They continued to discuss what characteristics our child would have, while my mind drifted to our little egg. Even though Olivier was dead, it still hadn’t hatched. Some research we’d found a while back had theorized that dragon eggs won’t hatch until the child feels safe, and I worried my son or daughter would never feel safe unless we closed the Breach.
“I hate to interrupt our lovely dinner, but we do need to figure out a plan for how to get that damn Breach shut,” I announced.
The table fell silent as everyone turned to look at me.
My adoptive parents, Ruslan and Julia, sat on the other side of Alyona with matching looks of surprise. They were two of the three Elders of Hatra, and they’d adopted me as the heir to the city a few months ago. Ruslan was a fox Demi-Human who was somewhere around eight-hundred years old, and his partner Julia was a human whose age was also in the hundreds. I’d been amazed when they first told me how they could cultivate their spiritual energy to maintain their ability to live so long, and it was even crazier to realize Ruslan had taught me how to cultivate and access my own spiritual sea, which meant I would live longer, too. As a dragon, my lifespan was already at least several centuries, so I had no idea how long I’d live since I could cultivate as well.
Next to my parents, Lord Nikolaus, who I called Nike for short, stared at me with his silvery eyes, and his jet-black hair was draped across his brow. He was my best friend, and he’d been a solid ally in the dozens of battles we’d fought since I arrived on Inati.
“Do we know why the spell didn’t work?” Naomi asked after the long silence.
She was a lizard Demi-Human and a powerful mage in her own right. Her magenta hair was cut blunt at her jaw, and she tucked it behind her ear to reveal the dark pink scales that traveled down her neck and disappeared under her black robes, though I knew from experience they continued to wrap around her curvy body.
“We suspect whoever spoke in my head is the one who stopped it,” I answered with a frown. “But we can’t be sure who or what that was.”
“Maybe it was another demon,” Polina suggested.
Polina was one of three dryad sisters in my harem. The jade-skinned trio consisted of Polina, Trina, and Marina, and they sat together as we ate our celebratory dinner.
“Or someone pretending to be a demon,” Marina pointed out.
“Yeah, he had to have some powerful magic to talk inside Lord Evan’s head like that.” Trina nodded vigorously. “Anyone who could do that to the most powerful magical dragon in Rahma has to be… strong.”
The dryads shivered in unison, and Ravi grabbed Polina’s hand to comfort her.
The phoenix wore her flaming orange hair twisted back into a braid that fell over her shoulder, though the ends still smoked with the scent of a campfire. She looked at me with her blue eyes and waited for the solution I needed to find soon.
“He had the element of surprise,” I reminded them. “Now, we know he’s there, even if we don’t know who he is. We just have to find a way to stop him.”
“It’s difficult to fight a battle against a mysterious opponent,” Laika chimed in. “We must find out who we’re facing.”
As the leader of the Blue Tree Guild, Laika was a hardened soldier. She was a wolf Demi-Human, and her furry gray ears flicked on her head as she spoke. She was clearly agitated with the situation, and not only because we h
adn’t closed the Breach. She and my wife shared a close bond, and Laika was often Alyona’s protector. She hated the idea of Alyona being in danger, and this situation was dangerous for everyone.
“Whoever it is, he can’t possibly be more powerful than Evan combined with the power of the Noble Spirits,” Miraya interjected with a clenched fist. “We are more powerful than any underworld creature.”
Miraya’s blue eyes were bright with determination, and her silvery-white hair fell down her back and grazed the cheeks of her perfect butt. She was the spirit of the Sword of Hatra, the blade I carried into battle and one of twelve Noble Swords that had been separated by the gods centuries ago. I’d promised her we would find her sister spirits, and now it seemed they might be our only hope for finally closing the Breach.
“Have you decided to use the Redimi Vincio ceremony to bind their power with yours, as well?” Ruslan asked with a twinge of excitement in his voice. “That is a great amount of power to hold.”
“That’s what they said about the Celestial Triad.” I shrugged and met my father’s gaze. “I handled that, and I can handle this. Besides, it’s what’s best for Rahma. I have to do it.”
“I won’t try to talk you out of it,” he chuckled as he held up his hands in a mock surrender. “I know better. I just want you to understand what you’re taking on. It’s no small feat.”
“If there’s anything I’ve learned in the past few weeks with this family, it’s that we can accomplish just about anything together,” Rebecca said.
The bear Demi-Human woman towered over the rest of my lovers, even as we sat around the table. Her auburn hair was pulled back into a low ponytail, and she looked over at Aaliyah, the lioness who sat next to her with a proud smile of encouragement. Both women were fierce warriors, and there were few people in this world who would dare to argue with them.
“Then, together, we will defeat this shadowy voice,” Alyona declared.
Cups clinked together as my family celebrated the princess’ bold statement, and my heart thudded against my ribcage as I joined them. I had one hell of a support system for what was about to become the biggest adventure of my life.
“I know we can do this,” I murmured to Alyona once everyone had focused on dessert. “I’m more concerned with how we’re going to.”
“We just have to find the Noble Spirits,” my wife replied. “It can’t be that hard.”
“It was meant to be difficult,” Miraya chimed in. “But I believe Lord Evan has an easier path for us to take.”
“I do,” I confirmed, and Alyona looked at me with surprise. “It was a memory I found in the Videnia. One of my ancestors, Lord Adrian, he and his wife cast some kind of spell with the Sword of Hatra.”
“What happened?” Alyona asked, and her violet eyes twinkled. “Did it give you their locations?”
“Sort of,” I hedged. “I didn’t get a chance to tell you about it since it was before the wedding and everything else happened.”
“Never mind that.” My wife waved her hand dismissively and looked at Miraya. “Do you think we could see the memory for ourselves? Then we could create a map.”
“That’s brilliant, Your Highness,” the spirit said. “I don’t know which spell would work for that, but I imagine something in the archives would help.”
“Then we must go to the archives,” Alyona decided.
“Why are we going to the archives?” Julia wondered with a fond smile.
My mother was almost as much of a bookworm as my wife, and they shared a love for the archives that were hidden below the city and contained thousands upon thousands of texts from all over the world. We’d combed through them several times when we looked for information, but there were still tons of books we hadn’t even touched yet.
“We need to find a spell that can show us all Lord Evan’s memory,” Alyona explained. “If we can all see it, we should be able to help pinpoint the locations of the Noble Swords.”
“And then, he can find and bond with their spirits,” Julia finished and clasped her hands together. “Brilliant!”
“Let’s go, then!” Naomi squealed.
The lizard mage had been in utter amazement when she first saw the archives, which were a far cry from the tiny library she’d kept in her brother’s castle in Kana. While she’d collected many texts that had helped her learn how to wield her magic, her little collection looked like child’s play in comparison.
It only took a few minutes for everyone to finish their plates, and then we were headed out of the Lunar Palace and down into the archives. Alyona, Julia, and Naomi led the rest of us into the tunnel, and we wound around the columns to the section they wanted to search.
Emma and Rebecca had never been to the archives before, and they looked around us in awe. I remembered the first time I’d stumbled upon this place, and I couldn’t believe something like this could truly exist. Now, it was a central part of Hatra, and sometimes our people held town hall meetings inside the large lobby of the underground facility.
We each pulled books from the shelves, but it soon became clear that the spell we wanted to use was not a simple one to find.
My mind started to wander in the direction of the bestiary texts when the lizard Demi-Human broke the silence.
“Too bad Olivier’s books were destroyed in the flood,” Naomi commented. “We could have added them to the archives, and one of them might have been able to help us with this problem.”
“How do you know they were destroyed?” Julia wondered. “It’s entirely possible he had them under a protection spell. Surely, he believed he would defeat you and be able to take his things with him.”
“Yeah, he always thought he would beat us,” I murmured. “I bet you’re right.”
“We cleared out all the water,” Trina pointed out. “It should be pretty easy to check.”
“I think we could go do that,” Nike offered and glanced at me.
I could see my fellow noble had already grown tired of looking at the books in the archives. He was more of a hands-on guy than the spellcasting type.
“Yeah, we can portal over,” I agreed before I turned to Alyona. “Do you have the coins with you?”
The coins were a magical tool we’d found with a Green Glass Sect mage, and they’d been very useful in our fight against the Sage and Sect members, so Alyona’s father, King Rodion, had recreated our own version with the image of a dragon on one side. They looked a lot better than the green leaf, but I could be a little biased.
“I do,” she confirmed and plucked one of the coins from her spatial storage. “I can open the portal for you here, but this will get you back if it shuts.”
“Perfect.” I grinned and pocketed the coin. “Let’s go.”
“Son, are you sure you should return to Bruven’s Peaks?” Ruslan interjected with a frown. “You know the gods forbade mortals to go there. I’m still surprised Olivier was brazen enough to use it for his hideout.”
“We’ve done nothing but help the gods,” I insisted. “I doubt they’ll be upset if we go in there for some old books that no one is ever going to use again.”
“I don’t like it,” my father argued. “You’ve barely had contact with the gods. Do you even know how to appease them?”
“Keep kicking evil guys’ asses?” I shrugged and smirked. “I think I’ve done alright so far.”
“I’d better go with you,” Ruslan replied with a roll of his eyes. “Your diplomatic skills with mortals are still a work in progress, let alone the gods of Inati.”
Dragon diplomacy, my inner dragon snorted, and I had to agree this diplomacy stuff was getting to be a pain in the ass.
“If you want to,” I said. “If nothing else, you can tell us which books are actually worth bringing back.”
The fox Demi-Human nodded his agreement, and the three of us lined up as Alyona murmured the words to her portal spell. Within seconds, the crackling sounds of her pure white magic filled the air, and we could see a window to th
e cave where the self-proclaimed Sage had hidden out for months.
“Be careful, my love,” Alyona whispered as she squeezed my hand. “Your father is right about the gods. They can be ruthless if their wishes are not met.”
“I’ll be fine,” I assured her. “See you soon.”
I led Nike and Ruslan through the portal into the dark cave. Although I could see in even the darkest of nights, I knew my father and best friend would have a hard time in the black space, so I called to my fire magic and flicked sparks up to the lanterns I knew hung from the ceiling to illuminate the space. They both blinked in surprise, and Ruslan covered his open mouth as he looked around him.
“Is this…” he whispered. “He kept… living creatures in… those?”
My father pointed to the rows of magical cages that lined the walls of the enormous cavern. Until a few days ago, they’d been filled with a number of creatures from around the world. A centaur, a timmsen, and even a cat had been under Olivier’s geas, cursed to do his evil bidding without question. Olivier even went so far as to create an animal with parts of other creatures. The beast had been feral, and I’d killed it out of mercy.
Once we defeated the Sage, we’d pulled the curse out of the surviving creatures’ souls, so they could return to their normal lives.
Now, with the empty cages, the cave felt even larger than before and somehow more ominous. And the gnarled bones of the corrupted shark beast I’d killed didn’t help that feeling.
“Yeah, he had them all in those cages,” I grunted. “It was sick. And that thing he made? Seriously disturbing stuff.”
“Maybe we should find where he made it,” Nike suggested. “Perhaps there are texts about life creation we should destroy.”
“Good idea,” I agreed. “You look for that. I’ll take Ruslan to the library.”
We split up, and Nike searched the cavern for another hallway while I led Ruslan toward the opening that led to Olivier’s collection. I could just make out a shimmery wall in front of the doorway, and I knew Julia was right. Olivier had some kind of protection spell that guarded his library from the water that poured into the cavern when he summoned the shark beast. It barely had skin over its bones when I’d fought it, and it seemed even its rotting skin had drifted away with the rest of the water.