by John Victor
SECRETS OF THE FORTRESS sorcery
By John Victor
Copyright 2015 John Victor
Smashwords Edition
Smashwords Edition, License Notes
Thank you for downloading this ebook. This book remains the copyrighted property of the author, and may not be redistributed to others for commercial or non-commercial purposes. If you enjoyed this book, please encourage your friends to download their own copy from their favourite authorized retailer. Thank you for your support.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Special thanks goes to God for seeing me through the writing of this book and my family for their support.
Thanks to Sasha Carrie for her help in proof reading of the book.
PROLOGUE
Emily ran all the way home in search of her father who just left her all alone in the desert without any trace. As she approached home, she perceived something burning and could see smoke rising in the air from afar sending a chill down her spine making her run faster than she could ever recall.
The evil in the air was stronger than ever and she felt the adrenaline flowing through her veins speeding across the hard soil in the midst of large trees, she finally approached the village entrance.
Everywhere looked deserted with all the houses engulfed by flames. She immediately ran to the house where she and her father lived. Great fear arose within her as she slammed the door open without finding any body home, she ran home with tears in her eyes back to the forest she came from hoping to find her father sitting under a large oak tree, taking a nap.
She got to the forest to find no one, realizing that her only family had been taken away from her, she fell on the muddy floor and broke into tears before she felt a firm grip on her neck, life was leaving her and her eyes became so blurry, she was finally knocked out cold.
CHAPTER 1
Two men talked in low voices as they walked down the dark passage that led to a large hall, one spoke in low soft tone…”what do we do about the lady in the hall?” The other man was with a thick voice with an Italian accent…” I think we should rescue her before the master gets to her, she has a very rare power that no one has ever possessed in centuries, she needs to discover her powers in the right hands, Master Kujoo is not the right person to train her, she could destroy everything in the world even the master himself ”.
The other man replied with a questions racing in his mind with no one to answer them…” I’m so scared for what will become of us after this.” They looked at the large clock in front of them and they both ran at the same time with the aim of getting the girl out of their lair at the risk of their lives.
As they approached the large room, they heard footsteps but kept their pace, they entered the room but saw no one in there, “we are too late, the master got her first”.
* * *
In another room, Emily was awoken by the sound of something scraping the sides of a table as she sat up on the bed still wondering how she got there and what happened before she did. She strained her eyes to see a man sitting in the corner of the room, staring at her without moving an inch; he looked in his late thirties with a striking physique that any lady could die for.
He began speaking to her and the smoothness of his voice dazzled her, it sounded just like a violin. ”Hello there, I am Kujoo, a master of the Kurikana clan. She was so surprised because she hadn’t heard of any clan’s existence.
He talked almost immediately like he sensed her thought… ” I will tell you everything about this clan from the very beginning, there were three very close friends with newly discovered powers. They lived together and decided to create a group which they named Kurikana clan as it is believed that there were other magic groups that existed.
The clans have two main divisions: the good clans and the evil ones. There are…” She cuts him short by screaming at him “Why are you telling me all these? I don’t understand anything you are talking about.
He spoke back to her with calmness in his voice… ”Emily, you have powers and I will like to be your mentor so you can explore the powers in its full force.” Emily looked startled not knowing what at all to say as she left her mouth agape, she stammered gently…
“I have powers?”
He began to sound eager as he spoke. ”Yes, you really are powerful and it’s about time you started using your powers.” She then remembered what happened before she got there.” You know about the whereabouts of my father, don’t you?” He didn’t even bat an eye and he replied her with haste…”He is safe”.
* * *
Meanwhile, in a small town, a little girl lay on her back surrounded by lots of flowers in which she finds solace, singing the only song she knew since her mother threw her out of the house when she began seeing things no other human could.
She will always remember the day a woman saw her pass by her house, a routine she does every day when searching for food before she goes to a stall to rest her head for the night; the woman called her and she approached the old woman with a look of fright and weariness.
She sat on a stool and asked the girl for her name in which she replied after a little while with the slightest hint of a smile on her face… ”I’m Evalle”. The woman felt great pity and concern for Evalle when she said she was an orphan and had nowhere to sleep but for the stall.
With no child, the woman took Evalle into the house and began raising her as her own daughter. Evalle repaid the woman’s kindness by keeping her lips sealed about the every new discovery of the power she withholds.
She had suddenly begun to forget about her mum when an image appeared to her, a sight she had never seen, it was so dark with evil that she wanted to run but her legs could not carry her so she had no choice but to crawl towards it.
As she got closer, the image began to look familiar. When she was the closest she could get to the image, she screamed aloud “Mum!”
* * *
Emily now sat up straight on the bed, eager to see her father immediately as the man motioned for her to follow him to the room where she met her father sleeping peacefully, the master had a wide grin on his face as Emily looked down at her father, his voice broke the silence that had lasted for a while
“I think he needs some rest now so I decide we don’t wake him up, we found men from the Kretos clan, they burnt your town but we managed to save your father.”
Emily was beginning to get annoyed, she could remember vividly that she was with her father in the forest and they were talking about the beautiful flowers and how they had a particular significance in the family.
Something seemed to whisper to her and she was startled, she waited again and heard the same thing now sounding louder as it hit her eardrums.
”You have to run away from here, they are visibly lying, you should know better.”
Emily looked at her father once again and then the idea came to her. She followed them out of the room without uttering a word to any of them till she got back to the room where she was supposed to be staying.
She began to move around the room still surprised at what just hit her, then thoughts began to arise in her mind
“I knew about these powers all along but I can’t remember telling anyone, how did they get to know?
My father couldn’t have gotten back to town within that duration”.
She slumped on the bed wondering what her father could possibly be thinking of right now in his somewhat deep sleep. As she closed her eyes, she could see past her fears into the future awaiting her before she suddenly screamed aloud as she sat on her bed… ”I found it”.
She noticed a silhouette structure in a corner of the room, she was scared at first but later got the courage to mo
ve closer to her, “I have experienced greater things”, she said to herself. The closest she looked, the darker the atmosphere around her became. “I can’t breathe, what’s happening?” she whispered aloud.
She tried to move back but the floor beneath her began to sink as skeleton hands came out and began pulling her into the floor, she tried to pull herself out but her strength was failing her, she was sucked in and felt a gush of air escape her lungs and several more after that.
Emily screamed and felt herself jump from a soft substance as she stared at the ceiling of her room sweating profusely and startled by someone staring at her and talking to her in a hushed voice.
“You were having a nightmare.”
She had a look of both shock and surprise on her face as she sat upright and asked.
“You’ve been here all the while since I fell asleep, I guess it was my mistake not locking the door”
She heaved a sigh of relief as he walked out of her room leaving her to ponder about this strange place in which she found herself and why she decided to stay.
* * *
Evalle opened her mouth wide as she saw her mother in the most impossible way she ever dreamt to meet her again. “This only means one thing”, Evalle said to herself. “She’s dead”.
“What does she want with me?
This is going to bring nothing but bad luck?
I don’t think I’m ready for all this.”
She moved few more inches to what she believed was her mother before a voice she knew so well started to speak to her from the image in front of her. She stood on the same spot with her eyes fixed on the ghost of her mother. She then began to listen to her mother.
“Evalle, I have something important to tell you, you have the power no one else can ever possess in this world, it is an ancient magic that you were born with. I want you to search your heart for the path to gaining your full potentials.” A very bright light shone as her mother finally faded into thin air.
She couldn’t still believe her mother was dead as her head spun trying to understand what her mother meant by “search your heart for the path”. Something else began to ring in Evalle’s heart… ”full potentials”, she wondered what her mother meant by that as she got into the house and lay on her bed as she finally drifted off to sleep.
CHAPTER 2
The path to success is very narrow”, Emily read, in a book she found on the table before she heard a knock on the door. She opened the door to see a man in white clothing standing before her, she was shocked but gained courage to talk to him immediately.
“What do you want?”
He blinked at her again apparently shocked at her masculine voice which she actually framed up. He replied her with haste, “The master seeks your presence immediately.”
“Where is your master?” She asked with uneasiness in her voice.”
He told her to get dressed as he is going to take her there. As they walked down a passage, Emily struck a conversation with the man taking her to the master.
“Why are you dressed in a white robe?”
He didn’t reply her at first until he saw the look on her face. He overheard the master saying that she would be the most powerful demon on earth and he really feared what she could possibly do to him if he doesn’t reply her in time.
“This is a very large fortress and I am the keeper of the holy place.”
Emily couldn’t understand anything anymore as she kept mute and decided to ask the master a lot of questions when she found him. They had been walking for about thirty minutes in silence when Emily tripped over an object on the floor and fell.
She tried to look at what made her fall but it was so dark and the man pulled her up almost immediately and they continued walking the dark path making Emily scared, she could feel the chill run down her spine.
They finally approached light and Emily heaved a sigh of relief but the man continued walking straight without looking at her or uttering a word, Emily started wondering if he is a man or a robot.
“Where are we going?” Emily asked, her eyes quivering with curiosity.
“To meet the master”
“What master are you talking about? Where the hell is he?”
”Just follow me and you will see.”
Emily was beginning to get impatient as she thought aloud “I will give this man a hard punch that should make him talk. This place is really big and I’ve not seen my father since yesterday, we’ve not even reached the light we saw from afar? This is a travesty.” She noticed that she was finding it hard to breathe and the air around them was getting thinner.
Emily began to run as fast as he could, away from the man who was trying to take her life. As she ran, she felt the air around her getting thinner but noticed she was getting closer to the light and the air was coming back to her, increasing her agility as she ran.
She was suddenly stopped by the sight of a huge substance covering the path where the light came from.
She exhaled and breathe some few words before she slumped and started crying. “I am trapped.” She got the courage as she stood up and took a different turn hoping to find a way out of what she thought of as hell.
She began to move down the new she found herself until she noticed that the place looked like a tunnel or cave. “My room was deep down in the earth? What is this place anyways?” she wondered aloud.
Emily began to jog, turning from left to right until she was brought to a halt by a sight directly in front of her as she screamed “Oh my God!, an active volcano?, I am in the land of Oz.” She immediately heard a voice echo throughout the whole place, sending chills down her spine.
“This is no Land of Oz, you are the chosen and you have to fulfill your duty.”
“Who are you? And what is an active volcano doing in a building?” she asked, legs shaking.
“I am the master of the Kurikana.” This is no active volcano, but my fortress and dwelling place. You are the first human to find this place and that is because I chose to show it to you.”
Emily felt relieved but still uneasy as she continued speaking to him. “If you are the master of the Kurikana, then who is Kujoo?”
“That is something you have to find out by yourself, I have to go now, and so do you.”
* * *
Evalle moved around the house she left some years back searching for any clue to what her mother told her. As she entered a library, she left her mouth agape as she stared at a large shelf filled with varieties of voluminous books, she never believed a library existed in the house as she began flipping through the pages of each book, still searching for a clue even though she felt like reading them all.
They all had to do with science, history and magic. Emily wondered what her mum could have known about magic, she opened the book and it looked very familiar even though she was certain she had not seen the book before.
She was leaving with the magic book when she found a dark passage in the library. She was so surprised but decided to move on as it could contain what she was looking for. She checked her wristwatch and the time was 11:59am, wondering what she was still doing with a Mickey Mouse watch at the age of eighteen.
She hurried down the path until she met a large door without a lock. She still wondered how she was going to get in when she sighted a machine that had something that looked like a hand on it. She figured it was the key to get into the room behind the door, placing her right hand on it, she in awe watched as the door opened.
As she entered the dark room, light shone everywhere and she noticed she was not in a room but in a town where there were large trees and a few houses. She continued moving down the path, she felt she had been in that place before as she remembered her dreams where she played in this place with an older lady, making funny faces and running around in the forest.
She decided to check one of the houses she saw, nobody seemed to be present in this town. It then struck her that the town was inside a library she had never been to which meant only one t
hing, “This library was created when mother died” she whispered aloud.
She continued walking down the road, counting her footsteps until she got to a place where the sunlight did not reach, she stopped immediately.
A red circle began to appear around her and a light came out of the circle, the floor was raised as she was been taken up to where she was certain she had never seen. She finally opened her eyes to see a large room filled with thousands of books she think she needed to read.
She was very shocked to a man sitting in a corner of the room. She walked towards the man briskly and gave him a tap on the shoulder. He looked up and she saw the scariest eyes she’d ever seen, deep green and looked like the sun itself. “Is he a god?” Evalle asked herself still staring at the man wide-eyed.
* * *
Emily immediately met herself getting closer to the light in front of her, she continued running until she got out of the hole. She was shocked to be standing on a very high building in the midst of the wilderness with Master Kujoo waiting impatiently at the other end.
She had the notion that he would throw her down but quickly brushed it aside since it seemed they needed her for something they were yet to accomplish. Emily hurried towards him as he also began coming closer to her making goose bumps appear all over her skin.
He wanted to talk to her but she cut him short. “Where is this place?” Emily asked looking very concerned.
“This is the Castle of the Kurikanas.”
“I know that already, I mean, what country is this?”
“Oh, I see, we are in Ireland.”
“What! Ireland? You transported me this far? Why?”
“That is a lot of questions for a lady like you to be asking.” An evil smile appearing on his face.
Emily answered him, a little irritated by the calmness in his voice. ”It would also be very nice of a young man like you to answer my questions.”