The Rise of Nazil- Complete Epic Fantasy Trilogy

by Aaron-Michael Hall

  He wanted to yell out, to scream, to beg for the pain to end, and then, the light appeared. Only a fissure, a small opening for him to pass. Pentanimir clenched his eyes, calling upon the Guardians. And when he opened them again, he was among them.

  His body shook violently as the visions assailed him. He batted at imagined fingers, grasping his arms, his face drenched with sweat. No longer able to support his weight, he plummeted to the ground, trembling. When he inhaled, only the stench of the abyss filled his nostrils, causing vomit to spew from his mouth.

  “R’ryn Sha’low, [67] Son of Manifir. T’och de’ fe’laite amelyko,” [68] the Guardians offered in unison. Their voices gave calm to his tormented mind as he lay on the ground, crying out in agony. When they moved to their place behind the AsZar, she bowed to the beings, as they faded from their presence.

  Angelaris approached Pentanimir, setting a large goblet and cloth upon the table. “Drink of this, and return to the world that you know.”

  He could say nothing, clutching the edge of the table, and managing to rest his weight on wobbly knees. After drinking from the goblet, both his breathing and his mind began to calm.

  Angelaris allowed him time to recover, knowing the visions would never completely leave his mind. The emptiness and torment of the Doh’Mahn Vwazi Tr’Eon would forever plague him.

  Before he could question, she began to answer. “You’ve heard us speak of balance, Pentanimir. Invariably, this must exist, or darkness would consume the light.

  “Just as the Guardians are wielders of this light, there are others of lesser hegemony who wield the darkness…the Zon’Tuls . Forever they dwell in the shadow and exist only in that realm, the vast wasteland of turpitude and turmoil, unable to see beyond the darkness that they’ve created.

  “The Doh’Mahn Vwazi Tr’Eon is a realm devoid of light. Once one has passed through the T’reyUhm R’aFek and released into the darkness, there is no return.”

  He stared at the AsZar, shaking his head. “I felt the pain of their existence, the fear, and the rage. Everyone I saw was Nazilian. Is this abyss for us alone? Am I to suffer as they do?”

  “It isn’t for you to suffer so. The souls ensnared in the darkness merely appeared to you as Nazilian. When you looked over the multitude, you saw only yourself and your people. We’d hoped that the Guardian’s merge would increase your understanding, providing enlightenment to assist in deciphering what your eyes witnessed, but accepting the truth known in your heart. More is needed.”

  “Did I not see an endless procession of Nazilians?” he asked, still trembling. “I shared in their suffering as if it were my own. Please, AsZar, help me to see so that I may fully understand the Doh’Mahn Vwazi Tr’Eon and myself.”

  Angelaris nodded, setting a scroll tube on the table. “It was the sixty-seventh year of Paeteon when the humans fought savagely against each other. War erupted throughout Faélondul, and the Guardians wouldn’t interfere.

  “It wasn’t until those who dwelled where Nazil now stands began delving into powers they couldn’t understand or control, did the Guardians send the messenger to them. They rejected Tesu and the Guardians, ignorant of the darkness they were attempting to summon. They craved power and dominion over all others in Faélondul.”

  “Darkness? Even with Tesu’s guidance, they persisted?”

  “They rejected the messenger as they did us. When Tesu returned, he warned them of their fate if they didn’t cease their actions. Again, they cursed the light, summoning the darkness.

  “It was then that the judgment was passed, and the consequence made real.”

  “Consequence?”

  “They were allowed the darkness they so coveted. They were banished from the light world and plunged into that which is void of it.”

  “The Doh’Mahn Vwazi Tr’Eon ?” Pentanimir breathed.

  She nodded, sorrowfully. “For one hundred years they remained in the abyss, separate and apart from those who’d passed through the T’reyUhm R’aFek , yet dwelling among them in darkness.”

  “Did they yet live, the ones banished to the wasteland?”

  “We wouldn’t take their life. As they lived in the lands, so did they in the Doh’Mahn Vwazi Tr’Eon .”

  “But how? How did they survive in such darkness and emptiness?”

  “They survived because we permitted them to. This realm was their home until the Guardians broke the seal, returning them to the light.”

  Pentanimir grasped his temples as if her words caused him pain. His eyes were clenched shut, replaying all that she’d said, until a glimmer of understanding reached him.

  “The Nazilians,” he said, surprising even himself at the assertion.

  “Now you begin to truly understand. The humans remained for one hundred years in the darkness. When they emerged into the light of Faélondul, they were as you saw them within the Doh’Mahn Vwazi Tr’Eon . They were as you are, Pentanimir, forever altered to resemble those who shall never return to the light.

  “In the beginning, they were grateful for the release—contrite and promising many things to the Guardians. Albeit, as the years passed and those who suffered no longer drew breath, their history was corrupted and a new one inserted in its place. It took but one to cause the rift in the lands.”

  “We are all of us human, AsZar?” Pentanimir asked, disbelieving.

  “No one is different from any other. Thought wasn’t given to the transformation of those banished to the darkness. Their features merely reflect the absence of light, as does yours. No one can reside in darkness without the vestiges of such an incarceration forever upon them.”

  “But those features are my own,” Pentanimir said, as his eyes darted back and forth, processing the information. He gasped.

  “Their eyes, they lighten to see within the darkness. And—and the lack of sun, being forced to live beneath the reach of light paled their flesh,” he said, stroking his arm, looking down at the wan skin covering it.

  “All of it, all of it was a lie. The Nazilians weren’t chosen to rule Faélondul because our features mirrored the gods. They’re a dreadful concomitant, and a reminder of our sacrilege and disobedience!” He pounded a fist on the table.

  “We weren’t chosen because of our faithfulness; we were condemned and banished due to the evils in our hearts.”

  “That evil doesn’t dwell in your heart, Pentanimir, or the majority of those who have named themselves Nazilian,” Angelaris said as a comfort, pointing to the scroll. “This is the history of your people…long forgotten and long destroyed.”

  He raised his head, meeting her eyes. “We. Are. Human.”

  “Only the prevarications of your predecessors made it otherwise.”

  “But why would the Guardians allow such an offense a second time? Why?”

  “Pentanimir, when your ancestors were released from the Doh’Mahn Vwazi Tr’Eon , Nazil wasn’t as you know it. The Nazilians hearts weren’t filled with the hate that consumed Draizeyn and those before him. They lived in peace in Faélondul, never desiring to return to the dark. They remained separate in that distant corner of the lands.

  “Over time, many things of great importance were lost or intentionally destroyed. The new Nazilian line placed themselves above all others of these lands. It took but one seed of darkness to grow within the fertile ground in which it was planted. From that seed, the Nazil you came to know was created.

  “The Guardians wouldn’t send them into darkness as they had before. We hoped that others in Faélondul would become stronger than those who raised themselves above them. However, the darkness was too powerful for those wielding the light. They succumbed to it, and in time, grew accustomed to its presence.”

  “What am I now to do? What would the Guardians have of me?”

  “You are to continue. There’s yet one who seeks the very darkness that consumed so many. You must be ready, and don’t fear that which lies within you. You’re the ruler of Faélondul until Tardison is ready. It wo
n’t be swift or free from conflict. Many years will pass before everything is as it should be. The darkness remains, son of Manifir, and so will the evils spawned from its existence.”

  “But—”

  She shook her head. “Trials will come, but you must remain vigilant. Sarai’s son will be integral to Faélondul as a whole. Ayrmeis is as no other, Zaxson, and he’ll need your guidance and Symeon’s strength.

  “Ayrmeis? But how?”

  “Look to the priests. The Drah’kuus have knowledge that will aid both you and your sons.”

  “But the Doh’Mahn Vwazi Tr’Eon , the Nazilians?”

  “I cannot remove the images from your mind, but with the aid of the nectar, their impact on you will lessen in time. The scrolls must be written and delivered to all of Faélondul’s temples. The truth of the Nazilian heritage will be known.”

  “Not everyone will accept such truths, AsZar.”

  “No, but the onus is on you to present them with it .”

  Malediction

  Nikolina’s skin paled with terror covering her visage. “Father,” she whimpered in desperation, struggling to stand. As Lilinth closed the door behind them, the fire in the hearth swelled, whipping spikes of orange and yellow tendrils lashing toward her.

  Shrieking, Nikolina fell back, raising up her hands to shield her face. She cried out to the Four…praying…begging…as the fire’s heat intensified and the wicked, flaring tendrils encircled her throat.

  Her eyes bulged, pawing desperately until her hands were snatched away, forcibly wrenched down at her sides. Her prayers ended in a gasp, as an acute, otherworldly caterwaul resonated off the cottage walls. Swirls of pallid fog billowed throughout the room, entwining with the fire, creating an obscuring haze that hovered ominously around her. It looked as if all seven hells had erupted from a fissure, trawling her down into the abyss of the Shadokyn .

  Nikolina thrashed wildly, attempting to fend off her unseen assailants: taunting her…grasping her…and tethering her in place.

  “No!” she protested, writhing in the chair.

  Her face was bereft of color as the misshapen shadowy figures emerged from nothingness, assuming corporeal form. She couldn’t breathe or move, she could only stare at the infernal nether-creatures, slinking ever closer.

  A puling cry escaped her lips, seeing the glimmering, wan eyes of the creatures appear from the miasma encasing them. Their ragged, slavering maws curved up in wicked grins as they continued to lash out, leaving singeing welts across her flesh. Their skin glowed with an unearthly pallor, exposing the webs of bluish tendons beneath it.

  With whitening knuckles, she grasped the arms of the chair, fighting to break free. The nearer they stalked, the more fervent her prayers became. The grotesque creatures glided their scabrous fingers up her legs to her womb.

  “No!” she shouted. “Please, gods, get them away from me. Please!

  The creatures stood no taller than small children, hunching over with their crooked backs and legs. Nikolina shook her head in terrified disbelief, watching the strange cadence of their steps. No, not steps. It was more a stuttered glide. The imps moved as if they were struggling to advance, though nothing tangible hindered their path.

  Tears streamed down her cheeks, feeling both the heat and pain of their acidic touch. They rasped in a horrid whisper, if in fact they were speaking at all. To the tortured woman, it sounded more like a series of meaningless syllables and shrill clicks, tormenting her mind while syphoning any lingering resolve left within her.

  Nikolina’s prayers began anew, feeling them scratching at her exposed skin, leaving singeing welts in their wake. Her scream was silenced by one of the creature’s mouths covering hers. The bile raised in her throat, the creature’s bulbous pustules bursting, oozing a noisome slime into her mouth. She tried to turn, only to be held in place by the clawing grasp of the many.

  Those same scabrous hands covered her body, moving everywhere all at once. Nikolina released a stuttered breath, her limbs becoming flaccid and weak. In that moment, she felt darkness creeping in, and prayed that death would soon follow.

  That prayer fell empty as the creatures screeched, dragging her down to the floor. She urged her legs to kick, but they were fettered in place, and forced widely apart.

  Radiating pain cascaded through her entire body with the creature’s feral shrieks and panting adding to her torment, as they took turns violating her.

  Nikolina ceased her struggle, unable to endure another intrusion. Then, just as quickly as they’d appeared, the wretched creatures dissipated in a cloud of acrid dust.

  She screamed, an agonized scream, curling on the floor through the stabbing surges of pain. Rolling to the side, she gripped the chair, desperately clutching its arm as she strained, pulling herself upright.

  Nikolina staggered, collapsing in the chair as she wept. Foul-smelling fluids seeped from her body, causing her to lurch sideward, retching on the floor.

  She wept irrepressibly as the concealed door creaked open and Allister entered the room, battered and disheveled. His normally neat hair was wild, as if he’d been caught in a windstorm. Nikolina’s heart ached, reaching out to him.

  “Father,” she whimpered.

  He struggled to find his footing, his clothes ripped and bloodied. “Nik—Nikolina,” he rasped, with pain contorting his features as he stumbled to her side, wrapping his quivering arms around her.

  “What have I done, Father?” she said through hiccupping cries. “We must leave here. We must leave this cursed place.”

  “Leave?” Lilinth’s euphonious voice sounded from across the room. “There’s much for you to learn, young Nikolina. Isn’t this why you’ve come?” the once-beautiful woman asked, gliding toward them. Allister shrank away, shuddering as she stroked his face.

  “You’ve pleased me well, Allister d’Garrion. With your seed, a generation will grow.” She smiled, fiendishly. “And your daughter has pleased my children. After such pleasures, I’ll acquiesce to your desire.”

  “I desire nothing,” Nikolina said, unconvincingly between sobs. “We only want to leave. Please.”

  “I’ll allow you this,” Lilinth said, producing a small phial. “Does this look familiar? Isn’t it reminiscent of the phial you used to poison the Nakshij?”

  Allister’s eyes narrowed, staggering between the two. Before he could speak, Lilinth’s eyes flashed as her arm came up, batting him aside, and hurtling him across the room.

  “Once you’ve come to the Sycophant of Sanctium, our deal is struck,” Lilinth sneered, gripping Nikolina’s hair, and forcing her head back. She jabbed a knee into her abdomen, pouring the contents of the phial into her mouth. Nikolina swallowed hard, clawing at Lilinth’s hands covering her nose and mouth. After she’d stepped away, Nikolina pitched forward, gagging and coughing from the sting of the putrid liquid forced down her throat.

  Lilinth laughed. “Delicious,” she hissed, gliding to her seat.

  “What have you done to her?” Allister demanded, recovering from the wicked blow.

  “I’ve given her what she sought,” Lilinth said with her uncharacteristically beautiful smile, hearing Nikolina’s agonized screams.

  “Do not struggle against the essence, and your pain will be less. You’re weak, Nikolina d’Garrion, and your body must be strengthened to receive Mah’saahc’s blessings.”

  “Mah—Mah’saahc?” Allister breathed, cradling his daughter in his arms.

  “Mah’saahc is who you seek. Through her, you’ll receive the desire of your heart.”

  “I only want to be free of this place,” Nikolina strained to speak.

  “And so, you shall, my lovely Nikolina,” she purred, standing and resting a sharp nail beneath her chin, forcing her head up. “The babe that you cursed has been snatched from the womb of your enemy.”

  “We’d never curse a child!” Allister said.

  “It was your daughter’s wish, was it not? Didn’t you curse Danimore’s wife and pray
her child be flushed from her womb?”

  Nikolina’s tears increased, burying her face in Allister’s shoulder.

  “Keep your wickedness to yourself. My daughter would never pray for such a thing. You’re an evil and vile wretch. To the shadows of—”

  His words ended in a grunt as Lilinth snarled, flicking her wrist, and sending him careening against the wall.

  “Mah’saahc has granted your heart’s desire. The human whore’s babe was wrenched from her womb, and rendered it void.

  “Danimore’s only true heir grows within you .” Lilinth turned, peering at Allister struggling to stand. “It was after your visit to the citadel did the babe meet its end,” she taunted. “Learning about Nikolina’s pregnancy caused young Zeta to become careless. A wicked tumble down the stairs loosened the babe from her womb. Isn’t that pleasing to you?”

  “Gods, no! You lie! All of this is nothing but manipulations and lies.”

  In an instant, Lilinth towered over him. She clutched him around his throat, lifting him easily from the floor.

  “The pact you’ve made will be fulfilled. Mah’saahc has been summoned, and you’ll release her from her imprisonment.”

  Lilinth tossed Allister aside, swiping her claws across Nikolina’s exposed arm. As she yelled out, Lilinth filled a phial with the precious life essence seeping from the wound.

  “The pact is made, and now you’ll retrieve the key.”

  “The—the key?” he wheezed, grasping his chest.

  “You have two tasks to complete, my obedient paramour. You’ll find the key in the Dessalonian Mountains. Retrieve it for me, or I’ll rip the babe from your daughter’s womb and force you to watch as my children consume it.”

  Nikolina cried out, submersed in both grief and heartache. She looked at her father, used and battered, and then thought about Danimore’s child. She hated Zeta, but would never harm a child. The violation, Danimore could’ve forgiven in time, but this…this would never be forgiven. What have I done? she lamented, meeting the wicked creature’s eyes.

  “Worry not for what you’ve done,” Lilinth said as if reading her mind. “Turn your thoughts to what you must do. There’s one who holds the second item that you must retrieve. The possessor of the blood of Oisin.” She handed Nikolina a small, curved blade, barely the size of an eagle’s talon, and an opal cylinder.