by Aubrie Nixon
He walked to a chair near the wall and took a seat, motioning for Baleem and the executioner to start.
Baleem stood over a sobbing Valessa. He pulled the dark amulet from her neck. She cried out as he did. “Please! Please, Baleem!”
“Stop your whining, woman,” Baleem hissed. “Any last words?”
Valessa only cried.
“Very well, then. You are hereby sentenced to death for aiding and abetting darkness and working to overthrow the Light King Gregour. May your gods have mercy on your tainted soul,” he waved his hand, and the executioner swung a large axe.
Sephera watched as Valessa's head was severed from her body and fell to the ground with a thud. Blood began to pool around her body. Sephera looked down at the floor, her hands flat against its cool, tiled surface. Valessa’s blood slowly seeped between her fingers.
Baleem stood in front of her next. “Sephera Travelle, you have betrayed me, your master, head of the Guild. You are also guilty of treason against your country and king. You have been sentenced to die for your crimes. Any last words?”
She met his eyes and smiled sadly. “I did not mean to hurt you, sir, but as for the other charges—betraying a mad king? I would gladly do it again if it meant that he was kept from ruling this cruel world.”
Baleem bowed. “Farewell, Sephera. Show no mercy,” he said coldly to the executioner, his eyes boring into Sephera’s.
She felt the light kiss of the axe against her neck and the rush as the executioner raised it above his head. She braced herself for the final blow. But it didn’t come.
She heard a thud as Baleem tackled the executioner to the ground. “NOW, MORWEN!” he yelled. Sephera sat up at looked around as the room descended into chaos.
One of the king's guards ripped their mask from their face. “Morwen?” Sephera gasped, bewildered. Her old tutor.
Baleem threw the amulet to her, and Morwen opened it. She spoke quickly in a language Sephera didn’t recognize, and a bright light shot from the amulet to reveal an opening between worlds.
Morwen bowed to Baleem. “Good bye, Amous,” she said as she stepped through the portal and motioned for Sephera and Daegan to follow her.
“Run, Sephera! Quickly!” Baleem called as he fought off the guards that surrounded the portal. She was frozen in fear. There he was, her master, giving his life for her. She didn’t want to leave him.
“Amous?” was all she could say.
He smiled at her as he slit a guard's throat. “I too am filled with Darkness.” He grimaced as a sword went through his shoulder. “Go now, my girl! GO!”
Sephera ran to the portal, looking at Baleem one last time before she stepped through. The thud of an axe filled her ears as the door between realms slammed shut. She let out a sob and fell to the ground, the world she knew far gone.
* * *
She felt a warm hand on her shoulder, and she looked up into Morwen's familiar face. “Welcome to my home: the Dark Realm.”
Sephera’s jaw dropped. “Who are you?”
Morwen smiled. “I am Morwen Drakonne, and I was the Seventh. Amous, or Baleem as you know him, was The Second. He was a great man. He sacrificed himself for our worlds so that they could be whole once more. When Gregour revealed himself this time, Amous had a plan. He acted as if he wanted to bring an end to the cycles and joined with Gregour, who forced him to hunt down our brothers and sisters of darkness and kill them to prove his loyalty. He told me of his plan and told me to disappear. I tracked down Daegan, the only one of us Gregour wasn’t aware of, and together we decided that he would infiltrate the Light King’s court and gain his trust. It worked perfectly. We were so close to victory, but Valessa, that damned woman, was working with Gregour under false pretenses. He thought she was harvesting souls to give him more power. In reality, she just wanted the power for herself, for the person she hoped you would be. She deserved what she got. As for you, you have a choice to make. You can join us and help build an army of Darkness to fight in the war that your father is sure to bring. Or you can die.” She pointed her blade at Sephera.
“Morwen, she's on our side,” Daegan warned.
“Are you, Sephera? Because if you are, you must let the darkness that lives inside of you out. You must be as ruthless and cruel as your father. We will reunite our realms and bring balance to the world—with or without you.” Morwen held the amulet between her long fingers.
Sephera looked at Daegan. “And you, what do you think?” she asked him.
Daegan stared at her in silent determination. “I told you that Darkness isn’t always bad. Just like Light is not always good. It is up to you, Sephera, to choose who you want to be. Good or bad you always have a choice.”
Sephera let his words sink in. She was Sephera Travelle, born of Dark and Light. She had a choice, a destiny—one that her mother had created for her. It wasn’t until this moment that she felt like she truly belonged, that she alone mattered. She took the amulet from Morwen's hand. The power of both worlds pulse from within. She closed her hand around it tightly and looked up at the dark night sky. It wasn’t much different from the sky back home. The stars shone brighter here, making her feel alive. Her lips curved devilishly as she closed her eyes, letting her dark soul expand throughout her body. She felt power unlike any she had ever tasted before. She laughed at the sensation and put the amulet over her head. Her whole life she had tried to conceal this side of herself, letting it out only to hunt and kill. Zadkiel had worked tirelessly to squash out this power within her. She smiled at Morwen and Daegan and took a breath of new life. They wanted darkness? She would give it to them. She let out a harsh burst of laughter as the Darkness enveloped her heart, devouring the last bit of Light she had left.
Darkness she became.
The End of Book 1 of the Darkness Trilogy
Acknowledgements
First and Foremost for Callan: you are the Light to my Darkness. Thank you for the immense support you give me every day. Thank you for telling me when things sucked and being patient when I woke you up at 3am because I had an idea for a book. I love you! And my Archer, who I think is the cutest demon topside. I love you, my little.
Thank you to Amy Carpenter, my lovely editor. Thank you for loving my book and helping me make this possible. You had a piece of my dark soul in your hands, and you made it beautiful! Thank you, thank you, thank you!
To my friends Kristen Lane, Sarah McFarland, and Diana Ault: ladies, without the insight and advice you gave me, Darkness Whispers would never have happened. Thank you for your countless hours of patience. I know I talk a lot in general, and even more so when it comes to creating a whole new world. Basically, without you guys Darkness Whispers would be a very different book, and not in a good way. I love you guys!
To my Aunt Camille, who has been with me since the beginning: thank you for being such a huge supporter of Sephera and her journey. You were there when she was merely a few pages, and you still loved her! Thank you!
To my writing group, Quill Fifteen: You guys know how much I love you all! Thank you for the amazing critiques and general awesomeness you provide.
To my Bookish Babes: ladies . . . what would I do without you all? Every single one of you has helped shape me into the human that I am. You’ve all stolen a piece of my heart, so stop, because I don’t have very much left! Thank you for always having my back! I love you, babes.
Finally, thank you to my parents: without you, I wouldn’t be here. To mom, since you were literally my vessel into this world. I couldn’t have written this book without you, literally. Dad, who raised me to believe in myself. Thank you both for always supporting my love for reading. You always knew I was a little crazy and lived with my head in a different land. Thank you for nurturing that. I love you both! To Caleb, Easton and Olivia, thanks for letting me torture you growing up. Now I torture fictional characters. You’re welcome.
To the authors who have inspired me, Amelia Hutchins and Julie Eshbaugh: these phenomenal women authors w
rite the most fantastic stories. Their books are the tops, and as human beings, they are the Elite. Both are the most giving and kind human beings I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. Both have gone above and beyond to help me feel confident in my writing and helped me when I was down. Without these women, I would not be published!
For Sarah J Maas, who quite literally saved my life. Thank you for the wonderful worlds you create and share with us. You inspired this book in so many ways! “My name is Aubrie Nixon and I will not be afraid.”
Last but not least, thank you to my readers. You guys made this hobby turn into a career. You have NO idea how much I appreciate you. Without you, Darkness Whispers would just be some story I wrote. Now, it’s a whole living, breathing world. Because of you I get to share these amazing characters with the world. Thank you all!