couldn’t touch them. If she did, she’d age
one thousand years in the blink of an eye. King Lucifer then spread
the six pages of his Bible over Dark World, five among the races
and one, to a secret location. Every region was assigned a
protector for the scroll—a guardian.
The problem was, the curse worked for
everyone—except shades. For whatever reason, whether it was spoken
incorrectly or damnations of that nature didn’t apply to soulless
beings, shades were immune to the hex.
Kane was the guardian of the first
page—and he’d failed to protect it.
If only I’d been there. It’s
all my fault.
It dawned on him that all the races
were now in danger. True, one shade was able to break in and steal
the demons’ scroll, but to what lengths would Malus go to retrieve
the rest? His eyes focused again on the shade in his
midst.
Maybe Malus would be willing
to bargain—since I have something she wants.
But could he use this girl? This gentle
soul forced to be a killer? He watched her as she visually embraced
every element in sight. From the enormous pterodactyl bats that
swooped overhead, to the inky, bobbing heads of the tar eels as
they coasted with the current of the Nephthys River.
Upon arriving at a field of giant
flowering fungi, Kane heard the shade gasp. Perched atop the
mushroom caps, petals of deep orange and turquoise unfolded before
her, releasing hundreds of bioluminescent orbs the size of Kane’s
head. Fluffy and white, like tufts of feathers balled together,
they drifted along the arid breeze to seed elsewhere. Balanced on
Fate’s shoulder, Ick playfully batted the airborne
spores.
Geysers fired in the distance, their
steaming mineral waters shooting hundreds of feet in the
air.
Deme groaned, her wounds glaring
angrily.
“ We need to find help,” Kane
said sternly.
“ Why?” Fate queried,
swishing a hand at the puff balls of light and watching them bounce
away on a gentle wind.
“ Deme requires
medicine…soon,”
Kane’s gaze swept over the landscape.
Ahead, lingering in the shadows, was the wraith village,
Cryptica.
A flicker of anxiety cast over him.
wraiths weren’t particularly fond of outsiders—especially
shades.
Shrouded in writhing black mist, the
exterior of the wraith village resembled a turbulent storm cloud.
With no apparent doorway, Kane marched up to the twenty foot high
cyclone wall and hollered, “Hello! It is Kane, son of Lucifer! May
we enter?”
He set Deme down onto her wobbly legs,
keeping her steady with her left arm draped across his broad
shoulders, her ruby skin alarmingly pale.
Fate stood a few feet back with Ick,
uncertain as to how she’d be welcomed. So far, shades didn’t seem
to be a favorite among the locals of Dark World. Granted, she’d
only met two of them so far, but from the way they’d reacted when
they first met her and the things they’d said along the trip, she
knew her kind were very hated indeed.
My kind—what is my
kind?
She hadn’t really paused to think about
what exactly she was. Kane and Deme had called her a shade. But
what did that mean exactly? Was she a vampire of some kind? She did
crave the essence of other creatures, but it wasn’t blood, so
vampire didn’t quite fit. A zombie, maybe? Her appearance would
suggest some kind of fiendish transition had occurred within, but
she didn’t desire brains or anything weird like that so she
dismissed that one as well.
I just don’t know what I
am. Lowering
her eyes to the ground, she wondered if she’d ever really
understand what she’d become—or if it could be reversed.
“ Something’s happening,”
Kane commented.
She moved closer and watched the dark
funnel surrounding the wraith village part like the Red Sea. As
though a set of misty drapes had been pushed aside, a passageway
formed amidst the storm. Kane ducked his head as he went through
the tunnel with Deme hobbling beside him. After a hesitant exhale,
Fate followed.
Tempestuous winds swirled on
one thousand years in the blink of an eye. King Lucifer then spread
the six pages of his Bible over Dark World, five among the races
and one, to a secret location. Every region was assigned a
protector for the scroll—a guardian.
The problem was, the curse worked for
everyone—except shades. For whatever reason, whether it was spoken
incorrectly or damnations of that nature didn’t apply to soulless
beings, shades were immune to the hex.
Kane was the guardian of the first
page—and he’d failed to protect it.
If only I’d been there. It’s
all my fault.
It dawned on him that all the races
were now in danger. True, one shade was able to break in and steal
the demons’ scroll, but to what lengths would Malus go to retrieve
the rest? His eyes focused again on the shade in his
midst.
Maybe Malus would be willing
to bargain—since I have something she wants.
But could he use this girl? This gentle
soul forced to be a killer? He watched her as she visually embraced
every element in sight. From the enormous pterodactyl bats that
swooped overhead, to the inky, bobbing heads of the tar eels as
they coasted with the current of the Nephthys River.
Upon arriving at a field of giant
flowering fungi, Kane heard the shade gasp. Perched atop the
mushroom caps, petals of deep orange and turquoise unfolded before
her, releasing hundreds of bioluminescent orbs the size of Kane’s
head. Fluffy and white, like tufts of feathers balled together,
they drifted along the arid breeze to seed elsewhere. Balanced on
Fate’s shoulder, Ick playfully batted the airborne
spores.
Geysers fired in the distance, their
steaming mineral waters shooting hundreds of feet in the
air.
Deme groaned, her wounds glaring
angrily.
“ We need to find help,” Kane
said sternly.
“ Why?” Fate queried,
swishing a hand at the puff balls of light and watching them bounce
away on a gentle wind.
“ Deme requires
medicine…soon,”
Kane’s gaze swept over the landscape.
Ahead, lingering in the shadows, was the wraith village,
Cryptica.
A flicker of anxiety cast over him.
wraiths weren’t particularly fond of outsiders—especially
shades.
Shrouded in writhing black mist, the
exterior of the wraith village resembled a turbulent storm cloud.
With no apparent doorway, Kane marched up to the twenty foot high
cyclone wall and hollered, “Hello! It is Kane, son of Lucifer! May
we enter?”
He set Deme down onto her wobbly legs,
keeping her steady with her left arm draped across his broad
shoulders, her ruby skin alarmingly pale.
Fate stood a few feet back with Ick,
uncertain as to how she’d be welcomed. So far, shades didn’t seem
to be a favorite among the locals of Dark World. Granted, she’d
only met two of them so far, but from the way they’d reacted when
they first met her and the things they’d said along the trip, she
knew her kind were very hated indeed.
My kind—what is my
kind?
She hadn’t really paused to think about
what exactly she was. Kane and Deme had called her a shade. But
what did that mean exactly? Was she a vampire of some kind? She did
crave the essence of other creatures, but it wasn’t blood, so
vampire didn’t quite fit. A zombie, maybe? Her appearance would
suggest some kind of fiendish transition had occurred within, but
she didn’t desire brains or anything weird like that so she
dismissed that one as well.
I just don’t know what I
am. Lowering
her eyes to the ground, she wondered if she’d ever really
understand what she’d become—or if it could be reversed.
“ Something’s happening,”
Kane commented.
She moved closer and watched the dark
funnel surrounding the wraith village part like the Red Sea. As
though a set of misty drapes had been pushed aside, a passageway
formed amidst the storm. Kane ducked his head as he went through
the tunnel with Deme hobbling beside him. After a hesitant exhale,
Fate followed.
Tempestuous winds swirled on
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