Legends of Marithia: Book 2 - Darkness Rising by Peter Koevari Page A

thank you. Please
continue, what awful thing happened?” said Anakari, drawn to the story and
forgetting about the bite of the cold.
    “ There were stragglers
after the war and a large number of Shindar’s army had been left
behind in the retreat to the underworld. One town managed to trap
one of his survivors in the nearby woods one night, a shadow demon
called Wumvarn. With flamed torches in hand, they circled it.
However, instead of killing it quickly, the townspeople decided to
exact revenge for those who had fallen to the Forces of Darkness.
For many hours which must have felt like an eternity, they used any
weapons that they had to slowly torture, and cruelly kill Wumvarn.
Their bloodlust was quenched by the demon’s blood curdling screams
before it eventually disintegrated, falling into the ground,” said
Yuski.
    “ By the gods!” exclaimed
Anakari, wide eyed.
    “ The gods had no part to
play in this. The townspeople didn’t realise the consequences of
what they’d done. They had themselves turned to evil to punish and
kill the demon. Wumvarn fed on their fury, on their malice. They
gave the demon a new purpose and reason to cling to life; it was
not as easy to destroy as they thought. Wumvarn’s soul hung on with
whatever essence it had left. Rather than dying, it possessed a
nearby tree, letting go of its tortured remains. The townsfolk,
thinking there were no Forces of Darkness left in the surrounding
lands, failed to stay vigilant. Slowly, over time, people started
to go missing. Wumvarn, still safely sheltered in the tree, would
take anyone who neared it. Its tentacle like roots would drag them
deep into the ground below, where the demon would feed on their
carcasses. Each victim’s death added to its growing power. Men,
women and children were all taken.”
    “ Those poor people,” said
Anakari.
    “ Indeed. Nobody knew that
Wumvarn was silently gathering strength, and inside the tree, it
was also building a new body in readiness for a return to the
world. Using the strongest parts taken from its victims, it created
a new body for itself. More and more people went missing as
Wumvarn’s need to feed increased. It needed to sustain its new
body. More people had to be taken or its body inside the tree would
rot and be unusable.”
    Anakari raised an eyebrow
in suspicion as she asked, “How do you possibly know that?”
    “ Much later, when the demon
had taken its human form, they found the tree ripped open like a
casket. The shape of a human body was missing from within the
wood.”
    “ Oh,” whispered Anakari,
wishing she had never asked.
    “ The final victim that was
found buried near the tree was of a skinned woman, with her heart
ripped out. Wumvarn, now released from the tree and walking free,
only consumes hearts. We think that she does this to keep her skin
young.”
    “ Her?” Anakari
asked
    “ Yes. She walked into the
town as one of their own; they had no clue that she was a demon.
One by one, she despatched nearly all of the town’s people.
Eventually, with so few hearts to feed her, she abandoned the town
and walked the lands of Marithia. To avoid suspicion, she would
change skins and live different lives. Nobody knows whose skin she
wears now or has worn in the past,” said Yuski, pausing to take
another sip of water.
    “ She is the demon who I was
expecting to be coming this way tonight, but it looks like I have
met you instead.
Can you see why I had to find out if you were a demon? I have been
tracking her victims across Marithia. With all the bloodshed from
the war, most of her kills go unnoticed. If a poor soul has their
heart ripped out, most Marithians would just assume they died at
the hands of the Forces of Darkness. And in truth, they did. But
this demon’s interests are solely her own. I don’t think anyone
could control her… she appears to answer to no-one.”
    She reached into her coat pocket and
pulled out the orb she used earlier, reaching around to present