A Gleaming Path

by Jeffrey Pawlak

  A

  Gleaming Path

  Book Two in The Legend of Light

  Jeffrey Pawlak

  This is a work of fiction. All characters, terms, locations, all other names, and all events are products of the author’s imagination and are entirely fictitious.

  A Gleaming Path

  Book Two in The Legend of Light

  Copyright © Jeffrey Pawlak 2019

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be copied or reproduced in any format, by any means, electronic or otherwise, without permission from the author or publisher.

  Published in collaboration with 4 Gates Publishing, a subsidiary of It’s A Thing Media.

  First Edition: February 2019

  Cover Art by Pam Hage

  Cover Design by Jamie LeRoy

  Map by Sebastian Breit

  Acknowledgments

  The greatest and sincerest of thanks to my squad of proofreaders, and everyone else who helped make this publication possible

  Alexander Camiolo

  Brittany Derry

  Jonathan Gruchy

  Peter Herr

  Josiah LeRoy

  Lauren LeRoy

  Joshua Robinson

  Jarrett Steffen

  Jessa Wolfe

  Trey Wydysh

  For Audra, David, Alex, and Jason

  Four older siblings who I will forever be grateful to for their guidance and support throughout the years

  The story thus far…

  After suffering a tragic loss and failing to become the skilled magic-user he was said to be, Alamor was content to spend the rest of his days in his hometown of Geldiar, seeing to his daily routine as a soldier in the Tordalian military. But one summer afternoon, his former mentor, Tiroku, returned and spoke of troubling incidents across the land. Against his own wishes, Alamor was ordered by the military to accompany Tiroku to the capital city of Caldeya, where a great meeting was to be held between powerful figures from all across Tordale. There, Alamor rekindled his bond with an estranged friend—Princess Raissa Hokara.

  But a great darkness soon emerged. The man named Baldaron, wielder of the destructive, corrupting magic known as Scourge, sacked Caldeya with his army of undead soldiers and monsters. He claimed to seek vengeance against the Hokara royal family for transgressions against his own people. Alamor, Princess Raissa, Tiroku, and the rest of their allies fled the capital city, and organized a mission to challenge their mighty enemy. They set off to find the Radia—two relics which contain the most powerful sources of Serenity, the sacred magic which is the only means to combat Scourge.

  Their journey took them into the sprawling woodland of Sleekleaf Forest, where they traveled below the earth and encountered a community of the subterranean creatures called Bachus. A friendly pair, the husband and wife Hinton and Pauma, offered to guide their party through the rest of Sleekleaf Forest. Deep in the woodlands, they came to the ancient fortress called the Jade Keep, where Alamor finally learned how to channel his magical ability. With Princess Raissa’s help, the two young heroes obtained the Radia of Gallantry. Their party then sailed out of Sleekleaf Forest, and reunited with Prince Tridian Hokara’s fleet out in the ocean.

  All the while, Baldaron and a portion of his army marched through the Tower Mountains. With his unprecedented mastery over Scourge, Baldaron corrupted the waters of Heaven’s Bay, where the clouds of mist and fog rise to the lofty realm called Skyscape. As Alamor, Raissa, and their allies continue their quest for the Radia, Baldaron’s darkness now threatens all life from the skies down to the world below.

  A Gleaming Path

  1

  Once Amanyra could no longer see the trees, she realized that she and her brothers had made a grave mistake. The tall ash, poplar, and Sleekleaf trees were there, many standing but a few yards from her, yet their trunks were lost to the swirling, crackling brume that had captured this forsaken village in its destructive grip. When she looked up, Amanyra saw no canopy, no green boughs, not even a trace of the sky.

  In all directions, there was only crimson haze that filled the air.

  Scourge.

  “Let’s try to head back the way we came,” Iras offered, his hands tightening about his sword’s hilt. “We all release as much of our Serenity as we can, and we make a mad push back to the village entrance.”

  “We don’t even know what direction that is, right now,” Ilios argued. “We’re lost in here. If we try that, we could just as easily head deeper into the Scourge, and when that happens, we’re doomed.”

  “We might be doomed if we just stand here and watch it, too,” Iras retorted, panic beginning to overtake the frustration that had previously seized him. “We should have gone slower, we should have taken our time clearing our way through before we went too far…”

  “You’re the one who charged ahead of us!” Ilios snapped. “Our plan was much safer before you started to get carried away and act like the big hero who—”

  “Enough, both of you!” Amanyra shouted.

  She may have been just fifteen, and both Ilios and Iras a year her elder, but Amanyra’s command silenced their bickering. At that moment, she had no choice other than to at least attempt to rally her brothers’ concentration, as well as their confidence.

  “We all moved through here together. If someone acted irrationally, we all acted irrationally. We got this far together, now let’s stop with the blame and figure out how we can escape together.”

  The hush that came from Ilios and Iras told Amanyra that her scolding had managed to get through to them. She was a little surprised at how effective her words had been—she could only imagine what a denouncement from Master Xogun would do…

  Amanyra, Ilios, and Iras huddled together, backs against one another as they anxiously watched the clouds of Scourge churn and seethe around them. Lady Ralu and Master Xogun sent them into the village to disperse most of the destructive presence, leaving Lady Ralu with an easier task to banish it altogether. After five years of training in the ways of Serenity, Amanyra and her brothers had become powerful Spiritcasters. They were more than capable of fending off moderate masses of Scourge. They proved this in similar missions to what they currently found themselves in, being the first ones to enter an area where Scourge maintained a powerful hold, weakening its grip before Lady Ralu and Master Xogun would eventually destroy it.

  These missions were more than just a means to train Amanyra, Ilios, and Iras to combat dark magic; they were necessary for Lady Ralu’s well-being. Her repeated encounters with Scourge, where she both endured its destructive touch and invoked exorbitant magic from her soul, were beginning to wear on her life force. Even Master Xogun’s assistance was no longer enough. If she was to continue her efforts to purge Tordale of the most vile energy that ever plagued it, she needed Amanyra, Ilios, and Iras to ease the burden.

  Amanyra and her brothers had succeeded before, but this time, things went awry for them. The malevolent magic had them trapped—the very danger they always sought to avoid when battling Scourge. They overestimated their magical abilities, or perhaps underestimated their enemy after a series of victorious encounters. Whatever the reason, it was a foolish blunder given their familiarity with Scourge, and the many horrors it brought.

  Scourge could bear down on them at any moment. The way that it continued to swirl in place, only pressing forward inches at a time, was as if the merciless energy taunted them, toying with them in the way that a predator did with cornered prey.

  It was only Amanyra’s bounding eyes that alerted her to Scourge’s first strike. The crimson ceiling came crashing down, falling toward Amanyra, Ilios, and Iras like a waterfall. Amanyra lifted her staff high above her head, simultaneously directing a wave of Serenity through i
t to meet with Scourge. Her noble magic clashed with the destructive essence, holding Scourge at bay.

  But Scourge was relentless. Its crimson clouds took shape into long, twisting strands that eerily resembled the arms of some nightmarish beast, claws soaring at Amanyra and her brothers.

  Ilios and Iras intercepted Scourge’s grasp. Their swords aglow with Serenity’s radiance, they sliced through the dark magic’s claw-like constructs that came near. Scourge’s advances were halted when the Serenity-infused edges cleaved through its baleful essence, but where there were only two swords behind Ilios and Iras, their foe had infinite arms until banished from the world.

  At least I can give them one more weapon… Amanyra thought to herself, recognizing how dire the circumstance was quickly becoming.

  She amplified the release of Serenity that she used to hold back Scourge above—enough that her ray of purifying magic dispelled the torrent of destructive energy that tried to fall upon her, but not so much that it completely drained her magical reserves.

  Her bright orange staff—carved from palm tree wood of the desert—became engulfed in white light. Amanyra began to swing at whatever blood-red form approached she and her brothers, her staff cutting through Scourge’s arms like a blade through cloth. Their efforts may have been futile, Amanyra acknowledged, but she would make fate wait a while longer before it decided on that.

  Amid the shrill hisses that rang out any time a vein of Scourge was immolated by Amanyra’s or her brothers’ Serenity-infused weapons, she suddenly heard footsteps within the crimson clouds, many of them.

  No, not footsteps Amanyra soon realized, as their clatter rose from faint to unmistakable. That is a gallop.

  Off to the right, a white glow appeared within the waves of destructive magic. As Scourge dispersed from the outpouring of Serenity that had penetrated it, Amanyra and her brothers could see what rode in to assist them.

  Xogun stormed into the fray, one hand guiding his luminous sword that sheared through Scourge, while his other held the reins on Phaedryn. The hulking steed had been a Wraithling when Amanyra and her new family came upon him in her homeland, but once Ralu purified him with her Serenity, Phaedryn became a mount who fearlessly carried them into any battle with Scourge. The brawny, black horse galloped so prodigiously that he sometimes risked enduring Scourge’s touch before Xogun’s radiant sword could dispel it.

  The rider and mount were one great chromatic contrast. Phaedryn’s coat and long, voluminous mane were jet black, his brown eyes lost to his dark features. His grey hooves were a murky blur while he was in full stride.

  Atop Phaedryn, Xogun was embraced by the white aura of his magic. His flaxen hair and white cape flowed with Phaedryn’s gallops. His silvery armor and his mask—shaped like a falcon’s outstretched wings—gleamed under Serenity’s light.

  Amanyra had not known such relief in many days as she watched Xogun ride through the village. With each of Phaedryn’s strides, more of Scourge succumbed to the righteous magic that radiated from Xogun’s blade. The conglomeration of Scourge was fading, its presence already so weakened that it had ceased sending its arms groping toward Amanyra and her brothers.

  She was so enthralled by Xogun’s arrival that she did not hear Ralu approach. She only knew that the woman was right behind her when she sensed a source of Serenity that dwarfed even Xogun’s.

  Amanyra and her brothers spun around. Ralu stood but a yard from them, a tender smile over her tawny face, and her body encapsulated by a golden glow that shone brighter with each passing second. The light that flowed from her body and filled the air was so brilliant that Amanyra, Ilios, and Iras had to avert their eyes. They stumbled back a step or two as they felt Ralu’s tremendous magic surge against them.

  Even though Amanyra could not see it, she could feel Scourge’s presence being eradicated in every direction. Ralu’s Serenity engulfed the village and much of the surrounding forest, cleansing every branch, leaf, and blade of grass that had been blighted by Scourge.

  As the last remnants of the dark magic were banished from the area, the blinding light which surrounded Ralu began to dim. The receding glow revealed the ash, poplar, and Sleekleaf trees that encircled the village. Homes, sheds, and other buildings emerged into view after once being drowned in Scourge’s haze.

  “You have done well here today, my children,” Ralu said, her form finally becoming visible within the waning radiance. “Because of your brave efforts, this village has finally been freed of Scourge’s grasp.”

  When the light faded, the first thing that Amanyra noticed was the tender smile that lay over Ralu’s tawny face. It was as if Ralu had been totally unconcerned with the unthinkable danger that they all had just faced.

  The next thing that Amanyra noticed was the exhaustion in Ralu’s eyes, and the tremors of weariness that appeared through her white robes.

  Still astride Phaedryn, Xogun hurried to join all of them. He dismounted his burly steed and rushed to Ralu’s side, taking her in his arms.

  “Are you all right, Ralu?” he asked.

  Her reply was not immediate. For a few moments, her smile leveled as she fought to steady herself. Phaedryn trotted over to them, stopping next to Ralu. She eventually straightened and took hold of the reins that dangled along Phaedryn’s thick neck. Her smile only returned after she released a heavy breath.

  “I will be just fine,” she finally said.

  Voices came from further off in the village. The doors to some of the homes came open, and men, women, and children slowly emerged from their dwellings that they had barricaded themselves in to survive Scourge’s coming. Ralu turned her eyes to them before any of the people even spotted her.

  “Let me go see them,” she said. Ralu uttered the words softly, yet it was an order that Xogun would dare not contest. As soon as he released her, Ralu started toward the villagers. Phaedryn went with her, lending his reins and his muscular flank to support her.

  Amanyra smiled as villagers converged onto Ralu and Phaedryn. Whether they were man or woman, young or old, there was immeasurable gratitude on their faces. They came to her joyfully, some reverently, all offering their thanks to the woman who saved them from a horrific demise. Many of the children flocked to Phaedryn’s legs, their eyes wide with wonder as they stared up at the black horse who towered over them.

  No matter how many towns or villages that Ralu saved, this was a sight that Amanyra never tired of.

  “I hope you three realize just how close you came to failing today.”

  Xogun’s harsh tone sent a chill down Amanyra’s back. She was afraid to turn around and face him. Judging by Ilios’s and Iras’s expressions, they were just as nervous about doing so.

  She gulped, and slowly turned alongside her brothers.

  Amanyra felt every muscle in her body tighten when she looked up at Xogun’s cold countenance. He had removed his mask, letting nothing hide his stern glare. Amanyra had never seen his icy blue eyes so penetrating.

  “Lady Ralu was being sincere when she commended you, but that does not absolve you of your poor efforts,” Xogun went on. “If she and I had arrived a minute later than we did, she may have only had Wraithlings to speak to. Maybe less than Wraithlings.”

  “F-forgive us, Master Xogun,” Ilios somehow found the nerve to say. “We were doing just fine, but then the clouds of Scourge seemed to thicken all at once. By the time that we realized how much they bolstered themselves, we had gotten too far into the village to fight our way back…”

  “I’m well aware of what you three did wrong today,” Xogun said.

  Ilios cringed in response.

  Xogun crossed his arms, and continued. “You performed admirably the last few times you assisted Lady Ralu and I. You three grew complacent, maybe arrogant. You forgot that our foe is not a thoughtless essence. Those clouds of dark magic are calculating. They have a will and an intent of their own. They may not be of flesh and blood, but that is what makes them the most dangerous enemy in this world
. Scourge is an incorporeal foe with the understanding of a corporeal being. It can adapt in battle like any mortal creature—often, better.”

  Xogun lifted his eyes from Amanyra and her brothers, aiming them across the village at Ralu and the people who greeted her. His scolding may not have been over with, but Amanyra at least appreciated the reprieve from his dour gaze.

  “Lady Ralu and I have had you follow us into battle so that you three can learn how to combat Scourge. At this time, we do not expect you to be able to banish a mass of it like what we faced today all on your own. What we expect of you is to do your part in battle without needing our help to survive the encounter. Lady Ralu and I will not always be here to save you.”

  He did not say it, but Amanyra inferred that Xogun meant for she and her brothers to look at Ralu. The three of them obeyed his wordless command.

  “Every time that Lady Ralu purifies an area as large as this, she summons an amount of Serenity that no other human in history has equaled,” Xogun said. “You know just as well as I do that this is a feat she has accomplished many times now. That strain, alone, would break most humans; it does not even take into account what agony she has endured by occasionally withstanding Scourge’s touch while she confronts it. Any other human would have perished long ago if they cast the same spells that she has. Lady Ralu’s soul may hold the mightiest Serenity that this world has ever known, but she is still only mortal. She cannot carry this burden forever—perhaps, even for much longer.”

  As Xogun spoke, Amanyra’s eyes were pinned to Ralu. The woman welcomed every villager who approached her, smiling at each and every one. She leaned against Phaedryn’s flank, and her legs quivered beneath her white robes.