Black Dawn

by Andrew Dobell

  BLACK DAWN

  The MAGI SAGA

  By Andrew Dobell

  The Magi Saga

  Epic Calling: The Magi Saga Book 1

  Shadows of Darkness: The Magi Saga Book 2

  Black Dawn: The Magi Saga Book 3

  The Magi Saga Book 4 – Coming soon

  The Magi Saga Book 5

  The Magi Saga Book 6

  The Magi Saga Book 7

  The Magi Saga Book 8

  The Magi Saga Book 9

  The Magi Saga Short Stories

  Only available through my mailing list

  The Angel of Tarut: The Magi Saga Prologue

  His Love: A Magi Saga Short Story

  For more of Andrews work, visit:

  www.andrewdobellauthor.co.uk

  BLACK DAWN

  The

  MAGI SAGA

  Written & Illustrated

  By

  Andrew Dobell

  Acknowledgements

  Thank you to my wife Louise for her continued support and love through this creative process.

  Thank you to my friends back in my home town, the years of Gaming were a huge inspiration for this series.

  Thank you to Amy Leigh-Quine for being my Cover Model.

  Thank you to Julie Waldman for her editing skills.

  Thank you to my Beta Readers, you are Awesome!

  Dedication

  For my boys, my kids, I love you!

  Review???

  Thank you for taking the time to read Shadows of Darkness. If you enjoyed it, please consider telling your friends or posting a short review on Amazon. Word of mouth is an author’s best friend and much appreciated.

  Thank you.

  Andrew Dobell.

  FREE Prequel to this Series

  If you would like a FREE PDF Short Story Prequel to this series, and would like to stay up to date with my latest releases and news, please consider signing up to my Mailing List.

  CLICK HERE

  Prologue

  American Mid West

  Nov 3rd

  The Nomad known only as Dust slammed the Arcadian up against the wall, gripping him by the neck, holding him a good foot above the floor where he struggled and clawed at his attacker's hand.

  ‘Please, don’t kill me, you can take it…’ he said, struggling to get his words out through the Nomads iron grip.

  Dust had no idea who this Arcadian was, he only knew that he had something he wanted, something he had been hunting, for a very long time now.

  ‘Where is it?’ Dust said, his voice rough and deep. He loosened his grip on the Arcadian’s neck by a tiny fraction, just enough so that he could speak clearly.

  ‘It’s, it’s in my pocket, here,’ he said, rummaging in his jacket pocket and eventually pulling out a rolled up piece of paper, bound with a leather tie. The Artefact looked so fragile, like it might fall apart if you touched it.

  Dust snatched the scroll away from the man and stuffed it in his own pocket on the outside of his tan coloured leather duster.

  ‘There, you’ve got it, you’ve won. Please, can we talk about this now?’

  ‘No,’ said Dust, tightening his grip and pulling a blade from his belt that he slashed across the man’s belly, spilling the Arcadians blood onto the packed earth floor of this ramshackle building.

  The man choked and struggled as his eyes went wide in panic. His hands tried in vain to keep his ropey insides from spilling from his belly, without success.

  Dust smirked, one side of his mouth pulling back in a half smile as he dropped the Arcadian to the floor where he landed on his knees and looked down in horror at his guts that lay curled on the floor like slimy red snakes.

  Standing back, he watched the man try one last desperate use of Magic, but Dust calmly called on the Essentia all around him with his own Magic and dissolved the casting that the Arcadian attempted to use to heal himself.

  Blood bubbled up into the Arcadian’s mouth and dribbled over his chin as he slipped into the cold embrace of death and pitched forward, his face hitting the floor and kicking up a small cloud of dirt.

  The Nomad pulled out the Scroll from his pocket and held it up to look at it. Small and unassuming, it seemed wrong that such a tiny thing could be so valued by Arcadians and Nomads alike. The rolled up parchment was only about eight inches across and felt as light as a feather, it also looked incredibly old. The paper had become creased and discoloured, taking on a yellowish hue that made it appear like it had been dunked in coffee. But Dust knew better than to judge such an item by its mundane appearance. This happened to be one of the most infamous and powerful Magical items known to the Magi world.

  Known as the Lazarus Scroll, the legends of its power were well known, including its ability to resurrect the dead, which is where the name came from. Dust chose not to undo the leather strap at this moment, he’d look at it later when he had more time to sit and study it, for now, he wanted to be on his way in case the Magus he had just killed had some friends nearby.

  He looked down at the body slumped on the floor and gave it a kick. At least he’d been entertaining and put up a bit of a fight.

  Turning from the body he walked across the room that was little more than four brick walls and a pitched corrugated iron roof over a dusty desert floor to reach the exit.

  Opening the door, he came up short, seeing that the exit had been bricked up. Had it been like this when he came in here? He found he had difficulty remembering when he had come in here. He pushed on the bricks but it held firm as he suddenly had the distinct and intense feeling that he wasn’t alone in here anymore. He spun on the spot and fell back against the bricked up doorway in shock. The Man he’d just killed stood there, feet apart, arms wide, blood pouring from his eyes and mouth as his intestines writhed and curled around each other like snakes extending from the man’s belly, reaching out for him.

  Dust tried to move, to get away, but it felt like he’d suddenly been submerged in treacle as moving anything felt slow and ponderous, taking ages while the thing in front of him moved smoothly and quickly.

  As he watched, the man's slashed belly opened wide by itself to reveal rows and rows of wicked-looking teeth as blood and ichor oozed from this horrendous maw.

  Suddenly the snake-like intestines whipped out and wrapped around his legs and started to drag Dust back towards the mouth from which they came from.

  Dust clawed at the floor, trying to grab anything that might allow him to pull himself away, but nothing presented itself. The tentacles flipped Dust over onto his back and as he looked up at the creature’s huge mouth, another tentacle whipped out and wrapped around his neck several times and pulled him in, head first into the tooth-filled mouth in the man's belly.

  He screamed as the mouth distended, opening wide enough to fit Dust’s head into it before it slammed shut with a final chomp.

  Dust woke up, his eyes snapping open as he sat bolt upright on the metal framed bed and stained mattress he’d found in this outbuilding.

  The building didn’t look dissimilar to the one in his dream, apart from the few bits of furniture it had in real life and the light that streamed into the interior through the holes in the walls and roof. He swung his legs off the bed and looked at the scroll that sat on the small cabinet next to the bed.

  He still had it, the Lazarus Scroll, right where he’d left it when he’d drifted off to sleep the night before.

  He’d killed a man for this Artefact, just an Arcadian Magi, he forgot the name of the man now, not that it was important. Who had it before he was of little consequence. He owned it now, he controlled its power, and with it, he could bring Horlack back from the Abyss.

  Dust had visited the alleyway in New York, the scene of the crime, over a year ago and felt su
re that Horlack had not been killed, but instead, transported out of this world and into the other world, the Aetheric Realm, the Spirit world.

  He didn’t really know how he knew this, he just knew it. Just like he also knew that he had to bring him back, and for that, he needed something special, like the Lazarus Scroll. He’d been searching for a year, following up clues as to its whereabouts that ultimately led to his favourite hunting ground. The desert.

  These dreams had been happening ever since he’d found the scroll, every night he went to sleep and every night he woke up screaming at least once. He had no idea why and he supposed it didn’t really matter.

  The Artefact was his now, he could complete the ritual and bring Horlack back.

  He just needed to find the right place to do it. He needed a Pooling, a place where two ley lines crossed and the Essentia from the crossing streams of energy collected, pooled together and weakened the barrier into the Abyss.

  Rising from his bed, he picked up the scroll and his wide-brimmed cowboy hat and stepped from the shack into the morning light. Already warm, the Arizona desert looked dry and inhospitable, but Dust loved these places, he loved to wander these deserts and focus on his hobby when the mood took him. He’d not seen anyone for a few days now, so he’d not had the chance to indulge himself at all. Shame really. Killing a pretty girl always seemed to pass the time quite nicely. What is it the Arcadians called him? Dust Devil wasn’t it. He didn’t mind the name, not really.

  Looking around him and putting his hat on his head, he wasn’t really sure which way he needed to go, so he just picked a direction and walked, the wind whipping his coat about him as he went.

  Fallen Angels

  Los Angeles

  Nov 4th

  Toni looked out from her vantage point over the tens of thousands of lights that shone in the darkness. Yellow, white, blue and red, the lights shone from windows and cars and buildings in the vast city sprawl below her. It might be November, but it never really got that cold in LA, and tonight was an unusually warm evening which led to them coming outside to enjoy the balmy night. Even if it had been cold, their Magic would have kept them warm anyway.

  Toni stood at the edge of the large terrace at the back of the mansion that served as the Coven house to her and her friends. They were members of the Coven of Angels, one of the four biggest Covens in the USA and the biggest on the west coast of America. Toni had been a part of the Coven for six months now, joining after her own Coven had been attacked by Nomads, leaving her as the only survivor.

  She remembered her visit to Victoria in DC and how upset she had been, not knowing that she would meet the love of her life and be happier than she had ever been since becoming a Magus.

  Behind her, between herself and the huge mansion, a large swimming pool glowed from the lights within it while other lights lit up the decking and gardens closer to the house.

  Four others were with her out here, while the rest of the Coven remained inside. To her right sat around a table were Jonas, Tybolt, and Melissa, all chatting and enjoying their drinks. The two guys wore their swimming shorts, Jonas looking like a blonde surfer dude and the dark haired Tybolt with his designer stubble looking like a Calvin Klein model with the towel wrapped around his shoulders.

  Melissa looked as classy as ever wearing a dark bikini and cover up skirt that did little to cover her up. All three of them had bodies to die for, like most Magi who took pride in their appearance. The fourth person out here with Toni picked up a pair of drinks from the nearby bar that she had just poured herself and walked back over to her. Toni turned and enjoyed the view of Tabitha as she walked, the way her hips swung, her thighs tensed and relaxed as she walked, she just drunk it in.

  She’d always been a little Bi-Curious she supposed, although she had only ever been with men previous to Tabitha. But joining this Coven and being comforted by Tabitha had changed all that. Apparently, Tabitha had taken an immediate liking to her, so she said, and over a few weeks, they had grown closer until one night after a drink or two, one thing had led to another and that was that.

  She’d soon fallen in love with Tabby, and it had been the most passionate and intense relationship of her life so far. She felt utterly captivated by her and had been enjoying it as much as possible.

  Tabby always looked stunning to her, her bob of platinum blonde hair and the orange bikini complimented each other perfectly. She had quite striking features, not least of which being her magically altered golden eyes that had a vertical slit pupil, just like a cats. Tabby reached Toni’s side and handed her one of the drinks. Toni kissed her as she took the drink.

  ‘Thanks,’ she said and took a sip.

  ‘So, you didn’t say one way or the other. Do you want to go?’ Tabby asked.

  ‘To the Ball in New York? Sure, sounds good.’

  ‘It should be. I hear it’s going to be a hell of a celebration. It’s been a long time since the Arcadians have had a presence in New York.’

  ‘This is them staking their claim to it I think,’ Toni agreed.

  ‘Who can blame them? The Nomads controlled that city for decades.’

  ‘Lucian wasn’t it?’

  ‘Yeah. Glad he’s gone, I’m sure there’s a particularly hot part of hell waiting just for him,’ Tabitha said.

  ‘Who killed him?’

  ‘Don’t know. I think they’re keeping that one quiet.’

  ‘That’s probably wise,’ Toni agreed.

  ‘Absolutely, unless that person wants Nymira after them. If it were me, I’d be keeping it quiet as well.’

  ‘Maybe we’ll find out at the ball?’

  ‘Doubt it, but it would be good to see some of New York while we’re there.’

  ‘Sounds good,’ Toni agreed.

  ‘The rumour I heard was that a Magi called Amanda killed him. She moved to New York about a month before or something from Europe,’ said Tybolt, looking back at Toni and Tabitha.

  ‘Amanda, I’ve not heard of her,’ said Tabby.

  ‘She’s not been a Magi long, red-headed girl I think,’ Tybolt answered.

  Toni suddenly had a moment of recall, thinking she’d seen a red headed girl at the Liberties Children Coven house back when she’d visited Victoria after her Coven had been killed.

  Could that have been Amanda?

  ‘You read that online?’ Tabby asked.

  ‘Yeah, on the DWeb forums. There were other rumours too of course.’

  ‘Of course,’ said Tabby, a hint of sarcasm in her voice. She turned to Toni, ‘Here, hold this, I’m just going to do a couple of lengths,’ she said and passed her the drink she held.

  Toni watched her walk away to the edge of the pool, her gaze drifting down Tabby’s back and settling on her perfect bum and the way it wobbled back and forth as she walked. Damn it, if she were alone out here she’d be joining Tabby in the pool for a little alone time.

  BOOM!

  Toni’s head snapped up and looked in horror at the explosion that blossomed out of the back of the House, raining debris and fire across the garden. In the middle of it, a figure flew out of the fire and landed on his back in the pool, charred to a crisp and quite dead. She recognised the clothing and felt sure that the dead person in the pool was Osmond. Tabby screamed, Melissa and the boys jumped up and cursed in shock at what they saw.

  Shifting her vision into the Magical spectrum she watched the Aegis on the house flicker and fail as bright lights and the sounds of fighting came from within. Toni took a few steps forward and met Tabby in an embrace as she moved away from the pool and the burnt body that floated within it. Melissa, Jonas and Tybolt ran to the edge of the pool.

  ‘I think it’s Osmond,’ said Toni.

  ‘It is, what the fuck,’ said Tybolt.

  ‘It’s an attack,’ Jonas offered.

  Not again thought Toni, her previous Coven had been killed by a trio of Nomads six months ago, not this one as well. There had been a series of attacks around the time of the one that
killed her previous Coven, but nothing for about four months. Nomads had been blamed the last time, which Toni thought had been accurate. They were never stopped or found. Where they back?

  More lights danced inside as smaller explosions echoed through the night. Suddenly Essentia flared and a figure in black Ported onto the lawn in front of the house. Toni felt her stomach drop as she recognised the woman from last time. She wore some kind of latex fetish gear, had long black hair and a pale skinned face and deep dark eyes.

  Toni felt sure she had been one of the three Nomads that she had seen once before. On instinct all five of them pumped Essentia into their Aegises, strengthening their magical shields.

  Jonas pushed Melissa away from him towards Toni and Tabby, ‘Get out of here, we’ll deal with this,’ he said.

  Melissa turned to them to challenge their macho bullshit, but they had already Ported across the Garden and stood in front of the Nomad.

  Toni saw Melissa pull Essentia in towards her, and in panic shouted, ‘Mel, please, stay here.’

  Melissa looked back at Toni and Tabitha and hesitated. They all looked back up at the three figures and watched as Essentia flared from the Nomad and suddenly the two guys disappeared. The Magic the Nomad used seemed odd, different to what Toni had seen before, but she also thought she recognised it, maybe.

  ‘What the…’ Toni said.

  ‘Holy shit,’ Melissa said.

  Suddenly the Nomad disappeared as well, using the same kind of effect she had just used on the guys.

  ‘What was that?’ Tabby asked.

  Melissa looked back at them, ‘I have no idea,’ she muttered.

  More explosions rang out inside the Mansion, making the girls pause in their conversation.