Companion of Darkness: An Epic Fantasy Series (The Chaos Wars Book 1)

by CJ Rutherford

  And the eldar king was my father!

  “Are you going to let Talyn go? I swear, if you don’t, the first chance I get I’ll jump off the highest tower in the Citadel.”

  The dark figure nodded, barely perceptibly within his cloak of shadows. I heard an audible huff from Lyssa.

  “Not good enough,” I said. “I want him out of here now.”

  “No!” It was Talyn. He’d recovered enough—barely—to be up on one knee. He held his ribs and his face was twisted in pain, but he stared straight at me. His gaze pierced my soul. I dropped my eyes. I couldn’t look at him. They’d used him to get to me. We both knew it. Their plan was in tatters, their rebellion over before it even began. The Darkness had played us all. Tal probably felt as guilty about it as I.

  “He and Glyran get to go free, or no deal.”

  I sensed them communicating and I wasn’t stupid enough not to know they were planning a deception. “And I want control of the soul trap!” I had no idea where that came from. It just blurted out. I knew right away they’d decline. “Just the part of Glyran it holds. I don’t want him flying off with Tal and one of you ordering him to drop Talyn into a volcano.”

  I sensed the communication again. There was tension. I got the idea Lyssa very much wanted to drop Talyn—and me—into the hottest peak of the Fire Mountains, sister or no sister. Sibling rivalry ran strong in our family, it seemed.

  “Agreed.” The dark thing held out the eye, and it pulsed a single time. A thin tendril of flame arose and wrapped itself around my wrist. It felt like a feather brushing my forearm as it disappeared beneath the surface of my skin.

  Instantly, I was aware of him. I couldn’t even begin to describe the sensation. It wasn’t like I was inside Glyran’s mind. No, it was like I stood outside, looking in. Glyran glared back, defying me even though he knew how pointless his resistance was.

  ‘Do not do this, child.’ His voice was full of anguish.

  I felt a tear slide down my cheek. ‘I have to. It’s the only way.’

  ‘We will find another way. The dragons —’

  ‘The dragons are bound to something much worse than the eldar king now, my friend. All of them except you.’ I walked slowly, testing my steps in case the dark thing would stop me, but it didn’t. I laid my hand on Glyran’s head and he leaned it to one side, allowing me to scratch his favorite spot. There was no sound this time, as there was no pleasure in the contact. I was about to command him to go, to take Tal back home beneath the shield surrounding his home…and I was about to command him to stay there.

  We both knew it was my only choice. Only the shield would save him from what I was about to become. Only it would let him remain free.

  ‘Free? I shall be trapped on that island, forever!’

  ‘Not forever.’ I desperately hoped I was right. ‘You and Talyn…the rest of the free eldar, you can’t give up. You need to fight.’

  Glyran’s eyes illuminated with inner fire, the irises rimmed with blue flame. ‘We shall, chi — Jesaela of the Tree.’

  I caught a sob in my chest and turned to face the dark being. “Release Talyn, let Glyran return him to his home, and I will do as you wish.”

  Lyssa hissed as the dark being gestured for her to release her captive.

  “Jes, I won’t go. I won’t leave you!” Talyn took a step toward me and I so nearly lost my resolve, so nearly ran into his arms. It was killing me to do this.

  He disappeared in a flash as I sent Glyran my command. A wave of cinnamon-scented air washed over me at the same time as Tal’s cry of resistance.

  I couldn’t watch. I stood with my eyes clenched shut as the sound of wing beats quickly receded. I’d included an order in my command to Glyran. He would shut his mind to all forms of communication until he arrived at the Star Isles. Not even I could override it. They were safe. For now.

  I raised my head to see the dark being watching me. Lyssa was at his side. Her eyes gleamed with hatred. Sister, I thought. I didn’t think she’d inherited a shred of our mother’s personality.

  “What do I have to do?” I asked. My voice was flat, empty of defiance. What was the point? They’d won.

  “Accept it,” the dark one said. “Let the Darkness in. Use your fire to draw it out of the shadow where it hides from the light. Free it from the prison it has been bound to since the dawn of this world.”

  Images flashed through my mind of war, ruin, utter devastation. I saw worlds shattered, whole galaxies consumed by battle between the Makers. Madness ruled the realms, and I watched as entire universes flashed out of existence as the time line they existed in was purged.

  Brother battled brother. Sister slaughtered sister. The war waged for thousands of years, and at the end only two remained. The Great Maker and the Great Destroyer. The Light and the Darkness.

  The void was just that. A void. Empty. The stars, the worlds that orbited them, all gone. The constellations had been reduced to nebulae, and the heavens swirled and collided in a multitude of shades.

  One world remained. One shining beacon in the utter depths of darkest night.

  The last battle made the others seem like children had fought with sticks, but at the end the Light prevailed. The Darkness was defeated but not destroyed. The Great Maker knew that to cast the Darkness into the void was to tempt disaster. Darkness calls to darkness, so the Light knew the only choice was to imprison it in a world of light, where magic would allow no shadow to spread.

  The Maker imbued the last world, Teralia, with the Light. His entire being he poured into it, save a tiny sliver of consciousness that existed outside of reality, to watch over as the realities rebirthed. He watched as the threads of time and space began to weave a new song, and he drew back, content that his brother, the Darkness, was trapped.

  Only it wasn’t. Over the eons, while the universes reformed and illumination blossomed in the heavens, the shadows lengthened. And joined.

  The shattered shards of the Destroyer rejoined, tiny piece by fractured fragment, and again the Darkness’s consciousness awoke, but it was still trapped in the shadow world.

  Until now.

  “The Darkness cannot exist outside of shadow. That was the Great Maker’s final curse,” said the dark being.

  What was he? Was he the Darkness?

  “No, but I am the shadow made real. Through me the Darkness influences this world.” He paused, looking out over the plains. “So much conflict and pain I have caused on this world, so much death and destruction, but always, the Light banishes the shadow. I have never been able to reveal myself.” He turned his dark, flashing eyes to meet mine. “But your light, my dear, the light of the dragon fire, will allow it purchase in the lands. The dragon fire will banish the light, will purge this world and allow the Darkness to rise. The people will follow or fall, but the Darkness will grow, and grow, until this world cannot contain it. Then it will begin again.”

  Even as I felt my fire rise up unbidden within me, I managed to ask, “What will begin?”

  A laugh as cold as the depths of time settled into my core as I imagined the tendrils of Darkness reaching to the heavens, watching as the stars were snuffed out one by one.

  The dark being began to shine, and my heart started to thump. Blood raced through my veins and pulsed in time with the blue lightning washing over my skin.

  Lyssa’s eyes shocked wide as a pair of brilliant blue-white wings flashed into existence behind me. I smiled. I’d deal with her later.

  The dark being’s cloak—was it a cloak?—receded to reveal one of the most beautiful beings I’d ever seen. Pale skinned and dark haired, his fine features seemed to be sculpted from flawless marble. Until his lips parted, showing perfect white teeth as he smiled at me. A tiny part of my soul begged me to run as he held his hand out. I dismissed it.

  The hand, like everything else about him, was perfect. How could I not take it? As I raised my own hand, blue flames crossed the space between us and smothered him. I gasped, momentarily worried
I’d hurt him, but no. He drank my flame in.

  I took the hand of the warrior from the plains, as his dark blue, almost black eyes stole my soul. At his waist, the blue flicker of lightning flashed across the soul sabre.

  He bent down, whispering as his lips brushed across my knuckles, provoking a shudder that reached right into my core. “Welcome, Companion of Darkness.”

  About the Author

  CJ Rutherford has always been a story teller, even if they started out in his mind only. He grew up on a farm in very rural Ireland and was left pretty much to his own devices most of the time.

  So, he invented his own world, with fairies, trolls, and other mystical creatures.

  His stories stayed with him throughout his life, sometimes scrawled down on scraps of paper, and occasionally brought to life in a sketch (although he’s the first to admit what he drew and what you might see might not bear any similarity to each other.)

  Along came two daughters, and at last he had an outlet for his imagination. As the girls grew up they were enthralled by the characters and the worlds their father created. He even brought them to life in his fantasy world, and they never knew when he sat down to tell them their bed-time story, whether they would be fighting a dragon or playing with one.

  But time moves on, and daughters grow up, and soon enough, CJ needed another way to tell his tales.

  The rest, as they say, is history…or the future, depending on how you look at it.

  Books by CJ Rutherford

  CJ first put his pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) on July 14th 2014, when he decided to try and bring his bedtime stories to life. What started out as a children’s book, however, rapidly became a darker adventure. His world of fantasy, magic, and dragons, merged with his own scientific and factual belief system, and the Tales of the Neverwar was born.

  Spanning two separate universes, one of science and one of magic, TOTN tell of an ancient battle between the forces of light and darkness.

  As the series progresses through the three main books, the two worlds grow closer, until magic regains its place in our universe. Who can tell what will happen then, right?

  Enjoy a character-based adventure for young adults of all ages. Expect humor, romance, and lots of snarky characters…oh, and a few dragons.

  Tales of the Neverwar is in all major book stores, and can be bought as ebook, paperback, or audiobook. And is now available as a box set, which includes the three books in the series plus the novella prequel set thousands of years before the series, Origins of the Never.

  Check out CJRutherford.com for all the links etc.

  You can also get Souls of the Never, book one of the series, completely free, just by signing up to CJ’s reader group. You will receive special offers, updates on new projects before anyone else, and other opportunities to join him in his writing journey. We promise never to share your email address or to send any spam. You are also free to unsubscribe at any time, though we’d be sorry to see you go. Just click on the link below to begin…

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