If it were not for the fact that the future of the realm of Vydoria was at stake, the events taking place in the Spirit Realm would have been an amazing contest to sit back and watch. Five master-level wizards fought five master-level sorcerers in a three-dimensional arena around the grandmaster sorcerer and myself. The raw power flowing around and through the fight was extraordinary and even beautiful. I wished desperately that I could sit back and simply watch the dance of energy.
Back and forth the grandmaster sorcerer and I continued our verbal sparring, while I raced to keep up with the unweaving of his attacks. It took no power to unweave an attack, merely skill and concentration. Therefore, as long as I could keep up the pace there was no limit to how long I could prolong the fight, but the slightest mistake would spell my doom.
The complexity and speed with which he worked was daunting. I was beginning to understand that in his day his skill had dwarfed mine. Had I met him at his prime he might have won, but he was well past his prime, and I had the realm itself fighting on my side.
After an unknown period of time I heard him scream out in fear as his attacks faded and stopped. “And now you finally see,” I said. “You have foolishly banished yourself into an eternal prison!”
The grandmaster faded out of sight and was gone. I pitied him, knowing that the eternal life he faced would be one of horror and imprisonment. He truly was a master of his art; it was a pity he had gone so wrong at some point. I wondered if there had been a point in time when the right person could have intervened and changed his future, as Kellyn did for me. Now there were no more opportunities for him; his life was complete.
Epilogue
With the grandmaster defeated I was free to help my fellow wizards, but the other sorcerers made a fast escape. “Let them go, for the present. We must return home and ensure no one is taking advantage of our absence,” I sent.
I weave walked into sickbay on the Shadow Fox where Kellyn had brought Dusty. When I arrived, I saw that Spectra was there also. The two of them lay unconscious in the medical beds. They looked completely lifeless; I could see no obvious signs of breathing. I knew they were alive because their connection to the weave was still strong, but nothing else about them gave any indication that they still lived.
Kellyn was leaning against the wall, looking exhausted. In her hand was some kind of drink. Knowing her, it was probably chocolate milk. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, just exhausted. Standing up to the grandmaster and pulling these two back from death’s door again takes a lot out of a girl,” she said.
“Shea, how are they?” I asked.
“Grandmaster, they are both in a really bad way. Without Master Kellyn’s healing powers they would have died, for sure,” said Shea.
“What were their injuries?” I asked.
“I’m not sure. I haven’t seen anything like them before, at least not to this extent. They were magical in nature and purely evil. Whatever it was, it was eating away at them at an alarming rate,” she said.
“Ah, they must have used the Spirit Realm for power. That explains how they could take down a master sorcerer, but it was extremely foolish. That power eats you up from the inside out. They are lucky Kellyn found them when she did,” I said.
“I didn't, though. Shea called to me for help, but by the time I arrived Spectra was already unconscious. Thankfully she had had the foresight to leave a dimensional marker in the Spirit Realm for me to find or Dusty would have fallen also,” said Kellyn.
“So Spectra came back alone?” I asked.
“Yes. I think Dusty sent her back but got trapped before he could return himself,” said Shea.
“Will they make a full recovery?” I asked.
“Yes, my love. Though I want to monitor them for a while, just to be sure,” said Master Kellyn.
I felt the ship rock, and the power flickered around us. I stretched out my awareness and saw the battle around us. “Apparently we are still fighting. I will put an end to that.”
I stepped out into space and drained the power from all the enemy vessels. “Shadow, the fight is over. Pull back and let them go,” I sent. I would have to come back later and give those ships some power back so they could fly away, but for the present I was satisfied with leaving them as they were.
“Yes, Grandmaster,” he replied.
“Dusty and Spectra are wounded, but gather the rest of your command staff for debriefing,” I sent. I walked back on to the Shadow Fox and waited in sickbay with Kellyn. I could have traveled directly to the Nevermore II, but I was grateful for a break. The fight in the Spirit Realm had been mentally exhausting.
Once the Shadow Fox docked back on the Nevermore, Shea and I went directly to the conference room while Kellyn stayed with Dusty and Spectra.
“Well done!” I said as I entered the conference room.
“We won then, Grandmaster?” asked Karlith.
“All five tables that we know of were destroyed, and two of the sorcerers were eliminated,” I said.
This brought a round of cheering and backslapping. I let that go on for a while. It was good for them to have some time to celebrate our victory.
“Which two, Grandmaster?” asked Flame.
“Dusty and Spectra beat one of the masters, the one with the green hood, but lost in their fight with the grandmaster. Fortunately, Kellyn was able to come in time to save them. I defeated the grandmaster while she tended to their wounds.”
“How are Dusty and Spectra?” asked Shadow.
“Grievously injured, but Kellyn is confident they will make a full recovery, in time,” I said.
“Grandmaster, assuming I can still count, that leaves five sorcerers unaccounted for?” asked Phoenix.
“Yes, but without the tables and without a leader they are drastically reduced in power,” I said.
“But they could come back one day, right?” asked Phoenix.
“If they do we will be ready for them. But that is a problem for another day; your orders now are to fly home and take a vacation. There will always be some new evil to fight, so rest and be ready for it,” I said.
I left them to celebrate and weave-walked back home. I knew Kellyn would join me when she was ready, but I wanted to make sure Mantis and the others were told of the outcome. After hearing the news, Mantis decided to drop in for a personal visit.
“Has the shadow receded, then, as expected?” he asked.
“Yes, it has, but it is not gone,” I said.
“Darkness is never truly gone, only beaten back for a time,” he said.
I eased into my chair and leaned back in its soft pillows. The adrenaline rush from the fight was wearing off, and suddenly I felt completely depleted. I had not had a fight like that since the Great War. “True. I can see a little into the future again, and I believe this new age will be one where the balance between light and dark will rock back and forth for a long time.”
“That makes sense. After all, we did team up with Henrick to fight something that just happened to be darker than he is,” said Mantis.
“Yes, it was not truly a victory for light, but not a loss either,” I said.
“For the present, relax and build. The day when you and Henrick will face each other is likely to be a long way off. Until then, I am sure you will have a thousand other enemies to keep you busy,” he said.
“It is as you said: darkness is never defeated. It merely retreats and waits for the next opportunity to strike,” I replied.
###
The story continues in The Sac’a’rith: Clear across the galaxy from where Grandmaster Vydor is building his kingdom of wizards, a new darkness is rising up. Soldiers who die in battle are standing back up and switching sides. Entire space stations are being wiped clean of life and the military is powerless. One man, perhaps more dangerous than the darkness itself, is all that stands between darkness and light.
Also check out Vincent’s other novels and series by c
licking here: http://smarturl.it/VincentBooks
If you subscribe to our mailing list, you will receive access to our collection of free short stories! Plus you will get release announcements and access to other special promotions. Click this link to be taken to the sign up page: http://smarturl.it/LostEMail
You can also join the discussion on Facebook in our Lost Tales of Power Facebook group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/LostTales/
Visit our website for news, book reviews, and much more: http://losttalesofpower.com
Follow @VincentTrigili on Twitter for random tweets and information in addition to updates about the series and other writing projects.
Also by Vincent Trigili:
The Silverleaf Chronicles
The Silverleaf Chronicles: Season One follows the life of Silverleaf, a young dragonmaster who was born into a world without dragons, and doomed to die as a madman alone in the wilderness until a young woman enters his life, and a mysterious army marches across the land destroying all its path.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Time Line So Far
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty-One
Chapter Forty-Two
Chapter Forty-Three
Chapter Forty-Four
Chapter Forty-Five
Chapter Forty-Six
Chapter Forty-Seven
Chapter Forty-Eight
Chapter Forty-Nine
Chapter Fifty
Chapter Fifty-One
Chapter Fifty-Two
Chapter Fifty-Three
Chapter Fifty-Four
Chapter Fifty-Five
Chapter Fifty-Six
Chapter Fifty-Seven
Chapter Fifty-Eight
Chapter Fifty-Nine
Chapter Sixty
Chapter Sixty-One
Chapter Sixty-Two
Chapter Sixty-Three
Chapter Sixty-Four
Chapter Sixty-Five
Chapter Sixty-Six
Chapter Sixty-Seven
Chapter Sixty-Eight
Chapter Sixty-Nine
Chapter Seventy
Chapter Seventy-One
Chapter Seventy-Two
Chapter Seventy-Three
Chapter Seventy-Four
Chapter Seventy-Five
Chapter Seventy-Six
Chapter Seventy-Seven
Chapter Seventy-Eight
Chapter Seventy-Nine
Chapter Eighty
Chapter Eighty-One
Chapter Eighty-Two
Chapter Eighty-Three
Chapter Eighty-Four
Chapter Eighty-Five
Chapter Eighty-Six
Chapter Eighty-Seven
Chapter Eighty-Eight
Chapter Eighty-Nine
Chapter Ninety
Chapter Ninety-One
Chapter Ninety-Two
Chapter Ninety-Three
Chapter Ninety-Four
Chapter Ninety-Five
Chapter Ninety-Six
Epilogue
Also by Vincent Trigili
Resurgence of Ancient Darkness Page 34
