Chronicles of Alluvia: Shades of Darkness

JCM

Description

Shades of Darkness continues the journey of Birthings while evil establishes a foothold and the entirety of Alluvia begins to sense its presence.

Sujets

• Adventure (Guyana)
• Adventure
• Fiction
• Action

Informations

• Publié par: Xlibris US
• Date de parution: 30 juillet 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9798369403426
• Langue: English

Extrait

Chronicles of Alluvia: Shades of Darkness
 
Book 2
 
 
 
 
 
JCM
 
Copyright © 2023 by JCM.
Library of Congress Control Number:
2023913340
ISBN:
Hardcover
979-8-3694-0344-0
 
Softcover
979-8-3694-0343-3
 
eBook
979-8-3694-0342-6
 
 
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
 
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
 
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
 
 
Rev. date: 07/17/2023
 
 
 
Xlibris
844-714-8691
www.Xlibris.com
853778
 
Chronicles of Alluvia , an epic fantasy series, would not be possible without the support of people who have contributed to progress in meaningful ways. I thanked several people in the first book, Chronicles of Alluvia: Birthings. I would like to thank those who provided support and encouragement through the second book:
Patti Thomas (my sister): Patti provided an immense amount of support and encouragement. I was trying to get prepared to record an audio version. Patti was kind enough to allow me to read the first book to her. She was honest in her feedback and encouraged me to continue writing. She went on to tell others about the book. She has continued to encourage me through the second book as well.
Melissa Murphy (my sister): Melissa has encouraged me and supported me in person as well as on Facebook. She recommended the book to her friends as well!
Janelle Murphy (my wife): Janelle has been a constant support and encourager. She enjoyed all the manuscripts and provided technical assistance along the way.
Pat Moran (my cousin): Pat bought members of his family the book and has been encouraging in his review of the first book as well as letting me know he was looking forward to this one.
Maureen Kalloway (my cousin): Maureen and I reconnected a couple of years ago. She is an encourager by nature and a valued friend in addition to being a relative. I’ve enjoyed our conversations back and forth, her sense of humor, and the fact that we think similarly politically!!
Cori Allison: Cori was the first person to help me edit the first book and has been a steadfast supporter since that time.
Ella Barnhart (my daughter) : Ella has consistently checked in to see how the books are coming along. She has encouraged my writing and lets me know that she is proud of me which makes me grin as wide as a sunset.
A special thanks and statement of gratitude to Xlibris for publishing Book 2, “ Chronicles of Alluvia: Shades of Darkness” to life. I am also thankful to Page Publishing for publishing Book 1, “ Chronicles of Alluvia: Birth ings ”.
CONTENTS
Preface
Prologue
Chapter On e An Unlikely Threesome…
Chapter Two Shades of Darkness
Chapter Three Camen’s Walk
Chapter Four It’s Return...
Chapter Five Darkness Multiplies...
Chapter Six A Trail Found...
Chapter Seven Zeeba’s Charge
Chapter Eight Journeyman’s Sleep
Chapter Nine Lin...
Chapter Ten The Queen
Chapter Eleven An Ogre’s Run...
Chapter Twelve Wigan The Plain
Chapter Thirteen The Spirit and the Stone
Chapter Fourteen The Light Ebbs….
Chapter Fifteen A Castle Unguarded
Chapter Sixteen Progression
Chapter Seventeen Wigan The Pain
Chapter Eighteen A Glimpse of Good, Evil Turning….
Chapter Nineteen A Chill To The North…
Preface
Alas, you were warned, fair traveler, the world within these confines has now marked your spirit and will continue to steal you away without regret or compunction. Think well before continuing further into the realm of Alluvia for there are treacheries afoot, lives tangled in a web, not of their own making. It may be impossible to alter what has occurred, but such is my endeavor. My words, quiet in the din of humankind, rarely matter… they carry on the wind to nowhere until embraced by an unfortunate soul who finds value in their meaning. If you choose to continue… I cannot be held responsible or accountable for the consequences to your well-being or the entanglements that will affect those you love. Alluvia will seep into your soul and never fully set you free.
M….
Prologue
Abkhas’ form shimmered into existence on the mountain’s western precipice. The winds howled as sleet buffeted its atrophied face, whipping the remnants of clothing from an earlier life. It ignored the wind’s distraction, preoccupied with the hooded figure, wondering who or what this protagonist could be, It brushed the snow from the face of the entryway. It traced the charred outline of the now visible stone door that had been chiseled into form yet nearly perfectly blended into the rock face. The chiseled door reminded it of other conquests, of fresh beginnings, the smell of burning cities and crumpling inhabitants, and the satisfaction of having an entire civilization bow to Its superiority. It uncurled its atrophied fingers sweeping the palm and emitting magical energy in the precise arc necessary to trigger the sliding mechanism in the hidden door. The door’s glamour dissipated, as it would each time a being provided the necessary combinations of magic or physical matter to be permitted through. The door itself, granite with a marble inlaid centerpiece in the image of a weir-griffin’s head, Abkhas’ mark and signet, stood as the silent warded vanguard for the Forsaken Chamber, a gathering place and temporary abode for Abkhas and his minion. He set the portal to bring them through realizing he had one last birthing to attend to.
Abkhas stretched its mishappen form contemplating the final birthing of Omurcada. Peace’s birthings managed to escape and were scattered about Alluvia, much to Abkhas’ disdain, but Gerald the Good, the last birthing of Omurcada had not arrived. “ Time to remedy this nuisance .” Abkhas warded and sealed the portal all the while wondering where Messmor and that forsaken wyvern of his might be at this moment…
Chapter On e An Unlikely Threesome…
Zeeba tightened her grip on the pseudodragon’s talon. “ The master’s bidding ”, she acknowledged. Her silvery outer skin coruscated as her thoughts ran deep to the master. Zeeba’s grip intensified. Jeb squawked, Messmor raised an eyebrow, “What?” Jeb, bulging an eyeball forward while squinting the other, pressed his talons impatiently. Jeb could barely tolerate the wizard’s persistent inability to recognize Jeb’s desires or instructions. He, and his brethren, believed humans to be the best of the lot as far as familiars were concerned except for their peculiar belief that the human was the master instead of the other way around and this particular human was Jeb’s familiar with certain undeniable obligations to his master. Jeb fidgeted, in punctilious pseudodragon fashion, transmitting images of the ring to his long-bearded familiar. Messmor nodded his head, a bit perplexed, he stared intently at the ring, “Some things are unknown to me...” his eyebrows furled, “and, perhaps, unknown to ‘It’ ... let’s hope the ring is unknown to It or at least a quandary to the both of us”, Messmor stroked his beard still reading the manuscript. Jeb, frustrated with Messmor’s self-absorption, grunted, as only a pseudodragon could, then winked out invisible to human eyes. Messmor chuckled to himself, “That dragon must have been a buzzard in a former life”, he mumbled. Messmor could sense, but not see Jeb’s presence. He chuckled once more spotting the glint of silver bobbing, weaving, and dancing oddly around the room, as only the undulations of Jeb’s flapping wings and the sheen of Zeeba’s ring form could produce.
Messmor proceeded to contemplate the ring in greater depth, as it bounced and weaved to the cadence of talons gliding beneath the torso of the strange creature who had claimed him long ago. In a blink, the pseudodragon made his way too, then out of, the upper window of Messmor’s tower. “Away with you then buzzard!”, Messmor offered the air, swirling his hands, left counterclockwise, right clockwise, “Peace at last!” He inhaled deeply, continuing to fondle the tip of his long white, now unbraided, beard. He repeated his fingerwork, unconsciously twisting the filaments into small woven threads. Each appeared randomly, without pattern beyond their individual likeness, with small quills on an otherwise uniform beard. Messmor unconsciously spun, more and more tightly, woven quills as he mulled over the odd appearance of this silver band. “Hmmm... new twists, new players, and odd bits of adornment... A silver ring that grips a talon… a feat that should not be singularly possible… and equally difficult to explain.” He squinted, as his aged fingers, then, suddenly plucked a hair from his brow, the entire plucking accomplished in unconscious awareness as he contemplated the game. “A living ring… another mystery... more mysteries than I would prefer… or is it a design”, he muttered while turning to the final page of the manuscript. “Befuddlement... I distinctly dislike being befuddled this