King of Light

Federico Carro

Description

This remarkable, lyrical, poetic, richly imaginative fantasy novel tells the story of Fredric, a winged human warrior, in his struggles against the Dark Queen, the chief of a dark order that aspires to rule over life on earth. Fredric's battle against the Dark Queen's most sinister forces takes place against the background of his bid to save the life of his great love Isabel. The reader is catapulted through the universe on a journey of imagination, adventure and sheer wonder.

Sujets

• Fantasy (canción de Mariah Carey)
• Fantasy

Informations

• Publié par: The Conrad Press
• Date de parution: 08 mai 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781913227012
• Langue: English

Extrait

The King of Light
~ the Leviathan army
Federico Carro


The King of Light - the Leviathan army
Published by The Conrad Press in the United Kingdom 2019
Tel: [phone] 
 www.theconradpress.com 
 [e-mail]
ISBN 978-1-913227-01-2
Copyright © Federico Carro, 2019
The moral right of Federico Carro to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved.
Cover illustration: Gabriele D'Aleo
Typesetting by: Charlotte Mouncey, www.bookstyle.co.uk
The Conrad Press logo was designed by Maria Priestley.


By the same author
The King of Light – the Order of the Dark Gods
(2019: Wisdom House Books, US)


Summary of Book 1
A summary, by the author Federico Carro, of the story of the first book in The King of Light series, The King of Light – the Order of the Dark Gods
During the final period of the first Crusade to conquer Jerusalem, a crusader named Fredric secretly reaches the Holy Sepulchre, finding inside it a mysterious stone which, when broken, releases an evil entity that makes him swoon and that catapults him into a different timeline.
No longer concerned about the imminent battle, Fredric decides to reach his beloved Isabel, with whom he has exchanged a promise, one night, to meet again before the battle in Jerusalem. Trying to keep the promise to Isabel to meet again, Fredric sets off for Turin, unaware that his destination is the forbidden capital of all the evil in the world. Venturing in a world completely different from the one he comes from, he confronts the various kings ruling in the name of dark gods. The most important among these is King Alkor, the right-hand man of the emperor ruling the whole of the Middle East, in turn the right-hand of one of the dark gods.
Fredric, accompanied by Jehrais, the humble companion who saved him from the eternal slavery of King Alkor, ventures into the labyrinth of the empire of Kinsguard. After victory over the emperor, the crusader meets Radamantio, who tells him the story of the three mythical swords located in the three capitals of the evil world: Lyon, Prague and Turin, where the dark gods reside.
The three decide to share the tasks ahead and each sets off towards the three capitals: Jehrais to Lyon to confront Dark Jack, the Night Lord; Radamantio to Prague to fight Dark King, the Celestial Lord; and finally, Fredric to Turin. Before reaching Turin, he finds Lyjos’ vestments, a legendary armour which bestows superhuman protection on him. Helped by Radamantio, who reaches him after a hard battle in Prague, they finally manage to enter the castle of the dark master.
Inside, the crusader finds his Isabel, unconscious under the magic spell of the dark god. The Darkerd plan, which envisages the ruin of the world by the Darkness, is set in motion on the entire world, with general Madow, the commander of the Lefi knights at the service of the Darkness army, starting the war between good and evil. In the meantime, Dark Queen, the Dark Lord, finds the thinking core of the Earth, and so sets out to reach the North Pole.
The crusader, finding the strength to react, finds Silfurhiaga, the holy sword, in Turin, and this gives him the semi-divine power of silver light with wings like those of angels. Reaching Dark Queen in the North Pole, the crusader is catapulted, after an exhausting battle, to the limits of the galaxy. In the meantime, the Darkerd plan has successfully concluded with the planets aligned with each other forming the solar system’s Leviathan, made of the wings of stars. Dark Queen becomes one with the just awakened Leviathan, and leaves with it for an unknown destination.
Now here begins the second book in The King of Light series, The King of Light – the Leviathan army


1
Dawn
O n a bright summer morning a tremor rebounded from the earth to the sky, and hundreds of people, tilling the soil to win a thin living from the land, looked up to the heavens. ‘A comet!’ they exclaimed. ‘A good omen, and so unexpected! What can be happening?’
As they looked, they watched the comet, which streaked across the sky, changing from a scarlet red colour to a silvery light as the comet abandoned the sky and now headed earthwards, finally crashing to earth with a deafening bang. People ran, abandoning what they had gathered from the land. In a few moments, an extraordinary bright light fell on the soil they had been so tenderly cultivating. Their desperate cries were audible everywhere.
Then, magically, silence fell all around.
Prompted as much curiosity as by fear, people came closer to observe the wonder that concealed itself from their eyes. In a few instants their pupils dilated as they observed, inside a deep smoking cavity, a young man wearing silver armour. He was unconscious. They also saw that despite being a young man with human form, he had large, gleaming silvery wings.
Light enveloped the young man entirely. Slowly, the light that encircled him, like his wings, faded in the shadow of the gaping chasm caused by the fallen comet, to the perplexity of those present. Suddenly, a girl appeared among the astounded spectators and found her way to the front of the crowd. Getting close to the edge of the deep hole, she saw a figure she knew and spoke in the wind: ‘It is he…’
Then she spoke to him: ‘Wake up, Fredric. Please, wake up.’
Fredric’s eyes opened as by magic, and he found himself in front of the agitated face of the young girl who, in tears, put her arms around him, saying: ‘Fredric at last, you are awake. I am so happy you are alive! How are you, my sweet angel?’
Fredric woke up. ‘I’m not an angel, I’m a man, please don’t be confused by my wings. But what’s happened? Where am I?’
‘Fredric, we saw you drop from the sky, and found you inside a deep hole! Do you remember anything of that?’
Fredric, again springing up, freed himself from the girl’s arms, furiously shouting: ‘The Dark Queen! I remember now, I was fighting the evil wretch!’
The girl almost whispering, said: ‘Were you fighting the Dark Master, too?’
Fredric answered ‘I was fighting that demon too. Sometime in the fight I lost consciousness and I don’t remember anything else from that moment. But nothing matters any longer, anyway. The woman I love and all the people I have ever known have disappeared in an instant! I was tragically unable to protect one of the few people who gave me a reason to go on living, to hope for a better destiny for tomorrow, the one who, with her sweet smile, gave me joy in all the evil that surrounded me, the one who, now, can I think only live in the memory of my mind and in my heart!’
The girl put her arms around Fredric and, bringing it to her breast, whispered: ‘Fredric, my darling, if mother could see you, she would be most sad. She is alive and well. If she were not, I would not be here to put my arms around you now! I am so pleased to know that you and Isabel are well!’
In hearing that name echoing in his upset mind, Fredric pulled himself away from the girl, exclaiming: ‘How do you know my name and that of Isobel? Why do you call me Fredric? Who are you?’
The girl pulled back, a slight smile on her face, joyfully saying: ‘I am your daughter, and Isabel’s. My name is Lucy. I am so joyful at finally meeting you… father!’
Even more confused and dumbfounded than before, Fredric observed the girl, his eyes vague and filled of uncertain curiosity. ‘Father? How can I be your father? I am only twenty-five years old and you are a grown girl!’
‘Fredric, it is hard to explain, but you are my father in a different time-line, and…
But before she could finish speaking, an elderly man appeared among the crowd, his beard thick and long, with small pieces of aquamarine nestling among the white hair. Various diamond pieces were set on his wrinkled arms and the sapphire that adorned his clothes gave a glacial glint to the eyes fixed on the young man. He moved close to the bed, in his hand a platinum sceptre shaped like an upturned serpent head. Now he spoke to Fredric, ‘Tell me, were you fighting the one who has sown hate, destruction and evil in all the lands of the universe?’
Fredric gave a nod. ‘Yes, but who are you?’
‘I am Bosco. I am the one who, on this small planet, protects the future space-time in the galaxy you come from!’
Fredric closely observed the man’s eyes. ‘What do you mean? And…’ now he glanced at Lucy. ‘Does this explain why Lucy called me her father?’
But before Bosco could reply, in the distance, in the oblivion of the open space, a gigantic being appeared. The creature was an agglomeration of planets fused in a single being surrounded by a diffused electric blue light which twirled around it and gave it the shape of a very long monster. A ravenous mouth opened in the head of the planet, surrounded by very long hair of the same colour. The immense wings on the back of the creature were made of a multitude of stars hovering around it, making it sparkle in the immense dark universe.
On the breast of the monster, a fiery red light with burnt orange and lemon-yellow strands, joined the rest of the totally frozen body scattering menacingly up over its head. On the snout of the giant there was a being made entirely of ice. In seeing this form appearing in front of his eyes, Fredric screamed in anger: ‘It’s the ghastly Dark Queen!’
Fredric at once took wing to confront the Dark Queen, but as he turned to look back down, he saw Lucy spinning in the air against her will, unable to stop the evil around her. In a few instants the girl was pushed away from the people, disappearing in the distance, above an immense and long bridge linking the ground to another planet, arising in its magnificence. Fredric again turned to look up into the sky, looking