The Shadow Nether

The Beginning

The giant towered before him, his sword posed at the ready. No, he would have no more of it. The weakness revealed itself to the hero in that moment and in a flash, he was charging forward. A swift and sure slash of the sword was all it took before the large body thudded to the ground. The head of the beast rolling across the rubble until it bounced it's way down the ravine. The man lifted his head to the heavens and stared at his trophy. His mission was finally drawing to a close.

The book clapped shut as it's reader let out a hefty sigh. The chapter could not end simply like that. Airinor had searched for the giant for so long, how was he able to just decapitate it in an instance like that. What was the weakness that he saw? The frustration elicited another heavy sigh as the young woman that had been holding the book, smashed it onto the nearby bed-side table. Obviously the author had been exhausted from writing and had completely lost the flair of detail in which he was so keen on including in his works. The Airinor Series had focused on the giant Pyris for an entire book because it had been guarding the sword of Kings. If that was the thrilling tale of how the hero had received the sword that would kill the dragon then the girl had no desire to read the last book in the series.

In fact, Danielle barely had it in her to finish the current book. There was still another full chapter that would reveal the sword and then set up the beginning of the finale. The torture that last chapter would most likely inflict on her was enough to make the girl dread opening the book again.

Her eyes lingered for a moment on the lush and flowing red hair of Airinor as she scanned the cover of the book for the thousandth time. She had been so excited for the series when she stumbled across the first book in the library return pile. The red hair on the cover had really stuck out as she was sorting it. One page of the book and she was instantly enticed. Airinor had stolen her heart before she even knew his name. If only she knew of the writer's downfall, perhaps she would have saved herself the pain of getting so involved.

The decline had occurred somewhere between chapter five and chapter seven and was practically flatlining at the second to last chapter. Danielle was sure that the author would manage to butcher Airinor even further as he fell from his humble glory. 'The weakness revealed itself to the hero...' She scoffed at the line. If she had been writing the chapter it would have been a much more glorious moment for the hero. Something along the lines of... 'Airinor could see the giant growing tired of the fight just as he was. He just needed the great Pyris to make one mistake and he would be able to finish it. His mind flashed back to the first days of his training when his partner would do false lunges and the redhead himself, weighed down with a day of training and a heavy sword, would slowly go to block and get attacked from the other side. Yes, this would do nicely. He began to lunge left and the giant followed, unable to protect himself on the right due to this oversight. The small Airinor was agile in this situation against the giant. He swung...' And so on with the decapitation.

The young woman nodded at her new fight ending. She would have to email her revisions to the author and simply convince him to reprint all of his books with the new ending that way he would have a large fan base that made it to the last book. Oh if only it were that easy to just reprint an entire book. It would surely sell better that way but there was no way to convince an author or a publisher that it was worth the money. Maybe she could get a single copy printed with the new ending just for herself. That way she could forever enjoy the series instead of having it ruined by the horrible ending that was there now.

Just as Danielle was about to pick up the book and continue reading, a voice came from below. "Dani, dinner's almost ready." Her eyes lingered on the red of the cover once again. The great and mighty Airinor wielding the sword of Kings high in the air. She would read the scene depicted soon enough, food would just fill her stomach first. She dropped the book onto the neatly made bed before standing and making her way downstairs. All of the bedrooms except the master were on the second floor with a single staircase in the center of the hall that led to the entrance of their house. She could hear her mother in the distance yelling at the boys outside to come in. With somber eyes, she looked at the wall of the staircase, gently placing her fingertips on it and letting the trail down the smooth, wallpapered surface as she walked. It was a simple enough design, a golden, almost honeycomb like pattern with some fading into the background and others truly popping out from the wall. She reached the bottom and sighed as she stared out the frosted glass panes on either side of the door. She couldn't truly see much, just the green of the bushes and grass and shapes of other houses in the distance.