In The Name of Shadows - A Darklina Story

Prologue

-- Video which is put above was made by me personally --

Publishing date: 02/09/2022

It is never about white or black. It is always about gray.

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A strange silence hovering over the scorched earth was like a sign from the Saints that just had come the right time for great changes. It was like a manifestation of silence before a massive storm, a picture of half victory. Looking at this landscape completely from the side, one might get the impression that it was only a blurred image of destruction and distant proof of existence of a valley of shadows appearing in the middle of a land full of life, full of desires and full of hope. The land which had been liberated from the power of tyrant who had removed all of obstacles appearing in his path at the expense of annihilation of many innocent lives and at the cost of his own death. 

There were hardly any trees there and the air was usually shrouded in a gray fog. The fog which was made of some dust constantly blown away by gusts of wind coming from virtually all sides. And what may frighten the most was the bottomless silence so frequently appearing in this ocean of death. Though The Shadow Fold was no longer here, the death was still there as a constant reminder of those who had to be sacrificed for a someone's bigger plan. For a freedom of Ravka. For a liberty of country which couldn't be even saved after what had happened to a dark man, who just had to be gone.

For real. And to not appear anymore.

"It can't be that hard. This witch was wrong." A tiny, pretty girl wearing a gray coat and holding a map in her hands, was clumsily turning a paper in every possible direction.

"This is a load of rubbish. The Fold isn't even there anymore, so how the hell am I supposed to read it?"

In the Second Army's camp they kept whispering about it all the time. They were saying that Alina Starkov had passed away, becoming the holy martyr of Grisha, as if she had deserved it. But this thin girl with long chestnut hair and big emerald eyes holding the map in her hands and just jumping off her horse knew that's not true. She knew the truth about Sankta Alina. She knew this witch hadn't died at all, and instead she had run away with this common boy because she just had wanted to be forgotten.

"And she claims she knows him! She thinks that he had said it to her once and she just had remembered it! These self-righteous Saints and their conviction they are never wrong. Ugh. They're just a bunch of usurpers. Damn them all!" Green irises burned with fire, and a traveler tied her horse to a thick trunk of a lonely, dry, deserted tree.

"If it hadn't been him, she would never have talked me into it. These idiots love to use us. For them, it is just a daily bread, because why would they overwork? It's always us to manipulate and to give some orders."

Ever since the Healer had heard that they want to burn his body, she hadn't been able to let that happen. She had watched this powerful Saint remove his corpse away from the prying eyes of those who might then search for him. How this powerful woman with golden hair and brown eyes had pretended that The Shadow King had been still lying there, buried in the sands of the former Shadow Fold and helpless in the face of his death and his debasement.

At this point, the Darkling was like a fallen emperor, like a bloody twilight of some forbidden era. His death was like a fall of dreams disappearing into the depths of endless nothingness. The Shadow King had been gone, though it was just unthinkable.

He had died because Alina Starkov had been too weak to understand how much he had meant to Grisha, how he had supported them. The Darkling had died because he had been deceived by her, because he had believed there was a certain balance in this crazy world. Perhaps he also had died because he had loved her after all. But how could you even love her?

The traveler clenched her hands into fists and felt a rage filling her. She had known Alina Starkov only by sight. She had seen how she had lorded it over The Little Palace. How he had tried to win her.

"He chose the wrong woman, so he was punished. He will definitely not make such a mistake again. He must have understood it by now."

Even though she was practically nothing, a common Grisha hidden among other Healers like her, she knew that she was devoted to him. He fascinated her. After all, she owed him so much in her life. General Kirigan hadn't recognized her, hadn't remember her, had never taken the time to get to know her. But for her, he was everything. He had made sense of who she was now and what she once had feared as an orphaned child.

The girl came closer to the tree and started stroking its trunk. She looked for a crack and she wanted the dried sap accumulated under the bark to sing to her with its magic. She needed to summon something which was underneath. Every Grisha could sense a power, one way or another. Healers, Heartrenders and Tailors knew a living matter like none other Grisha because they could shape it. This tree had grown the centuries ago before the Fold had been formed. It had grown up and then it had died, and later he had hidden something inside of it.

"Come on, come on, come over here, I'm almost got you." The Healer pointed her hands towards the small hollow to get something out of it.

After a short search, her fingers dug into the rotten bark, pulling a black medallion which wore a silver raven inscription.

"Good. You are here when I thought it was just a lie. This crazy woman wasn't lying. Thanks to the Saints." A beautiful Grisha said, then she smiled lazily.

Of course, it was only a beginning. But it gave her some hope.

Her name was Katya Nemerov.

She and Lizabeta were going to revive the Darkling. And then Katya would help him to take a revenge on Alina Starkov. It was required by his sacrifice, which he had suffered because he had chosen wrong at one time.

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A/N: Hi guys! So it is how it starts! My book is planned to be quite long (at least 40 chapters). In the 1st chapter you will see Mal and his relationship with Alina (eeeeeek). I had a veeeeeery hard time with writing about them, but you will see soon (don't worry, you just have to survive a bit of Malina and then it will be better, I promise) only Darklina :)

See you 02/11/2022 with the first chapter :)

Hugs!