In The Name of Shadows - A Darklina Story

Chapter 2: You Will Rise, My King

Publishing date: 02/13/2022

Even though the Shadow Fold had been gone long time ago, the travelers still didn't venture into this area. Merchants and soldiers traveling through Ravka continued to choose the longer routes, casually fearing that death would wait for them in the dark abyss of this unwelcoming desert.

The experiences accumulated during the existence of the Fold were simply not able to leave the minds of inhabitants of this country now ravaged by constant war. The Shadow King had died, but his name still aroused some dread and fear that the truth about his death might be quite different.

For this reason, if one wanted to cut themselves off from the outside world like a real fugitive, it was best to hide exactly in this area. There were very few buildings here, and if they were, they had been turned into ruins long time ago. The new settlers avoided this district of Ravka because the ground inside the former Fold was still scorched and the air still smelled of decay and death. It wasn't surprising then, that only someone insane would decide to settle here.

Life here was like an ordeal and like a constant escape from the outside world.

But the Saints didn't often think rationally. For many of them, their immortality not only confused their minds, but also pushed them to desperate deeds.

It wasn't a good time for Grisha. It had never been. It would also never be again, even if the country was now ruled by King Nikolai Lantsov.

It still didn't solve anything, as Shu Han and Fjerda did not change their approach to a long-standing conflict. The war was in the air, freezing the hearts of inhabitants of Ravka.

For this reason, Ravka had been constantly rearmed. Recently, a kingdom had been focused on military training in the search for any possible new recruits willing to join the First and Second Armies. Today, Grisha were not only Ravka's greatest curse, but also its true blessing for being able to tip the tide in the right direction, for which the royal henchmen hoped so much.

But was it really like that? Or was it only a game of appearances?

The young king Nikolai did not have much experience in the conduct of hostilities. He relied virtually exclusively on his advisers, who did everything to curb his imperialist aspirations. Taught from the experience of the Shadow King's reign, the generals of the Second and the First Army invested their time and money only in training new recruits. This meant that the number of soldiers guarding the borders might have been insufficient as all combat forces were deployed in the camps located close to the capital. Indeed, the enemies were going deeper and more boldly into Ravka.

The young king Nikolai was very concerned about this situation, but what could he do about it? He tried to control everything, but sometimes dodging was just the worst possible strategy.

Some people knew what to do. In their opinion it was impossible to avoid the bloodshed because the victims would be incurred anyway, but – at some point – it may turn out to be much more severe than it firstly had seemed. It meant they needed a tough ruler. Someone determined to remove all obstacles from their path without even looking back.

And such person was once the Darkling – or the Black Heretic.

The golden-haired woman bent slightly as she entered the cave. It was rather a chasm hidden inside the dried soil and buried in the depths of a small ravine. It was located within the former boundaries of the Fold. The entire landscape here was marked with very similar pits, which limited the risk of someone venturing in this area.

Lizabeta had chosen this place carefully. She had known the Fold like her own body, because after all, she had been trapped in it for ages.

The fair-haired Saint did not like to leave her "pupil" alone, because she had promised herself that she would free him at all costs. However, it was a long road, requiring a series of complicated and dangerous activities. It also meant keeping Aleksander's body in a shape that prevented even the slightest decay of the skin. And this required a lot of energy and a lot of concentration.