Black Sea [English Edition]

PROLOGUE

I had a bad feeling.

It felt like a sinuous tingle creeping up my spine. The wind was so hot that it sucked the oxygen from my lungs with each breath, and it carried a suffocating burning smell. The ashes were still swirling in the air, coating the walls of my throat.

But there was also something else.

An obscure sensation cascaded over me, as thick as the blanket of dark clouds that had covered the sky since dawn. It felt like a whisper in my pointy ear like an eerie sigh.

Like a call.

Crouched, I plunged the fingers of one hand, covered by an iron bracer up to the knuckles, into the charred and, unbelievably, still warm ground, embracing what had once been the lushest meadows and hills I'd ever seen. Now, this land was a desolate black desert, dotted with the remains of carbonized trees and animals.

And in the middle of that dreadful landscape, more than three miles from our camp, rose a terrifying black onyx fortress. It was composed of sharp edges and pointed towers that stretched out to the sky as if to rip it open, piercing the sun to cast us into an endless darkness.

Mornon, the greatest enemy the people of the Eastern Lands had ever faced, dwelled inside that building for over three thousand years.

Spawned from the unpopular union between an elf and a wizard, Mornon had lived with the elves for a long time without any issues, although knowing he wasn't welcome due to the magic that ran in his veins, which was so different from my people's ethereal magic.

Until the day he met Calien.

Queen of the Elves and my father's mother, Calien was the kindest creature ever. She loved to move barefoot between the villages of our realm, blessing harvests, houses, and offspring. She offered help when it was needed, and she knew when it was.

For Calien had the gift of foresight.

But not only that. The Spirits had bestowed upon her another power. With their blessing, Calien was able to bring life from death.

And when Mornon saw her resurrect a butterfly that a child from his village had accidentally crushed by lying on a field of daisies, he was struck.

His admiration for the queen quickly developed into a true obsession, causing Mornon to shadow her every time she left her palace in Aegel, the capital of the Elven Kingdom.

For he longed for Calien's powers more than anything.

Over the centuries, Mornon enhanced his dark magic in secret, becoming so formidable that he single-handedly took the palace. Wiping out anyone he found on his way and driving back my father and his sister Tìnuviel, he got to Calien and fought against her, vying to tear her power off her and bind it to himself.

Realizing she had no chance against the ancient evil pervading Mornon, the queen chose to sacrifice herself. With the help of the Spirits, who descended that one time to cast Mornon out of the Elven Kingdom, Calien used her last energies to transform into a crystal. She oured her magic in it and entrusted it to her descendants to protect in the ages to come.

So, my aunt became the crystal keeper, and with the help of elven blacksmiths, she shaped it into a pendant to always carry with her.

After being gone for centuries—probably locked up in his hiding place to harness even more evil forces—Mornon returned, stronger than ever, this time with a small army of monsters created through black magic.

That day, unfortunately, he won.

And right before my father's shocked eyes, Tìnuviel died as Mornon ripped Calien's Crystal off her neck.