Chains of a Dark Goddess

Chapter 1

The complete ebook is now available at Amazon, B&N, and Kobo!!!!

------------------

“The evil that men do lives after them; The good is oft interred with their bones.”

 — Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare

***

The desolate ravine lay deathly quiet in the perpetual twilight of the mist-draped Shadowland, seemingly empty of the demons that preyed on the lost souls trapped there. That peace was broken by a man. 

He shambled into the gorge, his feet raising listless eddies of dust. Head drooping and shoulders hunched, he moved like a sleepwalker, only half aware of his surroundings. He must have been a warrior once but now the fine armor hung on his tall frame limply — its bright shine lost to the teeth and claws of countless demons. The sword he drug carelessly behind him bore the nicks and scars of many pointless battles.

A scaly shadow slithered into place behind a basalt outcrop. It flexed razor talons and flicked a ropy tongue over its rows of jagged teeth. With a hopeful spark dancing in its giant black eyes, it pounced — swift, silent, unseen...

Expected.

The man raised his battered shield a heartbeat before the demon landed on top of him. He twisted and deflected the blow, tossing the startled fiend onto the rocks. It scrambled to get back up. It was too slow.

With a swift lunge and one smooth motion, the man sliced his blade through the creature’s corded neck. 

The demon faded into Oblivion.

The man’s clouded eyes cleared as they stared at the spot where the demon had been. He could do that ... let go ... fade into Oblivion. 

No. He shook his head, trying to remember. He was waiting. He had been promised something. He had been promised ... Paradise. 

With a sigh, he scanned the charred, mist-draped landscape ... his eyes turned ashen and cold again like the dead sky above. His body lost its fighting stance and he wandered deeper into the ravine.

Hours, maybe days, passed. Time had no meaning here, not to him, not to anyone trapped there. A terrified scream shattered the Shadowlands silence. The man ambled forward without urgency. He rounded a bend and spotted the attack. 

A young woman cowered at the back of a shallow crevice. She would have been beautiful in life. Now she was as washed out and grey as everything else here. Only her fear tied her to what she had once been. A demon with the body of a huge, decaying leper and the head of a wasp loomed over her. By the patterns left in the settling dust he could tell it had herded her there, playing with its prey. 

He lifted his sword and charged. The monster was so intent on its victim that it didn’t even notice him coming. But she did, and her eyes filled with hope. That, the fiend did notice. It turned to face the man just in time for him to sink his blade deep into its chest. The demon pawed uselessly at the hilt as it faded.

The woman scrambled to her feet and threw herself into his arms with a sob. “Oh, thank you. Thank you. It was so awful. You saved me. Thank you, thank—”

Her hysterical muttering ended with a surprised gasp as his sword slid into her side. She jerked away and staggered back a step before slumping to the ground and fading away. 

He rubbed at the dull ache in his chest and sat suddenly on a nearby boulder. The young woman reminded him of something ... someone. A terrible, nightmarish reminder. His eyes glazed back over, and the pain faded. He stood and started down the ravine.