Sovereign - The Dark Sorcerers: Book 2

Chapter 5: The Fallen Army

Kenna

Despite my fearless demeanor, my heart stopped beating for a split second as I noticed the royal blue cape twirling around the spirit's feet in a ghostly breeze. That damned cape stirred up unwelcome memories of another Academy soldier, who had devoted his life to protecting me. Quite literally.

Dismissing the intensity and significance of the blue color, I let my eyes travel back up to the dead soldier's face. I took in the tense line of his lips, the taut form of his clenched jaw and the hard, ruthless glint in his silver eyes. Dried-up blood covered his breastplate, the rusty color a stark contrast with the faint white glow of his skin.

Recovered at last from my earlier consternation, I crossed my arms and leaned back against the mausoleum. "Too bad the blood on your hands doesn't magically disappear in death."

"You, of all people, should know that our crimes can never be truly erased," the spirit answered, mimicking my casual posture. "By the time your life on earth has ended, your hands will be a lot more stained than mine."

I grinned, showing him all of my teeth. "You seem to know me so well"—my gaze flicked down to the gold badge pinned on the sleeve of his right arm—"General Thornton." I had recognized him right away as the Academy General who had fought alongside his own soldiers during the Siege of Vallinstra in a feeble attempt to save the city. His bravery had been hailed in the entire country, ignoring the fact that he had paid the price for his stupidity with his life. He had known that his chances of winning the battle against the Dark Sorcerers were terribly low, yet he had still jumped into the fight like a madman to make a point. However, his death was likely what had made him such a hero in the eyes of all of Chtonia.

No longer able to hold back my curiosity, I leaned aside to peek over the General's shoulder and my eyes widened with unpleasant surprise when I spotted the legendary Fallen Army standing behind him. Soldiers—both from military academies and the King's Army—stood side to side with Sorcerers of the Sorcerer's Guild and a few women with awfully familiar white dresses. All of them had the same wary, uncompromising looks on their glowing faces. I stiffened as I quickly calculated their exact number. Next to me, Elijah and Dominic appeared to have turned to stone, their bodies rigid and still whilst their eyes scanned the crowd of spirits.

I wanted to laugh at the uncharacteristic terror on their faces, but the muscles around my mouth refused to obey me. Even I, in all my smugness, knew that the spirits' presence here was wrong, very wrong.

"Why are you all still here?" I asked, bracing myself for the General's response. He would probably only repeat the message he had sent to Cain, but maybe I could squeeze a few more details out of him. Such as how Cain's Dark magic had created the mysterious "rift" between two dimensions.

General Thornton sighed, as if he had explained this so many times he had grown weary of it. "The Dark Sorcerers' magic has been corrupting these lands for a very long time—several millenniums in fact—and the larger their numbers grow, the greater the side effects. Nature crumbles to ashes, corpses are possessed by the Darkness, and many more atrocities." 

His descriptions reminded me of my journey through the Forest of Indarr. An odd thrill coursed through my veins at the memory of an entire pack of Dark Creatures. Concentrate, Kenna.

"When Cain and his disciples took over this city, a great amount of Dark magic was released to destroy any force resisting them. They installed a magic barrier around Vallinstra to keep Light magic out—and the Sorcerers who had already crossed the border inside. After the Siege, they never took down that barrier; even today, the barrier still stands, sustained by something inside the Onyx Tower. The barrier is the reason why souls inside the city are trapped in the world of the living. Not even Death can break through it."