The Crimson Legacies

Prologue

Edwin

I sat at my desk with the images still swirling through my memory. I picked up the pen to my right and prepared to write the final prophecy from a dying seer.

Write only what you are told and not what you see. Lucius' warnings echoed through my subconscious. If only I could describe the carnage I witnessed. Would it make any difference? What if all the warnings go ignored?

My thoughts are forced to return to my assignment. Lucius had instructed me to write what was spoken, as what I witnessed would only be seen as hearsay. My vision blurs as the tears begin to form, the images far too grizzly to endure. Men, women, and children all lay dead in the streets of Eden. Our gardens, once lush with flowers and trees, now lay in darkness and rot. Nobody was aware of the attack, and many of the kingdom's inhabitants met their fate while they slept. Yet there I sat, pen in hand, writing a prophecy but seeing the outcome. If the seer's warning was disregarded, Eden would be destroyed.

On the eve of the blood moon, when vampires and fae alike have laid their heads to rest, the Pale Rider will breach the walls of the fortress. The monastery's bells will not bring forth a warning, and many will die before it can chime. Once the kingdom's inhabitants are slaughtered, the invader will turn their sights on the Royal Guard.

Blood Magic and false promises will force the Guard to bend to the invader's will. The wolves that once swore to protect the people will turn on their rulers instead. When the witching hour is upon us, the wolves will rip the throats from the royal family, and Eden will fall. The only creature who can save the kingdom is the Princess. A humble man wishing for new beginnings will pull the royal from her bed-chamber and take her to safety. Only she will be able to reverse the darkness and replace it with the light.

I prayed the words were fictitious, as many prophecies have been in the past. While I felt there was a chance this could be just a story, the images began to creep back into my mind. I could see each face frozen in death, eyes still clenched closed as if they were merely dreaming. The Pale Rider with their staff of bone, the magic in the air with its sulfuric aroma, and the eyes of the invader; green and glowing.

"Oh, no!" I shriek as I throw the pen to the desk. The thought of an invader quickened my heart, and fear began to spread through my body.

Each year the kingdom celebrated the Blood Moon with a festival. This tradition was part of Fae custom, and the vampires had adapted to it upon their arrival to Eden. The Guard has never been invited, as we were still regarded as outsiders in a land we helped protect. Vampires had more rights than werewolves, sometimes I wonder if the Queen married into the right species.

I pull myself back to earth and look around, finding two other men sitting in the library. I race up to them, sweat beading down my neck. My days were flipping and rotating, I had no idea how long I had been there, and my judgment of time seemed off anyway.

"When is the Blood Moon?" I ask with a shaky voice. I could feel the tears in my eyes burning with intensity.

They both look at me perplexed by my anxiety. Then in unison, without the bat of an eye, they say, "Three days."

I closed my eyes and growled. I only had till the evening before the Blood Moon Festival to find a way to save Eden. If I failed, everything I ever knew would be erased by the next morning.