Fallen Sepulchre Read online

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Information

  Dedication

  Map

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Epilogue

  The Darkness Within Trilogy:

  Fallen Sepulchre

  by JD Franx

  The Darkness Within Trilogy: Book 3

  Fallen Sepulchre

  Author JD Franx

  Copyright (c) JD Franx

  Registered Copyright 2018

  Cover Illustration and Design (c) Amalia Chitulescu

  www.amaliach.com

  Editing by A.S. Winchester Editing Services

  Kindle design and formatting by Rachel Bostwick

  All rights reserved

  ISBN - 978-0-9953363-2-2

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by means without the expressed written permission from the author. This novel is a work of fiction: names, places, characters, and all events are products of the author’s imagination and are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons. Living or dead, business establishments, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  For My Children,

  It has been a very long few years for our family and I doubt I would be able to do this without you both. Whether it is bouncing ideas around or help with proof reading, or dragging you both with me to wander through old buildings and castles in Europe, I want you both to know I am forever grateful to be your dad and I appreciate all the support you have both given me since I started this journey in becoming an author five years ago. As this third book ends this part of the story that has been a part of our lives for so many years, I want you both to know that it is for the two of you.

  Chapter One

  ZADDYK LAUREN'S FINAL JOURNAL ENTRY, 5025 PC

  TRANSCRIBED BY BROTHER DONIS KINCAID

  Words of original prophecy seen by

  Prophet Zaddyk Lauren

  as written in entirety by the hand of Brother Donis.

  Dated the day of Kael Symes' death, 5025 PC.

  Common people believe the gods give nothing without taking something in return. Wizards and magic users call it the cost paid for when a god uses magic in the mortal world—the balance of magic. Me? As one touched by a god, I call it a curse. The prophet's curse. The curse of seeing what may happen. In reality, it matters not. It matters only in that it is irrelevant... Sorry, Brother Donis. The effects of the madness have begun.

  All that matters is that, while a prophet can see the future, the more we do so, the less able we are able to explain or describe what we have seen. This takes time to seep into the waking mind of a prophet. The sleeping mind fares no better. The madness takes complete control at some point, and that point is within a year or perhaps less. I can no longer explain what I see with any clarity when in a prophet’s dream. This will likely be my last official journal entry. Perhaps, at the least, the last one any mortal mind will understand, for already I feel the insipid approach of madness while in the waking world. A heavy price by most standards. It is a price well worth paying. I have finally seen what I have tried so hard to see many times: Black’s poured blood. My apologies, Brother Donis. I meant to say… the death of Talohna's only DeathWizard.

  It is the trigger event that will change the course of this world’s future forever. In the coming few years, Talohna will suffer wars unlike any other era in history. Ancient gods will walk among mortal man, and something far beyond a god will rise from the realm of the blackest nightmares, a being unlike anything a mortal mind can imagine. I cannot find the words to explain what I have seen beyond—the madness ensures it even as my mind struggles to comprehend it. Factors beyond anything anyone could have imagined have made it so. I have seen the links—put the pieces together.

  Kael Symes was born here in Talohna, banished as the feared DeathWizard of dark legend, but then returned home by those swarmed by evil—all three events caused by magic. As if it could be any other way. A DeathWizard born of Giddeon and Aravae's prodigal blood, of the gods-blessed Elderblood and from one of the old Dyrannai Elvehn bloodlines. The odds of such a thing... Only the gods' hands could have guaranteed such a birth. For what purpose? To live for only twenty years? To die young? I think not. Then, why so many powerful magical bloodlines in one man? Why the DeathWizard's magic of life and death? All that magical power, the like of which our modern world has never seen. I cannot begin to fathom the workings of a god's mind, but I have seen what will rise from the darkness they have created. I know not whether to weep for Talohna or to smile and fall into my coming madness content in the fact I have done all I can to help those who will defend all we care about. I am at peace with either because I have already seen it in frightening detail. The darkness will bring changes to the world of Talohna unlike any other time in our history. I have seen it... I do see it... I feel it... I have felt it. If... if... if...I...

  If I could only find the words to make you understand what I saw within the visions of my scrambled mind then you, too, would join me in madness. With all I hope, my prophecy will have to do. The Last Light Prophecy must be revealed in full. One piece handed to each of three prophets scattered through time. I sincerely hope they help, for my piece of the Last Light… The final piece of three is what I see:

  “Dark towers rule over fallen cities. From the sea, from slavery, from magic and death, and from the oldest blood the dogs cry for war. Only if united by the birth of blackness will the dogs of war push back against the darkest power. Pray the dogs welcome the blackness before they, too, fall to the darkness as men and gods alike wage war on creation and the darkness it hides beneath soaring towers.

  With darkness covering Talohna, the dogs of war howl as innocent blood flows from mountain rivers. Can a god really die? Pray, Talohna. Pray the blackest god never dies.”

  REALM OF DEATH

  FOREST OF ABANDONED SOULS, 5025 PC.

  The Arkangel of the underworld's Paradise Realms tore Kael free of the Void's grasp. It would be several minutes before he became conscious and even longer before he finished falling to the forest floor. The Void's warmth protected him for only minutes before the hissing and fighting for his soul began. Perdition's vilest and most powerful demon lords—along with hordes of their minions—clashed with the angels of Paradise. The fighting started just seconds after Kael's death. The soul of a DeathWizard was the largest prize in the underworld's demented halls of Hell as well as in the hallowed halls of Heaven. Every ounce of the Arkangel’s influence could not keep the angels of Paradise from joining in the disastrous fray. Souls were power in the war hundreds of millennia old, and a DeathWizard’s soul was the most powerful of all.

  Seraphina—better known as the Arkangel Seraphi—had used an obscene amount of her magical energy to pull Kael through the Void early. What she had done was against the laws of magic and the decree of th
e gods. The Void should have delivered Kael's soul to Paradise via the Tree of Life—he was marked for the second realm of heaven, but the demonic Lower Brethren had other ideas. Demons followed no laws, gods, or otherwise, and every creature of the afterlife knew Seraphi refused to permit another power-filled innocent soul to be stolen by the demon hordes of Perdition. It had always been the Arkangel and the Archdemon’s responsibility to make sure souls went to the hall the gods had marked them for. But, the Archdemon had been gone for many millennia, and the Arkangel had been fighting a losing war because of it.

  The crisp snap of wings made her turn.

  “Narhia, thank you for coming,” Seraphi said, bowing to the lesser angel. A loud crack rolled over the forest as a small black tear in reality formed to her right. A small demon hopped through the tear, and with a twist of his wrist, the rift closed.

  “Kaseem? You came,” Seraphi said. Shock marked her features. Only three feet tall and fat, the scaly demon looked up at her and snorted.

  “Not every demon wants to see the mortal world in flames, Arkangel. I am tired of fighting.”

  Seraphi nodded, and her mood darkened. “You are both sure you want to do this?” she asked.

  “If we are,” Kaseem growled, “we go now. Garz'x was minutes behind me. Your brothers and sisters are losing, Seraphi. Rajazeye's hordes joined with Arreal’s heretics to slow him, but it won’t be long before he joins us. Widening the barrier will only give you a few minutes to help the boy. Do not let Garz'x get him.” Narhia nodded her agreement and took the demon's hand. Her wings lifted them both from the grass, and the angel glided to the right, dropping Kaseem at the border on the Perdition side of the forest. Flying toward the Paradise side, she banked to the left, swerving around a black tree riddled with pulsing, purple veins. She dropped back to the forest floor fifty feet from Kaseem and drew a golden dagger.

  “Ready, sweetheart?” Kaseem shouted across the neutral ground. Getting a nod, he blew her a kiss, smiled, and pulled a jagged dagger from his hip. “To reinforce the neutral zone and strengthen the barriers, I offer my life willingly, to be taken by the hand of Paradise.”

  Narhia smiled as if admiring the demon’s dedication. “To reinforce the neutral zone and to strengthen the barriers, I offer my life willingly, to be taken by the hand of Perdition.”

  Seraphi bowed to both as demon and angel each used magic to levitate their daggers. With a rush of power, both weapons shot away only to be buried into the chest of the other a split second later. Demon and angel fell together, still alive. Gold and black blood sprayed from the wounds as dark tentacles sprung from the forest floor. Purple thorns snapped out of the vines and snared the angel and demon, dragging them across the neutral zone to the giant tree. With a sickening crunch, the vines retreated into the earth and took the pair with. The Tree of Life pulsated, and the neutral zone widened by fifty feet on each side. The barrier between Paradise and Perdition shimmered with waves of renewed energy. The bodies and souls of the angel and demon were sacrificed to strengthen the barrier between the afterlife dimensions.

  The Arkangel sighed. It was a sacrifice worth making. Not all the Brethren wanted to be part of the domination or the destruction of the mortal world. There were even a few demons whom Seraphi had come to call friends over the past several millennia. Kaseem was one.

  Kael's scream of terror snapped the Arkangel from her thoughts.

  As he smacked the first branches of the monstrous trees, she barked a spell in the Brethren's ancient language. The two words slowed Kael's descent, so he crashed into the leaf mold unharmed—or as unharmed as a coveted soul in the afterlife could be.

  It took several seconds for Kael to realize he was not dead from the plummet. In fact, there was no pain at all. His body had slowed just before impact. More magic.

  That meant someone had helped him. He looked up to see who his benefactor was.

  "Thank you?" he asked. The stunning creature smiling down at him was unlike anything he had ever seen. Her pale skin radiated a soft glow to match her long blonde hair and golden eyes, both shining with the power of the benevolent gods. The goodness inside her washed over him as if it were a living entity.

  "Yes. I pulled you through the Void. That is why you fell," she said, kneeling beside him gracefully. Without hesitating, he scrambled back and panic set in.

  “Where the hell am I?” he demanded. “What the hell is going on? How did I get here? Who are you?” The urgent need to draw a breath halted his inquiries.

  "My name is Seraphi,” the creature said. “I will tell you what I can and then we must leave. This forest will absorb our souls if we stay too long, but I cannot protect you outside of this neutral zone.”

  "No,” he replied. “I’m not going anywhere with you until I get some answers first, and then I still won’t.”

  “We do not have time for this, Kael. We are not safe here long.”

  “How do you know my name?” he demanded. “Who exactly are you?”

  Stepping forward, she bent at the knees, snatched his chin, and held it tight. "You are dead, Kael. This is the underworld, the afterlife. When you died, your soul passed into the Void, and the fight to possess it began. It was the only thing that gave me the time I needed to bring you here. Had I waited for the Void to bring you through the Tree of Life, you would be in the hands of some demon or angel, and you'd be standing in one of the Nine Hells or Three Heavens. You would be nothing more than a puppet or a conduit for power instead of being here with me."

  “I… I… I remember dying,” he said. “So, how the hell am I here?”

  “Listen to me, Kael!” she barked. “You died. You are a soul. Now, listen to me so we can leave before—”

  "Uh... okay.” He interrupted her and climbed to his feet. “Why do I not feel like a soul? Shouldn't I be see-through or something if my body is back in Talohna?” Looking down, he saw his clothing and Orotaq cloak had come with him but not his weapons. Of course, they had not. Finally, he touched his arms and pinched his cheek. “I feel... real.”

  “You are real, dammit. You can feel pain here just as in life. In some circumstances, you may even die—but die here and you will cease to exist.” Pointing to the sky, she added, “The soul becomes whole upon exiting the Void, and your soul is in great demand on either side of this neutral ground. The fighting hasn’t reached us yet, but it will soon. They will breach the barrier if I have to keep explaining every little detail.”

  “Tough,” he growled. “Trust is earned, not... wait...” It finally dawned on him what she was saying. He shook his head in disbelief. “What the hell would anyone want my soul for? I’ve been here for a whole sixty seconds. Even when I’m dead, someone wants me for something. Christ in Heaven, don’t I ever get a break?”

  “You should have, Kael. Your soul was bound for the Heavens of Paradise. You did nothing in your life to warrant going to Perdition.”

  “That’s a matter of opinion,” he answered. He knew his voice held an edge, but he no longer cared. The peace and quiet of death had lasted a whole of two minutes. All the stress and worry of life came storming back even though he was dead.

  “Not opinion, Kael.” Seraphi sighed. “Fact. To fight or kill evil does not condemn you to Hell. Your soul was marked for Paradise by the gods of Talohna.” She waved her hand over his chest, and a white glow lit up his deathflower and the vines that had spent months growing across his body. As she removed her hand, the light subsided and disappeared. “Your magical soul shines with the purity of your physical self. Only the pure may enter Heaven, but the pure can easily be pulled into Hell. The Lower Brethren—the demon guardians of Perdition—don’t always play by the rules, and there is no Archdemon to stop them. They wanted—still want—your soul. The angels of Paradise are often no better. I commanded them to stand down and to treat you as a guest when you arrived, but clearly, some disobeyed. That is all that matters here. As an Arkangel and the only ArchBrethren left, I had the power to bring you here wh
ile they fought over you."

  "Why?" he asked, standing to listen to her.

  "You are a creature of pure magic. You may even be the first true Kai'Sar ever born. Your deathflower vines have grown to mortal completion. That has never happened in history. It means your magic is nearly whole. If you were to gain access to the rest, your possibilities are endless. That has never happened before, either. Both demons and some angels want that power. Your suffering would be a bonus for the Lower Brethren.”

  “Why? I haven’t suffered enough already? I need more, huh?”

  “They are demons, Kael. It is what they do."

  Overwhelmed by the information, too many thoughts and questions tumbled through his mind. Only one finally jumped to the forefront.

  "Take me to Paradise, Seraphi. My wife has to be there, and my friend, Max."

  "It's not as simple as that, Kael."

  "Of course, it's not,” he retorted. “Because even Talohna's afterlife is also plagued by magic and greed. What do you want from me? What's it gonna cost for me to see them, again?"

  "Nothing. I only want you to finish what you were born to do.” He frowned but said nothing as she continued. “You misunderstand me. Your wife and friend are not in Paradise."

  "What do you mean? They have to be. They've never harmed any—"

  "Listen, Kael, please. We have little time. They are not in Paradise because they are not dead or else they did not die within the barrier marking Talohna’s dimension."

  "How? I saw...”

  “You saw them die, yes. And what you saw could have been a reality or perhaps the twisted hallucinations caused by the distortions inside the dimensional bridge. It is also possible they died within your own dimension. I do not deal with the living or with souls of the dead from a dimension other than this one, Kael. I do not know whether your wife and friend are alive or if they even made it to Talohna.”

  “Christ, will I ever get a straight answer?” The reality he was dead and that he would never see them again hit home. His knees buckled from the weight of despair, and he dropped to the grass.