A Darkness Awakens (The Elements of Ilysia Book 1) Read online

  A Darkness Awakens

  The Elements of Ilysia

  Volume One

  Helena Lancaster

  Copyright 2018 by Helena Lancaster

  Published by KCL Publishing

  All rights reserved.

  Do not print or reproduce without express permission of the authors.

  ISBN-10: 1-943270-65-1

  ISBN-13: 978-1-943270-65-1

  Kindle Edition, License Notes

  Thank you for downloading this eBook!

  This book remains the copyrighted property of the authors, and may not be redistributed to others for commercial or non-commercial purposes. If you enjoyed this book, please encourage your friends to download their own copy from their favorite authorized retailer.

  Thank you for your support!

  Dedication

  To everyone who has encouraged me, inspired me, and never allowed me to quit. All the years of hard work that lead to the publication of the first novel in this series is because of each and every one of you. The Elements of Ilysia series came to fruition because of all of you. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart.

  Contents

  Acknowledgements

  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

  Appendices

  Acknowledgements

  My wonderful best friend and editor, Rayna Kingston: Thank you so much for loving this book and helping me through every step of getting it finished!

  My awesome agent, Amber: Thank you for doing all that you do for me even when I make you insane!

  My friend and pre-reader, Michael: Thank you for falling in love with this book and driving me crazy for more!

  Le Fey Designs for designing artwork and maps that was beyond my expectations and aligned perfectly with my vision. Thank you!

  Faestock aka Jessica Truscott: Thank you so much for providing such amazingly wonderful and beautiful stock! You are the perfect model for the artwork for this series!

  KCL Publishing for being such a wonderful and supportive publisher. Thank you for helping my writing dreams come true!

  Everyone who was willing to listen to this idea and give me their thoughts on it. Thank you so much!

  All of my great writer friends on twitter, especially those in my favorite chats: Writers Patch and Just Add Tea!

  The bands and musicians whose music kept the inspiration flowing while I was writing this: Nightwish, Epica, Within Temptation, Kamelot, Delain, Evanescence, After Forever, ReVamp, Lacuna Coil, Tarja, Amaranthe, The Birthday Massacre, Depeche Mode, Xandria, HIM, Leaves’ Eyes, The Rasmus, Breaking Benjamin, Three Days Grace, Sirenia, Tristania, and Phantasma. These of course are only the ones on my main playlist but there are many others that have helped me through more than just writing.

  Chapter One

  The legends of this land speak of a great war long ago. A war for the freedom of the Ilysian Races against the oppression from the shadows that long plagued the lands. Few people know what truly happened all those years ago but more than legend has been passed down, one to another, in my family. To tell the story I must take you back to the day darkness fell upon these lands, the day the dawn fell and the shadows grew leaving a looming darkness.

  The sun was sinking low, setting behind the western skies and leaving a beautiful array of color across the sky. For a spring day, it had been unusually cold. A cold that made even the trees shiver. The chill air left even the wisest Priestess to suspect something to be wrong but to the King, who stood high in a tower of the majestic Pétríval Castle, it was an almost ordinary day.

  King Henry could have lived without the cold in what had begun as a beautiful spring, with blooming flowers and soothing rains. He watched the petals shiver from the roses in the garden, leaving no bloom of beauty to see. The Priestess had made a visit early in the day while the sun had shone high above him but radiated no warmth. She had spoken of something afoul in the air, something he could not sense. Even his beloved Anna spoke of something feeling out of place. What kind of king was he if he could not even sense something wrong in his own kingdom?

  He watched the sun continue to descend and the night ascend upon his realm. The air was getting colder and the darkness that was descending upon him seemed even darker, as the stars did not even appear to light the night sky that was upon him. Everything around him seemed off balance. The air was cold, the night was quick and darker, and there were no stars to guide the night. It was in that moment that the wind began to speak to him a warning and he looked wide eyed to the dark blanket of night above him.

  There was a shadow of darkness and he finally saw this. Hoping it was not too late; he turned on a heel and began to run for the chambers that his family resided in. If something should happen in this shadow-filled night, he wanted them to be safe. He ran as swiftly as his feet would let him. He ran through the darkened corridors of the place he called home. Whatever was out there waiting would have to return empty handed.

  “Anna!” He yelled as he approached the door to the chambers he shared with his wife. “Anna, get the children!”

  Anna opened the door hastily with their youngest child cradled to her as she heard her husband’s voice. He approached her near breathless with a troubled look in his eyes.

  “Anna,” he spoke softly, taking her small hand in his. “Something is wrong.”

  “I know. I have felt it the entire day, Henry. It is like a shadow upon us,” She said to him knowing her words would not comfort his worry.

  “You and the children need to flee. I will rendezvous with you after I take care of whatever is out there be it Vampire, Were, or otherwise.”

  “Henry, I am not glass! I can help you as much as any foot soldier, archer, or horseman that follows your lead.”

  “Anna, you are a strong and wise Witch but I refuse to risk my family. I should have realized something was wrong earlier. I feel I will have failed you if something happens due to my own deafness to the warnings around me.”

  “They were hoping to surprise you, hoping you would not notice.”

  “Why, my love, do you think that?”

  “It is just a feeling, an instinct. Whatever is out there means to kill us.”

  Henry looked at his wife with near shock. He knew she could tell things like this but never had she spoke of their death as if it were a looming threat.

  “Henry, if you stay they will kill you,” she said softly, her voice full of fear as her third eye showed her the mangled and dead body of her beloved husband.

  “Then I will stay and fight, Anna. If I die, it will not be in vain if you and our children are safe,” he replied as he kissed the tear that fell down her cheek.

  “I never could imagine life without you. Now I see it and I do not know if I can let you go.”

  “I am always in your heart, Anna. Always.”

  “I know,” she said in an almost whisper as another tear fell.

  “Do not cry. We will be together again in another life. Death is not the end, my love,” he replied as he pulled her close and kissed her, one last time.

  She looked into his eyes as their lips parted. She knew leaving him was leaving h
im to die at the hands of some evil. Her husband was a great man, but a stubborn one. She knew that he believed dying for his family was one of the noblest ways to die. He would do anything just to know they were safe; even surrender himself to death at the hands of evil.

  “Go, Anna. Take the children and do not look back. Do not forget that I love you,” He said to her, commanding her to go before whatever awaited him took her as well.

  “I cannot just leave you to die,” she replied teary eyed.

  “Anna, my sweet Anna, it is better that I stay here to protect you and our children than allow you to stay here and die at my side.”

  “How can I live without you?”

  “Live for the children and know that I am in your heart.”

  “I’ll always love you, Henry. I just am not sure how I will survive without you here.”

  “You are strong, Anna, and you will live a long happy life with the children. Now go before it’s too late.”

  With another tear staining her pale cheeks she turned and ran down the dark corridors of the castle to retrieve their other children and flee from everything that had been home since the day she promised herself to the King for all eternity. It was not easy to leave her husband behind knowing he would die. It was as if she had ripped her own heart out. A life without him was the last thing she had ever wanted, but a life without him will be the only life she has. She would still live for their children and know that somehow, someday they would be together again.

  Deep into the Mélayíad Forest, on the edge of the Ulcastrían Mountains, and many miles away from where the human monarchs dwelled, the pain of the loss was felt. To the Fae race it was evident from the beginning that something was wrong. They were a peaceful yet magical race that had been divided for nearly three millennia by civil war, a war that divided the race in two. The court of the White Fae felt the fall of man to darkness, the death of their king. They only hoped that they could stop the darkness from spreading.

  “Maelyn, could there be any survivors of this?” asked Vaívyn.

  “I must say this as your Queen that we can only hope that some of the royal family did survive. Our land has been ruled for many millennia by monarchy rule and it has been peaceful. That was until darkness began to take our lands and that unfortunately began with us. Our civil war helped spread the darkness. We must send some of our troops to the lands nearby Petríval Castle and hope to find some still alive,” Maelyn answered.

  “My Queen, are we sure of the attack?” another member of the court questioned.

  “Unfortunately we are. You all know that one of the great Oracles is of our race and it was not only her that spoke the sad news to me but her apprentice as well. It is news I wish I did not have to hear.”

  “And if we find survivors of the royal family?” Vaívyn asked.

  “Then we protect them if it be our end. We will find our way out of the darkness; those of this land are stronger than to fall to it without a fight.”

  “And of the Elves?”

  “We cannot depend on them. They have remained neutral for as long as our history can remember. We will fight for this land, even if it means fighting alone.”

  The crowd of the court stood to their feet in agreement with their Queen. They would do as they must to protect their land from completely falling into a state of complete darkness, even if they fought alone. They were going to do what they could to end the darkness that had begun within their own race and continued to spread. They all saw it as their duty to fight and protect all from the land, no matter the race, from the ever-spreading darkness.

  Chapter Two

  The shadows were the darkest evil that had ever fallen upon our world; a darkness that forced many of our people to flee to a world much different from our own. For almost a thousand years, the people of Ilysia lived in darkness until the heir came into view. This heir of the greatest bloodlines of our world was born into the darkest of times before being hidden away in this other world we came to know as Corinthia. She would remain there with others of our kind until it was time for her to help fight for either our freedom or our doom. The legends from before the war began tell stories of the heir, chosen one, and leader that would be born to either save us or destroy us all.

  953 years after the fall of Ilysia into the malicious hands of the Empress of the Dark Fae and her allies, hope would be born into the world. The human monarchy had survived to rule in a small capacity because of the alliance with the White Fae and the current heir to the throne, William, was awaiting the news from his beloved about the birth of their second child. William had yet to find the courage to ask his father for permission to marry her. He suspected that his relationship was known of by not only his father but several members of court as well. After all, he spent quite a bit of time at the court of the Fae Queen Résalyn so it would be easy to suspect that it was because of a woman. She was no ordinary woman. She was royal but no royal heir had ever been allowed to marry the heir to the Fae. If only he was the second born son, he would have such a freedom. As long as his father lived, William would never be allowed to openly be with his love or his children.

  “William!” his father, the fourth King to bear the name of Henry exclaimed, bringing him from his thoughts.

  “Yes, Father?” he responded quickly, hoping his previous distraction would not be noticed.

  “What is this I hear about you making another visit to the Fae court?”

  “I enjoy my time there, father. I learn a lot from them about our land and its history.”

  “That is not the only reason you go there. I am no fool, William. You have a lover there and she is rumored to have birthed your child! You are to be King one day. Is this the kind of ruler you plan to be that you are so wrapped up in the Fae and your Fae whore that you forget your own people?”

  His father’s words angered him. Kélinae was heir to the throne of the Fae court, she was anything but a whore. She was a lady, strong and beautiful. He felt more alive with her than he ever had in his entire life. The Fae believed that marriage was unnecessary for love, instead choosing lifetime companionship. They saw the love between Kélinae and William as something sacred though the human culture would never see it the same without the bond of marriage.

  “She is no whore and would be my wife if you would allow it!” William yelled.

  “You are my heir!” his father shouted.

  “And she is heir to Résalyn!”

  Henry’s face changed from anger to shock. He knew that there was a Fae woman in his son’s life that had indeed given William a child. The truth was he had no idea that it was the Queen’s eldest daughter and heir, Kélinae. His son was involved with no ordinary Fae but the daughter of the Queen and her first love, a Witch. It had been confirmed to him previously by emissaries that Résalyn’s heir had a son and was carrying a second child. This meant he had a grandson and his son was about to be a father again. He now understood why William had been so secretive about his visits to the Fae court. This relationship, this paramour was seen much differently by human eyes than Fae ones. It was an affair, not a marriage and the children would forever be seen as bastards.

  “Then you do have a child that you have kept from not only me but your mother as well,” Henry said aloud.

  “My son is raised by Fae standards, Father. He will never be shunned for being born outside of marriage among them. My second child will live the same way,” William responded.

  “So the rumor of Kélinae expecting another child is true.”

  “A child that I expect to arrive soon. I must go, Father. The oracles expect a daughter any day now. She will be your granddaughter and though she may never be anything in your kingdom, she will one day rule theirs.”

  “You still must marry.”

  “I will not! Nicholas can take the throne upon my death and his sons can follow. If Kélinae cannot be my wife, then I will not marry at all. My heart is hers and it would be unfair to another to force them into my life when th
ey would never be wanted or loved.”

  “That is not the life you were born for,” the King stated sternly.

  “No but it is the life I chose for myself,” William replied with the same tone before turning and walking away.

  William continued to walk until he was outside of the castle and in the stables. His horse was already ready and the saddlebags were packed. He had to make it to his love before the birth of their daughter and the journey was not a short one.

  Kelinae held her daughter after a long and agonizing labor, more difficult than when she had given birth to her son. Rovén was little more than a year old to now be joined by a small but beautiful girl. Kélinae had already decided to name her Sinéad as a tribute to the Queen Anna of old whose middle name it had once been. She held her newborn babe in her arms and smiled. She had not expected to feel so deeply about anyone but William until their son was born. Now she was experiencing this again and found it almost overwhelming. Her love had not made it to her yet but their daughter did arrive much sooner than predicted.

  “My daughter, now you have a beautiful daughter of your own,” her mother said, taking a seat next to her on the bed.

  “It is a different type of feeling than when I first held my son though I love them equally,” she responded with a smile.

  “I saw that the Oracles have already came to visit. They do not usually do such a thing until after I have arrived.”

  Kélinae took in a sharp breath. She knew that her always wise mother would have noticed something such as that. She did not want to have to share what had been said already but knew that she would have no choice. Her mother was relentless when she desired to know something.