Resurgence of Ancient Darkness Read online

  Lost Tales of Power:

  Resurgence of Ancient Darkness

  Published by Vincent Trigili

  Copyright 2012 Vincent Trigili

  Cover Art by Lynz

  [email protected]

  Editors:

  Kristi Trigili

  Elaine Kennedy

  [email protected]

  ISBN: 978-1-3013-5761-1

  EBook Edition, License Notes

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Introduction

  The Lost Tales of Power is a collection of novels that describe an immense persistent multiverse. The books are a mixture of standalone and miniseries all set in the same universe with overlapping and intertwining story lines. While the books are a mixture of classic science fiction and pure fantasy, some effort is being made to keep the books in the realm of the possible, or at least theoretically possible given some basic assumptions.

  Lost Tales of Power Series:

  Volume I - The Enemy of an Enemy

  Volume II - The Academy

  Volume III - Rise of Shadows

  Volume IV - Resurgence of Ancient Darkness

  Volume V - The Sac’a’rith

  Volume VI – Spectra’s Gambit

  Volume VII – The Sac’a’rith: Rebirth

  Volume VIII and beyond - TBA

  To be informed when new books are released:

  Visit our website: http://losttalesofpower.com

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  I hope you find as much enjoyment in reading these stories as I had living them. If you enjoy the books, please post a review and spread the word about them. As an independent author, word of mouth is the only marketing I can afford. Thanks!

  Time Line So Far:

  IE = Imperial Era (similar to BC, counts backwards)

  EM = Era of Magic

  12/01/01 IE – Enemy of an Enemy starts

  01/20/02 EM – Enemy of an Enemy ends

  02/01/02 EM – The Academy starts

  08/30/42 EM – The Academy ends

  05/15/55 EM – Rise of Shadows starts

  12/30/58 EM – Rise of Shadows ends

  01/31/59 EM – Resurgence of Ancient Darkness starts

  03/15/59 EM – The Sac’a’rith starts

  08/11/62 EM – Spectra’s Gambit starts

  10/31/62 EM – The Sac’a’rith ends

  01/25/63 EM – Resurgence of Ancient Darkness ends

  02/01/64 EM – Sac’a’rith: Rebirth starts

  08/25/64 EM – Sac’a’rith: Rebirth ends

  01/01/65 EM – Spectra’s Gambit ends

  Prologue

  While I waited for Mantis to pay his regular visit to my study, I reflected back on how I had come to be where I was. It seemed many lifetimes since I was serving on the Dragon Claw and trying to impress my fellow command officers in a desperate attempt to prove worthy of my promotion. Back then I used to believe the Emperor was a god and that he came from a long line of gods. I could not have been more naïve.

  However, that was long ago, and I was now a very different man. I surpassed the Emperor, and indeed the entire Empire, in power and sat dangerously on the precipice of declaring myself a god. It might have happened too, as there was none who could match me in power. I was truly godlike in my ability to command the raw energies that make up reality as we know it.

  I rested my hand on the one thing that stopped me and quite likely saved the entire realm from destruction at my hands. I picked up my father’s old book and turned to the front page. On that was a note Kellyn had penned decades ago. It said, “My Dearest Love, in these pages you will find real truth and meaning and finally be set free from that which threatens to destroy you.”

  Before I could think more on that, I felt the energy build up that I recognized as Mantis traveling to my realm. I turned and faced where I knew he would appear moments before he did.

  “Greetings, Grandmaster,” he said.

  “Hello, old friend,” I said. “Please have a seat. I have some spiced mead warmed up and waiting for you.”

  “Thank you,” he said with a smile as he took his seat. “I have seen your reports on Operation Show of Force. It seems congratulations are in order.”

  “Perhaps, but it is somewhat bittersweet,” I said.

  “How so? It was a success, was it not?” he asked.

  “Oh, in some ways,” I replied.

  “Grandmaster, it pushed the Korshalemian sorcerers out of your realm, broke the back of the pirates, and gained you a mundane navy. That sounds like a wonderful success to me,” he said.

  “Yes, and it revealed that we have our own sorcerers to worry about,” I said.

  Mantis took a deep pull from his spiced mead. “True, it puts us into the four-way stalemate we had hoped to avoid: two groups of sorcerers and two groups of wizards.”

  “If that were only the case, I would be overjoyed. Sorcerers I can handle. For all their darkness, at some level they want order, which limits them. No, things are far worse,” I said.

  “I know the Korshalemian council has been very concerned about something. I assume this is related?” he asked.

  “No, I have not spoken with them in a long time. They have come to fear my realm greatly,” I said.

  “Ah, yes. They see what we all see: sooner or later your technology will make its way into Korshalemia and destroy our culture,” he said.

  “Yes, and what they fail to realize is that it is already too late to stop it,” I told him.

  Mantis leaned back in his chair and sipped on his mead. He had an aura about him that never seemed to be quite at rest, no matter how calm and relaxed he was. The magic that was wrapped around him constantly jumped and danced. It was as if he was just barely in control of his powers, but nothing about his voice or physical appearance ever betrayed that.

  “What do you mean?” he asked.

  “The Korshalemian sorcerers. They already know our technology and have brought that knowledge back to your realm. It is only a matter of time now before they realize they can use it to build an army of mundanes that can defeat anyone in your realm. When that time comes, the Korshalemian council will blame me, and our alliance will probably end,” I said.

  “I would not allow that to happen,” he answered.

  “You are not exactly well-trusted either, Mantis.” I had learned over the years that the council feared him more than any other magus alive. I did not know why, as I could never imagine him being anything other than a trusted ally and friend.

  He laughed at that and took a drink. “What is it, then, that has you so worried?”

  I refilled his mead from a pitcher I had been keeping on a warmer. “A fresh shadow has fallen over the realm, and we are on the verge of a new era of darkness.” After pouring his drink, I walked over to the counter where I had left my coffee. Since it had cooled down since I had last held it, I used my power t
o warm it back up to its proper temperature.

  “You mean a new grandmaster sorcerer for Vydoria?” asked Mantis.

  “I suspect that one has already arisen, but no. It is something darker. There is a shadow over my entire realm, yet I cannot directly see it. It is there, just out of sight. It is as if it can only been seen when you are not looking right at it, but it is there, and it is growing,” I said.

  “What is it?” he asked.

  “I do not know. Only Shadow and the other spellweavers can sense it, but none of us likes to speak of it,” I said.

  He sat there for a while just looking at me, lost in thought. I slowly sipped my coffee in silence, as I really had no desire to say much more about the topic. I did not even like thinking about it.

  “Were you ever able to verify Darius’s research?” asked Mantis.

  “Some of it, enough to know that he was right in his belief that this is magic’s second life here,” I said and returned to my seat. “Everything is changing now that Shadow has healed reality, and we are a long way off from seeing the end result.”

  “I can imagine so. The weave itself is still a bit erratic, but it is definitely stabilizing. This is likely to mean some changes to what you think you know about the nature of this realm,” he said.

  “We have already seen some: the basic powers have become weaker, and many spells have had changes to their range and impact. It is just difficult to predict the extent of the changes,” I said.

  We talked for a while after that, never once returning to the subject of the darkness that had come upon Vydoria, and for that I was glad. I knew that one day I would have to face that darkness head-on, but for the moment I preferred to bask in the light.

  Soon I would be meeting with Shadow to debrief him from Operation Show of Force; while it had been a great success, I saw war coming. Those nations which had been set up to take over on the failure of the Empire were faltering. All around the galaxy, tribes and consortiums were rising up to stake their claim.

  Chapter One

  As Master Shadow and I approached the entrance to Grandmaster Vydor’s office, Master Shadow said, “I am proud of you, Dusty. You did very well out there.”

  I did not respond, but I was glad to hear him say that. At that moment, my mind was focused on this meeting with Grandmaster Vydor. I had only seen him from afar, and I really did not know what to expect. Figures of authority had never taken to me, at least until I met Master Shadow. He was different somehow; I was not sure why, but he genuinely seemed to care about me and want to help me succeed.

  I had little chance to think on that because the door to Grandmaster Vydor’s office opened as we approached, and I could see him waiting for us. In the room with him were Master Mantis, Master Mathorn and Master Kellyn. They stood as we approached, and Master Kellyn called out, “Hi! Come in!”

  Master Shadow smiled and greeted everyone. I did my best not to say anything at all while they got the pleasantries out of the way. I found a chair to sink into and tried not to be noticed. However, Master Mantis noticed, and he winked at me.

  Once everyone was settled in, Grandmaster Vydor said, “Shadow and Dusty, first let me offer my congratulations on a very successful mission. You certainly proved that we can build a vocational arm of our school while having a positive impact on our region of space. Now, I have some news to share with you. The president of Aleeryon contacted us while you were fighting at the station; he said that the nation was about to go bankrupt. Apparently they bought all those stealth bombers and supplies purely on credit, and now the private investors are threatening to take control of all government assets, including their navy.”

  Master Shadow called out, “That is ridiculous!”

  “Rest easy, Shadow; I have no intention of letting that happen,” said Grandmaster Vydor. “What we are seeing happen here in our region is being played out all over the galaxy. The power structures of the mundane nations are shifting into massive consortiums. Tribal groups are countering this to some extent, but it is questionable if that is better or worse. I do not want to see our region fall in the same way, so we have agreed to pay off the Aleeryon government’s debt, and we are in the process of absorbing them into our nation.”

  “Grandmaster, with all due respect, I thought we were not going to get involved in local politics,” commented Master Shadow.

  “After much debate, the Council has decided that our realm and our current situation have altered to such an extent that we are justified in changing some of the original rules set up under Mantis,” responded Grandmaster Vydor. “This means that we now have borders to defend and citizens to protect, which will affect our ability to stay neutral; but the time for neutrality has passed. We must build up our forces quickly, far more so than our previous path would have allowed. Absorbing the Aleeryon nation gives us a mundane navy; supplemented by even a small number of our wizards, this will be more than sufficient to keep peace in this region of space and buy us the time we need to grow our forces.

  “Alpha Academy will remain a training center for wizards; but you, Shadow, will lead the Battle Wizards as our military branch. The Academy will focus on research and development while your forces will focus on battle tactics and integrating our technology with our magic.”

  He paused there, got up, and walked over to a counter where he had some drinks set up. “You must understand that we are only now starting to comprehend what it means to be wizards in our realm. We have discovered that the rules that work in Korshalemia do not work well here. We have to forge our own way now. Those rules have served their purpose, which was to help us learn to walk. The reality we face is that chaos has broken out around us, and we will continue to become more and more involved. This move gives us control of how that happens instead of merely reacting to events. In any case, we have not seen the end of the changes that are coming. Reality itself is in flux; the very laws of the universe are no longer stable. The future is as uncertain as it can get at this time.”

  “Grandmaster, you are concerned about the shadow that we sensed,” stated Master Shadow.

  “Yes, very much so,” he said. “But it is more than that. When each rupture was closed, it sent ripples through space-time. Things are changing, and even the laws of nature are in flux. I cannot see far enough ahead to know what things will look like when they stabilize, or how long it will take.”

  “What should we do?” asked Shadow.

  “First, I should tell you that we have recruited some elite wizards from Korshalemia with many decades of battle experience to help you build up your ranks. They will be staying with us permanently, learning our technology and ways. No doubt you will be happy to know that Mathorn is among those who have chosen to move here to help us,” he said.

  “That is great news!” said Shadow.

  “I will give Alpha Academy the task of working out what changes we are facing as reality slowly stabilizes itself. I want you to lead the Battle Wizards and find out what you can about the shadow.”

  “This all seems so sudden and so fast,” said Shadow.

  “I know it does, but most of it has been in the making for decades. The reason I chose this solar system for our base of operations was that I foresaw that Aleeryon would be the most compatible nation for us. I did not expect to buy them out, but I knew we would end up working closely with whatever neighbors we had.

  “Reality has been very slowly healing for ten thousand years now, but our actions over the last century or so have tremendously accelerated the process. I do not yet know what that means for our future, but at the very least I expect to see unaffiliated magi wandering randomly throughout the realm. It is likely to be centuries before we have a substantial number of them working as part of our nation. The new consortiums and tribal governments do not recognize my authority, and they will probably hunt down these magi to add to their own forces. This means our enemies will expand to encompass vastly more than merely sorcerers. It will no
longer be a case of wizards versus sorcerers, as there will be many different groups which can call on magi. We will attempt to incorporate them all over time, but our realm is many magnitudes larger than Korshalemia, and I do not at this time foresee a single council of wizards uniting all wizards although I will try to achieve it.”

  “You say that you believe more powers are involved in this battle than merely ourselves and the sorcerers. Do you think this shadow is one of them?” asked Master Shadow.

  “If we ignore the smaller groups, we know there is a united force of sorcerers in Korshalemia and a matching group here. All that is clear is that the shadow is not related to either of these. That means there is at least one more group in play, and it is that group which must concern us most.”

  That last comment hung in the air for a moment with no one speaking. After a brief pause, Master Mathorn spoke up. “Dusty, during your time in my realm you interacted with the unknown sorcerer who appears to be behind the information leaked to us about the station. Can you tell me more about that, specifically the time you, Shea, and her brother met him on the hill?”

  “Master, I really don’t know all that much. My head was so foggy at the time. I just couldn’t think straight,” I said.

  “I see. Yet Shea seemed fine. Why do you think that is?” he asked.

  I tried to think back to that battle, but my memory was still as fuzzy as the day it happened. “I’m not sure. All I remember is her standing between us holding me back. She kept telling me to run, but I couldn’t move or think.”

  “But you eventually did. How?” he asked.

  “Master, he moved to attack, so I cast Shadow Form and ran,” I said.

  He thought about it for a moment, and said, “Dusty, you lost that battle and almost lost the two people with you. Have you thought at all about how to handle it next time?”

  “Master, when I got to the wizard’s tower in Syncillia I read everything I could find in the “Defense against Charms” section, but none of it made any sense.”