The Darkness Within Saga Prologue: Sins of the Past

By JD Franx

While trying to complete a difficult assassination, Yrlissa decides her days of killing must come to an end if she hopes to protect her new family. But the winds of apocalyptic prophecy are tearing through the kingdoms of Talohna. Rumors of a strange being influencing kings and emperors as well as sightings of a vile, ancient, witch coven believed destroyed long ago are all omens of the darkness growing within Talohna. With her personal history woven firmly to these events, can Yrlissa keep her family safely hidden long enough to finish her final contract and then disappear with them or will the phantoms of her past rise up to take everything from her first?

• Language: English
• Publisher: JD Franx
• Release date: Dec 13, 2013
• ISBN: 9781311181169

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The Darkness Within Saga: Prologue

Sins of the Past

2nd Edition

Author: JD Franx

Copyright (c) JD Franx

Registered Copyright 2013

All rights reserved.

Cover illustration and design (c) 2013 Joel Lagerwall

Smashwords Edition

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the expressed written permission of 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 incidents or locales or any persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgements

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Acknowledgments

More than anyone else, I would like to thank my family. My wife, who has stood by me for so many years, always willing to lend a hand or support as it was needed. My son, who, to this very day, is still the first one to sit down and read the first drafts, and even though he has read them countless times, will still be willing to proofread a final copy. Without his help and his idea bouncing sessions, I would never get anything done. And last, but not least, my daughter, who may be still too young to read the books I write, but is always coming up with new names whenever I need one.

Chapter One

Six of the Dead Sisters’ most powerful witches had been working feverishly for the past two hours, to complete the complex designs of the glyph inscribed on the floor. Upon its completion, each of the sisters used a small, sharp kinrai blade to open the veins of her left wrist. The metal of the gods cut deep into the flesh. Arterial blood sprayed out, forcing them to tightly squeeze above the wounds. Each sister was careful to release just enough pressure for the blood to course down into their palms and onto the tips of their fingers in order to begin the detailed process of writing the blood-lettered language of the Lower Brethren inside the boundaries of the glyph.

The Dead Sisters' sole ruler, the Cardessa, watched the ritual with a confident smile as her sister witches completed the final task required for summoning the demon that granted them their powers. The ritual would call forth Garz'x from the Ninth Hell of Perdition. He was the dominant ruler over the oremaining realms of Hell and the strongest demon amongst the Lower Brethren.

The God of the Underworld, Dathac, had not personally laid a hand on his own realm in thousands of years.. In fact, all of the gods seemed to have little interest in the affairs of mortals, living or dead. This had allowed for Garz'x to quietly build enough power to destroy the only Brethren whose standing was higher than his. The ArchDemon Salotan grew careless in his custodianship over the lower planes of the Underworld and paid the ultimate price for his neglect.

The war between the two Lower Brethren was short lived. During the last bit of fighting, Garz'x destroyed Salotan and usurped his power, but not his position. ArcAngels and ArchDemons were made by the gods and the gods no longer seemed to care. Now, with no ArchDemon to intervene, the ninth hell overlord ran rampant over the other eight dimensions of Hell, even tormenting the Angels of Paradise, all while doing his best to corrupt and wreak havoc on the living world. Most of it through the plans of the Dead Sisters and other witches or warlocks devoted to earning themselves a taste of powerful demonic magic. Both ensured that more souls went to the Lower Brethren than to the Higher as the custodians of heaven and hell fought for domination of the Afterlife. When souls meant power, even Talohna's afterlife could be a dangerous place.

Finishing their task, the six sisters wrapped their damaged wrists to stop the bleeding and quickly left the room. Only the Cardessa was permitted to speak with the demon lord.

She stepped forward and faced the ritualistic markings on the glyph, then chanted in a language long-forgotten by most mortals. A putrid green mist rose from the complex designs and a swirling dark red smoke surged from the blood-script with a life all its own. The mist rose steadily as the noxious smoke twisted and spun through the green vapour, drifting over the Cardessa's head. A loud snap tore through the small room as the fabric between dimensions weakened, heralding the arrival of the seven-foot tall KiPara demon, Garz'x.

Though not physically able to travel to Talohna's plane of existence, the Lower Brethren guardian was able to project an effigy of himself through the weakened fabric of reality, and his voice through the magical glyph and blood-lettered ciphers placed by the sisters. The Lower Brethren had a strong dislike of the living, all the more so when summoned by them. Even being contacted by his faithful followers always put Garz'x in a foul mood. This time was no exception.

Your insistence upon using your pathetic magic to call my presence is trying, Mydea. What do you want? the demon barked. His voice