Chronicles of Edison: City of the Forsaken

By Mitch Martens

Volume I

Immortality means a great deal to those who possess it. To Edison it meant freedom in the beginning, this like so many other things in his life was just not meant to be.

Time and again Edison has fallen upon hardships from tests he’s faced or quests he’s embarked upon. His crusade for truth and acceptance spread out across the millennia from his rebirth left him seeking out peace and tranquility by journey’s end. So we find Edison, amongst the people in the thriving city of Silver Forest City in northern Nevada.

After everything Edison has already been through and done, can the immortal quench his thirst for stability and harmony; or is he forever bound to the suffrage he was born into, unable to escape the fate of despair?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mitch Martens
• Release date: Mar 17, 2017
• ISBN: 9781370645046

Mitch Martens

Mitch Martens was born in Portage, Wisconsin on July, 25, in 1985. After graduating from Wisconsin Dells High he failed to adhere himself to a college-bound lifestyle. Through it all he maintained his love of writing, becoming an avidly contributing member at the online writing community of Authorstand, where he honed his craft through many peer reviews received as well as given. In 2008, he met his wonderful wife Stephaine, and one year later she gave birth to their beautiful twin daughters Lily and Zoey Martens.

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Chronicles of Edison:

City of the Forsaken

By: Mitch Martens

Copyright 2016 Mitch Martens

Kindle Edition

Edited By: Jeremy Bieberitz

For Stephaine,

Who never tires of hearing me out when it comes to my writing, I love you.

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This e-book 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’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite e-book retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author, and enjoy.

Table of Contents

Prologue: 1052 AD, Europe

Chapter One: Silver Forest City, Nevada, 1874

Chapter Two: Gambling Stranger

Chapter Three: Evil Deeds

Chapter Four: Table for Five

Chapter Five: Rebirth of Nathan Jones (Part One)

Chapter Six: Business Propositions

Chapter Seven: A Meeting Cloaked in Darkness

Chapter Eight: A Grizzly End

Chapter Nine: Riley’s Hand

Chapter Ten: The Devil’s New Dog

Chapter Eleven: Forbidden Union

Chapter Twelve: Troubling News

Chapter Thirteen: Unlucky Chap

Chapter Fourteen: One Last Hand

Chapter Fifteen: Eavesdropper

Chapter Sixteen: Forbidden Acts

Chapter Seventeen: Dead, Undead

Chapter Eighteen: Undying Love

Chapter Nineteen: Showdown

Chapter Twenty: Rebirth of Nathan Jones (Part Two)

Chapter Twenty-One: Stagecoach Stranger

Chapter Twenty-Two: Meat, Charlie

Chronicles of Edison: Castle of Darkness- Prologue: 1300 AD, England

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Prologue: 1052 AD, Europe

Two men stood alone in the dark, just outside of a deer hide-covered hut. They wore hooded cloaks, which draped over their entire bodies. One of the men’s eyes sparkled with a brilliant yellow light, even in the dense forest’s absolute darkness.

Lying below these hooded figures at their sandal-covered feet were two more men; one of them dead, the other barely alive. Their bodies were sprawled out below the heavy undergrowth of the forest; the deceased man had been devoid of life for ten minutes by then, ever since the larger of their cloaked attackers had turned his head ‘round backwards.

There are still many things that I can teach you, Edison; and there will always be more to learn, more to discover on your own as I have. There are at least two things I must impress upon you before I allow you your own life outside of your service to me. You have served me honorably, shown me absolute devotion to my way of life, and aided me in every task I have asked you to perform. You’ve grown to become a great warrior in your own humanly right, and it is my great pleasure to invite you to share in my way of life, the hulking, hooded man spoke with a light-hearted mannerism about his voice that conveyed the absolute pride he felt.

Thank you, my lord; I live only to serve you, and I desire nothing more than I desire to share in your way of life. That is, should you decide to bestow such a gift upon me, Edison spoke to the man next to him in a tone of absolute respect. Edison’s heart had been lifted at the mention of adjoining this man, whom he had pledged his mortal life to in exchange for a new one.

For the past fifteen years you have served me faithfully, and I thank you, Edison. It is hard for a man in my position to come to trust another enough to let him become his servant, even more so to find one that I deem worthy to assimilate into our coven. A fact you will learn on your own, in time. In a way, you’ve carried my few weaknesses on your shoulders, and have done so faultlessly. Never in my thousand years of existence have I felt so at ease with my servant. Most others I’ve had were more my prisoners than ever truly my servants; I was ever watchful of my own back, but not with you. I wish you could stay at my side, and provide me this service for all of eternity; but my word is my bond, and it is a bond stronger than any others’, that I can assure you, Edison’s master rested his tongue and looked down at the two men lying near their feet. As I had promised these two that tonight was their last to live in this world. Heckling me at every turn down at the local market was more than any respectable man could bear to stand. They’re lucky my existence coincides to my anonymity with steel vambraces, or I would have cut their throats then and there for all to see; loathsome meanderers.

Yes, my lord. They did deserve far worse for their transgressions against you, but like you said your anonymity comes first and foremost. As does your wisdom, Edison agreed wholeheartedly, exerting more zeal than normal.

Enough, Edison. From now on, we will share the same lord. It is time for you to join my rank and earn the right to my true name. Hence forth you shall always call me by my Roman name, Darius! the once proud gladiator exclaimed. He then placed a hand upon Edison’s shoulder and squeezed it ever so lightly so that he would not crush his bones into dust with his vice-like grip.

Thank you, Darius. I will forever be indebted to the good fortune you are about to regale upon me. Edison showered Darius with every bit of respect and gratitude he could muster by bowing; bowing until Darius pulled him up so that they could face one another.

Now, for a final lesson before I commence you into the greatest brotherhood you will ever know, Darius again gestured toward the two fallen men. You know all of my habits, and how I move to keep myself hidden. You know my strengths, and how I use them. You even know some of my weaknesses, and how to fortify them. You know of the things that make me who I am, and some of what I’ve done in the past from tales I have recanted to you, but there are many more things I must reinforce into your mind before I can leave you to fend for yourself.

Yes, Darius, any wisdom you can share with me I’m sure is worth its weight in gold, Edison replied.

Indeed, you will undoubtedly learn the secrets I have in store to share with you. You’ve always been a great pupil with keen senses, Darius regaled with a little laughter. Hear me well, Edison, and understand me even better. As you are well aware, I prefer to feed when my prey still draws breath, but I’ve never told you why. That is, until now. If I were ever to ingest cold, dead blood it would no doubt begin to weaken me substantially, a kindly bit of knowledge passed on down to me by my master. There are fine lines to this one rule, never tread too heavily upon them or it may spell out your doom. Take these two fellows here for example; one dead, but at least an hour from becoming cold. Once the blood is cold, the prey is beyond my interest in feeding upon. Until then, they are more than suitable for us to feed upon, and this one will become your first meal after I ascend your humanly body to adjoin with me. Remove your hood, and turn your head so that I may begin, Edison.

Edison pulled the hood of his brown cloak back, revealing his head and neck.

Take care to brace yourself, my teeth are going to put your body into immediate paralysis from the wound I will be inflicting upon you. Darius said calmly, just before lunging at Edison’s neck.

A large splash of blood hit the ground as Darius’ teeth punctured the side of Edison’s neck; that was all that spilt though, the rest of the blood Darius fed upon. He held Edison upright as his jaws clenched upon the spine and jugular of his apprentice. Edison’s legs twitched, and his whole body convulsed. Darius sucked three quarts of blood from his body in an instant. Edison’s eyes rolled back into their sockets, and the night’s darkness cast itself into his mind; the blood loss had finally rendered him unconscious, and so laid open the path to his impending death.

Chapter One: Silver Forest City, Nevada, 1874

Amidst the rolling, but jagged, lush, yet barren hills of northern Nevada, just west of the towering Rocky Mountain peaks, lays the bustling town of Silver Forest City. The town itself is perched above the arid valley lowlands and is surrounded by forest on the north, east, and western fronts. One mile south of the city limits, the terrain cuts off any means of travel, due to the fact that it is more or less the rigid end of a plateau; the very plateau from which the city thrives. With all of the lush vegetation and nearby streams trickling by, one wouldn’t expect there to be such a steep, sloping grade just south of the beautiful town of Silver Forest City. The forests scaled the mountainsides and died out before they could reach the plateau’s edge; mostly coniferous, and densest all along the waters’ edge.

Bobcats, cougars, mountain lions, bears, buffalo, and other beasts scoured the scarcely traveled wilderness surrounding the city. Even wolves up at the northern border of the state between Nevada and Oregon seemed to find their way down into the woods north of Silver Forest from time to time. Not many a man dared the unforgiving wilderness north of town by themselves.

Even though Nevada had been a state for nearly ten years, the land surrounding its northern towns remained mostly uninhabited. Run-ins with gigantic bears and huge packs of wolves kept most folks to residing in or very near to Silver Forest City, and the near desert conditions to the south made it hard to survive anywhere but inside the realm of the wild beasts. The ever-present wilderness kept the local populations close to the tight-knit town, very few people took it upon themselves to live outside of civilization.

The blossoming state of California lay only a few hundred miles west of the mountains. Even though the gold rush had ended, the town of Silver Forest City remained a gateway. It led safely west, just north of the deadly deserts and on the western end of trail that was one of a few safe, Rocky Mountain passes for gold seekers and strangers alike.

However, Silver Forest City had one of its own valuable resources that brought in some of its population; the silver mines just south of the town. From the southern valley, the face of the plateau seemed irrigated due to the many caverns and shafts dug into its side; mines which nearly made their way back underneath Silver Forest City itself.

Along with steady mining, and a few other businesses in town, there was the pleasure aspect of it all. After a long day down in the mines, most found themselves either at one of the three saloons in town, the brothel, the casino, or the theatre. Silver Forest City was one of the few towns in the West, at the time, which thrived day and night steadfast.

But with every successful and maturing city comes growing pains; some of these pains came in the form of outlaws whom made their way in and out of the town as they saw fit, or as the money came and went.

To combat the villainous brood that swept through the town at will, the townsfolk had their Sheriff, Riley McPhearson, and his two deputies Mike Colt, and Adam Harding. They worked in three separate shifts guarding a town that never seemed to rest. Even though they tried to work their own shifts, there always seemed to be two of them out and about. Any law enforcement that considered themselves off-the-clock in that town usually ended up dead.

It was full-blown spring, and Deputy Mike Colt strode down the wooden-planked sidewalk of mid-town. At night, whoever was policing Silver Forest City made sure to stay near the city’s epicenter, the place where the saloons and gambling hall were located. Usually, if there was trouble, this was the part of town from which it stemmed.

Drake’s Saloon was the smallest of the three taverns in town and most preferable for locals who only wished to rub elbows with other locals. Very few disputes or fights broke out in Drake’s, but the ones that did where usually the most brutal, or even fatal.

There were two other taverns in