Chrysalis of Hope

By N.T. Bergeron

Getting in was the easy part. Tagan had only to follow his hearts desire; to rescue Braulor. Leading those true to his quest, they storm straight into the dark realm of Ta Oandimn where the swarming hordes of evil souls who reside there are just about to make Braulor a permanent resident. Elated at having found his brother, they only need to escape and they can finsh the their journey to find the Amber Eye. But it doesn't take long for Tagan to realize that getting out of Ta Oandimn is going to be much trickier than it seems.

With the chairs at the table shifting, Grawton finds himself in the place he always longed to be. For Grawton, the position of power he had dreamt of for so long he couldn't remember, has fallen into his lap. But power corrupts and Grawton is no saint. With a little taste under his belt, he wants more power. One can't stop when they want it all and from his perch in the shadowy realm it seems the world is there for his taking.

Stripped of everything he knew, the Shadowkeeper intends to be the spanner in the works. He has no choice in the matter. By his own hand came his undoing and by his own hand will come his salvation. Stuck in the awkward position of being prisoner instead of warden, the Shadowkeeper knows his options are limited. Almost as limited as his hope. But where there is hope, there is a chance and the Shadowkeeper knows he must act with the precision of a high wire walker if he hopes to ascend to power once again.

With everybody looking for answers and all the cards on the table, the answers are still far and few between. It's dawning on everyone that recent events only closed the latest chapter. There are still many pages to be written before the book is complete. How it was going to end was anybody's guess. Circumstances set in motion far back in the reaches of time have given each a destiny to fulfill. Now each must follow the path they are on, blinded to what lies ahead.

But for every plot, for every machination, there is always a flip side. A dynamic element that can come out of nowhere and foil even the best laid plans. There is one contingency out there that no one planned on. One event that none of the major player could have have seen coming and nobody could have fathomed the decisive blow to everything it would deliver. The nuclear level strike that will turn everything on its head. And She is coming...

• Language: English
• Publisher: N.T. Bergeron
• Release date: Jun 9, 2018
• ISBN: 9780987929334

N.T. Bergeron

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Book preview

CHAPTER ONE

Escape from Tâ Oandimn

Braulor stared at his empty hands, bobbing up and down in front of him to the cadence of his steed as if they were keeping time to his despair. As if his hands were counting beats from the moment his world ended. Time seemed to have come to a stop and he could see nothing beyond his hands, like they were the end all and be all of existence. The welt the staff left in his palms as it had slipped through his hands was red and bloody, the staff having wrenched pieces of flesh away as it escaped his grasp. His heart sank. Braulor’s entire focus had been on the staff for so long, his brain couldn’t even comprehend what to do next. It was as if his life ended. He felt like a child at the store who had lost his mother and could only sit on the floor and cry. Braulor likened the staff being wrenched from his grip to his heart being ripped out. In fact, the way he felt now, a part of him wished his heart had been ripped out. Then at least he would have a way to understand how he felt. He would have a way to explain the chasm that was engulfing his psyche and making him wish he were dead.

Braulor realized now the dark cloud that had pursued him through Tâ Oandimn had set him up. He could see the whole scene at Kasadu was a choreographed event. A ruse, put together for his benefit. A smokescreen to lure him from the fringes of Tâ Oandimn and give the dark cloud a chance at getting his hands on the staff.

The staff.

Even as Braulor watched, the redness in his palms faded. The rawness of his flesh grew dark like the sun was setting, his flesh congealing and going black like the result of a third-degree burn. It looked as if he had been holding a hot ember between his hands and then cast it aside when he could stand it no longer.

Braulor’s darkening hands matched his mood and he was starting to come back to himself. He wanted revenge. He wanted to find the dark entity, which had taken the staff, taken his soul if he could go so far, and do whatever he could to avenge himself upon it. He wanted to yank the staff from the entity’s grip and wield its immense power with his hatred. With his venom. His rage. Braulor knew he had to have the staff back and was realizing he would do anything to get it. He pulled his gaze away from his hands and leaned over, looking down toward Tâ Oandimn.

Braulor. Tagan was twisted around in the saddle of his horse looking back at his brother. Their horses were in full flight, Tâ Oandimn fading below them as if they had been launched from a missile silo. Tagan was still having trouble believing what had happened. Fleeing the Dwenar Gliv army, Rean Li had urged her horse over a precipice. In this case, precipice being a fancy word for cliff. One by one the horses they had used to escape the Dwenar Gliv armed forces, hesitated before plunging headlong over the edge of the cliff. Tagan couldn’t understand why the horses went over the cliff at all. Any reasonable, sentient being should have balked at the idea. Should have turned around and ran in the opposite direction in an attempt to distance itself from such an insane plan.

But what plan? There was no plan. Their escape had been nothing short of sheer lunacy. There had been no forethought. No calculating. In fact, no plotting had been involved whatsoever, unless you count the fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants planning anyone would do when faced with the prospect of capture by an advancing army. Not any old army either. An army seething with rage you had escaped them in the first place. An army thirsting for vengeance and blood. With that proposition, it was no question and over the cliff they went. Tagan was sure the cliff floor was where his life would end. Where this little adventure he had been embroiled in would come to a splattering close. Tagan watched Rean Li’s horse racing down the hill, its legs moving so fast as it tried to get its limbs under control it was if someone had pushed fast forward. It looked almost comical and he felt the urge to laugh. And then the feeling was on him again. Out of the blue, he knew he was reaching out with his mind as he could for the safe confines of Quanna Eresse. But it felt odd this time. Strange. Normally, when Tagan was connecting with Quanna Eresse, the feeling would begin in his head from some part of his brain he didn’t have regular access to. That part of his brain would come to life and it was beyond his control. He was only along for the ride. This time however, the feeling seemed exterior to him as if it were coming onto him. As if the feeling were enveloping him as opposed to emanating from within and it felt like he had a modicum of control he could exercise. Other times when Tagan had connected with Quanna Eresse he had done so with no other choice. His previous forays into Quanna Eresse were like engrams. They were always there and when they activated, he followed the program and wound up in Quanna Eresse.

But this time he had a choice. This time there was another option open to him. A fork in the road. It had teased him earlier when he helped Rean Li access her home realm and now the path was back again, beckoning to him. Screaming at him to take this opportunity now for it may never come again.

Tagan knew what he had to do. His thoughts crystallized and he had never been so sure of anything before in his life. He had to follow this other path. He couldn’t explain why. He didn’t need to explain why. Tagan only knew the adventure wasn’t over. There was more to be written, he only need to seek it out down this alternate pathway. He sat as upright as he could in his saddle and opened himself to the feeling. It washed over him in a wave. Like a flame climbing up a piece of paper, it swept over him and he was surrounded by it. He wished he could take a moment to explore the feeling. To suss out the differences from his usual experiences but there was no time. The cliff floor he had dreaded earlier was speeding toward them. He needed to take the lead and he urged his horse forward, overtaking Rean Li. Once in the front he expanded the feeling to all of those behind him, enveloping all of them. Shielding them. He urged them with his mind to trust him. He urged them to not question what was happening and to trust everything would be OK. Then he focused his thoughts on the path calling to him. The path came hurtling toward them, as eager for them as they were to escape death. But the canyon floor was also right there. Right at the same junction point. You couldn’t tell one from the other. Tagan squinted his eyes, praying he was right. Praying he wasn’t having some rapturous delusion and they really were about to slam into the canyon floor. He could see the cold stone of the canyon floor. It was in every part of his vision and he couldn’t tell if they were getting closer or not to the path he was seeking but he knew it had to be close.

And then it wasn’t, like the canyon floor had been an illusion all along, and they fell through the veil into what lay beyond. A tic-toc of a second and they were surrounded by dark. Dark beings. Dark scenery. Dark feelings. And a silence so ominous as if they had plunged into deepest fathoms of a lake. But somewhere ahead was the beacon he was looking for. It stood out like a spark in cold embers and Tagan raced toward the force calling to him. A part of Tagan knew what the spark was which beckoned to him and he allowed the feeling to fill him with hope and determination. As the horses had raced toward the unseen talisman, he chanced a look around and the murky dark they were racing through was familiar to him. Tagan had started down this path twice before. Once when he was a prisoner of the Dwenar Gliv army and again when he was helping Rean Li to see her home-world. Thinking of Rean Li reminded Tagan he wasn’t alone and he craned his neck to look behind him. Rean Li, Stonjsin and Crenoah were tucked low in their horses’ saddles, hanging on for dear life.

With his confidence bolstered they had made it this far, Tagan looked ahead once more and focused on why they were in this land. Within moments they had stormed into Kasadu, grabbing Braulor and two others before a new beacon appeared in his midst. Tagan hadn’t had time to even think, he knew talisman was safety. Was a way out of this place.

Now as he looked back to see Braulor with his own two eyes, he was overjoyed at his fortune at rescuing him. He had almost given up hope he would ever see Braulor again, and Braulor was going to jump. Braulor was seconds away from launching himself back to wherever they had been for some unknown reason. It was almost too much to believe and Tagan did the only thing he could to stop him.

Braulor. No.

Braulor looked around for the source of his name being called. The voice was hollow and echoed as if someone were yelling at him from the other side of a canyon. Like a guardian angel calling to him from heaven. But the voice was familiar to him. It wasn’t some other worldly voice or echo. The voice belonged to someone he knew. Braulor was so wrapped up in his own plight, he hadn’t thought about the horses and his rescue. He hadn’t thought about where they were racing off to. He only knew the staff was gone. The one thing which had kept him working to find a way out of Tâ Oandimn. The only thing which had kept him alive in that dark and terrible place, and now it was gone. Braulor had been readying himself to leap out of his saddle to go and get the staff back when the voice stopped him. It was the second time in mere moments his life had been saved. Scoping ahead, he spotted Tagan’s youthful face looking back at him, a smile stretching ear to ear. Braulor managed a weak smile in return and gave Tagan a thumbs up. Tagan turned away, looking ahead once again and Braulor looked toward Tâ Oandimn. It was a black speck among a kaleidoscope of colors sinking away from him much the same as the feeling in his heart.

CHAPTER TWO

Uldarra’s Prize

Uldarra strolled at a casual pace. The dark of night was still in full bloom with no sign of the sun for hours perhaps. She wasn’t totally sure about the time of day as her focus was being held by the package trundling behind her. Being passed along from tree roots and branches to tree roots and branches was her trophy. Her prize. The being she had bested in battle and she felt vindicated. Uldarra felt a small measure of revenge for this man taking the lives of her dogs.

In the large bundle behind her, wrapped tight like a mummy, was the beastly man she had engaged in combat. Uldarra had tracked the man as he had come onto her property in search of Kenok. She had sensed his approach for some time but didn’t pay it the attention it deserved at first. Uldarra didn’t view the assailant for the brute he was. As what many would call a witch, Uldarra often sensed people approaching her property. Her spells would usually short circuit their approach so she grew accustomed to dismissing those she sensed as they generally posed no threat to her. A bad habit she learned she would have to correct. A lesson she almost paid for with her life.

This man slunk onto her land with the stealth of a shadow and stopped. Waiting. Surveying. Plotting. Uldarra was aware of his presence but had been preoccupied with Sequil and Kenok and didn’t recognize the danger she was in. Once the man had killed her dogs, she knew he was a force to be reckoned with and in the dead of night, she sought him out. She didn’t want to battle with the man. She was hoping to use her powers to get the drop on him and subdue him with little or no struggle. Their meeting was the exact opposite and Uldarra found herself pitted against a physical force she hadn’t tangled with in a long long time. In the end it was her control of the elements that saved her from certain death. The same roots and branches, which were passing along the man’s body behind her, had rescued her. They came to Uldarra’s aid at her request and pulled the beast from her, rendering him unconscious before he could dispatch her. She smiled at the memory and said another thank you to them.

Uldarra’s calm gait and demeanor belied how she was feeling. What you couldn’t see was her heart pounding as if she had sprinted for hundreds of yards. But she hadn’t. Her hands were shaking as if she were trying to personally hold an earthquake. But she wasn’t doing that either. Uldarra was using all the energy at her disposal to keep her prisoner in check, which was no easy feat. Uldarra was powerful but wielding her energy to contain the angry beast she had only moments previously finished battling was taxing her to the very last. She had to find reserves she didn’t even know she had. It was taking all her mental acuity to keep moving forward and other concerns kept trying to intrude on her focus. With many irons in the fire, Uldarra’s thoughts were like moths around flame, flapping around without control as each vied for her attention.

First, there was Kenok. His physical body was in her house but Uldarra knew his soul was elsewhere completing a task he had been preordained to fulfill. Even before this interruption, the timing was going to be close and Uldarra longed to know what was happening. She needed to know where the situation was at, for there was much more to be done.

Then there was Sequil. Uldarra didn’t know what to do about Sequil. Tucked away in one of Uldarra’s bedrooms, Sequil had been a bit of a spanner in the works. Uldarra’s divination of future events had of course shown the potential for Kenok to come back into her world but she had been certain it was something that would come to pass. Kenok returning to her life was the end result of actions taken on her part in the long ago past. But Sequil being with Kenok was a wrinkle Uldarra hadn’t foreseen. If she had had the time, Uldarra would have consulted her psychic faculties and try to draw forth a plan on how to deal with Sequil while not jeopardizing the larger picture Uldarra was orchestrating. But there hadn’t been time. And then this, this beast arrived, and threw another wrench into the fray.

Uldarra had to focus. Her little house was bobbing into view. She would secure this horrid man she was bringing with her, make sure Sequil was, at the very least, calm, and then be able to tap into the energies in play and see what’s what.

Uldarra led the procession to a large tree that was close to her house and had the roots and branches raise the man to the tree and hold him there. She watched with a small, satisfying smile as the roots and branches lashed around the man’s arms and legs, his massive, misshapen head drooping down toward his barrel chest. Pinned against the tree, the man looked like some sort of grotesque marionette. Uldarra disappeared into a little shed nearby and returned with a chord of thick rope. She stopped in front of the man, assessing him as she squeezed the rope in her hands. This should be strong enough. Uldarra first bound the man’s large hands behind him around the tree. Then, starting at his feet, wound the rope around and around and around until the rope was all the way up to the man’s neck and then tied it off behind the tree. She stepped back and looked at her handiwork. As the roots and branches receded, Uldarra reflected how the man now looked like a large cocoon, getting ready to complete his metamorphosis. Into what this beast would change into, Uldarra didn’t know and she shuddered at the thought of him becoming even more vile.

Uldarra had thought of ending him. Of having the branches and roots choke the life out of him right then and there but this man wasn’t of this world. She had encountered beings like him in her past but thought they were all wiped out. And besides, this man had answers. Answers to many questions. Answers, which could shape coming events and Uldarra needed every last piece of information she could get her hands on at the moment.

Satisfied the man wasn’t going anywhere, Uldarra turned and went around the back of her house, to where the hidden door she had exited in search of this man was. Her trembling hands found the release to the door, even in the pitch black, and she let herself in, pulling the door shut behind her. The door closed with nary a sound and Uldarra took a second or two to adjust to the interior of her home. Standing still, eyes closed, she took a few long, quiet deep breaths as she organized her thoughts.

She couldn’t hear Sequil, which was a good thing. I have to check on Kenok. Uldarra opened her eyes and marched toward the room where she had left Kenok, peeling of her cloak as she went, dropping it to the floor. She paused at the threshold to the room before opening the door a crack and craning her neck to look inside and gasped. Kenok was there, right where she had left him but his sheets were soaked through with sweat. The once smooth serenity of the bed she had placed him in was gone. Now Kenoks’ rigid body was twisted up in the sheets like some deranged art display. He looked as if he had had a wrestling match with them and lost badly. Uldarra didn’t know why but she felt a deep wave of relief wash over her like she had been expecting Kenok not to be there. As if he could manage to get up walk away in the state he was in. She stepped into the room and sighed as she regarded Kenok’s body.

Kenok pursed his lips as a long low moan escaped them. Uldarra hurried to his bedside and knelt down, placing a hand on his forehead. Even though it was covered with a sheen of sweat, it was cold and clammy to the touch. She lowered her own head, closing her eyes as she did so. She calmed her mind and reached out to the energy of her homestead. She could feel the energy’s warmth steel over her, filling her mind with calm and peace. Uldarra let the energy wash over her, savoring the connection for a moment. With difficulty, she managed to wrest her attention away from being in the flow of energy and directed it to where she needed. Uldarra had to see where Kenok was now.

Before her conflict with the beastly man now tied to a tree outside her home, Kenok had been drifting slowly and surely toward his destiny. But there were so many nuances, so many facets to the entire picture and everything needed to come together in a precise manner. If the timing was off in the slightest, who knows what would happen.

Uldarra could feel her focus leading her, pulling her along in its wake as if she was water-skiing. All around her, it was growing dark. Ominous shadows flitted about like moths in the murky black. She couldn’t see the shadows, per se, but she knew they were there. They could certainly feel her presence and their number grew as she drifted by them as if she was some sort of curiosity to be ogled. Then it stopped. Her drifting or sense of forward momentum ceased and a scene unraveled before her eyes. From her vantage point, it seemed like she was looking down on a bull’s eye. All around the circles of the bull’s eye were hordes of the same dark shadows, which had watched her as she approached this place. Below her, it was a flurry of chaos. Packs of shadows were racing about, slamming into other shadow groups. It was like she was watching a feeding frenzy. Amid the chaos, galloping into view was a line of horses. They looked so out of place in this setting and Uldarra was watching with intense curiosity. The line of horses barreled straight into the fray like an icebreaker, sending the shadow groups flying out of their way. The horses raced without fear, without trepidation, right toward the middle of the bull’s eye. She looked at each rider as they passed her view but didn’t recognize any of them. The leader of the group, a young man, had a look like he could be related to Kenok. Without stopping, the young man led the line of horses deep into the chaos and as the crowd parted, there he was. There they both were, as she had hoped. She was overjoyed as hands came down from the horses and Kenok and Braulor were pulled aboard. Uldarra focused herself even more. She needed to show them the way home. She had to show them how to get out of this dark place. She poured her energy into Kenok’s body. He was the beacon. He was the talisman they needed to follow now. As she worked her magic a darkness rose up, springing out of the recesses of the area like a tiger hidden in tall grass and sped toward the escaping line of horses. As it got close to them, her connection was cut off. Uldarra struggled to refocus. Scrambled to locate the men and show them the way but she couldn’t make any headway. They were lost to her. The darkness pursuing them was too insidious. Too full of hate and evil for her to penetrate. A loud crash followed by a shriek wrenched her attention away from her attempt to help the fleeing group. They were on their own now.

CHAPTER THREE

Alrei Yqu's Incarceration

Alrei Yqu paced. And paced. And paced. He stopped, letting his chin drop to his chest, emphasized with a heavy sigh. He spun on one foot and resumed pacing once more in the opposite direction. He passed a dais to his right, glaring at it out of the corner of his eye. As if he was tied to short tether, he stopped once more, repeating the same chin drop, sigh procedure and turned once again, continuing his march. How long he had been continuing in this fashion, Alrei Yqu didn’t know but he had to do something while he was stuck here and this passed the time as well as anything else he could think of. Alrei Yqu was furious and this was all he could do to assuage his anger. It seethed inside him like an explosion he was trying to contain. Like a volcano building up pressure right before it blows. His march was the only way he could deal with his feelings. Keeping one foot moving in front of the other gave him something to focus on. Gave him a feeling he was accomplishing something and each heavy sigh was a tiny relief valve for the stress he was feeling.

As he passed by the dais once more, this time to his left, he stopped and marched up to the stone basin set on top of it and stared into the pitch-black ooze it contained. There was nothing. It was like he was looking into an ebony mirror. He gripped the sides of the stony top with a tight grip and squeezed, muscles from fingers to shoulder flexing hard as he tried to transfer his anger into the basin. Tried to flood the blackness with red fire of his rage. Maybe then it would respond to him. Maybe then it would understand that he meant business and he was tired of this meaningless existence. The contents of the basin swirled the tiniest amount in response but showed nothing. His eyes flared at the pitch black, as if he could force something into focus, but there was nothing to see.

Alrei Yqu’s head slumped down, shoulders sagging. Where is he? He had been trying to contact Braulor to no avail for what seemed like ages. He couldn't get in touch with Kyriu either. It was as if they were both lost in space. Like they were hidden behind some wall his mind couldn't penetrate and it was consuming Alrei Yqu in rage. He calmed himself and tried one last time to reach out with his mind to find Braulor or Kyriu or anyone for that matter but there was nothing. Alrei Yqu was ready to give up. To throw in the towel. He had worked so hard to make sure Braulor and Kyriu crossed paths. From Alrei Yqu's analyzing, this was the only way he could escape this wretched... he didn't know what to call it. All he knew was he was alone. Cut off from Quanna Eresse. Cut off from the LeFirte. Cut off from, well, from everything. He felt like he was stuck in a fog. Everywhere he looked it was gray and murky. It didn't matter how far he walked or ran or jumped. Here, was always gray, the dais is only source of communication.

The only thing his isolation had been good for was reaching out to those minds he could find. Kyriu was the first. A leftover from before the last attempt to crack the LeFirte for the Draepkos. Before everything had gone wrong and he woke up here. He pondered briefly about his brother, Meyu Kwi and the peoples of Quanna Eresse. He wondered how they were faring. How he longed to see Quanna Eresse, even though he had betrayed his entire race. Had betrayed everybody for that matter, who resided in Quanna Eresse. What he wouldn’t give for all this to be nothing but a bad dream. To be a nightmare he would wake up from to find out everything was still normal and he had been dreaming this whole series of events. But, Alrei Yqu knew this wasn’t the