The Shadow of Lord Dragost

By B.S. Arnold

He slipped past several slaves as he made his way down a pathway, it ended in a burial chamber. There was a Manan standing in front of the sarcophagus with several slaves standing around mindlessly. Since the manan seemed to be somewhat more coherent than the rest of the group, he decided to approach him first to see about the data that his group should have gathered. Once he lowered his stealth spell, the manan focused on him and stated boldly, "who dares approach the great and venerated Dark Lord Vishanal! Speak slave, and I might spare your life," Wryn snarled at the insulting tone while Ryu'val narrowed his eyes.


Immediately he used mana to lift the Manan in the air and wrapped a tendril around his neck. As he choked the Manan Ryu'val snarled, "I am no slave to be ordered about, so I suggest that you watch your tone and re-iterate your last question!"

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Dec 8, 2020
• ISBN: 9781098347956

Book preview

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

ISBN: 9781098347956

Table of Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Glossary/Translation

Chapter One

Ryu’val leaned back in his seat as he eyed the other slaves, out of the six slaves that had been sent to the Dark Mage Academy to see if they possibly had what it took to become dark mage assassins only he seemed to realize that only one of them would make it out alive. When he had boarded the vessel with the other five slaves, he had noticed that an Arcane male was onboard. He had wondered if the Arcane was a Potential and a candidate in their particular trial or if he was already an Acolyte in the Academy.

Ryu’val hadn’t bothered to speak with any of the other slaves during either the boarding or their trip, and the robed man was even more standoffish than he was. As they flew to the arrival station for the Academy, Ryu’val meditated as he had been taught by his maternal grandmother when he was a mere youngling.

He had been taken from his home realm when he was merely eight cycles old by raiding slavers searching for new stock, he had been staying with his grandmother at the time. His parents had taken his sister to see a healer since she had been sick for four salunes. During the time she was ill, he had reoccurring nightmares that she’d die if it weren’t treated soon, so he begged his parents to take her to a nearby settlement to be checked over.

During the attack on the village, his grandmother fought the slavers but lost her life in the process, and although he had fought back as hard as he could, he was only eight. He was no match against a large force that the raiders had been, he had been quickly knocked out. When Ryu’val awoke, he was in a cage surrounded by other captives with a shock collar on. Unlike the rest of the prisoners who had fought back against their captors, he had kept his head down. He was biding his time for a chance to gain his freedom. Whether he was going to escape or earn his freedom was yet to be decided, but he was well aware of how far slave owners would go to regain their lost property.

During the time it took for the slavers to sell off their cargo, he had overheard several of them discussing what they were going to do with him. He was the only Dracion that was captured during their attack on his home. This was because his family were the only Dracions that had settled there. Due to his pleasing looks along with his bone structure, the head of the slavers decided that he would make them a lot of coins if they sold him as a body slave. Apparently, the captain knew of a brothel that would take him off their hands for a high price. This particular brothel specialized in training courtesans for high ranking nobles.

In the end, he did fetch them a very high price, this was due to his age and the fact that he was most definitely a virgin. As such, the owner of the brothel decided that he would be trained in a hands-off manner. His virginity would stay intact, thus allowing his future owner to have the luxury of taking him for the very first time. He was being trained as a courtesan. As such, the brothel was giving him a wide variety of training, which included education in subjects that might come up in the noble courts. Nobles liked to pretend that their courtesans were in their bed-chamber willingly. Never-mind the fact that they had been purchased against their will, but they wanted the slaves that shared their bed-chamber to be highly educated and to be able to hold their own in conversations in the court.

However, a mere four monats before he was to be sold at the standard age of seventeen cycles old, an Adept-Lord of the dark mages had passed through the settlement where the brothel was located. Intrigued by the high level of mana emanating from close by, he decided to investigate the source. He had been amused to find himself in front of a brothel, but as his rights enabled him to be able to do, he demanded to see everyone currently in the brothel be they merchandise or workers.

Much to the dismay of Ryu’val’s master, the mage had stopped in front of Ryu’val. The slave had, at that time, been known merely as Ryu. His name had meant Dragost in the native tongue of the brothel owner. The Adept-Lord had tilted Ryu’s head up to stare him in the eye as he probed his aura gently with his own mana, Ryu’s flared in response which had caused his amber-gold eyes to glow brightly. A wry chuckle had escaped the Adept-Lord before he shot a contemptuous look at the owner as he pointedly said, he has quite the abundance of mana. By law, he is to be sent to Narcalren for training, you are aware of this, yes?

Reluctantly, the brothel owner parted with Ryu, admittedly not without protest over how much they had spent to train him as well as the cycles they had spent clothing and feeding him. All the Adept-Lord did in response was to wave dismissively as he said while waiting on Ryu to gather the few belongings he had either been gifted or earned, you’ll be compensated for the inconvenience. But you are well aware that all mana sensitives are to be sent for training. He has likely had many outbursts throughout his maturity, yet you kept that from the Empire. Be glad I’m not reporting you for this, Ryu had seen the Adept-Lord shoot the owner a glare as he hissed, this is an offense punishable by death as you are well aware.

Ryu’val opened his eyes as he left his memories behind, as he did, he heard the announcement that they had arrived at the station in Narcelren. The other slaves quickly departed the vessel, they were clearly eager to get started on the trial that might earn their freedom. As he exited, he moved over to the side and glanced around at the harsh environment, there was only sand and rock as far as the eye can see with monumental statues dotting the valley they were in.

As he took in the place where he was to be trained, he felt someone bump into his shoulder, there was no reason for anyone to be near him. He saw that it was the Arcane, he walked by the Dracion without a care in the realms, the other male looked over his shoulder at Ryu’val and sneered in dismissive disgust. Well, well, well, apparently we have a high ranking noble who thinks slaves are not only beneath him but would never get anywhere, he thought bemusedly to himself.

As he watched the Arcane pass the Overseer greeting the group of slaves, he saw the pair greet each other with cordial nods, and his suspicions rose. Either the Arcane was indeed an Acolyte already, or the Overseer favored the Arcane Potential over anyone else regardless of status. He slowly sauntered over to the group, he knew quite well that the Overseer was unable to punish them until they had completed their first trial.

The Overseer sneered at him when he approached the group and remarked in a dismissive tone, ah, here is our latecomer. I have been charged by the venerable Lord Zinah to sort through the trash that you are to find one worthy to be called her Apprentice. He shook his head in disgust over having one of her rank wanting a slave for an Apprentice. I don’t expect any of you to even survive the trials much less meet the expectations of Lord Zinah, but she still insists…

Ryu’val couldn’t help the way his sarcastic streak reared it’s head and unleashing itself by commenting, no need to get all sentimental on us, Overseer. After all, we’ve only just met.

At that, the Overseer snarled angrily before he visibly calmed himself, silence, worm, you’re only digging your own grave! Now, the rest of you know your trial, leave while I bring our latecomer up to speed.

The other five slaves filed out of the room, leaving the same way that the Arcane had, the only female of the group stopped in front of him, don’t worry, he can’t kill us all, at least not yet.

Ryu’val cocked his head to the side, and his amber-gold eyes gleamed mercilessly as he said softly, you take his back, I’ll take him from the front, and we’ll see how well he fares. He was well aware that a group of less powerful or skilled fighters could take down a strong opponent as long as said opponent underestimated them.

She eyed him with a great deal of surprise visible on her face before she said in a cautious tone, uh, yeah, sounds like you can take care of yourself just fine. Well, see you at the Academy, with that she departed while shaking her head in disbelief. She couldn’t believe his self-confidence at being able to take the Overseer on.

Ryu’val then turned his attention to the Overseer in time to hear him coldly state, your first trial will take place in the tomb of Sorcerer Anjera Nors. A hermit named Syrill lives in its catacombs, he is just a crazy old man but Lord Zinah sees him as some kind of prophet. You will go to him, and he will assess your worthiness before sending you back to me, he paused as if to gauge how much of his lecture that Ryu’val had caught.

Seems simple enough, the tattooed former slave noted idly.

The Overseer scowled at him while gesturing for him toward the door where the others departed as he said, well, there you have it, you now know your trial, so get going.

Ryu’val merely nodded in acknowledgment before he left the arrival station. His first act was to check the mail to see if he had any messages that he needed to take care of immediately. Much to his surprise, there was a message from Lord Giroen. He was the Adept-Lord who had become his benefactor after he had discovered and saved him from the brothel.

He blinked quizzically at it but read the message,

Hello to you,

My dear little Dragost,

By the time that you read this message, I shall be dead, his eyes widened in shock at that as far as he was aware Lord Giroen was in perfect health. I have been ill for many cycles, and I’ve been searching for you for just as long. I have named you as my heir with all the titles and rights that they can provide. My household has been instructed to keep silent about its new Lord until you have reached at least Adept-Lord status among the dark mages. I cannot express enough about how Lord Zinah must never know that you are my heir.

During my youth, shortly after I had obtained Adept-Lord status I had a vision that unless a new Emperor arose and led our Empire to a genuine alliance with the White Council, the Dark Conclave would fall. At first, the dark mages would dwindle until there were only one Master and one Apprentice, which they would refer to as the Sacred Pair. Then our order would go into hiding from the White Council and a monster who would dare call himself a Sorcerer would use deceit to take over the Consensus then upon his ascent declare himself to be the Emperor of all the realms.

To make a very long story short; he would enslave the minds of hundreds of innocents and use them to kill every White Mage, even the children, at that Ryu’val snarled viciously, the few White Mages that survive will hide for a time but will be hunted down and killed. I saw a set of twins born to a Manan White Mage Paladin and a Mundane. The two will be separated at birth, ostensibly to keep them safe from discovery by the Emperor. Shortly before he rose to the throne, the Emperor had manipulated a Paladin into becoming his Apprentice. It is his Apprentice that will hunt down the surviving white mages. It is the same person that the white mages fear would kill the twins should their existence be discovered.

Both of the twins will be strong when it comes to mana; in fact, they are so strong that I believe that their mother was, in fact, the firstborn of two powerful Mages to produce such mana-talented children. The male child seems to be more emotional of the pair and will be untrained in any of the mage arts until he is sixteen. As such, he will refuse to be unattached to his friends, although the viciousness of most dark mages is hardly present in him unless something threatens what is his.

I have foreseen that he will end up with a strong emotional bond to Warlock Vishnu, that is the dark mage apprentice, for some reason… This bond will be so strong that Vishnu will rise up against his Master rather than allow the Emperor to kill the young man. He succeeds in preventing it as well as killing his former master before he could hurt the younger man but unfortunately Warlock Vishnu will be injured to the point that he will die without immediate attention from a healer.

However, unlike his former master, Vishnu will be at peace when he dies as he convinces the younger mage to remove the mask that allows him to breathe so he can see him with his own eyes. What he tells the younger man is what caught my attention, he told him and I’m going to quote him verbatim here: I wish that I had found you when I was younger, perhaps I could have stopped him so much sooner than this but I did not. Do not worry for me, dear one, I am at peace so long that you are safe.

The female child remains untrained in any of the mana arts and seems to have no desire to learn despite her immense talent. She later discovers her connection with her brother but still thinks of herself as the daughter of her adopted parents. She does acknowledge her blood kinship  with her brother but states publicly that she is the daughter of the rulers of Adgam.

What lies in store for the Consensus and the Empire after that is beyond my sight, however it would seem that the White Council and Dark Conclave will fall, lost forever to time itself.

Two days after my first vision I had a second vision, this time it concerned you. I saw how you could rise up and take the throne away from the Emperor and that when you do you will reform the Empire into a far more stable one. By doing so you will cause the Consensus to view us as real allies. A new treaty will be hashed out between our empires and signed with the White Council to provide healers, diplomats, scholars, and researchers while the Dark Conclave will provide warriors, guards, and spies.

Our duties would be to fight, to put down rebellions, hunt down lawbreakers, and ensure that peace reigns in all realms. We will be the ones to walk in the shadows to defend the innocent, we will bloody our hands, so their hands can remain clean, we will be the vicious fangs that rip out our enemies throats.

Some realms will be strictly Imperial such as Narcarlen, while others like Kalivar will be strictly Consensus territory, but most realms will be mixed as any of either side will be allowed so long as they do not break the laws. A marriage between an Imperial citizen and a Consensus citizen would be recognized as fully legal. In my vision, slavery had been abolished. And if a person is found to be owning a slave, they are sentenced to death. Owning a shock collar is legal but only to be used in a consenting relationship, and only then with the full written and recorded authorization of the person it is to be used on.

Reflexively Ryu’val rubbed at his neck, he had only felt the jolt of the collar once when he had woken aboard the slaver’s ship, but he had no desire to repeat the experience at all. He returned his attention to the lengthy missive before him, but I digress, in the tomb before you is a chest with items that you will likely need. I don’t know what is in it. I only saw you finding it in my visions, it is well hidden, and you will need to use your Dragost Gaze to find it.

I wish you all the luck in the realms,

Lord Kafas Giroen’

Carefully Ryu’val folded the letter and placed it in the mana expanded pocket of his pack. It was enchanted to only allow him to remove what was put into it, so he knew that his benefactors’ final words to him would be safe. He then headed to the tomb as he did he found and fought plenty of massive beasts on the way. He made his way down a set of stairs just past the entrance into the tomb, he ended up in a large open room with more of the same monsters he found outside. However, these ones were both larger and smaller in size. He noticed that there was a Manan hidden behind a large crate in front of him. The Manan was holding a mana enhanced crossbow, he was pointing it at a nearby group of beasts.

The Manan turned around when he heard Ryu’val approach, and after he saluted the mage, he introduced himself, Zeklarn Torren of the Thirty-first regiment of the Imperial army, we’ve been assigned recently to Narcalren. May I speak with you, sirrah?

The Dracion blinked in mild astonishment as he was unused to being referred to so respectfully outside of Lord Giroen’s estate; however, he nodded as he said, speak freely, Zeklarn.

The Zeklarn relaxed from his pose into a more of a parade rest before he said, thank you. My team and I were tasked with a hard target mission, which is to eliminate a threat to civilians. As he spoke, he gestured at the giant beasts nearby, "our task was to get rid of these monsters, the Imperial Codex calls them glorbans, but everyone here just calls them the slugs. He shook his head with a wane expression on his face, things are massive beasts with mouths the size of your head, they can just swallow a man whole." It was plain to see that neither the Manan nor his men had been adequately briefed on the size of the beasts, much less the ferocity of the creatures they’d been assigned to eliminate.

The Zeklarn fixed the Acolyte before him with a grim expression as he said in a firm tone, they breed far too fast to wipe them out with normal methods, so we decided to target their egg chambers as well as the breeders. They went berserk, but we managed to get bombs to all of the egg chambers after killing the breeders, but they’re all set to go off with one of the triggers which are placed in a chamber near here. However, we cannot get anyone near it, they’ve killed all the men I’ve sent in after it!

Ryu’val leveled a flat stare at him before he stated in a firm tone, if you are trying to talk me out of going in, it won’t work.

The Zeklarn shook his head in response as he said, not at all, sirrah, he gave him a wan smirk as he asked, you are one of the slaves Overseer Loren brought in, right? Ryu’val nodded warily as people had different reactions to former slaves, but the Zeklarn merely chirped, well, here’s your chance to gain some respect from the army as well as prove how good you are to the Dark Conclave.

Ryu’val arched a brow before he asked, how so?

The Zeklarn gestured to the tunnel in the distance as he said, if you are going to go in there no matter what, then perhaps you could find the time to set off the explosives.

Ryu’val eyed the tunnel for a few moments before he activated his Gaze by channeling mana to his eyes and the world turned gray, the Zeklarn next to him glowed a pale blue tinged with soft gold. He had learned from texts that blue meant ally while gold conveyed mission. The deeper the color, the more critical or stronger it was, the lightness of the two colors implied that the tie to Ryu’val himself wasn’t that strong but could grow stronger. Other colors meant different things. Red was for enemies or for dangerous, more life-threatening areas while white indicated safety be it either person or area. He could also locate paths that lead to objectives as long as he knew the aim in question and since Ryu’val was looking for a chest or more precisely the path that led to it he saw a faint golden trail heading off. Funnily enough, it was pointing straight to the egg chamber that was holding the detonating trigger.

So he stated in a no-nonsense tone, consider it done, Zeklarn, with that he stepped out from behind the shelter of the crate. The Zeklarn and his men stared after him from behind their makeshift shield. He had figured out that the smaller creatures were probably the hatchlings while the larger ones were their guards or minders, so he attacked the group of little ones near him. He cast a spell sending out blades of mana in all directions around him. It lacerated them, which killed them instantly. This caused the two minders to roar angrily before they attacked him, he dodged their attacks, and it only took two blows apiece to kill them.

He continued doing this until he reached the chamber. Upon entering the room, he glanced around reflexively, and sitting on a ledge above the hall, he noticed a large metal box glowing a brilliant gold. A glowing path led up to a series of handholds leading up to it. He killed all of the glorbans in the room before he climbed up to it. He opened the crate, and after taking a long moment to just stare at it, his jaw dropped in shock because lying inside was a set of robes, but more importantly, lying atop of those was a Duel Blade.

The device created a pair of blades out of mana, which was usually a weapon of mages alone but could technically be used by mundanes, however, the blades would have to absorb ambient mana to form. Thus the blade wouldn’t be as robust or resilient as one produced by a mage would be, but in a pinch, it would do for a mundane if no other weapon was at hand.

He lifted the robes and was astounded to find that runes had been woven into the hems of the robes, which meant that they were enchanted to be armored while still being light as the robes would typically be. The runes also regulated the temperature of the wearer so it would keep him cool when it was hot and warm when it was freezing, a blessing in the desert. There were some other runes he didn’t recognize, but they would work so long as it was a mage who wore them.

When he looked at the pockets he was surprised to notice that the runes along their seams actually would allow him to store the same amount of items in them that he could in his pouches. This would be far less cumbersome to use than having his pouches on him since his preferred style of fighting called for acrobatic movements over brute force. The temperature enchantment would last for a short time if used by a mundane, perhaps a semaine, maybe less. He quickly decided to switch out his clothes for the ones inside of the crate when he realized that they were all made the same way as the over-robe, which looked more like a coat than anything else.

After he had changed into the robes, he glanced back down into the chest and blinked when he saw a round disc made of some bronze-type metal; it shimmered gold to his gaze, glowing so bright it appeared to be like a star upon the night sky. He picked it up with gloved hands, he tilted it back and forth as trying to remember reading about such a thing before or not, finally the Dracion placed where he had heard of something like it. Apparently, in the old days of the Dark Mage Conclave, certain Sorcerers and Warlocks would leave behind memory discs, these would be used by Acolytes and Adept-Lords to learn the skills embedded in the discs themselves by their creators.

He then fastened the blade hilt to the back of his new coat, there was a place that would attach to the blade hilt in the center of his back, which was a good thing since it was as long as his thigh bone when the mana blades were inactive, he then dropped down into the room to set off the charges. Ryu’val had decided to tell them a partial truth if asked about his new clothes and weapon; he found them in the tomb in a crate they didn’t need to know what else he found in the box. He double-checked the detonator to ensure that all the explosives were still connected to it before he set it off and ran out of the room. He barely had enough time to dive behind a fallen pillar before a burst of fire roared over it, he blinked up at it and thought to himself, I’m reasonably sure that if the glorbans hadn’t killed the people he had sent in that would have done it…

He stood up from where he landed and glanced into the egg chamber. He blinked at finding that the sand that covered the floor closest to the blast zone heated to the point that it had turned to glass. All the visible eggs had been burned to ash. He went back in to make sure that no eggs survived the blast by being hidden or buried under sand or behind a rock. Thank Lady Mara that he did because he found a small clutch of three hidden in a corner behind a fallen pillar, he destroyed them with a quick swipe of his new blade. After one more sweep of the room he left to report the success as well as to recommend that they sweep the rooms to make sure no hidden eggs survived.

He walked over to the Zeklarn, who had, after taking his report and recommendation, expressed his thanks. He then gave the Dracion some of the extra equipment the regiment had lying around. He also gave him some coins for his time. Actually, it was a lot of coins. The former slave blinked down at the small sack he’d been given and thought to himself, if doing odd or extra tasks always nets me this much coin I’ll have to do them as often as possible!

After that he headed to Syrill’s chamber, along the way he noticed a corpse lying on the ground and next to it was a recorder, he picked it up and activated it. It held the details of the mission the dead person had been tasked with, it seemed simple enough: take down a specific number of tomb robbers and retrieve four crates of looted artifacts. He could complete this task after he finished Syrill’s assessment, so Ryu’val headed in that direction once more, and as soon as he neared another open area, Ryu’val smirked. Inside of the next area was a group of Manan standing around discussing the next area to loot, it seems I’ll be having a lot of fun today, he thought gleefully.

He activated a shadow stealth spell and holding his new saber at the ready he crept up on a group of raiders before he abruptly activated the blades as the Dracion spun it over his head where he was kneeling down between the group. All four fell under the weapon without a sound. Well, except for the soft thumps of their corpses hitting the sand. He checked them over for valuables or artifacts, but most of what he found was coins, so he pocketed those and continued on his way. He used much the same method to reach Syrill’s chamber. Once there, he glanced down into the room from about two thirds the way down from the top.

He saw six people in black robes apparently practicing on training dummies, he decided to ignore them and descended down the stairs, he walked past them and up the stairs to where an old manan was kneeling. Ryu’val stood in silence, he was well versed in waiting to be spoken to by those who considered themselves to be his betters, thankfully he didn’t have to wait long. The manan rose, glancing over his shoulder as he did and said, ah, a Dracion, the dark mages are not kind to your people, but that will be to your advantage, I think.

He turned to Ryu’val, he raised an eyebrow at the armor the former slave already wore but shrugged it off as he figured that the slave was merely practical and took it off one of the many tomb robbers. He was wrong as the crate that Ryu’val had raided was placed there several star-cycles before by a Grand-Master of the Dark Mage Assassins. The Grand-Master had a vision that a member of his class would require the items, either it was always meant for Ryu’val or no one else had the luck of stumbling upon it before now. Tucked in with the clothing was an ancient memory device, Ryu’val was waiting until after his assessment by Syrill to activate it as such devices treated the brain as a computer and simply downloaded the information they carried into the person who used them.

Syrill paced in front of the Dracion as he stated in an unyielding tone, "our code is an ancient one: Serenity is a Lie, there is only Passion. In Passion, I find Power, through Power I gain Strength. Through Strength, I am Victorious. Through my Victories, I gain Freedom. BY MANA MY CHAINS ARE BROKEN! At that, he paused to stare at Ryu’val as he asked slowly, do you understand what that means?"

The former slave closed his eyes as he thought about what he just heard and the reasons behind the code. Ryu’val had been instructed by the tutors that had been hired by Lord Giroen before he opened his eyes, yes, I believe I do. I should use my emotions to make my connection to Lady Mana even stronger. Only then will the chains that bind me, and my mana will be broken, with the breaking of the chains my own freedom will come.

Syrill hummed but nodded in satisfaction before he said, "a good translation as the Dark Code is seen as more of guidelines that are open to interpretation by those who follow it. However, before I bestow upon you the my mark of approval or disapproval, you must