Nexus of Kingdoms: Eternal Quest Breaker Series, #5

By T. M. Caruana

Deadly tiger blood separates two souls who are fated to love each other.

 

Leo's son, Duke, has a reoccurring dream of a prophecy of death.

Who will die?

He doesn't know. He just feels he needs to stop it.

 

Leo can end the prophetic dreams haunting his son, but if he does that, his long-sought vision of the future will crumble, and all his life's work will be fruitless.

Against his father's wishes, Duke is determined to find answers and runs away, only to end up facing the Dream Shaper and being pursued by the Soul Hunter.

 

In the commotion, Duke finds his soulmate, Luna, and falls head over heels for her. But he soon realises that their love is impossible. Their parents are deadly enemies, and Duke hurts when he learns that she will be the one suffering the consequences, as even the Spell Board spells out 'KILL LUNA'!

 

Will true love be stronger than destiny?

 

Take a swim in the deep end and ensure you do not drown in this FANTASY QUEST ROMANCE, where you will crave a dive in to its depths!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Marvellous Magics
• Release date: Apr 19, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223411963

Book preview

PROLOGUE

Lucy finally obtained the Book of Mass, which gave her some of the answers that she had desired for a long time. Racing against the clock to read the content whilst her father became all the more ill from the contamination of the megadrill, she learned that Tarus was the key to everything. He was the source of the love that had inspired Susy to construct the worlds and all in them. He had been a blessing from Heaven, but doomed to Hell by Balinor. He had become the dark angel whilst Noah was praised as a light angel. Lucy also learned about the Rainbow Knight Children who kept the worlds’ dimensions apart. Yet, there was still one of the Children the book didn’t educate the reader on. The Secret Heart; the fail-safe that was the last element in the summoning spell that would doom the entire creation of mass, and Susy’s entire work. This was the reason for the second book found at Tiger Blood Bay; the Book of Souls, which would take over if Cosmica was reinstated.

Lucy was also glad to have learned who the individuals behind Hakon’s warning poem were and the fact that Nick was her true love and also the father of her child. However, there was one more individual whose identity she was curious about. Who was the Grand Master, who was scheming against Susy with even more authority than Leo? Although that was a mystery she wanted to resolve, she had to pass that task over to her daughter, Luna, leaving her in Leo’s care. Lucy needed to commence her service herding souls in the train of souls to Nirvana. Lucy’s concern was now centred on what version of the story Leo would tell when raising Luna. Would the prophecies prove to be true in saying that Luna would become the dark angel descendant from Bomi, who would destroy us all?

CHAPTER 1

LOCKED-UP PRINCES

Duke woke up with the same uneasy feeling that he had had every morning since the day he awoke from his coma, without exception. He lingered in bed now, opening and closing his eyes to determine the difference between his dream world and the real world. He had dreamt of the same recurring event every night and it always ended the same – unresolved. The dream always felt so physical, as if he had actually touched items in it. He pressed his eyes together again to find out if the next time he opened them, the scenario would play out from where the dream had ceased, but it didn’t. He never found out the ending. Instead he noticed his graceful mother sitting at the foot of his bed, her blue eyes looking worried and her hair uncombed and dripping wet. She was just watching him.

For six months I have listened to you wake up screaming from your dreams. You are free from your coma, yet your unconscious state is haunting you when asleep. Do you want to talk about it?

Duke sat up and scratched his fingers over his temples and then tousled his brown shoulder-length hair. His mother was so gentle and it would be easy to confide in her. He just didn’t want to make a mountain out of a molehill.

It’s nothing. I don’t want you to worry.

I’m your mother, it’s my job to worry, she comforted.

She gave a soft smile and waited in silence. Duke gave in and lowered his guard.

I have only had this one dream the whole time, and it’s always playing out in the same way. It’s almost like it wants to tell me something.

Duke got up and pulled his blue sweatpants over his boxer shorts before he went to lean with both his hands against the windowsill. It was an agonising topic to bring up. The whole feel of the dream was that of misery.

It’s not unlikely. Dreams can be a powerful tool when deciphering the future. Some seers only get their visions through dreams, his mother explained as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

But I’m not a seer and my dream can’t plausibly be from a future event.

Perhaps not, she offered with a doubtful smile. What happens in your dream?

There is a bishop. He is tall and skinny. He wears a green snake around his shoulders, Duke started explaining as he made his best efforts to recall the dream as accurately as possible. He appears to be initiating a ceremony, but he struggles; he is sick. I’m walking closer to the ceremony, wanting to reach it and a lonely white horse comes along. It passes and then I notice this petite woman running towards me. She is fairer than anyone I have ever seen, with porcelain white skin and long golden hair. She is staring at me with the clearest purple eyes. I don’t know how, but I know she is brave, stubborn and strong, and she knows me well. The feel around the entire dream is that she must deliver a message to me, but in every dream, I wake up just before she reaches me and gets the chance to reveal the message.

He sighed with frustration and stared out through the window where the water touched the horizon in every direction.

Seems to be a stressful dream. Do you have any idea what it could mean? What do you think it’s telling you?

Duke rubbed his palms over his eyes. I don’t know. I know it’s an important message, informing me of the purpose of my life. My gut instinct is strongly suggesting that this woman is real. She really does exist and all I’ve been thinking about since I woke up from my coma is that I have to find her.

Duke grabbed hold of a white t-shirt that had been chucked on the desk the evening before and angrily threaded it on, concealing his bloodline tattoo. He glanced at his mother’s face once more, but her expression hadn’t changed.

You have the same look on your face as father, when I told him about my dream, he accused.

He could tell that his mother was attempting to put on another smile and was being careful not to drop her eyes and break contact.

And what look is that?

The one that says you know exactly what the dream is prophesying and that it isn’t something you want to share with me.

I’m sure your father, just as I, is only doing what is best for you. There are still many things for you to learn about the worlds. I will always share what I can with you, she clarified calmly, with such confidence that any fool would trust her.

Duke had had enough of being lied to and of the secrecy between him and his parents. He started to head out of his room.

Have you tried asking Hakon about your dreams? his mother asked just before he reached the door.

Duke jerked the door open and turned to face his mother.

It’s funny you should ask that. Father asked me exactly the same question. It almost makes me believe that you both think that Hakon would reveal the secret even though you know he never declares information about the future. It really makes me wonder what frightens you so much about my dream. Could it be the same as the dangers that lurk in the lower levels of the temple where I am not allowed to go?

You know Hakon is knowledgeable in reading the future. I only thought he might be able to help you. But you are right, he seldom gives away anything about the future. You also know what is on the lower levels. There are only warriors there, trained for the Honorary Knight Order. You, are a prince.

Duke pulled open the automatically closing door and barged out. Before the door swung shut, Pallas caught his attention again.

Where are you going now?

Her voice was full of concern obviously realising that he was determined to think of a plan to seek out the woman in his dream by any means necessary.

I’m going to see my one and only friend at breakfast. Is that alright with you? he snapped sarcastically, insinuating his every move was being controlled and watched.

Yes, that’s fine, Pallas whispered.

The sadness evident on his mother’s face pained him as she didn’t deserve it. He doubted it was even she who pulled the strings around this place; it was his father who did that. Despite his remorse, he was done with apologising and walked out on her.

Charging down the corridors of the temple, taking the many turns that made it feel like a maze, he was surprised to find himself accosted by Corneil around one of the corners and dragged by his arm into the nearest storage room. It was a small room containing cleaning items such as mops, brooms, and cleaning sprays. The room had shelves from floor to ceiling and featured only a tiny window, letting in a small amount of light. Even in the dimness, Duke could see the urgency in his best friend’s eyes. They, just like the rest of his appearance, weren’t very similar to his father Hakon’s. He had lighter features though and it almost looked as if the pigments had run out when creating him. His hair was white, his eyes so light indigo one had to look closely to determine their colour and his skin was the lightest shade of apricot. Duke also teased him for his perfectly heart-shaped lips that formed when he was concentrating hard on something. Normally his eyes spoke of a tormented boy who seemed to know about peoples’ wrong future choices but who had no power to do anything about them. Today they were eager to share a secret.

Look what I found unguarded, Corneil said enthusiastically and waved a black notebook in front of Duke.

That’s my father’s notebook. He never leaves that unattended.

I know, he chuckled like an excited child. And it won’t be long until Leo figures out it’s missing. Look at this page here. I want to show you something.

Are you crazy? Do you realise how much trouble we will be in if he finds out that we took it? Duke questioned hypothetically, as they both knew, and closed the book over Corneil’s fingers.

Technically I took it, so I will be in trouble.

You’ve made me an accomplice now.

True, Corneil stated without paying much attention to Duke’s concerns and pushed his hand away from the cover. Dream Shaper, he then exclaimed and pointed at one of the headings in the book.

What?

See, here. There is a page about a sprit called the Dream Shaper. This is exactly who you need to see to find out more about your dream.

I don’t know, Duke murmured and rubbed his neck with the palm of his hand. Father doesn’t want me to leave the temple and perhaps this spirit is evil or something. Maybe I should ask my father about it first.

No way! If Leo had wanted you to know the meaning of your dream, he would have told you already. The same goes for my father. We need to visit the Dream Shaper without our parents knowing about it.

We?

Yes. This being lives on Vati. We can both go there.

Neil, aren’t you forgetting something?

What?

For starters we’ve never left this temple and we know nothing of the world outside. We don’t have any power stones to venture into another dimension and even if we did, we wouldn’t even know how to use them. We have never been to Vati and wouldn’t know the first thing about locating this being…this spirit. All of this, assuming we can even find out how to escape from this wretched place.

It says here that the Dream Shaper lives near Guard Post 2, Predator’s Passage, on the east side. There should be a large field of sea grass inhabited by jellyfish. Apparently, it’s also near Eutychia’s hideout.

Corneil read aloud from the notebook, looking determined, whilst Duke was squirming with indecisiveness.

It doesn’t sound like a safe place to visit.

What’s wrong Duke, scared?

It’s not about being scared. It’s about being wise.

Really? Corneil goaded him. For months you’ve been telling me that you need to find this woman. This is a plan that would lead you to her. Isn’t it worth the risk even if it isn’t the wisest decision?

Duke frowned and pushed a bucket further away with his foot. Does it say anything else about the spirit?

Err, it says that, if your dream is an essence of a prophecy the information told cannot be untold and what will be done cannot be undone, Corneil read and blew his fringe away from where it was poking his eye.

That is probably what my father is worried about and the reason he won’t tell me its meaning. Not even he can change a prophecy.

It says on this page, Corneil explained as he flicked the pages to one that appeared to have a map, that you travel in a portal from Teli by stepping into two adjoining starlight rays. There are five possible locations for the opening when the moon has started waning. One is from the Pillars of Hercules on Gibraltar, another by the opening of the pyramid at Giza, one in the middle of the erected stones at Stonehenge, one by Alexander the Great’s wooden palace in Russia and the last one on the top of Mount Ararat in Turkey.

And where does the portal lead to?

Either to one of a rotating schedule of the other six dimensions, or to the dimension of the power stone you possess and the world it represents.

If we have no way of finding out to which place it goes, we need a power stone representing a world where we can both go. We don’t want to go to a place where our bodies aren’t compatible with its environment.

So, does that mean we are going?

Duke hesitated, gauging Neil’s excitement. The guy was dying to go on any type of adventure away from the temple. Duke was also intrigued to find out what his dream meant, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that he was going to receive bad news; news that he wouldn’t be able to change or forget.

We still need to obtain a power stone, he stated in yet another attempt to scare Neil off the plan.

Your father has one in his amulet.

Yes, but he is always wearing it.

Even when he sleeps?

I don’t want to risk getting caught stealing it from him when he’s sleeping. What about your father? He has one too.

Use your brain, Duke. If the future resulted in us attempting to steal it from him, he would already know about it by now. I know he doesn’t interfere with the future, but I doubt he will ignore it and let us steal from him.

True, Hakon would know.

What colour is Leo’s stone?

I think it’s blue.

Let’s see, Corneil mumbled to himself as he flicked the pages in the notebook. Vati. It’s as if fate has spoken to us!

Keep it down, Neil, Duke warned.

Duke looked at Corneil sceptically noting the enthusiasm he found in the puzzle.

Okay, let’s say we manage to steal my father’s amulet, without Hakon stopping us from leaving, and for arguments sake, we manage to open a portal to Vati, then how will you manage?

What do you mean?

I mean, most of my genetics are from Vati, so my legs transform into a fin when they touch water, but what about you? Vati is a world entirely consisting of water. Can you breathe under water? Can you turn into a merman?

My great grandmother was Susy. She transformed into anything. I should be able to do that as well.

Perhaps, but your grandfather’s genetics come half from Pixi, a quarter of your father’s are from Sabi and your grandmother’s are entirely from Sabi. Even if there is a slight chance it is possible, you will have to learn how to do it first.

So, are you saying, that if I learn how to manage the constraints of that world, then we’ll go?

Corneil stretched out his hand for Duke to accept the deal.

"If I can successfully steal my father’s amulet, yes, I suppose I’m