The Black Mountain of Sorrow and the Blood Moon Eclipse

By R. A. Murdock

Dave receives another book from the heavens.

Benderman and Ajax begin a long journey discovering friends and a large army preparing for a battle of unseen proportions as it awaits the eclipse and a deadly curse that comes with it. Razien sits in his tomb, neither dead nor fully alive but learning much needed knowledge from those who communicate with him as he waits to blossom from his cocoon.

Karne returns for another Karne-Age, only to be surprised by followers of an unexpected race that's eager to help with his sadistic plans. When things go awry, he pleads for the help of a foe who makes an unexpected deal against their will. In return, two armies clash, causing a sacrifice of a warrior and the ascension of another.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Jul 10, 2023
• ISBN: 9798887936765

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The Black Mountain of Sorrow and the Blood Moon Eclipse

R. A. Murdock

Copyright © 2023 R. A. Murdock

All rights reserved

First Edition

PAGE PUBLISHING

Conneaut Lake, PA

First originally published by Page Publishing 2023

ISBN 979-8-88793-654-3 (pbk)

ISBN 979-8-88793-676-5 (digital)

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

To Christy, the love of my life and my soulmate

Acknowledgment

To the Messenger

Descendants of the Forgotten Heroes: Thirty-Six Hundred Years after Razien's Defeat

Pathway to Destiny

Not in the Hands of the Servants of Evil

A New Karne-Age

The Black Medallion

Graduation Day

Blood Moon Eclipse

Dreams

New Friends and Old Enemies

Burn the Dead

Chaos in Pangea

The Woman in White

To Deal with the Darkness

Losses and Gains

To Christy, the love of my life and my soulmate

Acknowledgment

Above everyone else in my life, my wife, has helped me and encouraged me the most with my writing of this series. Without her, I would have never fulfilled my childhood dream of becoming an author. Thank you, baby.

To the Messenger

It had been nearly two years since the meteor fell, bringing the book with it, when Dave was chopping wood outside in front of his cabin and a feeling came over him that told him to look up. As he looked out into the evening sky above the clave to the east, he watched as another meteor appeared. As before, this meteor appeared to be headed his direction.

The young man could tell that it would not hit him, but it would be close like the first time. He watched it fly above him leaving a trail of smoke and a rumbling in the air that he could feel down in his bones. As the rock made contact with the ground, Dave took cover behind a large black oak tree just a few feet from where he was standing. No sooner he crouched down, covered his ears, and braced himself, the ground shook vigorously as the concussion wave came through, throwing everything that wasn't tied down, clearing the area of debris. Just after the wave passed, he stood to his feet and walked around the tree to see multiple fires lighting up the woods where it had landed.

Without hesitation, he began making his way through the woods to search for the rock. This is really weird, he told himself out loud as he stepped out into the small clearing. I really hope that there isn't a book this time, he said as he stepped over a large fallen tree. Within a couple of minutes, he found the meteor in the middle.

Just as the first time, he grabbed a large stick and began poking at it, and after just a couple of pokes, this meteor also split in half. The young man stared in disbelief at what the rock had inside. Dave stood there for a moment, contemplating whether he should pick the object up or turn around and act as if he never saw it, and as he began to turn his back and walk away, he heard a faint voice of a woman.

"You must retrieve the book," she said softly.

Who's there? he asked, confused and a little startled.

"You must read the book to learn of the past to save the future of the human race, she told him with a soft but stern tone. Branimir has chosen you to be the messenger."

Who are you? he asked out loud, trying to reassure himself that he wasn't hearing a voice inside his head. "What do you mean I'm chosen to be the messenger? Who is Branimir?" he asked, confused, lifting his right brow as he spun around slowly, closely examining the trees and the wood line to see if he could spot anyone following him. As he waited for a reply, he kept his eyes fixed on the tree line, hoping to see someone.

Hello? he asked after a few minutes of silence with no reply from the woman. Are you going to answer me? he added, and after a few more minutes with no reply, Dave began to get a warm sensation all over his mind and body all the way down to his spirit. Without another thought put into it, he squatted down and picked up the object that was rectangle in shape and wrapped in brown cloth.

Once he had the object in his hands, he stood up and slowly began to unwrap it. Like the first one, the cloth was not from this world, and it, too, held a book that was not of this world. The title on the cover read A Battle to the Death. As the young man read the title, a deep dread flushed over him, making his gut feel as if it was being tied into a knot. No sooner than he felt the feeling of dread in his gut, he wrapped the book back up and headed for his house to gather an emergency survival backpack then headed for his boat with haste.

Dave quickly jumped into his boat and paddled to the other side of the Cerberus River. Once he arrived at the opposite shore, he sent his boat back out to the middle with a hole in it so that it would sink to the bottom. As soon as he saw the entire boat go under, he headed north to the lake where the first meteor hit over a year and a half ago and to the cave he used to hide in.

As he made his way north along the riverbank, he could hear and faintly see red and blue enforcement lights from a security force hovering above the area where the meteor hit. Looking in that direction only once and seeing what he figured was one of a small security force from Tienotro, the closest clave that was located to the south was enough for him to pick up his pace and keep his mind focused on the task at hand. Just before sunrise, he arrived at the lake and began walking along the western shore to the cave where he hid to read the first book. Once he had arrived at the cave, he began gathering wood and started a fire in the same spot as he did the first time.

Once the fire was going, Dave sat his backpack up against a rock and pulled the book from it. As he slowly began to unwrap it, he turned and sat on the ground, leaning up against his pack. Before he opened it, he sat, admiring the artwork on the cover as he ran his right-hand fingertips along its surface. As he gently pulled his fingers across the cover, they left sparkly gold trails that disappeared just as fast as they appeared following his fingers.

The cover of the book was of black mystical leather that had a large mountain engraved on it with two moons eclipsing above it. After admiring the craftsmanship of the book for a few moments, he gently lifted the cover and opened the book to its first page. Like magic, the words on the pages seemed to form only as he opened or flipped to the page. The magic of the words made him smile, and so he got himself comfortable and began to read. The first page only had one sentence in the middle that read: To be the messenger for mankind, you must first know and understand their past before you can warn them of their future.

Dave looked at the sentence with confusion for a moment, then realized the book was talking to him.

*****

Nearly thirty-four hundred years after Razien's defeat at the Black Mountain, the land where Razien's first journey took place was named Lacodia, and the land located to the east across the Atlantis Ocean was named Pangea. Lacodia was a land that was split up into six tribal territories: the Northwest Territory, the Ottawan Territory, Setting Sun Territory, Open Plains Territory, Healing Wound Territory, and the Southern Territory.

Each territory was run by a chief that was chosen by that territory's people during what was called a Tribal Chief Summoning. Each chief could only serve one sitting of ten years, and once a year, all six chieftains would gather together in what was called a Tribal Chief Conclave to discuss the orders (laws) of the territories and to bring up new ideas for orders if any of them had any. To make a new order pass, it had to be unanimously chosen by all the chieftains and could not contradict any other.

The chieftains could choose to make an order permanent if said order was also unanimously chosen to be. In that time, there were five permanent orders called Chief Orders.

Chief Order One: Anything decided or built shall cause no harm to the planet beyond reason.

Chief Order Two: Every child, woman, and man is equal in Lacodia.

Chief Order Three: Life and death is free for all Lacodians.

Chief Order Four: Punishment for stealing or possessing a life coin that is not yours is death.

Chief Order Five: Companies shall not influence or interfere in any Tribal Chief Summoning. If found guilty, the owner loses all ownership, and ownership is given to the territory in which it is located. The owner's name then shall be given to the people to be shamed.

At the birth of each Lacodian, a gold coin would be casted with their full name, birth date, and the name of territory they were born in, and it would be given to the parents. This coin was called a life coin. At the age of eighteen, as a rite of passage, the parents would then give the child their life coin to carry with them. The life coin was every Lacodian's proof of life. If one was lost, the owner, along with two witnesses, would have to go to their chieftain so that he or she could have one recast. If one was found, it had to be turned over to the chieftain immediately along with the information of where and how it was found so that the owner could be notified.

When a Lacodian would die, the casket maker, or those who built the pyre, would retrieve it from the person's pockets then give the coin to the tombstone carver so that they could use it for the personal information to be put on the tombstone. Once the tombstone was carved, the life coin would then be sent to the coin caster in that territory to be smelted down and recast for a future Lacodian. Most of Lacodians chose to be burned on a pyre, believing that the smoke would carry their spirit to the Land of Light and their ashes would mix with the earth and wind to fertilize the ground and help replenish what they had used during their life.

Lacodia was a land of peace where the people were not afraid to help one another, and in one way or another, they all worked for one another. Each adult Lacodian was required to work for no less than and no more than four to six hours a day and no more than four days a week. Though they made very little money, the Lacodians had no need to spend it unless it was for something they wanted and not needed. For their time they spent working, the necessities of life were supplied for them. The farmers grew food to feed the builders, crafters, and healers who in turn built their homes and other necessities and supplied them with natural medicine.

In Lacodia, no child, woman, or man was left starving or homeless. To the people of Lacodia, family was more important than anything else, and believing in this way, the entire people of Lacodia was like one big family. Most of the homes for individual families were built in the ground or made of logs. The areas where the people gathered in large numbers to live were called claves. Every clave in Lacodia was either a very large structure carved out underground or a large structure carved into the side of a mountain or cliff.

In the land of Pangea, things were much different. Within just a few hundred years after Razien's entombment atop Karnes Mountain, the vampires, who turned against Loveaya, and most of those who were humans who were turned or bitten migrated to Pangea. Over the next three millennia, they plotted against the Great Allmother Loveaya on how they would exact their revenge.

Three hundred years before the Karne-Age of the Descendants of the Forgotten Heroes, the vampires began their deceit. Hiding undetected among the humans, they began to build multiple empires across Pangea. Over time, some of the humans began to follow in the footsteps of their fellow Pangians, not knowing of the darkness that they would have a hand in unleashing.

At the center of each empire domain rested the main building which in the beginning was called the headquarters. Over time, the headquarters of each empire grew larger and taller than any other building in its domain and became known as Corpses Nations then later changed to Corporations in honor of Corpsious Darmasochist. Surrounding these large buildings were the dwellings of the people in which were employed to the corporations.

The people of Pangea who were employed to these corporations were no more than slaves that were paid very little money and forced to work long hours. For their reward for their hard work, they were forced to pay the corporations regularly for their dwellings and for their vehicles to get back and forth. These dwellings were compacted and crammed into larger buildings that could hold hundreds of individual dwellings. By the time of the upcoming Karne-Age, the population of each of the empire stretched into millions, making it a necessity for each one to have thousands of the compacted dwellings and hundreds of thousands of vehicles.

Each empire had its own domain that became to be called a sity-state that encompassed from hundreds to thousands of square miles. The word sity came from the peasants, or slave workers, of these states. S-I-T-Y stands for Shadowy Individuals Taking our Young. This was due to the fact that in the beginning of these sity-states, the wealthy owners of each empire would send soldiers out to the small villages that encompassed their empires to collect young men and women to be their slaves, sometimes even children. Over time, the villages were practically picked clean.

Over time, the empires and their populations grew so large that they began to let some of the poor start their own small companies on the outskirts of the empires. This decision turned out to work well for the lords of the empires when they realized that the more there are small companies, the more taxes they could collect.

Each of the corporations played their own role in the betrayal of Loveaya. The largest of them all was called the Pangea Corporation which resided in the center of Pangea and had more than ten million slaved employees, which was more than three times than any other corporation. Over the course of their first two hundred years, they had destroyed hundreds of thousands of square miles of forest. Each corporation specialized in creating a demand in natural resources, and the most common was the black blood of the planet, or oil as it came to be called.

The Pangea Corp. created the necessity for oil by creating the vehicle. Though the oil had many uses, the vehicle was the most common and the most destructive to Loveaya. Five decades before the birth of Ajax and Benderman, the Pangea Corporation began selling their vehicles to the Lacodians in hopes that they would need constant repairs due to the fact that they had no paved roads, bringing them in even more money and putting out even more pollution. Only after about ten years and tens of thousands of vehicles that were bought by the Lacodians did they realize how harmful they were to the Allmother. Knowing it would break all ties and trade ability with the corporations of Pangea, the chieftains of Lacodia decided that no more of anything would be accepted from the Pangians and their sity-states.

Once the trade agreements were canceled, the chieftains had their best and brightest crafters, inventors, and engineers begin working on making every vehicle in Lacodia Loveaya—friendly and energy-efficient. After about twenty years, they were able to devise a way to make the vehicles run on cannabis oil, for both ignition and lubrication, and found algae that could thrive on the exhaust from the cannabis oil. The alga was stored in a compartment in the middle of the exhaust pipe, filtering out the harmful components of the exhaust fumes. They filled the tires with a mixture of different types of tree saps, and once it hardened, the tires became almost indestructible.

Since there were such a low number of vehicles compared to the population of Lacodia, the chieftains decided to give one to each family and placed the rest into storage for future disbursement as the population would grow. Since Benderman and Ajax were the only children to their parents, both families decided that they would give the boys one vehicle and they would share the other, allowing their sons to travel with ease.

Because of the totally different ways of the two societies, the average life span of a Lacodian was between one hundred twenty and one hundred sixty years while the Pangian's average life span ranged only between fifty and eighty years. The humans who ran their own corporations in Pangea had an average life span between seventy-five and ninety years.

Descendants of the Forgotten Heroes: Thirty-Six Hundred Years after Razien's Defeat

When Dave started reading this chapter, he realized that it was starting were the first one left off.

*****

The following morning, Ajax and Benderman both woke at the same time, and to their surprise, they both felt completely rejuvenated. As they stood in silence, a cloud of fog appeared, and within it, a door appeared. Without hesitation, they both stepped through, transporting themselves to the table where Edwen had a hearty breakfast waiting for them. The food consisted of eggs, bacon, hash browns, biscuits, gravy, and orange juice.

Holy crap, Ajax muttered just loud enough for the other two to hear him.

No kiddin', Benderman replied with a smile. Well, if we leave hungry, that's our own fault, he added with a smile as he pulled a chair away from the table and sat down.

Please, eat as much as you would like, Edwen told them with a smile. You have a long road ahead of you today. Edwen then turned to the front door and pointed to their packs. I have filled your packs with the necessities and provisions for your journey.

Benderman took a drink of the orange juice to wash the food down so he could speak. Thank you, Edwen, he replied as he wiped his mouth with a napkin. We're gonna need all the help we can get, he added with a smile, and from that point, not another word was spoken, and so the brothers finished eating their breakfast in silence.

When they had finished their meal, Edwen handed them their packs with a smile on his face. I know that the two of you are worried about your jobs, he said as they grabbed their packs from him. But I promise you that the journey that you are about to start will send ripples through time. If you fail, your jobs, along with everyone else's, will not matter. Edwen stared hard at the brothers for a moment in silence. You must succeed, he told them in a serious tone.

Both men swallowed hard, trying to digest the old man's words. Well then, I guess we better get going, Benderman replied with a small frown. It's a long journey back to the car.

Speaking of the car, Edwen replied with a smile. I will help you with that, he said as he snapped his fingers.

What do you mean by that? Ajax asked, but before he could finish his question, Benderman and he both were standing on the edge of a cliff looking out across a vast forest and staring at the Three Sisters in the far distance.

What the hell? Benderman asked, confused, as they both slowly turned around to see the car and both realizing at that very moment that they were standing in the very spot where they had started their journey by foot.

Ajax glanced from the car back to the Three Sisters multiple times, trying to comprehend what had just happened. Did he…how…we were just there now we are here, he muttered, confused.

Benderman placed his right hand on his brother's left shoulder and leaned his head toward him a little. He's a magical white dragon wizard, bro, don't try to understand it, just go with it. Benderman then removed his hand from his brother's shoulder and retrieved the car keys from his own pocket and unlocked the trunk. Come on, bro, he saved us a lot of time. Let's get going, he added as he threw his pack in the trunk.

Yeah, I hear ya, man. Ajax replied, still wrapped up in being teleported. Did you feel anything when he teleported us here? he asked as he threw his pack into the trunk. I didn't feel anything, and I'm trying to figure out how he did it, he added as he sat down in the passenger seat and closed the door. That was trippy as hell, man.

Benderman sat down in the driver's seat and closed the door. Dude, you're never gonna figure it out, and if you keep trying, you're gonna make your damn head implode, he answered with a smile as he stuck the key in the ignition and started the car. Just stop thinkin' about it before you give me a headache, he added as he put the car in drive.

After most the day had passed with random little conversations off and on, just before the sun began to set, Benderman had a vision pass through his head. Whoa, that was a little weird, he said out loud as he pulled into a dirt lot in front of a rest area built into the face of a small twenty-foot-tall cliff face.

What is it? Ajax asked as he looked out the passenger window to read the sign to the resting area. "Sleeping Cerberus Inn, he muttered to himself. What's wrong?" he asked his brother as he turned from the window to look at him.

Benderman took in a quick, deep breath, held it for a second, then let it out. I think I just had a vision, he said as he looked at Ajax, slightly confused.

What was it of? Ajax asked with intense curiosity.

Benderman paused for a moment, lifting his right eyebrow. It was of a man walking down the side of the road in the middle of a thick forest. He was dressed like the lumberjacks that worked for the lumberyard we work for.

You mean the lumberyard we worked for, Ajax interrupted. Because I don't think we are gonna have a job there once they realize we aren't coming back.

You know what I mean, Benderman continued, a little frustrated from being interrupted. He had light-brown skin, long hair, and a long, thick beard, and the initials JD keep popping out at me.

Well, I tell you what, Ajax said with a smile. You continue to think about what it means and I will go get us a room. As Ajax exited the car, Benderman slowly nodded his head.

Within just a few minutes, Ajax walked out of the office holding one finger up on his right hand and three fingers on his left as he began to walk to his left. Benderman nodded his head and pulled the car in front of the door that had the number thirteen on it. The two men quickly grabbed their packs from the trunk and went inside. Within no time, both friends were passed out cold on separate beds from the exhaustion from the long drive throughout the day.

That night, Ajax slept like a newborn puppy while on the other hand Benderman tossed and turned all night due to his vision he had of the man he saw walking alongside the road. The next morning, though he did sleep some throughout the night, he could feel the strain that his dreams had put on him. Trying to forget about it, he quickly gathered his things and walked out to the car to wait for Ajax. After he threw his pack in the trunk, he opened the front passenger door and sat down in the seat. As he sat sideways in the seat with the door open and his feet still on the ground, he turned and opened the glove box and pulled out a neon-green pipe and put it to his lips. He lit the bowl with his neon green lighter and inhaled one deep time. While he held his breath, he put the pipe back in the glove box along with his lighter. He sat back in the seat just as Ajax walked out of the office from turning in the room key.

What the hell, bro? Ajax asked as he threw his pack in the trunk, closed it, and walked to the passenger side of the car. He could tell by the way Benderman was sitting and the look on his face that he had taken a hit off the pipe. If you're gonna take a hit, you gotta give me one.

Benderman grinned at his friend as he pulled his legs into the car and shut the door and rolled down the window then let out the thick cloud of smoke he was holding in his lungs in his brother's direction. Don't think so, bro, he replied as he tossed the car keys to his buddy. You're driving this time, and I'm relaxing.

Even though Ajax wanted to smoke, he knew the rules of the car, so with a disappointing frown, he walked around the front of the car and got into the driver seat. Where we headed? he asked as he started the car.

Breakfast, Benderman replied with a grin as he looked at Ajax with his bloodshot eyes. Do we know where there is food around here? he asked curiously.

I figured we would want breakfast first, so I asked the lady in the office, and she said there is a sit in restaurant in just a couple miles down the road, he replied, shaking his head with a grin.

In less than half an hour they had made it to the restaurant where they both ordered steak and eggs. They had eaten their food in silence, and when they were finished, they each left a small silver coin for payment, got back in the car, and began heading east again.

After about an hour on the road, Benderman began to lose his buzz, and at about the same time, he quickly sat up and began scanning the surroundings. He's here, he said as he focused on the horizon. I don't know where he is, but he's close.

What the hell are you talking about, bro? Ajax asked, confused, as he looked over at his friend. You're not making any sense, he added.

JD, Benderman replied, not wanting to look away from the horizon. JD is here, somewhere.

How do you know he is in this area? Ajax asked, still confused. It all looks the same to me.

Because the buzzards circling in the sky up ahead of us, Benderman replied. When I saw them, that's when I saw… he stopped midsentence. There he is. He pointed with his right hand and smiling.

Ajax then began to see the figure on the right-hand side of the road as they got closer and closer. Damn, bro, he replied, amazed. That's pretty good, he added. I figured you were just losing your mi… Ajax paused as he began to slow the car down. He noticed right off that his brother described the man perfectly.

Stop, stop the car, Benderman pleaded.

I am, I am, Ajax replied with a smile. Don't go getting your panties in a knot.

Benderman looked at his brother while raising his left eyebrow over the comment then opened his door and got out. Hey, you! he hollered at the stranger that was no