Total pages in book: 136
Estimated words: 128087 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 640(@200wpm)___ 512(@250wpm)___ 427(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 128087 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 640(@200wpm)___ 512(@250wpm)___ 427(@300wpm)
Zepharali nodded, his heart hammering hard enough to hurt his rib cage.
“So far, there’s been no attacks on our people, so I’ll give this intruder one fair chance to reveal themselves before I deploy our combat unit.”
“I agree,” Dorema’s wife added. “It could be someone seeking refuge and unsure if you’d accept a species from one of the dark realms.”
Zepharali mulled that over for a moment before deciding to trust his commanders.
He made a gesture for them to continue forward, as it would take them a few hours to reach the peak of the Kipmis by ground instead of by way of his element.
There were almost sixty of them, and he could only carry about twenty on his wind.
He was still uneasy that whoever was hiding up there might have time to mount a defense during their three-hour trek through the dense forest, so he prayed to the gods for safety and security.
As they made their way through the gates of his palace, his oracle and seer were standing with the Seargent of the Wall.
Kerdos bowed slightly, his bright orange, wavy hair falling over his broad shoulders. “My lord, the elders have requested an audience with you.”
“They have it.” Zepharali leapt from Fire Breath’s back and approached the wise women with the respect and honor they deserved.
The oldest of the two, eyes glowing a startling neon yellow, dropped her chin to her chest.
“Lord, I’m afraid I come with disturbing images.”
“Speak freely and with conviction,” Zepharali requested, knowing they had little time to spare.
“A dark shadow has come to the Land of Three Suns.” The seer’s eyes flashed from yellow to hazy gray, then back. “More will follow in pursuit, far more damned than the first.”
Zepharali’s heart sank as he gazed across his land and oceans full of a plethora of harbored species he allowed refuge and swore to protect.
His seer and oracle had never been wrong, as their visions were given by the oracular gods of Delphic. It was why his legion was unstoppable and undefeated.
“What say you, Great Oracle Ginevra?”
Her head was tilted to one side as if someone or something spoke in her ear. She inched forward with her gnarled hands tucked into the sleeves of her white robe.
“An evil you have never encountered will come with an army so dark and vast that it will shade your suns.”
An invisible fist slammed into Zepharali’s gut when he looked back at his eldest daughters.
He wouldn’t be the first titan with a cursed realm or one that had to be hard-fought for.
His war brother, Orestes, the Titan of the West, now named Adres, had been defeated in his efforts to protect his Land of Spring and had fled with his people to the Earth Realm to save his and their lives from a coven of ancient witches.
Even Boraleashe’s Arctic World had been cursed by the Moon God for almost a century and stricken with strife and starvation before it was conquered.
A threat to a titan of an element was uncommon but not impossible.
“Thank you for addressing us so quickly. We will heed to your visions, great mothers.”
The elders nodded again, then moved out of their way for their division to continue its trek.
Zepharali
The village was quiet after the Wardens of the Wall issued an immediate lockdown until Zepharali could investigate the situation.
Zepharali had been in deep contemplation during the journey. He was concerned not only about the many lives he’d brought with him but his eldest heirs accompanying him.
No words were spoken as they approached the peaks of the Kipmis.
“Listen,” Dorema whispered.
Her wife paused, then answered, “I hear nothing.”
“Precisely.”
Zepharali had been thinking the same thing but hadn’t voiced it.
The forests of Scáthanna were usually alive with their own pulse and heartbeat.
Animals of various natures were abundant and thrived here. So for them not to hear the pitter-pats of bushy-tailed tree reeks or the sweet songs of the sifus, not even the flutters of fairy wings, was another sign something bad was lurking.
“Do you smell that, Father?” Dorema asked with one hand over her nose. “It’s rank.”
Zepharali could only nod, his tongue sticking to the roof of his mouth.
He detected the putrid smell of smoke as they got closer to the summit, but after they crested the last bend, something delicious made his cock jerk hard enough to startle him.
He was glad his daughter and soldiers were too busy surveying the grounds to notice him clenching his teeth.
Dorema used her scope to scout a few miles ahead. “Perhaps we should’ve brought the Nero wolves for additional tracking help.”
Aoide tucked a lock of red hair behind her ear. “It’s too late for that now, my lovely.”
Lieutenant Aoide raised one fist, bringing the unit to an abrupt halt.
They leapt from their stallions in the location where Zepharali had sent his heat-seeking rays that had been shot back at him.