Epilogue

(Thank you for coming along with me for a story about dark world, mysterious magics, personal growth, and a little romance.

I hope to write more books in the Realms of Nyx. Below is a scene from Realms of Nyx: The Last Word, the book after after Realms of Nyx: War of Ascension in which Shiori battles both fantastic dark forces and the corrupting influence of true power with the help of her friends, family, and two suitors.

I hope you enjoy another peek into the Realms of Nyx.)

“Momma, an angel!” a little girl said, pointing to a light in the night sky.

Her mother pulled the girl forward.

“It’s an angel, momma.”

“There’s no such thing,” her mother said. Curfew was approaching.

Others noticed a light in the sky that grew brighter as it approached. Shiori had tasked her power with monitoring anyone aware of her. The girl had been the first.

“Momma, it’s an angel, look!”

The mother looked up and saw Shiori descending on the town of Panglai. The mother screamed in fear.

Alarm bells sounded.

“They’ve noticed you,” Symphon thought.

“Just connect me to the stones.” Shiori stopped her descent above even the tallest buildings. She felt Symphon move about unseen thanks to her distraction.

“We’ll be late.”

“Let them wait.”

“They won’t like that.” Symphon reached the first stone. Shiori felt her Anchor grow warm as he placed his Anchor against a Pylon stone.

Shiori was distracted as she took control of the Pylon. Like every substantial human city in Nyx, Panglai was ancient, built by humans from Earth long ago.

Each city was founded around a Royal temple although the actual temple in Panglai been destroyed centuries ago. The Pylon stones, however, still remained.

Anyone trying to remove those would have a bad day that included disintegration. Destroying two or more stones would make the Realm of Panglai itself disappear.

Power surged to Shiori from the Stone, attempting to render Shiori into bright dust. The energy directed at Shiori could instantly melt any stone bridge in Panglai.

That energy was nothing for Shiori. With a sigh of effort she shouldered the Pylon’s energy and took control.

As a side effect, the light she cast increased until she shone like a star. People ran in terror.

“I’m moving to the next one.” Symphon had broken into the basement of Panglai’s main bank, where the first Pylon had been built into the foundation.

The little girl pointed at Shiori. Her mother had been stunned, but when Shiori flared brighter the woman regained her senses and led her daughter away.

She felt soldiers gathering. Like most cities, Panglai feared Speakers. Hypocritically powerful men kept some around and called them a different name.

A group of Chanters gathered from the nearest garrison before the Speakers arrived. They struck up a slow Chant meant to sap away Shiori’s power.

Shiori bathed them in a viciously bright light different from normal light. This was true light. The Stain over everything in Panglai burned away under that light.

The Chanters stopped their irritating Chant, which had tickled the back of Shiori’s brain. The Chanters looked down in horror at their Unstained clothes. Everything in Shiori’s sight had been purified of the Stain.

“Begin again!” the Chanter squad commander demanded, but the group was panicked. First one, then all the Chanters ran in fear.

The mother and child had fallen in fear as they were purified by true light. The girl looked at her dress in wonder. She had red dress that was no longer stained dark. She stared at her dress as if she had never seen red before.

“This is taking too long,” Symphon said irritably. He blew hole in a government building housing the next Pylon stone.

“I’m not just here for the stones,” Shiori reminded him. “We are winning people over. They haven’t seen a Royal in generations.”

They’d not had this argument for weeks. Symphon didn’t trust that people could be convinced. His upbringing didn’t allow him to trust people much.

Symphon connected Shiori to the second Pylon stone. She took control of the stone and shown brighter.

The second Pylon stone shifted to Shiori and the Realm of Panglai became unstable. The sky shattered, revealing the Realm to be a floating island of reality among an endless void

Shiori recognized the Realm of Felthal above her and a dozen others, dark bottoms glistening with occasional lights. She saw other islands in the distance.

The Realm of Panglai shook as she connected to the third Pylon stone. Shiori focused. If Shiori damaged any two of the stones, this Realm would cease to exist.

An earthquake struck the Realm beneath her. A few buildings crumbled below her. She commanded her power to protect everyone from danger.

Below her, tiles fell from a roof and tumbled toward the girl and her cowering mother. The girl screamed, but only tiles far from the girl struck the ground.

The other tiles hovered in the air.

“Momma, the angel saved us!” The girl clapped in delight. Her mother had heard the roof tiles crash and opened her eyes. She screamed.

The woman reached for her child’s hand but noticed Shiori. The Queen of Nyx floated, resplendent over Panglai. Shiori looked directly at the woman, who panicked.

She forgot her child and ran. The little girl was mesmerized by Shiori and didn’t notice her mother abandoning her.

Shiori sighed under the weight of the third Pylon stone, and with it the entire Realm of Panglai. The weight of mountains, fields, and cities bore down on her. An island, hundreds of kilometers across lay on her shoulders.

“Last will take time,” Symphon explained. “They buried it stone under a road when they redirected the river.”

“I’m fine,” Shiori said. Thankfully it was only one island on her shoulders. She could handle four or five if needed.

“Are you sure? Their response forces are arriving at your position.”

“Symphon, relax.”

The mother fled and forgot her daughter.

The girl noticed her mother was gone. “Momma? Where did you go?” She cried, covering her eyes against the bright light.

Symphon struggled to lift a dozen tons of road from atop the last stone. Shiori lent him power and his strength increased a hundredfold. The road, generations of thick repair atop it, leapt from the ground.

Shiori raised one hand and the sun rose.

“Shiori, we don’t have time for this.”

“Your concerns have been noted,” she answered.

Shiori infused the sun of Panglai with true light.

Below, Speakers arrived and threw lightning and fire at her. She batted the attacks away dismissively.

People looked up in amazement. It was suddenly day.

Then the usual blue-tinted sunlight turned yellow, then heated white.

People screamed under the light. Those hiding in buildings or under blankets discovered, to their horror, that the light leaked around such barriers.

A solid light poured like thin water from the sun over Panglai. It submerged Panglai in true light.

That was when the fourth Pylon stone pushed against Shiori.

Shiori smiled. She felt the Stain burn from Panglai.

The Speaker squadron below her collapsed, black smoke coming from their ears. They blinked as Kryptic Scales on their eyes died, freeing them to think for themselves after rubbing away a layer of ash covering their pupils.

“Shiori?” Symphon asked, worried. He had never seen her channel this much energy.

Light suffused everything in the Realm of Panglai. Kryptics living on people’s eyes or in their ears died first. The ones in their throats and minds burned away next. Those in hearts came last.

“Lian? Lian!?” Shiori heard a tear-stained voice yell below her. The panicked mother blinked black ash from her eyes and remembered her fear for her daughter’s life now that the Kryptics were gone. “Where is my daughter?”

“Momma?” the child answered. She was too young to have made many mistakes and barely been infected by Kryptics.

The fourth Pylon fell under Shiori’s control. She sighed in satisfaction as the weight lifted from her shoulders. Panglai was hers. The weak Speakers below ran away.

“Incoming flight of Kryptic Dragons.” Symphon hated and feared Kryptic Dragons.

“We weren’t supposed to take Panglai until next week. We’re ahead of schedule, but the Generals will be mad if we make them wait.”

“You’re just dreading Duke Praetor’s presence at the meeting,” Shiori answered. Since Masahiro Motohara became the new Duke Praetor, things had been tense between the two brothers.

“We’re done here. We need to leave. Now.”

Shiori saw six massive black Dragons flying toward Panglai.

The girl, Lian, screamed. She hadn’t feared the angel, but she knew Dragon stories.

One didn’t hide from Dragons. No building or mountain could protect against their fire. It destroyed everything.

“The Dragons will pull away if we escape through a portal,” Symphon said. “Let’s go.”

Shiori summoned an angry ball of white fire to either hand. As she tapped her Royal power in earnest, the Realm of Panglai vibrated.

Lotus blossoms bloomed from barren water. Old writing too worn to read glowed on tombstones. Crumbling timber in healed and sprouted leaves.

One attack would destroy the Dragons, but she prepared a second just in case.

“Just a moment, Symphon,” Shiori thought. “I’m going to show a little girl what angels do to Dragons.”