A Darker Shade of Sorcery - - (leveled readers .txt) 📗

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“He’s right,” Izekiel growled.

“Fine, let’s go.” Jed changed direction again.

Elijah still looked reluctant, but followed. “Maybe she’s already there?”

“I only saw high-rank Realmers in Castle-Coterie,” Evan said. “I think they might’ve evacuated the Novices when it first started.”

The group tore through the Fortress, adrenaline surging through their veins.

They came across another demon, which Jed quickly dispatched, hewing off half its face. Then another, which Elijah hurled a lightning bolt at. More monsters passed by in blurs as they raced under bridges and through courtyards. At one point a demon that resembled a giant grasshopper pounced out of nowhere, seizing Emillia. Zeke quickly smashed it to pulp, with fists transformed into rock.

Evan saw that even the Fortress itself was aiding Venators against the demons. A cluster of spiked and slime-ridden monsters chasing a group of Novices were tripped up and pounced on by Veneseron’s statues, whilst a secret door embedded in a castle wall opened quickly to allow the Novices to escape. The door then disappeared, causing the demons to smash into solid stone instead.

Evan almost had a heart-attack when they witnessed a demon bearing down on two Novice children who hadn’t made it to safety. He would never, ever, forgive himself if any Venator were to die because of him. He and Jed plummeted forwards, reaching the beast and hacking it apart.

Izekiel and Xavier grabbed a child each and they continued to race on.

When they hurtled round the next corner it was with relief. Outside the Citadel the Veneseron Masters were in full flow, eradicating the monsters as they moved on to protect the whole Fortress.

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Master Greller, with arms elongated to vast knives, sliced fiends into quarters as he spun about, whilst Aqenna used water magic to flood demons out of the area in waves.

As Evan and the others approached, Urkzal, Arnvar and Casselle came into view, leading an army of elves, orcs and every other race from the city into battle.

Evan watched, astounded as the city races rushed into the battleground in a wave of fury, beating back the tide of grotesque demons that plagued their homeland.

“Protect every castle.” Mistress Taretta appeared in the centre of the fray, her voice booming magically. “Let no Venator be harmed. Destroy every demon.”

The new army roared in unison, led by the gargantuan Orc. Urkzal was terrible to behold, obliterating fiends with his hammer as he ploughed on to guard the other castles.

Evan wasted no time now the path was clear. He led his friends towards the Citadel doors. Zeke and Xavier urged the Novice children to Taretta’s side as they went.

Suddenly an octopoid monster charged. Evan’s death flashed before his eyes as the fiend’s flame-filled tentacles came down. But then Elijah and Emi cleaved off a tentacle each. Purple blood arced in the air as Elijah thrust an energy bolt into the monster’s face.

Before Evan could thank Elijah, a scorpion demon became his next foe. Fiends withered by decay followed. Evan cast emerald flames again, ripping through the horrendous horde. The group scurried through the temporary path, flinging themselves at the Citadel.

Evan launched himself through the doors into a silent chamber beyond. This was one castle the demons hadn’t invaded.

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Jed, the last of them through, slammed the heavy doors behind him, barring entrance to the hideous hands clutching at them. The doors quivered as demons piled against it. Abruptly, their jeers switched to wails as the city races enveloped them all, hacking them back to oblivion.

Evan clambered up the steps towards Tarensen’s quarters. Since the battle started he hadn’t thought coherently. His mind was one chaotic blur and it hadn’t occurred to him Tarensen might not be there.

A huge weight had been lifted now, they were winning, it would be over soon.

They had just seen the Masters and all the city races at work. The demons didn’t stand a chance.

BOOM!

Behind Evan the stone wall exploded, showering them with shards of rock.

Evan veered to the side, landing against the opposite wall alongside Jed, Zeke and Xavier. As he came to a halt he saw Emillia swallowed by the avalanche of broken stone.

“Emi!” Elijah screamed, diving amongst the rocks, frantically pulling out her limp body from underneath.

Demons vomited forth from the newly created hole in the side of the castle.

Elijah screamed again, this time in rage as he rushed the monsters, flinging magic wildly. Evan and Jed tried to pull him back but they were too late. Elijah was enveloped by the demon sea.

Izekiel, Xavier and Jed screamed in fury, plunging in with weapons raised, beating against the monstrous mass to retrieve their fallen friends.

After slaying a horned demon with a face reminiscent of a seal, Evan spotted Elijah and Emi’s immobile forms feet away.

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“Cover me,” he yelled, sheathing Ruaden.

Whilst Zeke and Jed fought like madmen, he ducked down and clasped Emi and Elijah by the wrists before hurrying backwards, dragging their bodies out of the fray.

Evan found both of their pulses still beating, though faintly.

Wrath consumed him, he turned back to join the fight, but before he could another explosion rocked the foundations and a second avalanche smashed into the castle. The rubble burst in upon the battle itself, squashing several demons with a nasty squelch and blocking up the passageway. Evan and Jed were separated from Zeke and Xavier.

Jed struggled back to his feet as the castle trembled and yet more demons clambered through craters in the wall.

Not knowing the fate of his friends on the other side of the passageway, or how seriously injured both Elijah and Emi were, Evan barely held it together as he fought the demon mob.

They were severely outnumbered and the monsters continued to trickle in. Evan knew it wouldn’t be long before he and Jed perished.

*

Brooke had been lying in bed for hours. She hadn’t left her room since her last meeting with Arantay, when he’d rejected her. Her eyes kept trying to cry but she wouldn't let them, she wouldn't let a boy rule her life. So why have you shut yourself in your room?

It was evening now but she hadn’t seen anyone all day. C'mon you stupid girl, pull yourself together.

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As she threw herself off her bed and strode towards the door she heard a scrabbling, as if a rat had scurried across the floor boards. The scrabbling came again, although it sounded from outside now, on the castle walls themselves. Brooke walked towards her curtained window. She paused inches away, ears strained to hear that sound again. Silence.

Tentatively, she placed her hand at the edge of the curtain, then snapped it back fast.

Only empty night and swirling mist appeared beyond the glass.

She was about to turn away when…

SMASH!

Brooke screamed as the window shattered and a grotesque hand plunged in, gripping her throat. Her scream was cut off as the rest of the demon followed. Sorcery flared within her and a shock spell careened into the fiend, sending him flying back out of the window and through the air. The malformed body fell a hundred and fifty feet before landing with a crunch.

Brooke had no time to think, as an ape-like demon swung in to her room, followed by still more monsters.

She threw herself backwards, rolling over her bed and grabbing her short sword.

As she yanked open her door she conjured a poison cloud behind her to fill the room and choke out the demons within.

She couldn’t believe what was happening, it didn’t feel real. All she knew was that she had to keep running.

Whilst sprinting down the hallway she noticed the other doors had been ripped apart. Brooke prayed no Venators had been inside when that happened. As she ran,

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more demons emerged from her fellow Novice’s rooms. She utilised air sorcery, shoving the monsters away as they leered towards her.

Worse than the shrieks and cackles of the demons, were the human shouts and screams.

Brooke had no idea where to turn, how to escape. Before she could round the next corner a hairless caricature of a man stepped out in front of her. His skin was rotten and thick with oozing sores. Zombie. She lashed out with her sword, severing his head from his body. There was a sick squelch but no blood when the skin of his throat parted and his head dropped off. She watched, horrified, as a newly formed head sprang from his neck, grinning.

Brooke ran back the way she’d come, only to find three more demons behind her.

One was little more than a skeleton, its skull wreathed in flames.

The zombie groaned and lunged but she rolled underneath the cadaverous limb and flung herself to the nearest exit. She raced through an archway ahead as all four demons stalked her.

The archway led onto one of the many bridges connecting the castles. It also opened up a terrible vista.

Violence reigned all around.

Winged atrocities swooped through the Fortress as giant monsters roamed the courtyards below.

With a pang, Brooke saw people she knew taking part in the vicious battle.

Many Arch-Realmers, led by Tyrell, stormed through the courtyard, hacking and slashing at the fiends with their weapons and obliterating them with their magic.

Explosions of fire and ice erupted in bright flashes of devastation.

Brooke saw others she knew, Lok, Domnican and even Lyella were there.

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As Brooke sped along the bridge Tyrell spotted her, he called out but his words were lost amongst the cacophony of battle.

She was halfway across the bridge when more demons emerged from the castle opposite; she was trapped on both sides.

She whirled, casting a shock spell towards the two new monsters, knocking one off the bridge to smear the stones below and stunning the other.

Unfortunately in doing this, Brooke left herself open and before she could turn back the zombie’s rotting arms had encircled her.

*

Evan and Jed fought back to back, both moving instinctively, knowing that if one of them stopped, both would be dead.

The demons flowed against them in a seething stream, their current too strong, their lust to kill and feed too great.

The demons surrounded Evan on all sides. Exhaustion had drained them, both physically and magically. This was the end.

Suddenly, as the demons pressed in, a human shout pierced their ears.

Evan turned to see Sintian Stray fighting through the monsters, drenched in demon blood, his black eyes blazing.

“If there’s one thing I hate more than you two, its demons,” Sintian snarled at their looks of amazement. “This is all your fault Evan.”

Jed and Evan just gazed at him in shock, but then the brief respite was over, as the demons reformed.

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The three of them fought now, but even with the renewed aid of their rival they couldn’t hold the monsters off forever.

Evan cried out in despair. One second Jed was fighting alongside him, the next moment a gargantuan demon’s paw smacked straight into his skull, flinging Jed feet across the air to collide with the opposite wall.

Evan flinched as Jed’s head bounced against stone and he slid down the wall to land motionless, blood pooling around him.