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

glided towards the heinous army in the distance.

From his vantage point, Galk could see the Wildwastes far beyond the castle.

Usually the ruined black sands were filled with demons squabbling over scraps, but today the wastes were home to Velkarath’s ever-growing army.

Thousands of black tents and multi-coloured fires barely stood out amidst the terrible dark mass of wretched creatures that made up the horde.

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Galk knew that some were enslaved, but many more served Velkarath willingly.

Legions of orcs, onlekks, goblins and dark elves made up the bulk of soldiers, but the giant nephilim, ogres and mandons were present too, all three latter races standing out due to their size. Valorcs were the eyes and the ears of the horde, whilst demons of all kind outnumbered them all.

On its other side, the bridge overlooked an amphitheatre below, where a large crowd of higher ranked Dark-Venators were gathered. They faced a Master on a podium in the middle of the amphitheatre, giving a fierce speech.

“Soon we shall strike the realms, harder, and more frequent than ever before. It is our time my Rakarn. The Dark-Realmers are rising! We are more powerful now then we’ve been in centuries. Akirandon is greatly pleased with you all. Soon, Veneseron will cower before us. They cannot stop the natural order of things anymore. Demons need to feed upon the vulnerable humans just as humans feast upon animals. The weak races deserve to be crushed and the strong to survive. The Realmers are fighting a losing war, a war that has waged for nigh on eternity, but now the end is in sight and it is we, Velkarath, who shall be victorious!”

Thunderous chants of, “Velkarath, Velkarath,” heeded the master’s monologue.

Galk nodded his approval as he entered Akirandon’s tower.

Galk grinned all the way to the throne room, until he reached the entrance doors.

The valorc guards knew him, and did not question his entry as they pushed the doors open.

Fear touched both his hearts for the first time.

He longed to please his queen, but he knew that every time one was in her presence they risked death by her merest whim.

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Galk knew that Akirandon would not kill him today though. She would surely reward him for his news. Still, the fear clutched him. She was more than just a demon, more than just a Dread Lord. She was everything.

As soon as Galk entered the chamber, Akirandon’s latest pet approached. The winged lion stalked forwards, growling deep in his throat. A great dragon clung to the far wall, asleep, for now. The other occupants of the room, (half a dozen Dread Lords,) were bowing and scraping their way out, murmuring their reverence of the demi-goddess.

“You may approach!” A sonorous voice echoed inside his head.

It took Galk a second to realise it was the dragon who spoke. As he walked, the lion kept close, its eyes hungry. He knew if he displeased Akirandon the lion would get its wish and devour him, if the dragon didn’t get him first. Fortunately, his news would delight the Queen. Oh, she’d reward him greatly. Maybe she’d give him some Dark-Realmer slaves to perform his every command.

Galk kept his eyes down, to look at the queen’s beautiful yet terrible form was near impossible for even the bravest of demons.

He was trembling, his hearts fluttering wildly. Akirandon was powerful enough to burn Velkarath to the ground with the flick of her wrist, to slaughter him and everyone else in this realm without effort. She wasn’t just queen of Velkarath, but queen of all demonkind. It wouldn’t be long before all demons served her, and all Realmers were defeated by her.

“My beloved Queen… I have news,” said Galk. “Your child has been found.”

Akirandon stirred on her throne, purple eyes glowing.

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…To Be Continued

Dear Reader,

I hope you enjoyed A Darker Shade of Sorcery- Book 1 of the Realmers Series.

As an author, I love feedback. Whether it’s positive, negative or constructive, it can always be helpful. You can shoot me an email at will_collins@msn.com if you’d like to know anything about the series, or just to share your thoughts on the books.

If you have the time, please feel free to leave a book review. As the reader, you have the power to let other potential readers know what they’ll be getting, why they might like it, or why they might not. You can even contribute to the book’s success.

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Thank you for reading, I hope to see you again.

In gratitude,

William Collins.

Moonlight War

The Realmers- Book 2

PREVIEW

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Josh hated having a werepanther for a roommate sometimes. Of course, the vampire and the demon hunter in the room next door weren’t ideal either. Being a weretiger himself, Josh should’ve been the one always breaking things by accident, but it was Ryan who constantly underestimated his own strength. Ryan hadn’t got his new animal instincts under control yet either.

“Sorry,” Ryan grumbled, looking down at the broken ping pong table in dismay.

His other housemates were roaring in laughter, but Josh wasn’t too pleased.

“You’re paying for that Ry,” he said, dropping his own paddle on the broken table. “Jeez, just because you lost again.”

“I said I’m sorry,” Ryan scowled, “I can fix it, honest. Have we got any super glue?”

Ed snorted around his straw, and turned to Silas, “Shifters eh? Bloody felines.”

“Hey I didn’t do anything,” Josh said, collapsing on the armchair beside the other two. “And stop downing all the drinks, pace yourselves.”

He ran a hand through his hair. He’d have to style it before they headed out.

Ironically, his ginger hair matched the colour of his fur when he shifted forms; much to the amusement of his roommates.

He made to grab a drink of his own.

“Oh, not that one dude,” Ed said, “I’ve already mixed blood with the vodka.”

“Why would you do that?” Josh demanded.

“I only put blood in a few drinks,” Ed said, popping the straw back in his mouth as he sipped, “so no one steals my share.”

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Whilst he and Ryan had been playing ping pong, Silas was showing Ed the Venator card game of Urengi. Both of them held several cards each as they got a start on the pre-drinking tonight before they went out.

The front room of their frat house was large, but barely furnished. The broken ping pong table was just one less item in the bare room now. The brown carpet was covered in hair. Anyone would think half a dozen dogs lived in the house. Josh was the only one who tried to keep the place clean and tidy, but it was an eternal and futile task. His roommates were beyond lazy when it came to cleaning up after themselves.

If someone had told Josh before he became a weretiger that supernatural frat houses and sororities existed, he would’ve politely recommended they check themselves into an asylum, but here he was.

Josh checked his watch. “Ten o’clock now guys. We’ll have a few beers then go, yeah?”

“Yeah baby,” Silas whooped, handing Josh a can, “get this down ya’.”

“What the hell is it?” Josh stared at the florescent green can, the writing across it resembled Latin, but weirder.

“I got a case of elven wine in,” said Silas with a wink, “fresh from my world.”

“Fair enough,” said Josh, taking a gulp. “Hmm, surprisingly good, a mix of grape and… something else.”

“Unicorn urine,” Silas said seriously.

Josh spat it out everywhere.

Ed and Silas burst into laughter again. “Just kidding, bro. It’s some sort of elven plant or fruit in it. Trust me, it’s good.”

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Josh shook his head, “I’m not sure if I can trust you, but it’s nice so what the hell.”

Josh had first learned magic was real shortly after he’d been turned, he didn’t learn of Venators until over a year later. The other shifters in Chicago he got to know didn’t have too high an opinion of the demon hunters. They’d told Josh to watch himself around Venators, “they’re always looking for races like us to be breaking the law, so they can punish us,” they had said.

Josh had only met two Venators, the other being Amy from the sorority, but in his opinion they were both cool and down-to-earth people.

Silas did make sure Ryan kept his anger in check however. Silas always asked Ed if he was drinking animal blood too, or if it was human blood, that it had come from a hospital, not a helpless victim.

Josh looked over the room as Ryan attempted to repair the table, to little effect.

His angry mutters were growing louder. Any second now he might accidentally shift into his panther form and cause more damage throughout the frat house.

“Give it up, Ryan,” he said. “You can’t fix it. Come and have a drink.”

Ryan threw the two pieces of the table down and stormed over to take another empty armchair.

“Breathe Ry,” Silas warned him.

“I’m fine,” Ryan replied, grabbing his own can.

“Yeah, you don’t want to let Amy see you all hot and bothered at the party.” Ed sniggered, his needle-sharp teeth glinting.

Maybe it was because Josh had met a few vamps now, but he could always tell them apart from the humans or other Moonlight races. The fact Ed was startlingly pale also helped.

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Sharing a house with Ed was almost as annoying as sharing with Ryan. Ed had his ‘house rules’ he tried to impose. Obviously, the rule of not going into his room and drawing back the curtains made sense. But the fact Ed wouldn’t allow garlic in the house was ludicrous. Not because it affected vampires in any way; Ed was just allergic. Even though his recent vampirism rendered any allergies redundant, Ed still wouldn’t let them cook a meal with garlic in it.

Most recently Josh had been forced to buy a new set of pans for the kitchen and make sure no other iron was around. Silas was dating a fae girl from the sorority and didn’t want her getting burned accidentally.

“I told you, I’m not into Amy,” Ryan grumbled. He downed his can in one go, before popping the top of another.

“And yet you always hook up at every party,” Silas pointed out.

“Good thing too,” said Ed, “as a Venator she can use her sorcery to knock him out when he has one of his tantrums. He might hurt a normal girl.”

“I do not have tantrums. And I’d never hurt anyone… on purpose.”

“You should be fine tonight.” Josh tried to put him at ease. “We went hunting in the forest yesterday,” he told Ed and Silas, “got all that pent up rage out.”

“Good,” said Silas, “we don’t want another fight. I almost had to use my magic on you last time. If any of the other students saw me I’d have to leave.”

“Hey, would that count as a mission failure?” Josh asked.

“Probably,” Silas said, “my superior Realmers wouldn’t be happy at least. And my current mission is to stay in this college as long as I can. With two supernatural frat houses and a supernatural sorority they need a couple of Venators here to keep the