Dark Lord's Commands 2 by M.E. Thorne

Author:M.E. Thorne [Thorne, M.E.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-12-18T06:00:00+00:00

Chapter 15

Locating a clear stairwell, we began to climb. As we did, Gaspar pulled the strange package from her pack and began fiddling with it. Removing the wrapping, she revealed it was a odd contraption, like an oversized parasol.

“I really hope that’s more than just canvas,” I said doubtfully, looking at the thing.

“I’ve chemically treated it using materials extracted from the Marshul garden,” she said unperturbed. “Based on some earlier tests I ran, it should protect me for up to four hours of direct exposure.” She looked up at me, her expression utterly calm. “I would ask we move towards the palace as quickly as possible.”

Nichessa cleared the last few steps, and we emerged back outside. The maddened sky continued to churn with dark, horrifying shapes and impossible stars.

Gaspar tilted her umbrella for a second to look, then quickly moved it back, her shoulders shaking. “I know I should be objective about all natural or unnatural phenomena, but that sight still manages to fill me with inexplicable dread.”

“Stay close to me,” Nichessa said, stepping next to the scholar. “I don’t know if my presence can protect you from that thing, but at least I can squash any ghouls or slime monsters that come your way.”

Gaspar nodded, “Thank you.”

As she had said, the Courts of Dark Blessing had once been a series of majestic gardens. I could spot the broken remains of fountains, statues, and park benches. The burnt and ashen stubs of groves and the torn-up remains of flowerbeds were almost as common as ditches and trenches full of dead Luminark soldiers.

Vexile’s tail kinked in distress; I held her hand till she managed to calm herself down.

“Such wonder, such beauty, senselessly destroyed,” she said quietly.

“And it will be beautiful again, someday,” I vowed to her.

Gaspar tipped her umbrella towards a series of buildings at the northern end of the park, “The Grand Promenade of Revina. From what I can tell, it’s the best possible route into the palace.”

By the look of the place, it had been heavily damaged by Luminark bombardment. Its black stone walls were scorched and broken, and most of its patios, colonnades, and terraces had been pulverized.

“Let’s go,” I said, my boots kicking up a cloud of ash as I started to walk.

The Courts of Dark Blessing reminded me of the empty commons we had discovered in Vilewind, but instead of brown and red, the Courts were black and grey. Every centimeter of vegetation had been burned or trampled, and I could see the everpresent white sheen of bones and skulls just beneath the dirt and soot. Broken buildings, pavilions, and statues, like toppled chess pieces, littered the grounds.

“Thousands must have died here,” I said, my voice pitched low.

“Supposedly the Luminark was just beginning their final assault on the palace when the curse killed them,” Gaspar explained.

Nichessa kicked away a cracked skull, “Those that survived the initial fracturing of the sky and the last Dark Lord’s curse must have been transformed into ghouls and slimes.”

“There are no

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