Ill-Fated: A Journey to Death (Dark Times saga #1)

Reminder

The last blow did it. Despite the best efforts of the forces of good, the Evil Lord Mandarin had, even if narrowly, had survived the rebellion. His clothes were tattered, his body was covered in sweat and blood, and he was tired to even move an inch, but he was the victorious. Despite the odds and his own rebellious fate, he had evaded death and changed his faith.

The torn city of Urethos was once again in the hands of the Evil Lord and all their hopes had been shattered. Though flowers bloomed and birds sang, the citizens of the dark empire were confident of their inevitable painful and merciless death. The Elder wizard, Gregor was dead and the proclaimed hero had clearly fallen. Their struggle was over. They had lost. Evil Lord had won and with the Book of Time in his possession again, he would be able to live forever.

Soon, the Evil Lord had recovered enough of his power that he was able to move, even though he was too drained to cast any spell. But there was no need to cast any spell, he was the winner and his price was invincibility forever and the entire world was his to rule. He slowly paced through the corridor and with his each step, the weather outside became more and more bliss. He was congratulating himself for his victory.

As he approached the fallen warrior to take the fabled Book of Time, a very low sound of uneven breathing startled him. The warrior was alive after all. But instead of being infuriated, he smiled his dark smile and simply snatched the magical book from his to-be-corpse.

From behind, a strangely familiar voice greeted him, “Master, I am so proud today to be your servant. Congratulations for your success. No success achieved can equal this victory. I must say that this is the greatest success of your life, of course I say so for until now.”

Shock crossed the Evil Lord Mandarin in such a way that while he turned to face the direction of voice, the weather of the city of Urethos changed from spring to killer cold to an autumn. But it did not last. The people of Damian observed an eclipse approaching. The book dropped from his hand in an instant. The entire Urethos wondered about the reason for this change in the climate. What was in the mind of the Evil Lord?

“You? This cannot be! You died months ago.” The Evil Lord said in a shocked tone, “You died in this very room after you refused to tell me what you saw —”.He abruptly stopped that statement halfway, all the while gazing at his supposedly dead servant. Realization struck us. We now knew why the servant died before giving his witness a year ago. He had walked through the cursed entrance first.

Another realization struck him. All of his assumptions were wrong actually. Elisan had not lied once. Truth dawned upon him. His greatest success was the overthrowing of the rebellion and defeating his enemy; his greatest mistake was to hope that he had changed his fate and now his death was imminent.

“No!” He screamed so loud that entire Urethos heard it. He immediately picked up the book and opened it. According to the timeline, the next thing to happen was his death! Just then he realized something. He hadn’t heard his warrior’s last uneven breathing, it was a spell. How could he forget that spell when he had used it so frequently. His own voice sounded in his ears as he realized this:

“Earth, fire, wind and water! Punish this person for it is my wish. Kill him and bind his soul to eternal torture and despair. Break every strand of hope he has. Make him suffer for his every defiance.  Heed me and fulfill my wish, O mighty elements of life!”

Outside, the weather was now a storm; it was struggling and fighting for its survival against an unseen force. If the people had considered the weather during the battle of Elisan and Mandarin chaotic and disastrous, then they claimed this storm to be the end of the island. The storm broke through everything. Dead or alive, standing or crumbled, soil or water, nothing was spared by this storm. The storm appeared to be attempting to destroy the whole island. The hurricane which attacked the island was reinforced by a strong wind, an earthquake and several meteor strikes.