The Inferno Slayer: Book Three- Enchantment

PROLOGUE

Sadie Crown stood at the end of the bridge. She tried to see through the fog, but was unable to penetrate the white, misty blanket that covered the bridge between the Infinity Empire and Skrimonn. Irys, one of the few who had actually remembered the adventure in Infinity, had offered to stay at the other side of the bridge to perform the ritual they had planned before their departure.

Sadie held a knife. Not just any knife. The knife sacredly given to each emperor or empress at the beginning of their term. It was silver, with sapphire inscriptions and carvings. The blade itself generated a blue aura, and the pommel was made from a pure sapphire crystal the size of an eyeball.

The metal alloy could slice into anything except itself and anything crafted by magic. Sadie was going to use it to cut the ropes connecting the bridge to Infinity.

She positioned herself at the edge of the Chasm, holding the knife outwards. Slowly murmuring the ceremonial words, Sadie felt the knife hum with energy in her hand, and, as the celebrant, she lifted it up, ready for one final slice.

Irys waited on the other edge of the bridge. The light from the raised knife would be the signal for the cut. She held Soren- the staff was magical and sharp enough to cut through the nearly impossible to cut ropes attaching the bridge to the mainland.

The anchor, when the ropes were cut off, will disintegrate, and the whole bridge will turn into fog. It was better to keep the Infinity escapade a secret.

Sam and John had completely forgotten the entire mission since the beginning of the visions transmitted by Flynn Bane, an extremely powerful druid mage. Irys had made Walker keep them trapped inside their parents' house. Even when Irys had gone out alone, the Argon brothers had been itching to get out of the cottage.

They had brought a father and his daughter over the bridge as well. Warren and Jenny Granger had offered to come and stay in Skrimonn.

Irys had asked them and Walker if they had experienced any physical or emotional changes as they had crossed the bridge, since whenever a human being from Infinity crossed the bridge to Skrimonn, their genes mutated, allowing them to practice magic.

When they had said nothing was when Irys had realized: since the Plague, a sickness spawned from a radioactive virus, had ended when they had defeated Doombite, a demonic dragon, then all who had once had the magical gene were now normal.

The strangest part was to see Kian, Aryel, and Argon completely blank. They only remembered that there had been powerful earthquakes that year in Riptide, and that the Origin army had been patrolling the border and had perished in a sudden tremor, along with Ray Stallion.

They had no idea who Flynn had been, how he had controlled Ray Stallion, and how he had been manipulated by the dragon in order to gain complete possession of Skrimonn and Infinity, escaping his confinement in a high mountain cave.

They had no idea that the capital city, Ellon, had been attacked, not struck by a random earthquake. They had no idea that the Bane School of Wizardry had been forcefully pelted with seismic waves.

And, even worse, they had no idea what had happened, or if anything had happened, to John's entire community- the secret allegiance of honorable pirates called the Pirate Lords.

Irys had been very nervous on the inside, trying very hard not to show it to the others. She was the heir to Origin. A queen. What would this mean? Monarchies become republics, not the other way around.

She had learned that the Senators had all been apprehended and imprisoned for life. She supposed republics were more easily corrupted, if the Prime Minister selected his Senators, and he was corrupt, they would be in league with him. Only a true fool would choose someone who could overpower him.