Legends of Marithia: Book 2 - Darkness Rising by Peter Koevari Read Free Book Online

think
you’re ready to join me and be reborn again, but it is not time.
Your body lays fragile, slowly dying and you must return to it
before it’s too late. When the time is right, and you perform the
ritual… only then can you ascend into the Talonsphere and our
powers will combine in our new form.
    “ But I don’t know
how… how can I
return to Marithia?”
    This I cannot tell you. I
can only show you the way. You alone must walk the path.
    Vartan’s voice was weak
with frustration and desperation as he asked, “Walk the path?
To where ?”
    Remember your purpose, do
not follow the pull of darkness that has infected you and you will
know what to do. Only you can break the spell, and only you have
the power to return.
    Vartan focused hard, pushing past the
spell blocking his memories and dug as deep as he could. He yelled
in frustration, pushing further into his own mind. An image flashed
before his eyes, and he saw a strikingly beautiful woman with
bright blue eyes. She stared longingly at him, her pale skin
highlighting her wonderfully formed features. Within a moment, he
lost the vision again as it faded into the darkness.
    “ It’s too hard! I can’t do
this,” he groaned.
    Try harder. When the memory
appears… do your best to hold on to it. She is your path. Grasp her
like a sword and do not let go.
    Focusing his energy, he tried to grip
the image re-forming behind his eyes.
    Like a candle flickering in the wind,
the image appeared again. Using all his strength, he kept the
picture in his mind, studying her face, searching for a link or a
name.
    A warm and familiar voice
entered his mind, “ Vartan .”
    When he heard the voice, his heart
warmed. Love filled his senses as if he had a thousand butterflies
flapping underneath his skin. He smiled when he thought of her and
closed his eyes with the pleasure of her voice repeating in his
mind.
    His eyes burst open with the
realisation, “He… Hel… Helenia!”
    His memories whirled around him as if
he was in the eye of a storm that had erupted within the darkness
and he begun to piece them together. He watched, exhilarated, as
his whole life’s memories flooded back into his mind. The sheer
force of Kassina’s spell disintegrating, struck him so hard that he
felt as if his mind was being crushed.
    I have done all that I can
for you Vartan and until we meet again… there is a place that you
must find as it is crucial to the future of Marithia, and for
yourself.
    Vartan focused as hard as he could on
finding where Talonsphere was as he felt his body ascending skyward
at a frightening speed. Barely able to speak, he called out into
the darkness, “What place?!?”
    Trisa was knocked back by the force of
Vartan leaping upward in the air and his eyes shot open as if an
explosion had set off in his head.
    “ Daessar!” he yelled, his
voice echoing far into the depths of Trahoterra.
    Vartan looked down at the pale white
face of a heavily panting Trisa tightly gripping a wet rag. She had
nearly collapsed from shock at the violence of his return.
Suddenly, a splitting headache hit him as if an axe just cut its
way through his skull.
    Involuntarily, Vartan turned away from
her to vomit and putrid green liquid splattered onto the floor that
evaporated into a small cloud of green fog. A frightening face
formed in the fog and it frantically flew around the cavern,
desperately searching for another victim to infect.
    Finally, Kassina’s spell had been
purged from his body.
    Finn quickly breathed a stream of
burning hot flames into the path of the fog, its shrieks of anger
filled the caverns as it disappeared.
    “ What in the name…” he
began.
    Finn’s face greeted him and his voice
ringed with excitement, “Vartan! You’re awake!”
    Trisa immediately handed Vartan a
fresh cup of cool water and eased him back on the warm
bed.
    Vartan’s face was overcome with panic
as he desperately sought answers to many questions flooding his
mind, “How long has it