Page 10 of Return of the Darkness (The Lost Kingdom Saga #3)
Elisara
T he darkness felt comforting as it wrapped around Elisara like Kazaar’s arms once had—a moment to forget the pain in her chest, rattling with every step she took.
She did not know how she had conjured the wall of darkness encircling her and Caligh.
It towered so high, Elisara could not see its end.
Perhaps it reached the clouds. While the dark walls appeared daunting, the threads of light interspersed within the whirling smoke reminded her of the starfall on the Unsanctioned Isle.
Did it differ from Caligh’s shadows and the black of her soldiers because of Sitara’s essence within her?
Did the Goddess of Dusk’s affinity for the night sky and the beauty of the stars reside in Elisara’s power?
Perhaps this wall would protect everyone outside of it, while Caligh, Osiris, Arik, and Tajana, having dived forward when the wall appeared, remained within.
The darkness sang to her in a way that promised peace of mind.
She wished it would speak to her in literal words.
While she sensed the souls in her army, she longed to hear their voices to alleviate her mind’s solitude.
Had Caligh understood that feeling once?
When he first wielded his dark power? She assumed not, yet every villain had an origin story. Perhaps Kazaar’s death was hers.
Elisara was done with others telling her what to do or how to behave, what her life was, and how it should be.
They told her she would be a good wife, then a queen.
That her celestial tie with Kazaar could win them a war.
And when Caligh finally took his life, Caligh promised she was next.
Sitara told her to wield the power of four alongside her darkness to defeat Caligh and find Sonos.
Elisara wanted to tell them all to fuck off.
With her power, she could kill Caligh and prevent him from using her in his warped plan, whatever that might be.
Think of what you and I could create. Had he truly intended to use Elisara to turn Novisia’s citizens into something horrifying?
Given the little Sitara revealed, Elisara was unsure of Caligh’s intentions.
All she trusted was her gut, which told her there was something far bigger at play.
Elisara had no patience or empathy, no desire to do anything for anyone except herself.
All she wanted was to exact her need for vengeance.
But what remained for her after that? Only an empty heart and an army of darkness, none of which mattered right now.
All that mattered was figuring out how to kill the man before her, assessing Elisara like a proud father.
With a glint in his eye, he admired the shadow wall.
“I knew it would work.” He smirked, tucking his hands behind his velvet cloak.
“I knew killing him would release your power.” Remembering Sitara’s warning he would assume as much, Elisara refrained from rolling her eyes.
She controlled every part of her power. Elisara could have ignored that first flicker of a flame beneath her skin, but Kazaar’s memory was all it took to release the powers Sitara had planted.
For twenty-six years, the goddess’s essence squirmed around the fragment of onyx under her skin, trying to break free. Now, it was awake and hungry.
“What did you hope to achieve?” Elisara asked. She itched to move her fingers and make the shadows do something—anything. Caligh chuckled again.
“You are a goddess. You understand that, don’t you?” Caligh tilted his head, waiting for an answer.
“I was not birthed by Sitara,” Elisara said. Caligh shook his head.
“No, but her essence lives within you. Anybody created from the essence of a god—or holds the essence of a god within them—becomes of the same affinity.”
“Are you a god?”
“Would it make a difference if I was?” he asked, and Elisara shrugged.
“It will help me to determine how easy it will be to kill you.” With a flourish of her hand, the shadow wall squirmed with snakes of smoke and light.
“Interesting,” Caligh said, monitoring the shadowed wall again. “How our powers differ.”
“I’m not particularly concerned. I would rather be as different from you as possible.
” Elisara sensed her army growing restless—the man beneath the shadows, who had taken to being by her side throughout the battle, wished to push through the wall.
She did not know why she listened to his feelings, but silently, she granted him permission.
“For the love of Makaria,” Arik cursed under his breath behind Elisara.
She glanced over her shoulder to find him backing away from her newfound protector, who materialised through the wall and stood directly at his side.
Two heads taller than Arik, he was closer to Osiris in height.
Elisara imagined her protector looking the boy up and down, assessing.
She sensed he was extremely critical at some point in his life.
Tajana’s chains clinked as Osiris shifted, eyeing the protector with a wary look.
The shadow was quiet as he strode to Elisara, positioning himself on her right, just a single step behind her. Caligh raised an eyebrow.
“Are you a soul I took?” Caligh asked. Her protector did not move.
“You should know, Queen Elisara, not every soul in that sword was killed unjustly. Some are trapped for a reason.” A soft shadow caressed her mind, keeping her from looking at Osiris.
She wondered if he, too, was once trapped in the sword for a reason.
Perhaps he would be more dangerous were he not indebted to Caligh.
“It does not matter why they were in the sword. All that matters is they now answer to me.” Lifting her chin, Elisara surrendered her hold on the army.
Hundreds of shadows drifted through the falling wall, shoulder to shoulder.
Endless rows encircled the space—an impenetrable barrier against the copper and Novisian soldiers.
Shadowed creatures circled overhead, and Elisara spared a thought for Talia, wondering if she was among them.
“So, you have no intention of freeing them?” Caligh asked curiously. Elisara did not answer. Even if she wished to free them, she did not know how. “It doesn’t matter either way, I suppose,” he hummed. “Even when you free them, they remain bound to you, indebted until you choose to release them.”
“Or someone else frees them,” Osiris chimed in solemnly.
“You have become far too confident in recent days, boy,” snapped Caligh, glaring at him.
Elisara looked at Osiris, who stared intently at her.
“Come closer.” Caligh bent his finger towards Osiris, who dragged his feet against the sand.
The chain in his hand continued to clink as it pulled Tajana forward, with Arik following.
Elisara willed her shadows to take a silent step—just one, quiet enough to go unnoticed.
“It is not only you who owes me a debt, because of the sword or otherwise.” Elisara lost interest in the pair, prompting the shadows to take another step forward.
From her peripheral vision, she sensed people trying to push through.
It was like she felt the well of their powers—the rush of the ocean, a fire’s blaze, overwhelming strength.
The rulers were trying to reach her. With a silent command, her shadows parted to allow them entry.
Larelle and Alvan stepped behind Caligh; a spiral of water snaked around the pair, hovering where commanded and aimed at the enemy.
Caligh’s shadows moved around him instinctively.
On Elisara’s left, Caellum and Sadira appeared, hand in hand, while spiked vines wove in and out of the sand towards their shared enemy.
Nyzaia and Farid joined Elisara’s right-hand side; fire blazed up the queen’s arms, matching the brightness of the flames on Farid’s wings.
The rulers watched Elisara, their pity leaving a bitter taste in her mouth as she avoided their eyes.
“Ah, everyone is here.” Caligh threw his arms in the air and turned in a circle.
“Have you all come to witness the great essence of Sitara bow to me? The return of old lore, the one who will help your Kingdom fall.” Elisara ground her teeth, frustrated with the showmanship.
Silently, her army took another step closer.
They were still too far. The circular space they had formed was no smaller than three throne rooms. “Enough!” Caligh shouted, spinning to face Elisara.
“Do you think I cannot sense the shadows moving in or detect their slightest movements, even if they are not my own?” His arrogance vanished, replaced with distaste as he scowled at Vala’s queen and began pacing.
“You can come willingly, or I will make you, like I have done with so many others.” Caligh glanced at Caellum and smirked.
“It was so easy to get in the minds of those in Novisia, so easy to convince them they were protected on this land. I always hated Garridon. He was an arrogant man, who always looked down on me.” Elisara glanced at Caellum, unclear as to the shift in conversation.
Caellum’s jaw clenched, but his eyes did not falter from their enemy.
If she took the risk and sent the army now, they might smother him.
Her protector shifted beside her, as though telling her to wait—listen.
“It was so easy to get into your grandfather’s head.
Jorah was already such a proud man. Compelling him to kill Errard was easy, though I did not anticipate Lyra’s escape.
” Elisara frowned. All the heirs watched Caligh intently. “And then there was your father. Wren.”
“What did you do to him?” Caellum asked. He spoke with clarity and strength, but it held a note of uncertainty; Elisara knew his feelings about his family far too well.