Chapter One
Jed deserved to be alone. If the choices he had made were mistakes, only God could judge him. Those choices came with consequences, though.
Darkness encroached on the last dying rays of sunset, the clarifying light of day giving way to the mystery of night. Jed folded the letter he had been reading and slipped it into his pocket, watching the shadows crawl up the cabin’s faded wood exterior. His sister wrote every month, telling him about her happy life in the city and her son Jayce. She always asked him when he was coming home. Jed blew out a long breath, the cold air turning it into a white cloud that dissipated into the darkness.
Above, through the thick canopy of trees, stars were tiny pinpricks of light in the sky. His sister said the stars remind them there is always beauty and hope, no matter how dark things may look. Sparks burst into the air as Jed tossed another log on the fire.
Jed grabbed his sword and whetstone, running the stone over the blade. It was easy for her to believe that, living the life she did. Jed knew better. The crackling of the fire, with the occasional pops as pockets of sap burst, releasing their crisp fragrance into the air, was a sharp counterpoint to the high-pitched sound of the stone as it slid across the black metal. In the forest, the hum of insects filled the air, accompanied by a distant howl.
Jed reached for the heap of bottles next to his chair. His fingers grasped one that was still upright, and he took a long gulp. Unkempt hair fell forward into his eyes as he bent back to sharpen his blade. Lost in his meditative task, it took a moment before he felt the currents around the fire had changed. An icy breeze tickled across the back of his neck, raising chills down his spine and whipping the flames back and forth.
Then the flames changed direction, moving against the evening breeze. The forest fell silent. Jed’s whole body stilled. Years of experience had honed his instincts, and every one of them told him danger was coming.
His dark eyes scanned the perimeter of the clearing. There, at the base of a large pine, just beyond the circle of firelight, shadows gathered. Faster and faster they spun. Pressure built in the air, magical energy swirling, the hairs on his arms stood on end, until, with a soundless pop, the shadows condensed into a dark void that consumed all light around it.
Jed put the whetstone aside and stood. A Shadow Portal. There were only two possibilities: either an Okubi had come into their own or…a Vari had breached the veil.
Jed swore under his breath.
No one had seen a Vari in a hundred years. Jed’s knowledge of the Vari came from legends. Skin hard as stone, baleful glowing red eyes, unparalleled fighting skills paired with an insatiable need to destroy everything they saw, the Vari were as powerful as they were deadly. Only a Grimmsblade, forged from Oscuro ore, could harm them.
The surface of the portal rippled. Jed pulled a Grimmsblade dagger from his belt and threw it with unerring precision. Black, claw-tipped fingers punctured the portal and caught the dagger by the blade. Where the blade touched skin, steam rose with an awful hissing sound. The hand launched the Grimmsblade back so fast it was barely visible in the flickering light. Jed dodged, but even his powers weren’t enough. The dagger’s hilt smashed into the wrist of his sword arm. Jed felt something crack, and his sword tumbled out of his grip into the darkness. Sharp pain lanced up his arm, like a strike of lightning in a dry field, leaving a fire burning in its wake.
A clawed foot stepped from the portal, followed by a figure dark as obsidian. Towering above Jed with thick horns curling over its head, the Vari scanned its surroundings with glowing emerald eyes before its gaze settled on Jed. Green eyes, not red. The legends weren’t all true then. What else had the legends gotten wrong? What had they gotten right?
Jed dropped into a fighting crouch. His long career as a Kuolema made this moment inevitable. The Vari was here to kill him. He had expected it to happen sooner. He risked a quick look to see where his sword had fallen. Three feet to his left, almost hidden in the tall grass.
“Not nice, Commander,” the dark voice said. The words rippled around him, spreading through the shadows. Jed braced himself to make a dash for his sword. “Using a Grimmsblade. Especially since I brought your nephew to you.”
At the Vari’s words, Jed froze. The inky mass of the Vari’s chest shifted, revealing the head and shoulders of an unconscious boy suspended in the Vari’s body. Dark hair flopped across the boy’s forehead, his olive skin pale. He looked so vulnerable, his slight form dwarfed by the Vari’s presence.
“Jayce.” Jed jerked forward. Anger and adrenaline flooded his body, smothering the pain in his wrist. Everything sharpened, his senses coming alive until his entire body vibrated with energy. “Release him!”
“After we talk.” The shadows crawled back over Jayce’s face and Jed bit back a yell.
“Where are his parents?”
“Gone from this world.” The words whispered through the night.
Pain lanced through Jed. His sister. He yanked his focus back to the demon. Fight now, he would grieve later.
Jed’s foot slid a step to the left, easing towards his sword. The Vari mirrored his move on the other side, keeping the fire between them. The Vari moved with the smooth, practiced steps of a trained fighter. Jed didn’t see a weapon on him, but between his claws and his strength, he wouldn’t need one.
His brain raced, running through ways this encounter could go. The outcomes didn’t look promising.
“How?”
“Irrelevant,” the Vari said. “What matters is your nephew is an Okubi. His powers activated and he can’t control them.”
“Impossible. There hasn’t been an Okubi in—”
“A hundred years,” the Vari said. “I’m aware.”
Something in the Vari’s tone caught Jed’s attention. Almost as if it had been waiting for an Okubi? But why? Unless… The Vari needed a new Okubi to break the seal on the Shadow Realm.
A hundred years ago, the last Okubi had thrown someone in to the Shadow Realm and sealed it, turning it into their prison. When they did, they also trapped the Vari. The only creatures from the Shadow Realm Jed had fought were the Moriti, low level minions that were as vicious as they were many. But the Vari could only appear in this realm with a host to tether themselves to.
“Release him. Now!”
“I will… once we make a deal.”
Jed stepped to the left again, bending to grab his sword with his uninjured hand as he did. “What kind of deal?”
“You will train your nephew.”
Jed shook his head. “I can’t help him.”
“You are the best fighter in all the territories. Even in Escura Isfera, we have heard of your reputation, Kuolema.”
“Was. Past tense. I’m retired now.” Cold apprehension trickled down Jed’s spine. No one wanted to be known to the Shadow Realm. “So you’ve heard of me in the Shadow Realm. You know I am a Titan, not an Okubi. I know nothing about shadow manipulation. But if you need someone to pick up something heavy or run super fast, you let me know. I’ll be sure not to help.”
“You don’t need to train his powers, you need to teach him control. Your self-control is legendary.” The Vari’s gaze swept over the bottles on the ground and Jed’s unkempt appearance. “Or it was. I can suppress his powers for now, but it won’t last. Train him, strengthen his mind and body, so when his powers return, he won’t lose control.”
“Or is it so he will break the seal and set you free?”
“He will fulfill a debt long overdue.” The Vari’s voice was harsh and filled with too many emotions to identify. Longing, frustration, determination.
A debt owed to a Vari. Jed’s blood chilled. His training told him that the best strategic move would be the neutralize the threat. If the Vari wanted something, he needed to keep them from getting it. But this time…
“You wanted to make a deal. What is it?”
“You agree to train him, and I will put a seal on his powers.”
“And if I don’t?”
“Then I will leave him here. Powers unbound.”
An Okubi out of control… the destruction would be catastrophic. Jayce’s powers would consume him, destroying him from the inside out and everything around him. There was only one way to stop an Okubi who had lost control of their powers. Icy fingers of fear clutched Jed’s heart.
Unless the Vari was lying.
Jed latched onto the small ray of hope. He had to be trying to trick Jed, trapping him into an agreement. Jed couldn’t kill the Vari since he wasn’t truly in this realm, but his sword could sever the connection between the Vari and Jayce. If the Vari wasn’t lying, he could make things worse. There was no way to know, unless…
With a massive leap, Jed threw himself over the fire, sword drawn back to strike.
His blade sliced through smoke where the Vari’s head had been as the Vari’s form disintegrated, shadows peeling back from Jayce’s unconscious body, and streamed back into the portal.
Jayce’s body slumped to the ground, and the Vari’s disembodied voice said, “Choose.”
Jayce’s veins began turning black, and shadows leaked from his hands. He jerked as his muscles spasmed. A moan of pain tore from his throat. The Vari hadn’t lied.
Panic raced through Jed. He dropped his sword and scooped Jayce into his arms, glaring at the portal shrinking out of sight. “I agree!”
On Jayce’s forehead, a black infinity symbol flared and faded from view.
The Vari’s voice whispered, “We have a deal.”
The portal closed with another soundless pop. Dead silence reigned in the darkness as Jed held his nephew close, pressing his forehead to Jayce’s.
After a long, heart stopping moment, Jayce’s trembling stopped, his muscles relaxing. Jed lifted his head. With a deep inhalation, Jayce blinked open his eyes. His brows drew together in a frown as he stared at Jed. In the forest, insects hummed again. The sounds of wildlife in the woods returning.
“Don’t worry, kid. I’ve got you,” Jed said. He didn’t know who he was trying to reassure, the boy or himself.
Jayce’s eyes fluttered and closed.
Pain shot up his wrist as he lifted Jayce into his arms but Jed gritted his teeth and stomped up the lopsided wooden stairs of the cabin. Jed laid his nephew on the single bed, shoved in the room’s corner. He stood back, tracking the steady rise and fall of Jayce’s chest. In his sleep, Jayce shivered and clutched the thin sheet close. Grabbing the thick blanket bunched at the base of the bed, Jed pulled it over Jayce.
Jed looked around the single room, seeing it as Jayce would in the morning. There wasn’t much in there. A small table with a single chair. An armchair in front of the fireplace. Scattered clothes. His sister would kill him if he kept Jayce here. They would have to move.
It took only a few minutes for Jed to build a blazing fire, and he sat back on his haunches with a grunt of approval before collapsing into the armchair. The adrenaline was seeping out of his body, leaving behind the ache of his injured wrist.
“I don’t know what I’m doing, but I’ve got you.”
Jayce shifted on the bed, and the blanket fell away to reveal something protruding from the pocket of his jacket.
Jed leaned forward and plucked it out, turning it over in his hands. It was an ornate wooden box with intricate infinity symbols etched into the exterior. His fingers buzzed with the power emanating from the box as he traced the designs. How did his nephew get his hands on such a powerful artifact?
Jed tried to open the box but couldn’t. He analyzed it, turning it this way and that. No lock. No obvious sign of a magical seal. Jed shook it. A faint rattling met his ears. Was this something from the Vari?
Jayce snored, startling Jed from his inspection. His nephew’s face looked young and innocent, relaxed in sleep, unaware that his entire world was about to change. Jed rubbed a hand over his chest. He crossed to the fireplace, pulled a loose brick free from above the mantel and slipped the box inside the small space, replacing the brick. He would return it to Jayce when he was older, when the loss of his parents wasn’t so sharp.
His parents. Jed’s sister. Loss lanced through him like a red hot poker, stealing his breath. He had kept his distance all these years, hoping to keep her safe, and in the end, it hadn’t mattered.
Gut clenched, Jed pulled the letter out of his pocket and opened it.
At the bottom of the letter she wrote, “I hope you come to visit soon. Fall is beautiful in the city. Jayce’s birthday is at the end of the month. He is about to turn ten. Can you believe it? I know he would love to see his uncle. Jed, we miss you. Whatever happened, we can figure it out together. Just please come home.”
A single drop of moisture hit the page. Jed refolded the letter and placed it into a box filled with other letters covered in the same loopy handwriting. Picking up the box, he shoved it into the corner of the only closet he had.
Then retrieving his sword, dagger, and whetstone from outside, Jed settled into the armchair next to the fireplace and went back to sharpening his sword. If his hands trembled and the stone skittered across the blade, no one else saw and Jayce was fast asleep.
