Zarketh
Episode 1
by
Book Cover & Preview Text
“Did you find anything yet, Dmitri?” Ryhn asked, his voice in a slight static.
I paused then looked around again. Though I was discomforted by what my answer was going to be, I didn’t know what else to say.
“Nothing. This place is deserted. Barely any buildings were destroyed though. I don’t know who or what caused this.” I replied.
“Well, you’re not going to like what I’m about to tell you.” Ryhn said.
This could be the answer I was looking for.
“What is it, Ryhn?”
“Cally and I have been checking the One-World’s energy pulse and we’re picking up… psychic essences from the west quadrant. It’s actually quite low but this is the first time our scanners picked it up, so I don’t know.” Ryhn replied.
The west world was a place all too familiar to me. It was where Sion’s Castle and the Dark Demon’s Citadel was. Maybe the one who cleaned out Shen was at one of the keeps right now.
“The west quadrant… can you specify where?”
“I can’t say for sure. Even Cally is having a hard time pin pointing where. The psychic energy is distorting our sensors. However, we believe it’s coming from around Calena’s palace.” Ryhn replied.
I paused for a moment then began walking forward. I kept my communicator close to my ear, with my other hand ready to quickly draw out Freedom if necessary.
“Can you check Calena’s palace? Can you see if she’s still there?”
“Sure, give us a second here.”
As I waited for the news, I eventually found myself within the residential area. I saw a fork in the road going to my left and to my right. Without hesitation, I immediately began moving down the left path, aiming to check the Citadel of Shen for any answers.
“Negative, Dmitri. The psychic energies are blocking even your telescope. Whatever is going on there wants to make sure that even we can’t see it.” Ryhn said.
That must be the thing that destroyed Shen then .
I realized now why I didn’t see this coming. Psychic energies could distort even my senses. Though, I was confused as to why I didn’t feel anything here. I didn’t even feel distorted or lost; I just felt nothing. Surely someone would’ve left behind some magic energy for me to sense. Even though this confused me, this also gives me a question that I wanted to ask Ryhn.
“Ryhn, I want you to do a sweep of Shen. Can you do that?” I asked.
“Let me see here…”
I continued to walk forward as I finally started to go up a small hill, entering the more rich part of the residential area. While the buildings here were bigger, nothing seemed to change. They were abandoned like everything else. I would examine the rest of the residential area on the right side but my main focus right now was the citadel.
“Cally is running a scanner sweep of Shen right now. We should have the results within the next minute.” Ryhn said.
“Good. I’ll stay on until then.” I replied.
I continued walking forward, constantly questioning what happened here. This didn’t seem like Sion’s work. He would’ve left behind so many clues for me to find. This also didn’t appear to be the Dark Demon’s work either, so that meant that something that I wasn’t aware of yet had cleaned the Humans and Elves out.
As I continued moving forward, I suddenly started to smell something. I stopped, confused then took another whiff of the smell. It was foul, but familiar. I looked around to see if I could spot where that smell was coming from but surprisingly, there was still nothing. I continued scanning the area, keeping my eyes fixed on certain locations until I realized that the smell was coming from up ahead.
I started moving forward again, hoping that I was getting closer to that smell. The stench was getting worse within each second, so I knew I was closing in. After a few seconds, I heard a squishing sound. I stopped then noticed that I stepped on something. I lifted my foot up and saw a white larva of some sort, squished beneath my boot. I paused for a moment, staring at it was confusion.
What is this?
After a brief moment of examining, I turned my head back forward while lowering my foot to the ground. I immediately found multiple larvae just up ahead, crawling around like maggots. These larvae appeared oddly familiar, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. I was unable to sense their presences either, making me think that they were actually undead. Whatever this was, it wasn’t good.
Confused, I began walking forward again but I quickly noticed something else that caught my attention. I looked at the buildings and peered through the open windows and doors. At first, I couldn’t see much because of the storm but as I focused my senses on it, I started to see something within them. Inside almost every building was a dark vine that appeared to be pulsating. Seeing this made me stop, wondering if I should even proceed. Perhaps I finally found the answer I was searching for.
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About the Book
It has been three years since the fall of Sion Terogol, Demi-God of Insanity and Lord of the Converted. The great legend known as Dmitri Sergei Sion has finally found something that he had been yearning for his whole life, true peace. After all the years that he and his allies had been fighting, it seemed that evil was finally defeated. He had been given a chance to live a normal life and be with the woman that he has fallen in love with. However, to Dmitri's fears, he believes that same evil will return; that his home, the One-World, will be threatened by the same man again. While his paranoia haunts his dreams, a greater evil manifests from the very victory that he had achieved. This evil, brought upon by a dark prophecy, seeks to undo everything that the great hero has done, to bring the planet into an Age of Darkness. However, while this evil grows, a great epidemic causes the legend to challenge his own code, the code that he stood by for generations of time. Will be able to do what has to be done, or will he destroy everything that he has fought to preserve?
About the Author
Matthew David Boyle is 22 years old and is the youngest brother of four boys. He was diagnosed with Autism (PDD/NOS) when he was three years old and did not speak until after he turned four years. He struggled through all of the social aspects of society, as well as the school system, leaving in grade 10. Matthew had no interest in his English courses, including reading and writing, until he met a home instruction teacher while he was in Grade 9. She took the time to nurture his self-esteem as well as his incredible imagination, resulting in his creative writing skills. Matthew started writing books at the age of 15 and published his first novel, Zarketh, at the age of 19. He is an avid computer gamer, to which he attributes some of his ideas. He is currently working on various book projects.